The fate of open space at Zero New Washington Street, behind the Holiday Inn in East Somerville, will be deliberated by the Finance Committee, Wednesday evening, July 12, at 7:00 in the second floor Committee Room in City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.

• An East Somerville home owner and dog owner has submitted petition with 359 signatures in support of a park for people and pets at Zero New Washington Street.
• The City's Dog Owners Task Force has been discussing this vacant land on New Washington Street at Innerbelt Road and how to turn it into useable open space since November of 2005. This property is especially attractive as an off-leash recreational area because it is located near, but not in, a residential neighborhood.
• The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development prepared a map showing eight locations, including the city-owned property at Zero New Washington Street, that are under consideration as potential sites for OLRAs, and this map was submitted to the members of the Board at the Board of Aldermen meeting on November 21, 2005.
• Stan Koty, Commmissioner of Public Works, told the Dog Owners Task Force on February 9, 2006 that he had already made arrangements with NSTAR to install additional lighting on the property.
• As recently as March 9, 2006, Carlene Campbell, the City's liaison to the Dog Owners Task Force told us that the OLRA on New Washington Street was on schedule to open in the Spring at the same time as the one in Nunziato Field. The simultaneous opening of OLRAs in different parts of the city would alleviate both user demand on the Nunziato OLRA and parking concerns in the neighborhood.

At the meeting of the Board of Aldermen on March 23, 2006, the Mayor requested that city-owned property at 0 New Washington Street be declared available for disposition pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, c. 30B, § 16 (file #180747, cf. item # 117 in the minutes).

• The open space crisis in the City of Somerville is an even greater priority than the fiscal crisis. In a city with two acres of open space for every 1000 residents, the land at New Washington Street is worth more as open space than the $3m at which it has been rumored to be valued.
• Our stewardship of our open spaces today will make much more of a difference than the fiscal crisis of 2006 ten and twenty years from now when our children are deciding whether or not to live in Somerville. When neighborhoods lose open space, there is no additional open space to compensate us for our loss.
• East Somerville is particularly lacking in open space. East Somerville residents still feel that their neighborhood has not been adequately recompensed for the open space that it lost when the Capuano Early Childhood Center was built in Glen Park.

The Finance Committee meeting, Wednesday evening, July 12, at 7:00 in the second floor Committee Room in City Hall, is open to the public. Members of the public ordinarily do not have the opportunity to speak at committee meetings unless they are sponsored by one of the Aldermen on the committee. The more people who attend, however, the more we will be able to impress our elected representatives with our interest in this issue.