Somerville Mayoral Forum [VIDEO]

7/21/25

The USNC hosts the Somerville mayoral candidates on Monday, 21 July 2025.

Katjana Ballantyne, Willie Burnley, Jr., and Jake Wilson answer questions about city politics.

Rats get mentioned in the very first question.

The Union Square Neighborhood Council hosted the trio of Somerville mayoral candidates at a wide-ranging forum on important local issues. Including rats.

The neighborhood council is coming off a big win with the Somernova CBA, effectively negotiating a raft of developer concessions and organizing local residents to vote ‘Yes’ to a plan that tied community approval of the Somernova development plan to a bucket of community benefits.

All of the current candidates for Somerville mayor — Mayor Karen Ballantyne, Councilor-at-Large Willie Burnley, Jr., and Councilor-at-Large Jake Wilson— attended.

The forum was moderated by Isabella Drago. Questions were collected and selected in advance by the USNC through a community survey.

Timeline

00:00 Opening remarks

02:51 Q1: What should we do about all these dirty, dirty, dirty rats?

09:44 Q2: Strategies to prevent further residential, residential, and creative displacement while balancing long term growth?

16:43 Q3: Parking takeaways, lack of transit options, housing accessibility impacting seniors and residents with disabilities. How to help?

23:20 Q4: How to maximize, optimize, and grow civic spaces for community use?

30:05 Q5: Policies to get greener while producing long term savings?

36:26 Q6: How about that Somerville for Palestine ballot measure, eh?

43:08 Q7: What is your favorite space in Union Square?

47:40 Q8: How about that per household sewer spending, eh?

54:18 Q9: How to ensure the transparent and impactful allocation of community benefit funds?

1:00:18 Q10: Permitting and municipal processes suck. How to fix?

1:06:32 Q11: How to boost community participation and impact on development processes?

1:14:47 Q12: Name one trait that you share as a candidate with the other candidates, and explain why that trait is important for a mayor?

1:21:20 Closing statements

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