These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Combining two public schools
New School Building Project School Building Committee, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday. The committee considers the size of the parking garage at a planned 925-student complex at 115 Sycamore St., Winter Hill, to meet the needs of the combined communities of the closed Winter Hill Community Innovation School and aging Benjamin G. Brown School. Other design updates and a tree talk are also on the agenda. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Changes in student discipline
School Committee Rules Management Subcommittee, 5:30 p.m. Monday. This group led by Leiran Biton and Emma Stellman looks at student discipline and how new policies are communicated to the community. In person at City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., Central Hill.
Neighborhood Connect in Ward 5
Neighborhood meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Formerly known as City Hall Community Meetings, these sessions bring the mayor, City Council and School Committee to Somerville’s seven wards to answer questions and share information on city initiatives, neighborhood updates, crime stats and more. The new format has primarily a science-fair format instead of formal presentations and starts with a social half-hour with free pizza and snacks. (Find out which ward you live in with the MySomerville address lookup tool.) In person in the cafeteria at the John F. Kennedy School, 5 Cherry St., near Porter Square in Spring Hill.
Updates on homelessness policies
City Council Public Health and Public Safety Committee, 6 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councilor Matthew McLaughlin has a resolution seeking monthly updates from staff about progress toward addressing homelessness in Somerville and talks about the Winter Warming Center for the unhoused based at the former Cummings Elementary School at 42 Prescott St., Prospect Hill. There’s also a communication from the Gilman Square Neighborhood Council about coming changes to McGrath Boulevard and a call for Public Works to invest in trash barrels with latches to keep rats out. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Teele Square hotel project
Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. Wednesday. An eight-story, 99-room hotel at 1154 Broadway, Teele Square, is on the docket, which will excite anyone eager to see the end of “The Pit,” a lot vacant since a 2011 fire that destroyed the Teele Square Laundromat, a nail salon, the Kee Kar Laue restaurant and West Somerville police substation, according to a Patch article at the time. Proposed as a six-story, 75-room hotel in 2018, the project by Binoj Pradhan returned in 2025 bigger and with plans for dining at street level and on the top floor and with valet parking for an underground 35-car garage with fancy lifts. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Private space for public use
City Council Housing, Community Development and Equity Committee, 6 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councilor Kristen Strezo seeks a public list of all spaces available for community use in the city, especially those that are part of private developments, and explores how the community can take advantage of underused space at Saint James Episcopal Church at 1170 Broadway, Teele Square. The committee meets at City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., Central Hill, and is watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Neighborhood Connect in Ward 7
Neighborhood meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Formerly known as City Hall Community Meetings, these sessions bring the mayor, City Council and School Committee to Somerville’s seven wards to answer questions and share information on city initiatives, neighborhood updates, crime stats and more. The new format has primarily a science-fair format instead of formal presentations and starts with a social half-hour with free pizza and snacks. (Find out which ward you live in with the MySomerville address lookup tool.) In person in the cafeteria at the West Somerville Neighborhood School, 177 Powder House Blvd.
