While some neighborhood councils seek only City Council recognition, the success of Union and Davis squares has left others hoping for a turn in the limelight.
The Independent spoke to Sutton Mullen, president-elect of the Acorn Square Neighborhood Council, who said the focus is on letting people know the square exists. “There’ve been some really good conversations,” Mullen said. “Most start with, ‘Where is that?’ or ‘I’ve never heard of that place.’ I see it as an educational process. I want to let people know that the ASNC is a real council, and it’s here to stay.”
ASNC’s 32-member board was inspired to seek recognition by some of the recent achievements of other neighborhood councils, especially related to animal conservation. “The raptor-enthusiast community sees these councils as the best path forward for our advocacy,” said Rachel Wallace, the board’s treasurer. (Note: Wallace is in a relationship with Sutton. The Independent investigated this connection and found no irregularities in the election process.)
“We managed to get a voting majority in the Union Square Neighborhood Council and have seen great success getting raptor habitats required in all new buildings,” Wallace said. The board has a subcommittee researching the possibility of these habitats being used as shared affordable housing for birds and people. “Mother birds need to keep their eggs warm,” she noted. “In a time of rising energy costs, we can’t overlook the idea of curling up in a cozy nest to go to sleep.”
Other members of the council have their eyes on real estate development. Elm Haley, who is head of the development subcommittee, agreed to speak to the Independent on the condition of not revealing which members of the board are their paramours. “We used an AI-informed community listening process to develop a system that grades the quality of new buildings,” Haley said. “We start with a score of 100 and then subtract the number of proposed floors from that. What we’ve discovered through this process is that taller buildings tend to get worse grades.”
The Independent conducted an independent investigation into this formula. We determined that the proposal for a 26-story tower in Davis Square would have received a grade of 74, or a “C” under these criteria.
Sutton also noted that boundaries are an ongoing challenge. “Not all neighborhood councils are blessed with a square to call home,” he said. “With the rising cost of rent, we are still looking to establish boundaries that feel true to our community’s history and ensure that the right folks get their voices heard.”
Pavement Blomquist, the head of the boundary committee, had a different perspective, noting for transparency reasons that they were in a relationship with one or more of fellow board members. The Independent was able to independently verify this information over the course of a multiday investigation. “I see it as an opportunity to expand. People still seem to think that Somernova is going to be built, but it’s obvious where that’s headed. If our council can offer the developer a better deal, then we could take over that area. We could be real power brokers in the city.”
Most of the council’s public meetings have focused on setting up the bylaws needed for it to function effectively. Due to its direct democracy-style system, any member of the neighborhood group can propose a new bylaw. Proposed bylaws are debated, amended and voted on in the next meeting. This process means that most meetings are consumed by proposed bylaw debate, yet most do not pass. Additional bylaws have been proposed to limit the length of debate, reform the process of proposing new bylaws and dedicate more meeting time to other issues.
Despite these challenges, members of the ASNC said they found community and purpose in the group. “The City Council does a lot of important work, but they are elected by the entire city,” Mullen said. “That’s never made much sense to me. The idea of a neighborhood council challenges that patriarchal power structure. It says, what if the people we elected didn’t get to make decisions for us? What if we made the decisions instead? What if a tight-knit group of plucky artists, visionaries and homeowners were in charge? What kinds of bylaws could those people come up with? What sorts of progress could we stop?”
