Somerville residents will flock to the voting booths today to cast their votes in the mayoral race between incumbent Dorothy Kelly Gay and challenger Bill Baro. Although the race has attracted little interest from Tufts students, its outcome may have more impact on campus life than previous elections.
Tufts has a history of poor town-gown relations with the two cities whose border it straddles, most notably with Somerville. Today's election prompts a look into the history of relations between the University and the two cities and how Somerville's next mayor may change the way the two interact.
Director of Community Relations at Tufts Barbara Rubel feels that the political differences between Medford and Somerville foster different relationships between Tufts and each city, or more specifically, between Tufts and the cities' mayors.
"Since the two cities have different forms of government, the way we interact with them is sometimes different," Rubel said. "Both have strong, elected mayors, but the Medford City Council is all elected at large while the Somerville Board of Aldermen has ward representation. That means when there's a problem on the Somerville side of the campus, a neighborhood problem, we tend to deal with it through the alderman elected to represent that ward."
A similar type of problem on the Medford side would probably take us directly to the mayor, because councilors do not have that immediate connection to the neighborhoods around the campus," Rubel added.
According to President Emeritus John DiBiaggio, the fact that Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn was in office during his entire presidency helped the two form a strong relationship.
"I've come to know him very well. We've developed a really strong and good working relationship with Mayor McGlynn," DiBiaggio said.
Because Mayor Kelly Gay has only been in office for two years, DiBiaggio says the University's relationship with her is not as strong.
"The mayor in Somerville has been very engaged with us, but we haven't had the same kind of long term relationship with her that we've had with the Medford mayor," DiBiaggio said. "Both mayors have been interested in working with us."
Rubel agreed that McGlynn's longtime status as a government official has helped relations between Tufts and Medford.
"Mayor McGlynn has nearly seven terms under his belt," Rubel said. "We have literally years of experience in working with him. There's a certain ease and trust in the Medford relationship that only comes with time. We've experienced the same level of familiarity with long-term mayors in Somerville."
Despite varying levels of comfort with the two cities' mayors, some of the problems - as well as benefits - between the University and its twin cities are common to both Medford and Somerville.
"I think our relationship with both communities have been very good," DiBiaggio said. "There have been some issues between us and both communities, especially Somerville, but I think they've been resolved to the satisfaction of [all involved parties]. I don't think that we've had a serious town-gown problem."
I don't find it particularly strained here - just the usual problems that arise when there are a lot of young people living in a town where there are also established residents," he added.
One of these problems, DiBiaggio said, was that Tufts students are living in the community for a limited amount of time and might not exhibit the long-term interests that many community members have. This difference can create problems wherein students are not sensitive to the concerns of the community. According to Rubel, Tufts continually works to implement programs that will ease the minds of the residents.
"There are always community concerns about new construction, about University impacts on the community, by the occasional problems that arise with students living off-campus," Rubel said, adding that solutions can be fairly easy, such as traffic and parking tickets in the two cities. A few years ago, Tufts agreed to charge students' bursar accounts for unpaid tickets in Medford and Somerville.
"It's something the University can do on an institutional level to try to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods - encourage our students to park legally," Rubel said.
Rubel added that both Medford and Somerville want to be involved with Tufts, and vice versa.
"While the requests we get for assistance and partnerships may differ from city to city, both want the University to be actively involved," Rubel said. "They recognize Tufts as a real resource and want to see things happen. From time to time, they both will raise the issue of payments in lieu of taxes or land use regulation."
According to both DiBiaggio and Rubel, both candidates in Somerville's election have expressed interest in improving the city's relationship with Tufts.
"From what I've read, they're both fully aware that we have to live in harmony with one another," DiBiaggio said. "I think they're both interested in building a healthy relationship with [Tufts]."
Rubel believes the Tufts-Somerville relationship is reaching a new beginning with a new University president. "Mayor Kelly Gay is giving President Bacow time to settle in before she begins talks about the activity she'd like to see happen," Rubel said.
Rubel hopes that tomorrow's elected mayor, be it Gay or Baro, will continue to work on the Tufts-Somerville relationship.
"There's always room for improvement in our relations with our host communities," Rubel said. "Most people in Medford and Somerville, however, have positive feelings about relations with Tufts, or no real feelings about it at all."
And Rubel believes residents with anti-Tufts positions have grown in intensity, not in numbers. "Those who have negative feelings tend to be very vocal, and sometimes can convince others that relations are bad," she said.
Rubel feels that if Tufts advertised its community programs to a greater extent, Somerville residents might better respond to Tufts students. Additionally, Rubel says, the mayor could let the city know about University-led community service projects.
"I think the mayor can do two things," Rubel said. "She can create opportunities for constructive dialogue where the University gets to talk about the things it already does and gets some credit for them, and she can work on new partnership activities with us and showcase them to the whole community."
Rubel also explained just how the mayor elections could affect Tufts students.
"A mayor can make or implement policy in ways that could impact campus life," she said. "For example, there could be a crackdown on absentee-owned properties where students live off-campus. The noise ordinance could be more rigorously enforced. The city could hold up our lodging house licenses or occupancy permits. Resident parking could be enforced at Homecoming and Commencement. There are a number of ways in which the city has a say in the University's operations."
In the past, Tufts has gotten into problems with Somerville surrounding issues of building ownership, janitor outsourcing, and dog walking. The Tufts Administration Building (TAB) created controversy when the University raised rental fees on the space. For ten years, Tufts rented out space in the building to Somerville at below-market rates. After the contract expired, Tufts raised the rent to market level, upsetting some Somerville residents and city officials.
And janitors have been in the spotlight at Tufts recently protesting for higher wages, health insurance, and increased benefits. The rift between the University and the workers began in 1994 when Tufts stopped employing individual janitors and outsourced their duties. The decision resulted in the loss of jobs and pay cuts for the workers, a situation that hit home for many Somerville residents, as many of the workers were from the city.
"I think that was why [Tufts] felt that they should be involved in the process," DiBiaggio said. "Although, they were at the same time being challenged by their community for not paying a living wage, and they were outsourcing as well."
In another problem, many local - and not-so-local -dog owners had been bringing their pets to play on Tufts fields for years when the University fenced them off during the late '90s. After complaints from the Athletic Department - as well as community members who were displeased with the number of dogs in the area - Tufts banned dogs from its playing fields. The decision caused controversy within the local community at the time, but, according to Director of Facilities and Field Management Rick Miller, the situation has been resolved.
"We're going on about 3 and a half years [with the ban]," Miller said. "I've heard 95 percent positive feedback from both Tufts students and local community members."
Miller said that many of Tufts' neighbors have even called to express their approval of the decision of the canine ban on athletic fields. One of the fields that was most heavily used by the dogs has now been converted into a soccer field for local children - a move that pleased many community members, according to Miller.
As for such past conflicts, DiBiaggio doesn't see much change today from years past. "I don't think it was much different than it is now," he said. "We're very fortunate. We have a very good government in both communities here."
Rubel says that although there are some drawbacks for the cities hosting Tufts, the University has positive influences to add to the communities.
"It may be a reach to say we've improved life for Medford and Somerville residents, but we can definitely add something to people's lives if they're interested," Rubel said. "There is a wealth of cultural offerings on the campus that are open to the public. Neighbors can bring their children to symphony concerts in a comfortable atmosphere. Generations of local children share the experience of attending Kids' Day. Many residents enjoy the benefits of student volunteers, whether they are encouraging literacy in Medford or working with the visually impaired in Somerville. Some people close to the campus just enjoy the beauty of the place and come for walks here. The property values around the campus have, for the most part, stayed strong."
"As the name and reputation of Tufts spreads and grows, it carries a little bit of Somerville and Medford with it," she added.
On the other hand, Rubel said, there are negative aspects for Medford and Somerville in Tufts' presence, especially on the housing market and neighborhoods.
"The University is a tax-exempt institution, so while we provide our own police service, trash disposal, etc., we don't add to the cities' much-needed revenue stream and some residents get very angry about that," Rubel said. "And then there are the parties..."
But Rubel is confident the University and its surrounding cities can continue to work closely together in the future.
"Relations wax and wane," she said. "We may go through a tense period with one city or the other over a specific issue, but generally the relationships are marked by very open channels of communication and a strong desire to make the most of each opportunity."
