Congratulations to Carl Sciortino on successfully challenging Vincent Ciampa's seat in the Massachusetts state legislature. It is interesting to note that the changing demographics of the City of Somerville probably had a lot to do with this upset victory, and your September 21 article ("Tufts grad wins nomination with door-to-door strategy") correctly cited this.
However, I would like to challenge the assertion of Tufts political science lecturer Michael Goldman that it was the end of rent control in Cambridge that led to this demographic shift. While on the surface it may make sense that gentrification in Cambridge has lead to an influx of lower-income (and somehow more liberal) residents into Somerville, the facts do not bear this out.
Over the last ten years, Somerville has become a relatively wealthier community, with rents and incomes rising as older immigrant communities move out and a younger, professional crowd has moved in. According to the City of Somerville's website and the Census Bureau, between 1990 and 2000 Somerville saw its median household income rise almost 60 percent.
With rents rising around the Red Line and Tufts University, it seems disingenuous to not note the effect these progressive yuppies have had on the political landscape of the 34th District. As the emblematic neighborhood in Somerville has changed from predominantly Italian Winter Hill to predominantly yuppie Davis Square, I question whether the influx of these young professionals hasn't changed the political landscape more than the end of oppressive government-enforced rent control in neighboring Cambridge.
Of course, it is no surprise that when searching for the source of changing social dynamics, a professor of political science would overlook the private marketplace in favor of attributing the change to government regulation.
Jonathan Lieber
LA '01
