Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone wants feedback from the 40 percent of local residents who are between the ages 21 and 35.
And last night he appeared at the Somerville Theater to ask for it during the First Annual State of Young Somerville Address.
"I want to hear from you," Curtatone told the approximately 20 people in the audience. "What are we missing here? What are we getting right? And how do we make it better? ... How do we keep you here?"
The event resulted from the work of the newly formed Young Somerville Advisory Group.
The group meets once a month with Curtatone or representatives from his office to discuss ways in which the city government can satisfy the needs of its young adults. It is "a vehicle for feedback and a sounding board," group member Jen Vorse told the Daily.
Curtatone was battling a weak sound system that often screeched with noisy feedback, as well as a number of vociferous toddlers who ran up and down the aisles through much of the first half of his speech.
Still, he touched on many aspects of life in Somerville and outlined ways in which the government was working to improve them. Specifically, Curtatone discussed recent initiatives dealing with public transportation, environmental sustainability, affordable housing, local education and renovations in various sections of the city.
On the subject of public transportation, Curtatone lauded Governor Deval Patrick's pledge on Friday that Somerville would have its own Green Line T stop by 2014, explaining that local residents "want to live in the urban core."
"We were very excited," he said. "We've been fighting for years to make sure the state keeps its promise to extend the Green Line into Somerville."
Curtatone then transitioned into a discussion of environmental sustainability.
"We created the city's first-ever Office of Sustainability and the Environment ... and it's important," he said. "City Hall is now all powered by green energy."
Curtatone devoted a major portion of his speech to recent urban development initiatives throughout Somerville. "Assembly Square is a major cultural change in our community," he said, referencing the long-awaited urban renewal project that is starting up there.
"There were several years - almost a decade - of logjam because of [a] lack of planning," he said.
But now the plan is back on-track.
As part of it, the city plans on "bringing in European principles of traffic management," he said. "You'll start to see along the waterfront an incredible neighborhood being developed. ... You'll see a new neighborhood that can easily access the [Mystic River] waterfront."
Other urban renewal projects that the mayor discussed are planned at Union Square and the Inner Belt.
Curtatone also emphasized the need for well-priced housing, particularly for Somerville's many struggling artists.
"How do you keep Somerville affordable?" he asked. "How do you keep people here for a long time?"
While the local government could "write it off as a regular or national problem," he said that his administration wants to deal head-on with affordability issues. "We all have our responsibility to work around that," he said.
He also touched briefly on education and crime in Somerville, mostly when prompted by audience members during the question-and-answer section following the address.
Ultimately, Curtatone's main concern was his desire to support a community of young people in Somerville by meeting their needs and encouraging them to remain in the city.
"We believe in using data [to do this]," he told the audience. "You're a great source of data for us."
