Somerville Community Corporation (SCC) is currently endeavoring to pass the Local Hiring Ordinance, a law that would require projects receiving more than $50,000 in city funds to fill 30 percent of the generated jobs with Somerville residents.
SCC worked to develop the ordinance and staff have been working closely with Somerville's Board of Aldermen gain approval for it, according to SCC community organizer Cecily Harwitt.
SCC is a local group that works with low− and middle−income residents to achieve economic sustainability in order to preserve the diversity in Somerville.
A project that receives more than $50,000 in city subsidies, Harwitt said, would be subject to the new ordinance, guaranteeing jobs to Somerville residents. She added that Somerville residents are paying the taxes to support these city projects and therefore should profit from their investments.
The ordinance was modeled after similar pre−existing ordinances according to Harwitt.
In collaboration with city officials, the SCC introduced the ordinance to the Somerville Board of Aldermen in June, according to Harwitt.
The entire board unanimously supported it, she noted, and the Legislative Matters Committee is currently reviewing the ordinance.
Alderman at Large and Vice Chairperson of the Legislative Matters Committee Bill White Jr. told the Daily that the committee is responsible for reviewing the legality of the ordinance, which is still in its draft state and is in the process of being amended.
Once the committee approves the ordinance, a public hearing will be held to allow residents to express their opinions on the ordinance, he said. The final product will then be presented to the Board of Aldermen for a deciding vote, according to White.
In addition to reserving 30 percent of jobs for Somerville residents, the ordinance stipulates that such projects must also provide 10 percent of those jobs to disadvantaged workers. The ordinance defines a disadvantaged worker as having an income below a certain level or facing an employment barrier, such as being homeless.
White noted that the local courts have been very strict in terms of passing such ordinances. Non−residents who work in Somerville oppose the ordinance on the basis of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which forbids the abridgement of rights of citizens, according to Matt McLaughlin, an SCC board member.
McLaughlin, who is also the founder of local group Save our Somerville, is surprised that the ordinance is meeting such opposition because the other 70 percent of jobs from the city projects would still be offered to non−Somerville residents, he said.
Residents are paying to live in Somerville, McLaughlin said, and many of them need jobs during these tough economic times.
Harwitt added that the city has been investing heavily and it would be beneficial to the economy if unemployed residents could receive work.
Local groups like SCC, will continue to push and gain support for the ordinance in hopes of presenting it the Board of Aldermen for final review by December, according to McLaughlin.
"We have to get people to support the ordinance, put pressure on our elected officials and make sure it gets passed," McLaughlin said. "We are not going to stop until it's done."
