Leaders from Somerville's school committee, city council and mayor's office used their Jan. 6 organizational remarks to outline a shared agenda for 2025, naming housing affordability, school funding, climate action, public safety oversight, and infrastructure among top priorities.

Alana Kripchen, chair of the Somerville School Committee, emphasized school funding and inclusive instruction. Kripchen said the committee “believe[s] in strong funding for our public schools” and in “teaching with cultural competency and critical thinking,” adding: “We believe in not banning books, but instead engaging in thoughtful discussion around potentially difficult content.” She highlighted support for LGBTQ+ students, immigrant families, and Black and Brown students as central commitments of the committee.

Judy Pena Neufeld, newly elected president of the Somerville City Council, framed the year around shared local values and housing stability. Pena Neufeld said Somerville must “confront the realities that threaten the well-being of that very community, housing affordability, transit and transportation challenges, climate change, the displacement of our small businesses, crumbling infrastructure, and so much more.” She urged the city to pursue tenant protections, affordable housing and safer streets while noting the council tends to agree more often than it disagrees.

Mayor Katiana Ballantyne provided the most detailed policy summary. Ballantyne highlighted a recent upgrade to Somerville's bond rating and several housing and workforce initiatives. In her remarks she said the city had “distributed over $9,500,000 in flexible and rental assistance, helping more than 400 households stay housed,” and that the municipal voucher program had “moved 29 families from uncertainty to safe permanent housing.” She described the city's early action acquisition fund as having purchased 15 units and funded the development of 60 income-restricted units, and said the city has “684 units in our affordable housing pipeline.”

Ballantyne also announced administrative and operational items: a triple-A bond rating from Standard & Poor's (described as earned for a second consecutive year), near-term contract agreements with municipal unions, a warming center that opened for the season, and an incoming new fire station scheduled to open in spring 2025. She said the city will spend $243,000,000 on sewer-related infrastructure projects including Somerville Ave sewer overhaul and Spring Hill sewer separation work, and noted Winter Hill School advanced to the Massachusetts School Building Authority feasibility phase.

On public safety and oversight, Ballantyne said she had appointed Shamaine Benford as Somerville's new police chief and that the city would release recommendations from a public safety oversight task force and hire a project manager to carry that work forward. She described an approach that pairs enforcement with partnership and community supports.

Ending: The three leaders positioned Somerville to continue multi‑sector initiatives in housing, schools, climate, workforce development and infrastructure in 2025, emphasizing inclusive engagement and operational steps already underway.