{"id":3525,"date":"2017-07-21T07:20:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T11:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=3525"},"modified":"2017-11-26T18:05:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T23:05:57","slug":"artfarm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2017\/07\/21\/artfarm\/","title":{"rendered":"ArtFarm Proponents Tell Somerville Mayor They Fear Project May Have Been A \u2018Bait And Switch\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disclosure: I regularly work with the Somerville Arts Council to present festivals in the city.<\/em>
\n* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\u00a0* * * *<\/p>\n

\u201cArtFarm<\/a> is going to happen,\u201d Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone told about 55 people who attended a community forum at the Brickbottom<\/a> artists building last night to hear the mayor \u201ctake questions on the future of the Somerville ArtFarm and the city’s commitment to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But people attending the meeting, told the mayor that they were frustrated by the lack of progress in the three years since the city announced that it had won a $415,000 grant from ArtPlace America<\/a> to fund construction of \u201ca creative commons,\u201d a community facility combining art and agriculture, on the site of the former waste transfer station on Poplar Street at Linwood Street, near Union Square (pictured above).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me like this is a bait and switch,\u201d one woman told Curatone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it feels like tonight is pretty devastating,\u201d another woman said.<\/p>\n

\"Somerville<\/a>
Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone speaks about ArtFarm during at meeting at Brickbottom, July 20, 2017. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They were reacting to Curtatone telling the Brickbottom crowd that the city-owned Poplar Street site might have to also\u2014or instead\u2014be used by the city to accommodate other projects. The mayor said the city has to construct a new fire station located in that neighborhood as well as a police station that could be located anywhere in the city.<\/p>\n

Brad Rawson, the director of the city\u2019s Transportation and Infrastructure Division, and Rob King, the city\u2019s director of capital projects and planning, told the group that part of the site might also be needed for a pumping station and storm water storage tank that would be part of a major project to separate storm water from sewage. \u201cWe can\u2019t move forward with ArtFarm till we know what it looks like, \u201c King said.<\/p>\n

Curtatone said the city has reduced wherewithal to purchase other properties for these projects because of the ballooning costs of real estate in the city and the $50 million the city had to commit to keep the MBTA\u2019s Green Line expansion to Somerville going after state threats to kill the planned train line.<\/p>\n

King said the city hopes to complete a space feasibility study for the various projects sometime this fall.<\/p>\n

The 2.2-acre site was also contaminated with toxins that needed to be removed, Curtatone said. In the meantime, the city has been allowing construction firms to use the site for staging vehicles and equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some challenges on this site,\u201d Curtatone said. \u201cThey are not challenges we cannot overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Somerville<\/a>
Somerville Arts Council Director Greg Jenkins speaks about ArtFarm during at meeting at Brickbottom, July 20, 2017. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The upshot is the Somerville Arts Council constructed a greenhouse on the site a year ago (pictured at top), and a large raised bed and refrigeration unit have been added since, but they sit empty, and unconnected to water or electricity, officials said. The city arts agency has also presented occasional one-day cultural festivals on the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pumped up to do this,\u201d Curtatone said of ArtFarm. \u201cIf short term, it\u2019s here, or long-term, or if long-term there\u2019s a better site.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArtFarm on that site, it would be most likely a temporary\u201d development, Curttone said. ArtFarm may be moved to another side, the mayor added. \u201cArtFarm in our opinion is bold and abnormal and should function long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we take some piece of that property and clean it up?\u201d a woman in the crowd asked. \u201cWe need to start the activation of this idea that is ArtFarm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others asked if the mayor if the city do more at the site for immediate day-to-day use.<\/p>\n

Audience members worried that more than $1 million in funding already won for ArtFarm might be lost because of project delays.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to lose the funding opportunities. But we want to do it right,\u201d Curtatone said.<\/p>\n

To audience members, who worried that their efforts to help plan ArtFarm over the past three years might be wasted, Curtatone said, \u201cAll that work is going to pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do sense in here the frustration. I apologize for your frustration,\u201d Curtatone said. \u201cArtFarm is going to happen. We\u2019re going to work with you to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtatone pledged to return to the group a week or so after Labor Day for more discussion and news of progress the city is making. He quipped, \u201cHold the pitchforks and knives for one more meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Disclosure: I regularly work with the Somerville Arts Council to present festivals in the city. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\u00a0* * * * \u201cArtFarm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,114],"tags":[93,26],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3525"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3939,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3525\/revisions\/3939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}