Photo © Peter Jelliffe 2009 via Flickr
The City of Somerville will soon be renegotiating a partnership agreement with Tufts University. Because Tufts is a non-profit organization that does not pay property taxes to the City, the partnership agreement details the voluntary contributions that Tufts agrees to make to the City of Somerville in return for the City services it benefits from like fire and police protection, snow removal, and street cleaning. The most recent partnership agreement outlines Tufts’ commitment to Somerville in the form of monetary contributions, student supports, and athletic field space for youth. The current agreement is available here. The prior agreement is available here.
This is an important time for thinking together about how this agreement can bring the greatest benefits to our community. The City of Somerville wants to hear Somerville residents’ reflections on Tufts University and suggestions for what they would like to see in this agreement and why.
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Summary Report of Resident Feedback
In the spring of 2018, the City of Somerville, Massachusetts, sought public input on what matters to residents and business owners about having Tufts University located in Somerville and what they would like to see included in the next community partnership agreement between Tufts and the City. This community input was collected through individual and small-group interviews of people with diverse perspectives, an online survey open to anyone, and an in-person public meeting held by the Mayor on May 29, 2018.
Click on the link below to view a report summarizing the feedback that the City collected.
Somerville Benefits Report (From Tufts)
The Director of Tufts Government and Community Relations provided the City with the following documents outlining the benefits Tufts provides to Somerville today:
March 5, 2020 Community Meeting
October 30, 2019 Community Meeting
May 29, 2018 Community Meeting and Survey
We would like to thank all of the residents who provided input at the May 29, 2018 community meeting, and all of those who shared their thoughts in our community survey. The survey is now closed. All of the themes and key issues from this survey and the community meeting were summarized (without attribution) for City staff in advance of the City’s conversations with Tufts, and that summary is available here.
If you have not yet had the opportunity to make your voice heard in this process, or if you have something to add, we welcome you to share your thoughts by emailing mayor@somervillema.gov.
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