Rebekah Gewirtz knows that effective leadership means working hard and working with the community. It means recognizing our diversity as strength. And it means bringing people together to solve problems, and find new opportunities to strengthen our community.
A proven community leader, Rebekah is committed to our values and our concerns and will work toward an open and accessible city government.
Strong Public Schools: Nothing is more important for a strong community than public education. Each child deserves a quality education. Rebekah will work to increase funding and improve the quality of our public schools. Local aid has been cut by more than $12 million in Somerville. Rebekah will use her experience working in state government to advocate for increased funding for Somerville schools at the state level to ensure our children have the resources they need to succeed.
Affordable Housing: Many of our families are struggling with the high costs of housing. Longtime residents are struggling to stay in the community where they grew up and newer residents are finding it difficult to achieve the dream of home ownership. Rising rents are also making it hard for renters to make ends meet. Rebekah will work to court developers interested in building housing that is affordable for Somerville residents so that our teachers, firefighters, and long time residents can afford to live here. She will also fight to decrease property taxes for seniors living on a fixed income.
Public Transportation: Improved public transportation is crucial to Somerville’s future. It attracts business to the city, reduces reliance on automobiles, lessens pollution and improves our overall quality of life. Partly because of her demonstrated commitment to better transportation, Rebekah has received the endorsement of the MA Sierra Club. Rebekah will seek to increase public transit access by working with community organizations, businesses and residents to continue progress bringing the Green Line into Somerville. Rebekah will work to have a stop in Ball Square and an orange line station in Assembly Sq; she also believes that the city must improve the congestion problems at crowded city intersections. Additionally, as Ward 6 has a large bicyclist population, she will work to make the city more accessible and safe for bicyclists.
Smart Development: Rebekah knows we need smart, sustainable, and fair development that builds on our diversity. Smart economic development increases revenue for the city and decreases our reliance on regressive property taxes for city revenue. Rebekah will bring the community together around development issues so we can assure that development meets broader interests of the neighbors and the community rather than just the narrow interests of some developers. New growth must also take into account the high population and street density that impacts Somerville neighborhoods.
