Council Formation

What is a neighborhood council?

A “neighborhood council” is a type of group the Somerville government can formally recognize that will give Davis Square residents, business owners, and workers a seat at the table with private developers who want to reshape Davis Square. 

We also want to be a means for residents to connect and more effectively organize around projects and priorities beyond the formal duties of a “neighborhood council”.  You qualify if you live, work, regularly volunteer, or receive social services in Davis Square.

Where are things right now?

The DSNC Board has been making subtantial progress toward petitioning the Somerville City Council to be legally recognized. Here is an overview of the steps and where we are:

✅ Get more residents involved with the DSNC

We can't achieve formal city recognition unless we do our best to reach everyone who lives and works in Davis Square and form a group that welcomes their diverse views and backgrounds.  We have come a long way, but we still have more to do!

• • 💬 Forum thread about outreach

✅ Coordinate further with other neighborhood councils

Members of the Gilman and Union Square Neighborhood Councils have graciously lent us their time, knowledge, and experience as we learn more about neighborhood council processes.

• • 📄 Notes on Becoming a Neighborhood Council from the GSNC (PDF)

Their continuing to attend our meetings and share their knowledge and experience has been invaluable!

✅ Coordinate further with the City Council to learn more about neighborhood council processes

We reached out to City councilors about various questions—answers we have received are below.

✅ Bylaws were officially adopted at the April 2025 general meeting

✅ Elect a Board: The first DSNC Board was elected in August 2025. Subsequent elections will be annually in April.

✅ Register as a nonprofit

Our Treasurer has spearheaded the processes of registering the DSNC as a 501(c)4 non-profit. We are officially recognized as a non-profit by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

🔜 City Council Approval

We passed our bylaws, so now we just need formal approval from the Somerville City Council!

🗂️ Want to get straight into the weeds?

We have 📂 a shared Google Drive folder with all our relevant work-in-progress documents.

Some questions we are investigating:

As we learn more about the neighborhood council formation process, some questions raised by interested folks that we are looking into include:

• This will enable residents to have more of a say in discussions with private developers; will it also enable residents to have more of a say in city infrastructure or zoning decisions?

  • Answer: It sounds like a neighborhood council won't have any more direct ability to affect zoning, but because we will be a coordinated group of residents and in communication with developers, we will be in a prime position to pressure the City Council to make changes.

• Are there any smaller changes a DSNC could implement ourselves (with approval from the city) rather than waiting for the city to do it?

  • Answer: It depends on the change.  While being a neighborhood council won't give us greater authority than any other coordinated group of residents, we can still connect with other local groups, artists, etc. for certain activities/performances/events/installations.  On the other hand, it sounds like certain street fixes (e.g., repainting a faded crosswalk) may only be done by city contractors.

• Could a DSNC organize an event with residents and businesses and coordinate with the city and MBTA to close Elm St. for the day (as with events like HONK Fest), or would such an event need to be planned entirely by the city?

  • Answer: Yes!  While being a neighborhood council won't give us greater authority than any other coordinated group of residents, we can still, as a coordinated group, work with all those groups to plan such events!

We are also keeping note of other questions Davis residents, workers, and customers have raised that we want to investigate when possible, including:

• It was mentioned at the Davis Commercial Area Plan meeting that Somerville has a vacancy ordinance that is limited in its effectiveness by state law.  What, precisely, needs to change at the state level to make that ordinance effective?

• What can we do to improve bus service through Davis?  What is happening with bus signal priority or bus lane enforcement in Davis?

• Where do buses get diverted when Elm St. closes for events (such as HONK Fest)?  Can data from those diversions inform the Elmway project?

  • The DSNC Elmway Action Group is communicating with the City to learn more about this.

• Why aren't developers building with current zoning?

• How can Elm St. pedestrianization efforts stay compatible with local businesses' operations?

  • The DSNC Elmway Action Group is meeting with local merchants to learn more about this.

Have answers or want to help us find them? Join our mailing list/forum, and let us know how you want to be involved!