Friends,

Our campaign is in full swing! We're excited to talk to the voters about our accomplishments and our goals for the future.

We would love to have your help! Will you join our team of volunteers to help power this campaign forward? Can you contribute to our campaign fund? 

This has been a very busy year in the City Council, and I want to share some highlights, and our thoughts about the fiscal year 2026 budget that we just passed.

Veterans Memorial

One highlight in early June was the ceremony to break ground for the re-placement of the city’s Vietnam and Korean Wars Memorial on the Central Hill campus near City Hall. These and several other monuments had to be removed while the High School building project took place.

Now we are able to install them in the beautifully landscaped space and, in preparation, the stone and bronze elements have been cleaned and restored. The work of getting the monuments back to their rightful places has been done with considerable effort and great dedication by our veteran groups. I was proud to work with these distinguished neighbors, and it was an honor to stand with them as the site construction work began.

Somernova

I voted yes on the overlay zoning because, while not perfect, this process represents the best of what community-driven planning can look like — iterative, participatory, and anchored in long-term vision. The unanimous support from the Land Use Committee and the backing of the ward councilor reflects a broad consensus shaped by years of engagement, public meetings, and negotiation. This zoning, flanked by a landmark Community Benefits Agreement and a Project Labor Agreement, creates a rare opportunity to move from conflict to collaboration — and to bring real public benefit: local jobs, youth pipelines, arts space, and a climate-tech cluster that will expand our commercial tax base, something Somerville urgently needs as lab vacancies grow and fiscal pressures mount.

That said, I recognize the process wasn’t flawless. We should learn from that and commit to doing better. That’s why I support the creation of an independent oversight committee, ideally including members who opposed the project, to ensure transparency, monitor implementation, and hold all parties accountable moving forward. Participation is the price of progress — and by choosing to stay engaged, even when it’s difficult, we preserve the possibility of a Somerville that is both innovative and inclusive.

For more background on Somernova, the Boston Globe and Cambridge Day articles are informative.

Fiscal Year 2026 Budget

At the end of June, the City Council completed our the annual budget review, which fixes the

taxes, revenue and spending for the new Fiscal Year, starting July 1. This year we adopted a budget that totals $380 million, only a modest increase of 5.5% from last year’s $360 million. 

We've put together a web page with a detailed overview of the budget with a lot more details - check it out. 

Enjoy the beautiful weather, and please stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Wilfred Mbah
Somerville City Council Vice President

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Twitter- @MbahCouncilor

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