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Seattle also has seven hills, there are probably many other examples (Worcester?).
Seattle also has seven hills, there are probably many other examples (Worcester?).

== Way too much emphasis on crime ==

Crime is only a minor problem anywhere in Somerville. This article puts way too much emphasis on an unimportant topic.
---
- I lived in East Somerville. In East Somerville - crime was not a minor problem,
but I agree, there's too much emphasis on crime. I suspect it's because we're proud
of what we have had to deal with.

When I lived in Somerville - I was only aware of the Winter Hill and MS13 gang.
The reference to five gangs probably should be removed unless it can be further documented.
[[User:kb1cvh|kb1cvh]] 23:23 UTC Nov 03 2006
I've added some links to documentation about the crime issues with MS13 in East Somerville.
I was living a block from the Dunkin Donuts and knew the girls that were raped.
However, MS13 is an international gang. East Boston, Los Angeles, and many other communities
have issues with them also. East Somerville and East Cambridge and East Boston see new Americans
arriving constantly. There are some bad lots amoung them, while most are fine people.

Do we truly need to highlight the criminal issues that we've dealt with, which aren't
truly unique and special to Somerville ? Remember, this is a globally viewable site.
I'm updating this from California.

I love Somerville.

[[User:e57|Mark Heller]] 08:05, 10 October 2007
I will disagree that Somerville had/has only a minor problem with crime. It has gone in cycles for generations... But will agree that they are not a sole problem unique to the area. But rather a symptom of it's location between so many universities and colleges. The presence of which, lead to continuing problems of anti-intellectualism, and animosities that eventually lead to crimes of opportunity (and occasionally violence) against an ever encroaching upper class due to its location. It has been a reaction to the cycles of gentrification of the city since it's inception. Students and teachers of nearby schools move into the area - and are seen as outsiders, then they have children who see themselves as insiders, who eventually see themselves in the same socio-economic glut as their peers. They eventually have children, who find themselves economically deprived in relation to their continually refreshed population of college students in Cambridge and Medford.

Other factors in the cycle has much to do which it's demographics, and again in relation to its nieghboring communities. In the 18th ~ 19th ceturies prior to the cities inception - the area was agriculural land serving Boston and Cambridge. In the 20th century to the 21st, it served as industrial facilies, worker, and service class housing. My point being, that the area was always one economic class below nieghboring communities. And for the forseeable future, many areas of the eastern areas of Somerville always will be due to urban and actual building architecture and location in relationship to Boston and Cambridge. A phenomina not un-like the "East-end of London", or Bronx of NYC, or Oakland's proximity to San Francisco. These areas will always enjoy an historical reputation for crime and economic depravity in relationship to thier nighboring urban centers. While the ebb and flow trends of economics do change - the locations do not.

While I grew up in both Union Sq, and East Somerville, I too am writing from California....

[[User:Kb1cvh|Mr. Grace]] 21:45, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

The entire paragraph starting with "Mystic Projects" is dubious and probably should go away. The Clarendon Hill Towers are not "close by" the Mystic development; in fact they are nowhere near each other. [[User:Ron Newman|Ron Newman]] 23:00, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

== George Dilboy ==

Why not include [[George Dilboy]] among the famous people of Somerville? Read his page and you will see that was the first Greek American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, was cited by General Pershing as one of the 10 greatest heroes of WWI, and was honored by three US presidents. And he has a field named after him in Somerville. I think that merits a mention here, especially compared to the other folks on this list.[[User:Notmyrealname|Notmyrealname]] 04:08, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

: Dilboy wasn't born in Somerville. I'm adding a "notable residents" section. -- [[User:Akb4|Akb4]] 14:57, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

== Map request ==

{{reqmapin|Massachusetts}}
It would be neat to have maps to show:
* The current features, such as major roads and squares.
* Borders with surrounding present-day municipalities and nearby features in those communities.
* The original shoreline showing Charlestown Neck.
-- [[User:Beland|Beland]] 23:19, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

== NPOV - Demographics ==

I tagged the last paragraph of Demographics with NPOV because it reads more like a "letter to the editor" than an unbiased look at town. I am not from Somerville, so I wouldn't attempt to rewrite it. I think some of the actual facts could be left if they were verified, but some of the ideas (like: people "ignoring problems of working-class families such as drugs, gang violence, and suicides...") need to be either quantified or removed. Anyone from Somerville like to take a shot at cleaning up this section?--[[User:Dalmatian Mommy|Dalmatian Mommy]] 04:27, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

<blockquote>Yeah, that's a poorly-worded explanation of the City's problems. I'm not sure I'm the guy to improve it, but there must be a way to address the issue without POV problems. The "anti-Yuppie" graffiti got some major play in the local press, and conflicts between the Mystic View Task Force people & local old-timers has spilled into the police log in recent years, so some mention of the tension clearly belongs in the article. Speaking of which, this line - <i>More recently, lobbying by grassroots organizations is attempting to revive and preserve Somerville's "small town" neighborhood environments by supporting local business, public transit, gardens and pedestrian/biker access.</i> - probably needs to be edited. MVTF is pretty controversial, linking them from that sentence makes them seem like some blissed-out garden club. So, I support some extensive re-writing of the problematic sections of this article. I might even take a run at it, if no one proves more motivated than I. [[User:BankyEdwards|BankyEdwards]] 20:48, 2 April 2007 (UTC) </blockquote>

==Notable residents==
An anon IP address [[User:76.188.162.249|76.188.162.249]] has twice added someone named John Gorman to the list of "notable residents," and also to the same list for Malden, MA. However, the description with this entry does not match any of the [[John Gorman]]s on the disambiguation page. The rest of the entries for this user appear to be for the sole purpose of promoting this John Gorman. Please establish notability before reinserting this item on this or other city pages. Thanks. [[User:Notmyrealname|Notmyrealname]] 02:59, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
:It does appear to be self-promotion, and a form of spamming. That user and [[User:Gmanusa|Gmanusa]] together have put Gorman on the "notable residents" lists tonight for at least '''four''' other cities or towns. Does wiki have criteria for notability, or is eligibility totally arbitrary? [[User:Hertz1888|Hertz1888]] 04:07, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Revision as of 05:43, 28 October 2007

History

Should political history of Somerville be included in the 'History' section. While the first Democratic mayor is a significant event, what about other political firsts ? Seems to me that theres too much politicalizing in the Somerville entry.

Additionally - the anti-Irish sentiments were endemic at the time, not just to Somerville. Mr. Grace 21:31, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Moved political history of Somerville to a new stub page. Perhaps someone will/can add to it. Mr. Grace 22:55, 9 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mark Heller 08:05, 10 October 2007 Another historical note may be - with some confirmation of course, that Crispus Attucks was once buried in Someville (then Charlestown) before later being moved to the Granary Burying Ground. There is a marker on the cut hillside on the northern sidewalk of Washington St. between Washington Terr., and Boston St. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granary_Burying_Ground

Population Density

On the page that lists north American Cities by population density, Somerville comes second. Central Falls, RI, is fifth on the list, and it is stated on the city's page that Central Falls is indeed the fifth densest city in the United States. This claim is also made of Somersville. Clearly, one page is wrong. Please help me clear this up. Daly 21:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If the city's population is 77,478, how can it possibly be the fifth densest city with population under 50,000? 

--

Changed it from 50K to 100K and added cities in the under 100K list above it.

I'd love to find the datasets which I once had that had the area and population info. I calculated density at that time. It seems correct at this time to me, but I'd love to put up a web page with the analysis. 

 Mr. Grace 20:27, 5 November 2006 (UTC) 22:48 UTC 03 November 2006[reply]

It is the 5th densest over 50k:

http://www.demographia.com/db-2000city50kdens.htm

Someone had made links out of the names of the hills of Somerville. However, two of them were red links, two of them (Cobble Hill and Prospect Hill) lead to pages about unrelated neighborhoods, two (Spring Hill and Walnut Hill) lead to disambiguation pages that don't include the Somerville locations, and Winter Hill leads to a disambiguation page that does include Winter Hill, Somerville, Massachusetts. I've changed the one useful one to the non-ambiguous page and de-linked the rest. DenisMoskowitz 20:47, 26 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Somerville Museum note

The Somerville Museum is one hidden local treasure for discovering Somerville's roots, in a beautiful building run by volunteers, at 1 Westwood Rd on the corner with Central St. Call 617-666-9810 for information on the latest historical and artistic exhibits.

I moved this fact to Wikitravel, since it is more touristy than encyclopedic. -- Beland 14:43, 1 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

More about the seven hills

First of all, I've been told that two of the seven hills were radically flattened to steal earth to fill in the marsh that became the Back Bay. I don't know which hills those were. I also can't cite my source, but I know there's a book about how the Back Bay became the Back Bay.

Second, there's another city with seven hills, which is Rome, Italy. I've been told that Rome and Somerville have a "sister city" arrangement, but I can't find any evidence of this on the internet.

Since I can't cite either of these things I've left them off, but maybe somebody else knows sources for these. --Dbackeberg


Seattle also has seven hills, there are probably many other examples (Worcester?).

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