Ward 1 Talks Broadway, Recycling, East Somerville Community School

The residents of East Somerville met at the Michael E. Capuano Early Childhood Center Wednesday night for the Ward 1 .

Here are some of the topics they discussed:

Broadway reconstruction
The city is drawing up plans to reconstruct Broadway in East Somerville. The plan calls for one lane of travel, wider sidewalks, a bike lane, new pedestrian lighting, trash cans, bike racks and benches. It also calls for a performance and gathering area in front of the library and upgrades to utilities.

Ward 1 Alderman William Roche said that Broadway is currently used as a cut-through for drivers who exit Route 93 on their way to Charlestown. The new plans for Broadway would discourage this cut-through traffic, he said.

The timeline for the reconstruction is not fully established. The city hopes to complete plans by July. After that, the state must approve the plans—that could happen in the fall. Once plans are approved, the reconstruction would become a state project, with work potentially beginning in spring 2013.

Single-stream recycling
Ward 1 residents were cautiously excited about single-stream recycling, which could be rolled out across the city this fall.

Rehabilitation of East Somerville Community School
Demolition at the , which suffered a devastating fire in 2007, is under way. Somerville's aim is that 90 percent of material from the demolition will be recycled. Construction of the new school should be complete in October 2012. Builders would then complete a "punch list" of items over the winter of 2012 and 2013, and the city hopes students will attend the new school at the beginning of the school year in 2013.