Press Release Regarding Rally At Tonight's Planning Board Meeting

For Immediate release: December 16, 2010
For more info call: Rand Wilson at (617) 803-0799 (email rand.wilson@gmail.com) or
Tom McIntyre at (617) 650-4246 (tmcintyre@bacweb.org) or
Cecily Harwitt, (617)776-5931 ext. 226 (charwitt@somervillecdc.org)

Labor and Community Groups Urge Planning Board to Hold MaxPac Developer Accountable

Somerville, Mass. – Union members and community activists will rally for jobs at 5:30 PM outside the city Planning Board hearing on proposed revisions to KSS Realty's Special Permit seeking to modify the site design at the MaxPac housing development in Somerville.

"The planning board should table these design changes until KSS and its partners make an agreement to hire local people and use union labor," said Matt McLaughlin a leader of the "Save Our Somerville" community group.

"KSS is trying to cut corners with a plan to hire cheap, out-of-town labor. They are out of compliance with the Covenant signed with the city and not in-step with our community's standards," said Rand Wilson, a Somerville union organizer. "We hope the Planning Board and our city officials won't ignore the thousands of unemployed trades people who desperately need jobs in our community."

The Planning Board hearing will be at 6:00 p.m. at the Visiting Nurses Association, 259 Lowell Street, Community Room, 3rd Floor, Somerville, MA.

"We're going to petition the Board of Aldermen to hold a hearing on the Covenant language that KSS Realty signed with the City of Somerville," said Tom McIntyre, an International Rep with the Bricklayers union. "It clearly states that the city would like to see a union project with Somerville residents represented on the job. With the Kennedys' backing, the people of Somerville put their trust in this developer. Now Kennedy is out, and it's a whole new ball game."

"The well-being of our community depends on good jobs," said Julio Granadeno, a member of Jobs for Somerville, a new organizing committee of the Somerville Community Corporation. "That's why we're fighting -- and we'll keep fighting -- until we win justice."

On December 8, about 80 residents and union members rallied and picketed for jobs at the entrance to the MaxPac site off Clyde Street.