Magoun Square is Changing

Somerville, Mass. - Magoun Square resident Melody Chapin is not Brazilian. But, she told Somerville Neighborhood News, “I’m in solidarity with the Brazilians who are having a hard time keeping their businesses up.” As Chapin walked around Magoun Square recently, she stopped by a Nepali-owned grocery store and bought a Brazilian soda at her favorite bakery, but she also found shuttered shops and boarded-up windows. She’s worried about gentrification and about the fact that lower and middle-income people, including members of the city’s rich immigrant communities, are moving out, leaving the city much poorer. “That’s what really worries me about Somerville, and that’s what I see happening a lot in Somerville, and I don’t like that,” she said.  

This Somerville Neighborhood News excerpt is special to Open Media Boston. It originally aired on March 11, 2014 on Somerville Community Access Television. For more information on SNN, visit them on Facebook -http://bit.ly/SvilleNews. Or their website - http://www.scatvsomerville.org/snn.

Note: Subsequently SNN discovered that the Salvation Army is only closed for renovations and the laundry is closed for repairs due to a fire.