The Somerville library belongs to all of us. It deserves the funding, the maintenance, and the attention that a public institution this important requires.

Today, the county confirmed what many of us feared: our branch at 35 West End Avenue will close its doors next Friday.

The county has said plainly that the building's infrastructure can no longer support the services our residents rely on. Library staff have worked hard to keep the doors open under difficult conditions, and I am grateful to them. Somerville holds responsibility for this building, and I see that not as a burden to point at, but as an opportunity: this is exactly the kind of challenge I want to take on as your next Council member.

Deferred maintenance is never cheaper in the long run. Every year we wait, the eventual price tag grows, and that is not a responsible way to manage our town's assets or our residents' tax dollars.

I know what a space like this means to a community, because I have felt it myself. My daughter was born in the winter of 2024, and in those early, housebound months, the library was where we went. I would sit with her in the children's section and read aloud, just so she could hear my voice. It was one of the only places we could go. Not long after, that same section closed for repairs, and when it reopened in a much smaller area, it had not been built with children in mind: no seating for young kids, a glass wall that posed a danger to early walkers, and an emergency exit onto an outdoor staircase with no alarm on the door. I lost a routine I loved with my nieces and nephews too, picking them up from school, doing homework and checking out books at the library, getting ice cream after. It is a small thing until you no longer have it.

But this is not only a story about parents and kids.

A library is where a student prepares for the SATs, where a job seeker applies for work online, where a small business owner researches a grant, where a senior on a fixed income comes in out of the summer heat, and where a family without reliable heat finds warmth in January. It is one of the last places left in Somerville where you do not need money, a membership, or an appointment to be welcome.

This also matters for reasons beyond any one visit. Homebuyers weigh library quality when they choose a town, and a vibrant library downtown draws foot traffic to the businesses around it. A strong library is not just a public good, it is an investment in what makes Somerville a place people want to live and shop. That is exactly why it is worth investing in, and why I want to lead that effort.

I am running for Borough Council because I want to be the person who gets this done. In my work, I negotiate complex agreements for a living, and I know how to bring different stakeholders to the table and reach a result. I will bring that same discipline here, working alongside our town leadership, the county, and our community. If elected, restoring a fully functioning Somerville library will be a defining priority of my time in office. I will do everything I can to:

• Secure dedicated town funding for a permanent, properly maintained library space
  
  
• Pursue federal, state and county grants for library infrastructure and capital improvement
  
  
• Launch a public fundraising campaign, so the residents and businesses who love this library have a direct way to help bring it back
  
  
• Build for the future, not just the past, with a space that includes real technology access, meeting rooms for small businesses and nonprofits, and room for our library to grow with our town

Generations of Somerville families have grown up inside our library's walls. It has been, for many of us, our first public institution.

This is the issue that brought me into this race.

Somerville deserves a library that works for every one of us, and I am asking for your vote this fall to help build it. Together, we can make sure the next new mother, the next student walking home from school, and every neighbor who simply needs a place to belong has a library worthy of them.