Assembly Square Plans Encounter Opposition

SOMERVILLE, MA-Nearly everyone agrees that the 145-acres of riverside property here needs to be developed. The battle over the 26-acre tract that Taurus New England Investments Corp. will be developing is evidence of the differing views on how that should be accomplished.

Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay signed a memorandum of agreement with the development company to build a mixed-use complex on the site of the Assembly Square Mall. The project will include a hotel, office park, parking, Home Depot and a waterfront park. Those who oppose this plan take issue with the fact that the mayor signed this agreement as well as the plan itself.

“That memorandum takes the form of a city contract,” Alderman-at-large Denise Provost tells GlobeSt.com. “I don’t think she has the power to do that.” Sean Fitzgerald, Mayor Kelly Gay’s press secretary, disagrees. “That’s the power and function of the mayor,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “She is supposed to negotiate these kind of arrangements.”