E-Mail This Article to a Friend Mr. Mayor (continued)

Q: Why’d you get behind the gay-marriage issue so vocally?

A: It was really quite simple. My whole point, it wasn’t even about whether you’re for or against same-sex marriages; the issue was whether you’re going to treat people the same. I was an original proponent of civil unions. I saw people who were opposed to civil unions or [same-sex] marriage embrace the position I took, or the city took, because they felt people were being treated unfairly. Somerville has always treated people the same, and to use an archaic law from 1913, when the crux of the law was originally motivated by trying to stop interracial marriages, to use that as a hurdle to basic constitutional principles is outrageous. To me, it was just the right thing to do.

Q: Somerville obviously isn’t known for being a liberal mecca the way a place like Cambridge is. How have Somerville residents responded to your support of gay marriage?

A: Very positive. And Somerville’s transformed; people have said we’ve out-Cambridged Cambridge on that issue. We’re not tolerant of discrimination, and we demand people be treated the same here. We’ve been persistent and tenacious on that issue. And people understand that. This is a very accepting and welcoming community, we always have been; it’s always been a community of immigrants, a community of diversity. Our diversity’s even broader now.

Q: Did you ever imagine you’d be going toe-to-toe with Governor Romney?

A: On that issue, no. I guess that’s one of the surprises. But I’m glad I had an opportunity to take a stance on it.

Q: So there was no question that you’d challenge the 1913 statute? You knew you were going to do that?

A: Absolutely. We knew always we were going to treat people the same when we issued those licenses. The governor sometimes acts like there’s only a financial bottom line to what you do in governance. But there are different bottom lines: there are cultural bottom lines, there are social bottom lines. And this is one of those issues. You really have to take a stance and a position. We were always on the right side of the law and we still are; we’ll fight to stay on the right side of what is fair, what is just, and what is equitable.

Q: Tell me about the hiring of John Hannah. How’d that come about?

A: I actually had coached football; I was the assistant coach up until I was fully engulfed in the campaign. The head coach moved on to Florida after we had some success here, and if you ask John, he’ll tell you he rediscovered his love for coaching youth working at Governor Dummer Academy, and he wanted to go to a community where he could have the biggest impact, not just coaching football but on kids in general. I’ve been coaching athletics and doing youth programs and mentoring for almost 20 years now, and the one thing I was looking for was someone who was going to be there for the young people, not just the football team; we’re doing the youth-development programming, helping to coordinate that. Someone who was going to be there seven days a week for young people. He wanted to only go to a place where he could have the biggest, most positive impact on young people. I just openly and honestly told him why this was the place for him to be.

There’s a disconnect, and there’s been one for many years in the city, with the problems facing youth today, and youth programming. We have major problems with gang violence, suicide amongst our youth, and drug abuse, opiate addiction. The focus has to be not just on facilities, but on programming, preventative programming, and empowering teens to make social change in our community. John realized that, and that’s why he chose to come here.

Q: There’ve been rumblings that he’s too hard on the kids. Any truth to that?

A: No, that’s not accurate. No. He’s accomplished more in the last four months than we have in the last five to 10 years.

Q: What’s the status of Somerville dealing with the road closures during the Democratic National Convention?

A: That was one of those surprise issues, I guess. We’re working closely with Mayor Menino. We always said: we want this to turn out to be a very positive event for the Greater Boston area and for the region. We want it to come off safely and smoothly. We’ve always advocated, since we’ve taken on much of the burden of the traffic coming into our community, which is the most densely populated city in New England, that we be given the logistical and resource support — resources in the form of manpower and money to help manage that burden.

Q: Are you going to get what you need?

A: Well, we may get some financial relief to help offset the costs. At the end of the day, we understand certain decisions have to be made and we accept that, given today’s heightened security status. That’s the reality. But we’re going to be faced with adding tens of thousands or more vehicles within our community; it causes a public-safety concern, and we certainly don’t want any disasters. Our goal is to work together with Boston and the DNC officials and the surrounding communities to make sure we’re all on the same page and we have a coordinated plan to deal with any potential disaster.

Q: You brought it up earlier, that winter storm that never materialized. That was obviously a bit of a hiccup early on in your term. Does it feel like a resolved issue now, or is there still bad blood?

A: Sometimes those things happen. Sometimes it doesn’t snow. We got a lot of calls that said, We always knew about the snow restriction; we just never thought you’d enforce it because the previous mayor didn’t. But people appreciated the fact that we refunded the ticket fees, and the tow contractor refunded their fees. And what happened was, on the next snowstorm, you wouldn’t have believed how clear the streets were. It was one of those situations, unfortunately, as a mayor or elected official, that you’ll be faced with. Sometimes these things happen. This was not the first time and it won’t be the last; just as long as it doesn’t happen to me again.

Q: Would you ever live anywhere else?

A: No way. I love it here. I’ve been here all my life, and I’ll continue to be here for the rest of my life. There’s no other city like it.

Tamara Wieder can be reached at twieder[a]phx.com