Our Sincere Apologies

599 Somerville neighbors, friends and those who care deeply about Somerville’s urban forest - 

We are reaching out to express our sincere apologies and address the removal of the public street trees from the 599 Somerville job site earlier this week. 

During the afternoon of Monday, August 8th, 2022, an excavator accidentally hit and jeopardized the western most public street tree while removing a curb on Somerville Avenue. Due to safety concerns because of the location being a public walkway or roadway, the site foreman immediately removed and eliminated the risk. During the process, each of the four public street trees were inadvertently removed. 

We’ve had many meetings with the community in which residents spoke passionately about the importance of preserving the trees on Somerville Avenue between Spring Street and the MBTA bus stop. It was made abundantly clear that these trees were of great priority to the community and as such, Rafi and the 599 Somerville team prioritized the preservation of these trees. We worked with the City of Somerville’s Urban Forestry Division on detailed plans for protecting the trees throughout construction and as part of the new 599 Somerville site design.  

You trusted us as stewards of your neighborhood to ensure the public shade trees remained protected throughout construction. Due to the mistakes made by members of our team on-site Monday, we failed in our responsibility to you all. 

Attached you will find a copy of the letter we received from Somerville’s Urban Forestry Division, we’ve paid the fines accordingly. As we’ve heard from many of you that this is not enough, we will be hosting weekly office hours starting Wednesday, August 17th, 9-10am at Forge Bakery to discuss how to best move forward. Please stop by, we want to hear your feedback.

Your neighbor and partner,

Rafi & 599 Somerville team