On a rainy Thursday night, the Green Line trolley filled with mostly young lawyers, graphic designers and MIT students, rolls past six blocks of new restaurants, bars, boutiques and galleries on Somerville Avenue. Headed to Union Square, the trolley stops in front of the new artist lofts and green condominiums. On a nearby sidewalk, a double-date of tweed-clas, white thirty-somethins leave the Independent for a latte at Starbucks.

Union Square used to be viewed as "edgy", "diverse", and "hip". It was once home to small and locally-owned businesses, bars, and places for live music. But as the Green Line was extended, the homes surrounding Union Square became hot commodities, pricing out the elderly homeowners, families, and musicians.

"I'll admit that I'm somewhat responsible for this change", says an artsy regular at Bloc 11. "I volunteered with Union Square Main Streets and participated in the first Fluff Festival back in 2007. I fought for the artist zoning overlay. However, they didn't tell me that 'artist housing' was really only for 'creative' rich. I lost my rental back in 2013, the year before the station opened." Now he lives in East Somerville, the last remaining affordable neighborhood in Somerville.