Two members of the Rockport High jazz band have been selected to the All New England Jazz Band for 2015. Sophomore Jasper Williamson and junior Paul Fears were selected to play in the band, which wrapS up the All New England Jazz Festival March 24 at Plymouth State University. This will be Fears’ second year performing with the ensemble. “We are thrilled to be represented by two talented members at the New England Jazz Festival, and I’m looking forward to hearing them perform with other top high school jazz players,” Rockport Jazz Band director Anthony Covelli said in a prepared statement. 

The city of Somerville has established a group that will work to preserve and create affordable housing as part of Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s Sustainable Neighborhoods initiative. In October, Curtatone announced the initiative, an outline of steps to make the city a place where people of all income brackets can afford to live. The 29-member Sustainable Neighborhoods Working Group will be co-chaired by Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang, who is also chairman of the Board of Aldermen’s Housing and Community Development Committee; Dana LeWinter, a former director of housing for the city; and other housing experts and community advocates, according to a statement from the city. In addition to affordable housing, the group will address the issue of middle-income housing for working families. For more information about the initiative, visit somervillema.gov .  

Residential developers in Medford would have to set aside some of their units as affordable under a proposed ordinance Mayor Michael J. McGlynn plans to submit soon to the City Council. The measure would apply to all housing projects with a specified number of units or above, a threshold not yet determined, according to Lauren DiLorenzo, Medford’s director of community development. At least 10 percent of the units in those projects would have to be affordably priced. Medford would join a number of other cities and towns to adopt so-called inclusionary zoning measures to expand their affordable housing stock. The city considered the idea several years ago, but opted not to pursue it at that time because of concerns it could hinder housing development in what was then a struggling real estate market. Instead, the city implemented a policy in which it negotiates with developers whose projects require variances from zoning rules to set aside 10 percent of their units as affordable. DiLorenzo said McGlynn’s objective in seeking an ordinance now is to “really make a statement to any developer coming to the city that we have a commitment to affordable housing, and to make the rules consistent and clear.”