Again Mayor Joe Curtatone and his busy staff should be congratulated Рthe fireworks show last Thursday was fantastic and everyone was pleased. This year’s crowd appeared to be bigger and the buzz in the audience was all about the new look for Trum Field Рeveryone liked it.

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We heard directly from a couple of Ward 7 residents that Carl himself (wow) is going door to door knocking and trying desperately to explain the whole ‚Äúmy dog ate it‚Äù routine regarding his nomination papers – we were surprised to hear that he himself was out there – we know for a fact he has out of district ‚Äúteams‚Äù going door to door as well. Meanwhile Alderman Trane (you know him, the only democrat on the ballot) had a stand out at Harvard & Main Streets the other day – they had 48 signs – and within minutes they ran out of signs to hold. Bob was personally taken around to all the small businesses and received a great reception. By the way, we were told that 100% percent of the people holding signs at the standout were from the district.    

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Bob is still working on his Kickoff party – he wants to hold it in the district – not like Carl, who has been going around outside the district. Carl has raised funds online from all outside interests and groups, plus he has had a fundraiser over in the South End last week and coming up on July 10 he‚Äôs having another one over in Cambridge on Prospect Street – at a fellow PDSers home. With all the out of district fundraisers and campaign workers in his bid to run on stickers, why can‚Äôt he organize a district fundraiser and district campaign workers? Maybe it‚Äôs the same reason he‚Äôs never communicated with people in his district over the past four years.  Makes you wonder who he has represented in the past and who he would represent in the future if by some miracle he is re-elected, doesn‚Äôt it?

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So here’s a little tid-bit from the budget hearings by the Board of Aldermen Рone of our all-time favorite members of the Board (we can’t make this stuff up), Princess Rebekah -wanted to cut the city gas allowance down by $100k Рthank God she didn’t prevail. Can you see it now Рthe Fire Department and Police Department can’t come to your home today because they don’t have any gas in their tanks. Some people just refuse to use their heads.

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Sources from the Somerville Police Department have told us that the department has collected over $100k within the past few months in false alarm fees from local businesses that police officers were dispatched to the scene. When a false alarm is sounded to the police station from a business within the city and a cruiser is dispatched, usually a $300 fee is charged to that business for the false alarm!    Maybe they can put that money towards the gas?

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Last week was the hat-trick of campaign fundraisers – it appears that Alderman Bruce Desmond had one to help with his campaign debt, Mayor Joe Curtatone had one (his annual boat cruise is coming up in August by the way) and the best one was Senator Anthony Gallucio – he had one thrown in his honor and he was surprised when his supporters brought out a cake with a lot of candles on it for his birthday. All three events were packed and very well attended by local residents Рnot like some of those PDSers that have to go pander themselves to “special interest” groups.

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We hear that a rather large Massachusetts real estate company based in Waltham is considering closing down its Somerville Office, maybe due to a lack of sales? We’re not sure, but we heard this from a reliable source.

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Remember Russ’ Donuts? Where you could get a donut for a quarter and act smug because you found the secret donut factory? Well it’s been out of business for a while now and a new owner has plans to convert the space into two townhouses. We’ll take the donuts, thank you very much.

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We hear the search for the next head basketball coach of Somerville High has been narrowed to three: current JV coach Mark Antonelli and former Charlestown High coaches Steve Cassidy and Jack O’Brien. O’Brien won four state titles at Charlestown High and Cassidy won 36 games in two years there as his successor. But don’t count out Antonelli, a local favorite.