The recount on Saturday ended up with the expected results – Bruce Desmond picking up 14 votes to extend his lead to 52 – both he and Tony LaFaunte had plenty of people and two well connected lawyers as well (we heard about $6,000 for one day for one of them).  Desmond summed up the room of volunteers and election department workers as a ‚Äúclassy operation ‚Äù – although some of us here at Newstalk miss the old days of the wild recounts. We think it was a necessary thing to do, that Tony owed it to his workers so that there would be no doubt. We hope that Tony LaFuente does decide to stay active in the city and run for office again. 

    
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Speaking of the recount, on a lighter side, there were plenty of donuts and pizza for everyone and a highly placed source inside City Hall told us that DPW Commissioner Stan was instrumental in picking out the days menu – we doubted it, maybe it was that smile on the sources face.    

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On Saturday at the Masonic Building on Highland Avenue, the Nardella Family hosted almost 100 families in the city for a Christmas Holiday Party – the party was for special needs kids (autistic kids) and everyone seemed to have a good time. Joe Nardella worked hard along with many other volunteers.   

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Lyndell’s Bakery is celebrating 125 Years in business and in honor of their longevity passed out FREE cupcakes and some say even coffee to everyone that came in the store Monday and Tuesday.

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Happy Birthday to Jimmy Legee, life-long resident and former City Hall ISD employee – who celebrated his 82nd birthday with his family and friends. Some of us here at Newstalk even worked with him many years ago Рmany happy returns Jim you deserve it.

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Last week two prominent and well-respected life-long residents of Somerville passed away. Former Alderman from Ward 7 and later City of Somerville Clerk of Committees Lee Figgins passed away from a long illness. Another life-long resident and well-respected former business owner Llewellyn Green of Willow Avenue passed away.    Both were very nice and extremely popular here in Somerville, they will be missed.

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Brandon Wilson, head of the Somerville Historic Commission, was working her board members hard last week at the so-called Public Hearing up at City Hall on their new list of historic designations – 171 to be exact. Seems that when asked by  aldermen what the process was about and how they came to select individual properties, she avoided answering directly most of the questions and went on the defensive about how they worked hard at the process, even the commission members who lined up one at a time to go and speak wouldn‚Äôt answer questions other then to boast how hard they worked on the selection. What‚Äôs that old adage – ‚ÄúThe best defensive is a good offense‚Äù? We know more than a few people in the audience that night felt something else was going on and it wasn‚Äôt about how the selection process was done. There were more then a few that watched her organize her committee members to get up there and defend the process but for some reason get the board to vote it ASAP without questioning why. So before the bloggers attack, please re-read what I wrote, it‚Äôs not the hard work they did ‚Äì we don‚Äôt question that, especially now, we just want answers on the process of selection.   

      
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Although some of us thought that the new management opening the Paddock Restaurant was good news (and we still do to some degree), now we hear that our favorite waitress Joannie Batzek was told she can‚Äôt work there anymore after 25 years ‚Äì a lot of her fans will be disappointed to hear that ‚Äì we‚Äôre not sure why, but we hear the new owner won‚Äôt talk directly to her ‚Äì he has other people doing his talking. Some of us are sad to hear she won‚Äôt be back ‚Äì she was the one bright spot in that place before and we think the new owner at least owes her a face-to-face talk.   

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The ‚ÄúBest of Somerville 2007‚Äù is going strong ‚Äì it‚Äôs the third week and balloting is going real well  – hurry and cast your votes for the Best of 2007 ‚Äì the polls close soon and hopefully there won‚Äôt be a recount!

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The ERA The Norton Group and The Somerville News Christmas Party will be on Thursday, December 13th at the On The Hill Tavern in Magoun Square – should be the usual huge turnout and good time by all associated with both businesses. Between The News and ERA there are over 85 agents and employees and more than half of them live in Somerville.

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We here at The News are encouraging everyone to please remember the Little Sisters of the Poor and all its residents this holiday season. Also in the city remember those residents at the Somerville Home as well on Summer Street ‚Äì both organizations do a great job for their residents but need a lot of help as well ‚Äì so please donate either money or call and find out what they need. 

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We hear Carl Sciortino, Rebekah Gewirtz and Marty Martinez are beginning to distance themselves from the organization they helped jumpstart – the Progressive Democrats of Somerville. Maybe those three are as put off as we are by the mudslinging.

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We winced when we heard a sushi joint would be replacing La Contessa in Davis Square. But we almost vomited when we learned Sacco‚Äôs Bowl Haven is going to be turned into a 100 room ‚Äúconnection center promoting a renaissance lifestyle.‚Äù What? Sounds like a cross between a hostel and a brothel to us. But hey what do we know about this renaissance stuff. We would rather bowl.  Do you think they‚Äôll serve Kool-Aid there?