News Talk for the week of Dec. 13

The annual Christmas Tree lighting ceremony was held recently at City Hall with Santa Claus himself in attendance. He looked familiar but our sources weren‚Äôt so sure. One source says its Alderman-at-Large Dennis Sullivan and one source said it was Chris Cringle himself. Our source told us that guy was too big to be Dennis, it must have been Cringle. We say Dennis is almost the perfect size for Santa. Regardless, we couldn‚Äôt confirm it. Does anyone know for sure?    

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Lots of Christmas Parties around the city these days. The municipal employees union party was held at Casey‚Äôs in East Somerville last Friday night and lots of people had a great time. One of our News Talkers was there, nothing juicy to report, and for once, we‚Äôre happy about that.  Speaking of parties, the best one of them all, our Christmas Party, sponsored by ERA The Norton Group, The Somerville News and Able Funding is happening Tuesday December 19 at El Guapo‚Äôs in Ball Square. All friends are welcomed to stop in and say hi. We‚Äôre going to keep an eye open for Dr. Mrs. McCarthy and the Mole among the many other celebrity Somerville News bloggers.  Last year was wall-to-wall people all night and this year, we expect lots of surprises for those in attendance.      
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This has to be a record, The Sycamore Street bridge appears to be almost done, and rebuilt. This has to go down in history as one of the most competent bridge repairs and rebuilds in Somerville. Of course, that‚Äôs not saying very much, is it?   
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No date for the special alderman-at-large election but we hear it will be about the same time frame as the special election held when former mayor and now Congressman Mike Capuano left. So far its only former Ward 6 Alderman Jack Connolly and Marty Martinez in the race, but we have it from reliable sources that Ward 1 School Committee member Maureen Bustardi is going to make the run. If that happens, we hear Jack might not be getting the full support he’s expecting from the unseen hand. Lots of insiders are thinking Maureen has the best shot at winning.
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Overheard on the police scanner last week was a call to the Police Station around 4 a.m. A woman in Winter Hill saw a ‚Äúpeeping tom‚Äù in her window, someone wearing a dark blue coat and a badge. When police arrived they identified a Traffic & Parking Department employee person  in the area (actually, we‚Äôre told he was in the driveway). The cops questioned the guy, but no arrest was made. We hear the lady refused to file charges and the incident was brought to the attention of the T&P director. More trouble down at T&P, we‚Äôre starting to lose count of all the incidents that have happened there lately.    
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Here’s a bad story. The Winter Hill School had been asking public works to fix a broken hole in the fence around the school for almost a year. Well, nothing came of it until an accident finally happened in which a small child fell through the fence and split their head. The child was hurt and public works finally fixed it.

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There’s been a lot of talk and speculation that much of the health and unsanitary problems at the Police station could be caused by a vindictive custodian not doing his job properly or maybe just doing it in a weird way. Some bloggers on our website have even accused him of mopping the hallway floors of the station and cells blocks with urine to purposely create that unpleasant type of subway aroma. They should start using Pine Sol instead, it’s cleaner and has a healthier smell.
   
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We hear some promotions are about to be made at that hub of peace and love — the Somerville Police Department. We hear popular local cop Bill Rymill will be one of four patrolmen advancing to sergeant. We hear one of the requirements is that they don‚Äôt speak to any prominent union leaders who have been giving Mayor Joe a hard time.

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In a related matter, we hear Sgt. Joseph McCain is contemplating a lawsuit against the city and Acting Police Chief Robert R. Bradley as a result of not being promoted. We hear McCain is first on the list to become lieutenant, but is being held down by “the man” because of his outspoken opposition to some of Mayor Joe’s practices. Hey McCain don’t you know, you have to go along to get along in this city?

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We hear well-liked local attorney Steve Glines is putting together an exploratory team to investigate a possible Glines for alderman candidacy in 2007. Steve is a good guy who has helped a lot of people through his law practice on Highland Ave. and we hope he seriously considers a run in Ward 4, where the people are starved for some competent representation. Glines would be a huge improvement over current Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero, who too often lets petty personal differences get in the way of real constituent services. Then again, Kermit the Frog would be an improvement over Walter.