This week, the Somerville Rotary club is having its annual “Comedy Nite” at Giggles Comedy Club, Rte. 1 in Saugus, on Thursday, October 1. Tickets are only $25 per person and there will be lots of fun and door prizes, along with baskets of good stuff to bid on. But the night is at its best with the various comedians that show up and give a great performance, as always at Giggles. Join the club and your neighbors here in the city for a great night by contacting any of the members. Email Gilda Nogueira at gnogueira@ecsb.com.

***********************

The Somerville Homeless Coalition is holding its 20th Annual Somerville 5K Road Race on Saturday, October 3 at 9:00 a.m. at Davis Square in Somerville. The race starts and ends at the end of the bike path, behind Rite Aid on Highland Avenue and Grove Street. A Buffet Brunch follows the race. You can further support the Somerville Homeless Coalition by getting pledges for the race. Set up your own fundraising page here: http://bit.ly/1R7Lovn. Read about their programs here: http://bit.ly/1FVBSQe. Additional Info: The start is 9:00 a.m. sharp, rain or shine. Registration and check in: On race day 7:30—8:30 a.m. Wheelchairs must pre-register by September 20 to ensure safety precautions with local police. Early number pick-up available the week before in Davis Square. Details on pick-up option will be e-mailed at a later date.

***********************

Saturday, October 17 at the Holiday Inn, the SHS Scholarship Foundation will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Over the years, the foundation has been responsible for handing out thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving high school graduates. The Foundation idea was started by local publisher Robert J. L. Publicover, Tony Fedele, the headmaster at the high school, former Mayor Gene Brune and several other dedicated and committed community people. A Foundation that started with very little and has now grown to over $1M in scholarships. Call or go online to the Foundation’s Facebook site for reservations and cost of tickets.

***********************

Rumor has it that the mayor is soon going to present to the Board of Aldermen his reasoning for why he wants artificial turf in Lincoln Park. We also hear he doesn’t have the votes in his favor on the Board. Over a 1000 signatures on a petition to stop it from happening was recently presented to members of the Board as well. The mayor’s liaison Omar better be on the job working to get those votes. We hear he’s got a lot of work to do to turn around some votes. A solid majority is against it and it doesn’t look like they are changing their minds anytime soon. Maybe he should spend more time on working the aldermen instead of on those lunch breaks.

***********************

Part 4: Meanwhile, down at the Inspectional Service Department, our sources are telling us there are still TWO empty desks. Again, another week gone by and no one has applied for the job. And over at the Planning Department the personnel who aren’t certified and don’t know the requirements are holding up processing the many permits that were filed and haven’t moved to the next silly step. We hear this costs residents here in the city a lot of money. Some people are afraid to make any comments in fear of retribution from the Director of the Department and other higher-ups. We have a solution – maybe cut the salary of the guy who couldn’t qualify for the job and give the inspectors a decent living wage. On another note, we hear that down there the gas allowance was taken away by the Personnel Director and the Department Director. Let’s see, the guy that didn’t qualify for the job is now Department Head and is earning over $100K – and that includes a raise – while the inspectors are paid out of all the cities and towns in Mass, way down at the bottom of the list. Maybe if you’re not qualified for a city job you to can earn over $100K but if you’re qualified don’t count on it.

***********************

The good Alderman from Ward 7, Katjana Ballantyne, recently had a mishap while on her bicycle. She has her arm in a sling and received several stitches in her chin, but she looked great at the recent Board meeting. We hope she recovers real soon.

***********************

Speaking of Ward 7, Alderman Ballantyne’s recent injuries hasn’t slowed her down on her job representing the residents of the ward. She, along with Alderman Bill White and candidate for Alderman at Large Sean Fitzgerald, were at a neighborhood meeting for High St. and Alewife Brooke Parkway (the former gas station now closed and fenced off) which the owner wants to make into a Dunkin’ Donuts. At the neighborhood meeting, several issues were taken up and it looks like the neighbors are not in favor of it. The claim is that it will create more traffic in and out of the area. It looks like the owner wants to do a study on traffic and how much more it will add to the neighborhood. The neighbors and Alderman Ballantyne are trying to figure out how to determine that since the place where they want to put the business is not opened to in and out traffic. It used to be a gas station and now has a fence around it.

***********************

Alderman at Large Bill White and the Board of Aldermen, along with the mayor, paid tribute to Wendy Blom, who was retiring as the Director of SCATV after 11 years. The alderman praised her work and efforts at the station all these years and presented her with a citation. Wendy did a great job as Director and was very creative making the cable access more accessible to the residents here in the city. SCATV won many awards while she was Director. She will be missed by a lot of people. We wish her the best in all her future endeavors. We’re sure she will accomplish a lot in her career.

***********************

Ward 4 Alderman Tony Lafuente and the entire Board of Aldermen and Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone also congratulated Winter Hill’s favorite barber, Tony Matarazzo, celebrating his 67th year of customer satisfaction, not to mention the local gossip that came out of the shop over the years. Tony has lived in Somerville, and in particular Winter Hill and Ten Hills section, for most of his life. The shop originally belonged to his father in Winter Hill.

***********************

So, we were looking over the agenda for the Board of Aldermen meeting of last week and we noticed that Alderman Bob McWatters of Ward 3 only had a small handful of requests. We asked around and found out why. It seems as though he is on top of his ward and knows the issues.

***********************

Happy birthdays this week to some of our Villen friends as well as friends of The Times this week: Our good friend and a great salesman, Joe Bolognese, who used to sell Val-Pak coupons here in Somerville is celebrating. A nice guy and, again, he was recognized as one of the top sellers in the network. Happy birthday, Joe.

***********************

Bob Publicover, the former owner/publisher of The Times/News, who passed away a couple of years ago, would be celebrating his birthday this week. We know he’s looking down from upstairs and watching out over his favorite place Somerville. Best wishes from all of us at The Times and the many friends you left behind here as well.

***********************

There’s a new web site in town. Check it out at www.somervillema.com. The Somerville Times is on the site. Also check out www.medfordma.com.

***********************

There’s still time to register for evening classes at the Somerville Adult Evening School. Register in person at Somerville High School located at 83 Highland Ave, SHS Main Office from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. or check them out online at www.somerville.k12.ma.us/eveningschool. Classes begin: Tuesday, September 29 and/or Thursday, October 1, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Classes include: Academic Recovery, Drivers Ed. Sewing, Computers, Spanish, ESL, Real Estate License, Medical Interpretation and for the following special Zumba or YOGA 5 classes for $25 or walk in $7Why not enroll and begin your fall learning something new. Real Estate 40 hour license course offered by the school for more than half of what the cost is elsewhere. Hurry and register in person or call the school for further information at 617 625-6600 ask for “evening school.”

***********************

Word of the Week – Narcissistic personality disorder. Definition by Mayo Clinic Staff: Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. Sound familiar?

***********************

Our 40th annual Best of Somerville Awards will be done in October. A ballot will be in the paper, so make sure you fill it out and let us know who you like the best in the many categories offered. If you don’t see a category you would like listed and want to nominate someone in it, feel free. Best of Somerville is done every year. You can go online to our website and check out previous winners, and maybe they will still be this year?

***********************

We hope our good friend, a nice guy, Rick Willette is better soon, back on his feet, and back to work at the DPW. Rick returned home from the hospital recently after having surgery.

***********************

Also, our best wishes go out to a great guy and all around Somerville man who is in his 90’s, Irving Johansen, who was recently in MGH and is now home recuperating. We wish him well and hope he gets back on his feet real soon.

***********************

Alderman At Large and Attorney Bill White has moved his office to Davis Square. He is now located at 402 Highland Avenue. He’s sharing offices with Attorney Edwin Smith and Neil Berman. Three great attorneys here in Somerville. We wish Bill the best of luck in his new digs. We guess he heard Davis Square was the place to be, with all the restaurants.

***********************

For all you vegans out there, a new shop has opened up in the past couple of weeks, selling vegan donuts and other assorted pastries as well as tacos. It’s a couple of doors down from our favorite coffee shop, True Grounds in Ball Square. The donuts are wicked awesome and will be a big hit here in Somerville.