This coming Saturday, March 24, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Somerville Teachers Association will be having an “alumni tour” of the old high school. This is a chance to see and walk through the old corridors once again before the school is torn down to make room for the new one. No admission fee is being charged, but donations to the STA scholarship fund will be gladly accepted. It’s a great opportunity to reminisce about your days at the old high school. Parking is available around the school in various lots. Please enter at the main entrance of the school.

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Somerville Rotary is having their annual Giggles Comedy Night at Giggles Comedy Club, Rt. 1 in Saugus, on March 29, at 6:00 p.m. It’s a great event and lots of fun. Professional comedians, plus an auction and raffles throughout the night. Proceeds to benefit the many local Somerville charities. The ticket price is $30. Contact Donald Norton at 617-623-6600 for tickets (also at the door) or for further information.

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This coming Saturday, March 24, 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon, the conference on the Tuft’s Pilot and Community Benefits hearing will be held at the West Somerville Community School on Powderhouse Blvd. Tufts doesn’t pay taxes but gives very few benefits to the city in lieu of taxes. This hearing is taking place so that we in the city can get more out of Tufts for services rendered, and to address loss of taxes when they purchase homes in West Somerville. The amount of money in lieu of taxes is low considering what the city pays out in services, especially the police and fire departments. The residents in Ward 7 want to see more out of Tufts in revenue. This affects the whole city, not just West Somerville. So join the many residents and Ward 7 Alderman Katjana Ballantyne, along with Our Revolution Somerville to discuss getting more. For information, contact Rand Wilson at rand.wilson@gmail.com. Also, please note there is parking in back of the school.

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The public hearing before the Board of Aldermen on the 1% tax on selling your home here in Somerville will be Wednesday, April 4, 6:00 p.m., at City Hall. We hear that this new Board of Aldermen just might find out that they will have awaken some that might disagree with them going for another tax grab. It seems like all the city can do since Joe Curtatone has been elected is not only raise your tax but find new ways to tax us, even now if you want to sell your home. The new Board leans very heavily to the left and they want as much money as they can grab from the residents. Show up for the public hearing and let your voices be heard, either way. But we have a suggestion if what the Board wants to do is to help middle income families stay: they can ask the state for more Section 8 housing grants. We think it’s too late to save the middle incomers here in Somerville. Soon it will be two different classes of residents, the very poor and the very rich. Again, the middle income population will run from the city because of all the taxes that keep pounding the residents. The City of Cambridge City Council was proposing the same 1% tax on home sales that could also have been 2%, but the Cambridge property owners showed up at public hearings and made their voices heard and the Council voted the proposal down. Maybe the same thing will happen here in Somerville. Again, we think that no longer can voices go silent. Show the administration and the left leaning Board who it is they work for. It’s called a transfer tax. Remember, once they vote on a tax affirmatively they will never do away with it. And aren’t you upset that the sales tax was increased so that now the city of Somerville gets a part of the sales tax directly? Ask yourself how much more in taxes you want to pay.

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At the latest Board of Aldermen meeting, Alderman At-Large Mary Jo Rossetti put forward a motion to have every property owner notified of the hearing, but was shot down by Ward 6 Alderman Lance Davis and Ward 3 Alderman Ben Ewen-Campen, leading the charge to defeat transparency. With that the Board voted down Rossetti’s motion. Imagine that, too costly to notify taxpayers that there is an order to increase their taxes. We can tell where this Board is headed. Nothing is sacred when it comes to taxing the public to feed the progressive machine.

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Speaking of progressive leftists, a well-known leader in that community was arrested Tuesday in broad daylight for driving under the influence. She was seen berating the police as she was handcuffed. Do you think she was yelling to the police “You know who I am?” We don’t want to give her name because we’re not nasty, but look for it in the Somerville Police arrest report, maybe next week.

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Some of us remember when Assembly Square was being worked on and the mayor and other parties in the city were telling us that it will bring in revenue and keep taxes down. Now, name one time they lowered your taxes since Joe Curtatone has been mayor? Can you name all the creative ways that they raised taxes?

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Happy birthday this week to the following; Happy birthday to good friend and former Somerville resident, now in the western part of Kansas, Carolyn Calier, a great lady. Happy birthday also to one of the famous Sullivans of Spring Hill, Michael Sullivan, now living in Worcester, is celebrating this week. A nice guy, we wish him the very best. Happy birthday to another former Spring Hill lady, Rachael Hart-Adams. We wish her the very best of birthdays, celebrating with her great family and, of course, with her son Finn. Happy birthday to great guy and lifelong resident – who knows where all the money is – Ed Bean from Prospect Hill, who works at City Hall. Happy birthday to another lifelong resident, Neil Gillis Sr., a knowledgeable Somerville history buff. Finally, to all those we might have missed we send birthday greetings for this week throughout Somerville and beyond.

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Our condolences to the family of Olga I. (Del Ponte) Beninati, who recently passed away. What a sweet lady who was always full of smiles. Truly, a nice lady you just wanted to be friends with. She was married to her departed husband, Salvatore Beninati, whom in the day were just a nice couple. To her many family members and friends, we extend our sincere condolences. FYI, she was the devoted aunt of our own Jimmy Del Ponte. He thought the world of her.

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Our condolences to the family of Dan O’Meara, who recently passed away, Dan was a good guy, with a great sense of humor. He will be missed by his large family and many friends he had here in Somerville. Our condolences to his lovely wife Joan, who was totally devoted to Dan through his illness these past few years. Dan and Joan would often be seen together with many of their friends around the city. We also will miss him.

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The Somerville City Club is looking to increase its membership. For the time being, membership is open to any resident here in the city. It’s a great organization that has been around a long time, with lots of activities that support local charitable groups. Contact the club on Innerbelt Road across from Holiday Inn for more details.

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We heard that Mayor Joe had very few people turn out at his recent fundraiser on March 7. Very few department heads and appointed employees of the city. Some who were present were shocked at the low turnout. What do you think the mayor thought of it? We bet names were taken of those that weren’t there, but who moved out of the city. Some very interesting appointments too. Some might consider them family appointments.

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It looks like our own Congressman Mike Capuano has a fight on his hands this year. A popular Boston City Councilor is running against him. We think it’s important to keep Mike as our congressman. He’s former mayor of Somerville and was actually a pretty good one, we think. We hear he’s mustering up and dusting off the troops for a hard fought campaign. We remember when he first ran he literally had hundreds of volunteers, so expect the same this time. Mike Capuano has always been a faithful and loyal congressman helping out many here in the district. We like him.

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The Green Line Extension (GLX) project public meeting recently scheduled for March 21, has been rescheduled due to weather. The new meeting date is Wednesday, March 28, 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., at the Somerville High School Auditorium, 81 Highland Avenue. The purpose of the meeting is to provide an outlook on construction activities planned in the coming months. For more information on the GLX project, please visit www.greenlineextension.org. For questions or comments email: info@glxinfo.com.

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Tufts University will hold a Community Presentation on Wednesday, April 25, to inform community members about programs and resources available to them and to provide an overview of recently completed and upcoming projects. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Breed Hall, 51 Winthrop St., and is open to the public. After the presentation, neighbors will be invited to ask questions and offer comments. The event was previously scheduled for March 21 but was rescheduled due to snow. The presenters will include: Barbara Stein, Vice President of Operations; Stanley, Director of Campus Planning; Robert Chihade, Director of Real Estate; Barbara Rubel, Director of Government & Community Relations (Somerville); and Rocco DiRico, Director of Government & Community Relations (Medford). The event will be hosted by the Office of Government & Community Relations at Tufts University. Light refreshments will be served, so RSVPs are appreciated. To RSVP or for more information, please contact the Office of Government & Community Relations at 617-627-3780.