As the holiday gift shopping season intensifies, it’s important to remember that our local merchants are depending on us all to do our best to shop local. With the challenges they have dealt with over the course of the year, many are struggling to stay in business. Let’s help them to get through this trying time and be here for us in days, months and years to come.

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Sad news is hitting us again as Cuisine en Locale has announced that it is going out of business, and ONCE Lounge and Ballroom will not reopen. We wish the proprietors well and thank them for their contributions to the city’s culinary and entertainment scenes. Read the announcement on their  website: https://www.oncesomerville.com/support/#letter.

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Residential parking enforcement resumed on December 1. If you don’t have a residential parking permit or need to renew yours, now is the time to do it. You can apply for or renew your permit online or via the mail or drop box at the Parking Department office. visit somervillema.gov/parking or call 311.

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Happy birthday this week to several locals: Happy birthday to the one and only Nancy Fucile. We wish Nancy the very best of birthdays and many more. Happy Birthday to Peter Forcellese, we wish him a very happy birthday. Happy birthday to Lisa Hastings, celebrating her birthday this week. Happy birthday to Peter Blaikie, who is also celebrating this week. We hope he enjoys his birthday. We wish all of our Facebook friends, such as Linda Nixon, Lee Grassia, Peter Blaikie, Karen Fay, Gordon Crook, Jason Castle, Steve Prescod, James V Avila, Nicholas Cubides and Rita Van Steensburg, a very happy birthday. We hope everyone has a great day. To all the others we may have missed, we sincerely wish them the very best of birthdays.

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Help plan for the future of the Assembly Square neighborhood by participating in one or more virtual sessions of the city’s Assembly Square Neighborhood Plan Update Public Design Charrettes. Sessions are planned for Monday, November 30, through Friday, December 4, and will allow residents to share their ideas, talk with their neighbors, and learn more about Assembly Square planning. Meetings left this week are Open Design Studio, Wednesday, December 2, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m., 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 – 7:00 p.m., and Thursday, December 3, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m., 2:00 – 3:00 p.m., and 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Join these virtual meetings to talk with the design team and provide feedback and ask questions as the plan ideas evolve. The Work-in-Progress Presentation will take place on Friday, December 4 at 6:30 p.m. See all of the work completed during the charrette week at the “wrap-up” presentation. These sessions will shape the future of the Assembly Square neighborhood, so public input is critical. The results of these public meetings and presentations will be captured in a document that, once adopted, will provide the basis for decision making, development, and planning as Somerville and the Assembly Square neighborhood move into the future. Learn more, including how to join each session, at https://somervoice.somervillema.gov/assemblynp, and help us prepare by filling out the Assembly Square Community Survey found at the bottom of that page. You can also sign up for the Assembly Square mailing list at shorturl.at/dpvT9.

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This holiday season, they are lining Assembly Row with six 12- foot Christmas trees, each decorated by a local nonprofit. Throughout the month of December, visit each tree and vote for your favorite to help determine who will receive a $2,500 grand prize donation. Read about each nonprofit and find their tree using the map provided at https://assemblyrow.com/deckthecause.

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Our deepest condolences to the family of Carole Norton, who passed away on November 22 with her loving family by her side. She was the sister-in-law of Donald and Patty Norton. Carole was a great person and very much loved by her family and friends. She will be missed.

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Join local businesses December 4 – December 12 for The Holiday Stroll, a week-long celebration of Union Square sparkle, discovery, and holiday delight and enter to win cash prizes up to $1000. Get Merry with a Mask and enter to win cash prizes up to $1000 by helping to judge the Storefront Decoration Contest, conquering the Keep Small Strong Challenge when enjoying unique eats and rad retail, following the Festivus Trail, and taking Elfie Selfies. Dozens of locally-owned businesses await with all you need to stuff your stockings, deck your halls with local art, make your tastebuds celebrate, and more. For more info, visit: https://www.unionsquaremain.org/holiday-stroll.

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Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, Ward 6 Councilor Lance Davis, and Ward 7 Councilor Katjana Ballantyne invite you to attend the third virtual community meeting about the Holland Street and College Avenue Mobility Improvements project on Wednesday, December 9, at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will take place on the GoToMeeting webinar platform. Register to attend at bit.ly/HollandCollegeMeeting3. At the meeting, staff will review the community process to date and present the proposed final design for changes to improve roadway safety for all users and support sustainable, multimodal transportation. The proposed design includes new crosswalks, protected bike lanes, bus priority lanes, traffic-calming bump-outs, and other changes. Staff will take questions and additional input from community members. The proposed final design is available for review at somervoice.somervillema.gov/hollandandcollege. For more information or to provide feedback, please contact the Mobility Division at transportation@somervillema.gov.

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Please join the GLX project team for a general project update. This presentation will feature a visual tour of the project showing the latest progress on construction activities. The meeting will be held via a Zoom webinar on December 9, 6:30 p.m. Register in advance for this webinar: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EOA6uxlbRzKUYEVWoSHouQ. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. For more information on GLX visit www.mass.gov/glx

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The city is making $500,000 in Covid-19 relief funds available to cover rental and certain mortgage arrears for income-eligible Somerville residents regardless of immigration status who are behind on payments due to impacts of the pandemic. Residents must have an income below the AMI (Area Median Income). Details will be posted to the city website early and funds must be allotted by December 31, so early applications are encouraged. The Office of Housing Stability will be available to answer questions and provide application assistance as needed. Please be sure to check somervillema.gov for more details. The HUD-approved AMI for Somerville that applicants must be below is $83,300 for an individual, $95,220 for a household of two, $107,100 for a household of three, $119,000 for a household of four, etc.

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CHA Somerville Hospital offers free testing at Assembly Row. To make an appointment, call 617-665-2928, Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The mobile COVID-19 testing unit also offers testing in our neighborhoods. Mobile testing schedules and more information on both can be found under the “Symptoms, Testing, & Medical Info” tab on somervillema.gov/covid19. The state also operates several Stop the Spread testing sites, including in the nearby communities of Chelsea and Everett. For more information, visit the state’s website: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/stop-the-spread.

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If you need assistance accessing food, there are several resources available to you locally. Visit COVID-19 Help page at https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/covid-19-help-food-housing-and-financial-assistance to learn more. There you will find a chart that includes local food pantry schedules, contact information, languages spoken at the food pantry, and whether or not you need to bring ID.

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Reminder: city buildings are still closed to the public. Although city buildings remain closed to the public, a number of city services are still available online or by calling 311. Check the “City Service Status” tab on the city’s COVID-19 page for more information.

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Don’t forget, if you would like to subscribe to receive a digital edition of our paper, go directly online to our website over to the right side and fill out your email address to receive a free, full PDF copy of the paper.

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Have you thought you’d like to do some writing, a little story about Somerville as either a newbie or Villen? We have about 80K people and we would love to hear about your adventures here in the city. Maybe you want to write about a particular subject like our Bob Doherty and Dorothy DiMarzio, or like Jimmy Del Ponte with his stories about the city. Or maybe you’d like to express your opinion like Bill Shelton. Not just the politicians, but those from our community. Give us a call at 617-666-4010 or email news@thesomervilletimes.com and tell us about your idea. We would love to tell it to the rest of Somerville.