Friday night at the Somerville Armory was a huge success, several hundred attendees (some say that throughout the evening about 500) showed up to help bring back the old traditional St. Patrick’s Day Party’s that were started by former Rep. Marie E. Howe back in the 1970’s and early 80’s.  Alderman Sean O’Donovan got one of the best Irish bands in the area to play to the crowd – the Old Brigade Irish Band.

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The night before at Alderman At Large Dennis Sullivan’s fundraiser it looked like who’s who of the Progressives of Somerville – School Committee members Paul Bockleman, Mark Niedergang, Alderman President Rebekah Gewirtz and low and behold Sen. Pat Jehlen who never shows up in an off  election year. A crowd estimated at less than 50 or so progressives showed up to show their support for Dennis. It’s true he’s gone over to the other side, he must be running for something else down the road, keep your eyes on this one.

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We heard the Demo man is operating an “office setup” that actually located in a storage container that’s located on McGrath Highway in a storage unit facility. We recently learned in a phone conversation  with Demo Man himself that he assisted the “lawn boy” in coming up with that ridiculously over-inflated $750 price to a Somerville senior citizen recently.

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The Minister of mis-information at City Hall annex has recently been talking about stuff going on at City Hall even after the administration has asked this person not to say anything. So we hear that the head of Council on Aging will be reinstated this coming Monday after a several week old investigation into allegations of wrong doing, but is this the end of it?

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Congratulations to David Fallon who was recently appointed Captain for the Somerville Police, Dave is probably one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, always pleasant and very professional. Also congratulations to Billy Rymill who was promoted to Lieutenant, another great guy as well as hard worker. Another great guy is Officer Warren Challie who was appointed Sergeant, we are all fortunate to have guys like this and many others at the Police Department who are nice people, we wish them best of luck.

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So what is loyalty in today’s world? Apparently it doesn’t mean anything, particularly to one alderman who doesn’t know the meaning, even though he’s a lawyer and looks similar to a former mayor here in the city, loyalty means crap and his word means even less. And by the way, we hear Alderman-at-Large Bill White is selling his house here in the city – does that mean he won’t be running for reelection?

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Condolences to George Landers and his family on the recent passing of his father Terrence,  also condolences to the family of Rocco Antonelli who recently passed away, Rocco was very active in Somerville many years ago, nice guy and gentleman.

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Congratulation and best wishes  to proud new grandparents Somerville Police officer Ernie Nadile and his lovely wife Susan on the birth recently of their new grandson, Tyler Scott Nadile.

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So we hear this strange rumor that those close to Alderman Bob Trane are trying to get him to not run for re-election, so that Mike Capuano Jr. can be the front runner in the Ward 7 aldermen’s race (we hear he won’t run if Bob stays). Wonder how this goes over with the other two candidates in Ward 7 with Mary Jo Rossetti considering running herself, it might be a crowded field.

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Tony LaFuente is clearly now the candidate to beat in Ward 4 since long time Alderman Walter Pero recently announced that he will not seek re-election. Guess the progressive candidate who works for a nonprofit will have her hands full, we hear both Rebekah Gewirtz and Christine Rafal put the lady in the race in hopes of getting more progressives in office; just what we need is another spend your tax dollar liberal progressive in office.

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Is a tax a fee? Or is a fee a tax? With so many fees that the Board of Aldermen have voted in, you’d have to wonder is there anything they haven’t taxed? Oh excuse me, set a fee on? Well we might have found one for the city to look at (sarcastically) paying a bill at MetroPCS recently at the store, a customer was charged a $3 fee clearly marked as a “connivance fee” and when asked why the $3 fee or what it was for, the customer was told “oh that is a fee we charge if you’re paying here at the store, if you go online you don’t get charged.”

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Isn’t it  nice to know that Century Bank the local bank with the family that is local can be as creative in fees as everyone else now, isn’t it? The new fee is a “holding” fee on any checks over a certain amount deposited, they hold it for seven business days (longer if weekend is involved) and they use your money to invest in short term investments, isn’t that great? You see the bank gets the checks cleared in most instances in less than 48 hours, at least according to the Federal Reserve.

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Condolences to the family of Myrtle Williams on her recent passing, she was a nice lady and a long time Somerville resident.

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Get well to former Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay who is home recuperating after recent surgery, we wish her well and a speedy recovery.

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Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone would like to invite all interested community members to participate in the 2nd annual Mayor’s Fitness Challenge.  The program will kick off with an event at the Somerville High School gymnasium on Saturday, April 2nd from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.  The Fitness Challenge will incorporate both a Team Fitness Challenge and a non-competitive “Lifestyle Pledge.” Individuals who enroll in the team challenge will earn points for weight loss and changes in Body Mass Index (BMI), while those signing onto the Lifestyle Pledge only will not be issued points based on those indicators, but will receive incentives for attending fitness and health-related programming throughout the Challenge, as well as other prizes and bonuses for being health conscious.  The kickoff event will include showcase fitness demonstrations such as Zumba and weight training, a Farmer’s Market, the ability to plant your own vegetables, face painting and other recreation programming for children and adults of all ages.

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The Somerville Hospital Ladies Aid Association will hold its monthly meeting at noon on March 23, 2011 in the Hospital cafeteria.  Rainbow’s End will entertain us with some lively Irish music.  Business meeting will follow.