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Congratulations
to Ward 1 Alderman "Grandpa" Bill Roche with the birth of his new
granddaughter – Savannah Jean Langkopf – who was born March 15th at
11:57am and was 20.5 inches long and 6 lbs 11 oz at birth. Proud
parents Kelly Roche Langkopf and Jonathon Langkopf welcomed their new
arrival along with proud grandparents Jean and Alderman Bill Roche and
Jon and Deborah Langkopf. Best of luck with the new arrival to a great
family.

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Ward 5 Alderman Sean O'Donovan
had his fundraiser last Friday night at the Dante Club – it was very
well attended by an overflowing crowd of Ward 5 residents. It was one
of the old fashioned get together that we haven't seen here in
Somerville in a long time – and it was nice to see so many old friends.

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Senator Anthony Gallucio is sponsoring
legislation to give City of Somerville some say in what and where the
MBTA billboards may or may not go, have you seen how big and ugly they
are? Nice to see we have a real State Senator again that listens to the
average person, just too bad he only serves a small part of Somerville
but at least he gets what it means to serve. Senator Jehlen must be out
of town on a walking tour – has anyone seen her in awhile? Oh that's
right its not election time of year yet!

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We
applaud and support the drive to support local businesses first when at
all possible. A couple of local organizations are doing just that!
Somerville Local First and the Somerville Chamber of Commerce are up
and running in high gear delivering that very message everyday. Many
other cities and towns are following suit and keeping their "business"
within their local neighborhoods first, so when you need to go
shopping, keep it in Somerville first!

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Colonel
Sanders and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is picking four cities out of
a nation wide search to be the recipient of $5,000.00 of free asphalt
that will be stamped with a "KFC" advertising the fried chicken king's
name in a central location with white permanent chalk, word is that
Somerville is one of the four they're looking at.

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Congratulations
to Police Officer Scott Whalen upon his recent promotion to Sergeant
couple of weeks back, Scott works very hard.

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Condolences
to the Emery family here in Somerville, with the recent passing of
David Emery, he was known well here in Somerville in particular the
Ball Square area.

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Also condolences to
the family of Danny Escobar, owner of Danny's Diner on Beacon Street
who passed away this past weekend! Danny's Diner has been on Beacon
Street serving great meals and great conversation for as long as anyone
can remember, considered a landmark here in Somerville, sources told us
that the family is going to close the doors to the dinner for good this
week.

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Just a reminder that the
ever-popular The Somerville News blog is more popular then ever! So log
on to www.thesomervillenews.com and click onto "The Somerville News
blog line over at the top right hand corner of the online page.

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We
hear rumblings out there about possible runs for office here in the
city, but not just from the PDSers – who by the way are trying
desperately to get people to run against some incumbents, but not
having much luck. We did hear that their President Marty might move
again (for the 9th time?) to Ward 3 – but interestingly enough, we hear
that maybe one or two of the PDSers might have a tough challenge
themselves this year. We also hear that the PDSers candidate classes
that were supposed to be held last Saturday had to be canceled, we're
wondering if it was because of lack of participation? They may boast of
an email list of about 100, but they can't manage to attack more then
15 to 20 to a meeting at any given time, wonder why?

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We
hear that there was a big meeting of the Farm Team owners down in
Florida recently (you know who we mean) and seems the economy is
hitting them as well, everyone has to tighten their belts, has anyone
been following the stock of the company?

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The
Somerville Recreation Commission will offer a five week course for
children ages eight and older with local artist Chris LeGare. The
program will be held on Thursdays from 3:30pm – 5:30pm beginning April
9th at the Recreation Building, 19 Walnut Street. The program will
focus on a different aspect of art each week including printmaking,
cartooning and painting. The cost for the program is $40 and covers all
materials. Class size is limited and pre-registration is required. For
more information, please contact the Recreation Department at
617-625-6600 Ext. 2980.

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The Center for
Arts at the Armory hosts a building dedication ceremony celebrating the
opening of the newly renovated historic armory at 191 Highland Ave., on
Friday, April 3, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Somerville Mayor Joseph
Curtatone as well as Ward Five Alderman Sean O'Donovan and members of
the Somerville legislative delegation; Senator Patricia Jehlen and
Representatives Carl Sciortino and Denise Provost, will be on hand to
offer dedications and citations. The event also includes an interfaith
building blessing, a youth music performance from Somerville High
School students and a community reading.

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Celebrate
the vibrancy of design economy north of the Charles on Friday, April 3,
2009 in Union Square. The event combines an official welcome of three
design-oriented businesses to Union Square and the launch of Design
Annex, a co-working community for those in the creative economy.  At
374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville from 6 to 8 pm you are welcome to
visit Grand, Brian Healy Architects and Ground Inc. to be part of the
festivities. Refreshments will be served.