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The local economy is doing much
better than most other Metro-Boston communities – for a while the early
morning gathering of workers at Foss Park had decreased, but within the
past couple of weeks there are much more out there. One news talker
witnessed in a brief 15 minutes an unusual amount of contractors were
picking some of the workers up, just in that short period there were 5
contractors driving in and driving out with workers. Good news for our
local economy means jobs that still need day laborers, of does it?

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Free
parent workshop – open to all Somerville Public School families –
"Nutrition and Your Child" will be presented by Dr. Dawn Peters and
Reem Jabr of the Broadway Health Center on Monday, March 16th from 6pm
to 8pm at the Winter Hill Community School Library. Please RSVP by
calling the Winter Hill PTA at 617-625-9310 or by emailing them at
winterhillpta@yahoo.com

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We keep hearing
reports that a certain MBTA employee is trying to single handedly
reduce the deficit of the T for us. Guess he's overcharging for tokens
at the booth – charging double in fact – to people who are in a rush to
catch a train. Last couple of weeks it was reported that he did this to
a couple of students and when they called him on it he resorted to
calling them names.

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Those poor people
that own the convenient store at the corner of Central and Medford
Streets are not having a good week – we heard that there was a drug
bust that happened out in front of the store last week and then the
other day someone was about to commit armed robbery but ran away when
they heard the door buzzer.

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Mayor Joseph
A. Curtatone and Economic Development Director Rob May announced today
that, The City of Somerville, in cooperation with the Union Square and
East Somerville Main streets organizations, the Somerville Chamber of
Commerce and Somerville Local First would continue its monthly business
workshop series in March with a workshop entitled "Financial
Fundamentals of Running a Business." The upcoming workshop will be held
on Wednesday, March 11th from 8:00 – 10:00am, in the Aldermanic
Chambers at City Hall, 93 Highland Ave. Additional workshops will be
held throughout the year with such topics as Marketing Strategies to
Overcome the Crumbling Economy, Tools to Enhance Social Networking
Online, Licensing and Permitting, and Legal Issues for Businesses.

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Veterans
Service Director Frank Senesi is planning another showstopper again
this year to help raise funds for the annual Memorial Day Parade.
"Strictly Sinatra & The Rat Pack" will be headlining at the
Somerville High Auditorium on Friday, March 20th. For tickets call the
Veterans Services office at 617 625-6600-x 4700 or the Mayors office x
2100, donation is $20.00 per person. This is the fifth year he's doing
this to raise funds so that we can have another successful Memorial Day
Parade – go enjoy yourself and help the cause.

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The
good news is that The Somerville News blog is back and you can access
it easily from our web site – back by popular demand by many people
over these past few months. Many have tried to imitate, but none were
more widely read than ours. Same old "JN's Rules" apply – no names,
only initials, no swearing – well no real bad words. The link to the
blog is right there at the right hand side of the regular website, it's
the old type pad site – and make sure you are nice, because Dr. Mrs.
McCarthy has promised to make an appearance every now and then –
whoever she is!

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The Somerville Recreation
Commission is offering a cardio mix dance class on Tuesdays from
February 24th through April 15th. The class consists of a ten-minute
warm-up; 40 minutes of dancing and a ten-minute cool down. The classes
will be held at the Edgerly School, 181 Washington Street. The progress
fee is $20. For more information please contact the Recreation
Commission at 617-625-6600 x 2980.

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Also,
the Somerville Recreation's Women's Softball League will hold an
informational meeting on Tuesday, March 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the
Recreation Office, 19 Walnut Street. Any team manager interested in
participating in the league this summer should have a representative
present at this meeting. For more information contact Karen Harrington
at 617-625-6600 x2993

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Huge crowd in
Boston's Chinatown for the 25th Annual Banquet of the Jade Society to
celebrate the year of the "Ox" – many locals from the 'Ville, including
Mayor Joe and Alderman Maryann Heuston, along with several people from
The Somerville News and friends were in attendance. The event was huge
– over 600 guests and the entertainment was unbelievable – hosted by a
friend of many here in Somerville – President Warren Yee. Many more
residents from Somerville including one distinguished well-known
Somerville resident wearing a pair of "Sara Palin" glasses – apparently
she might be setting a trend with those unusual glasses. And oh yeah we
almost forgot, he won the big prize at the end of the night – a nice
flat screen TV. We're not going to mention his name, but lets see how
fast this can get out in the city. Go to the news blog and put his
initials in!

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Last weeks Chamber After
Hours meeting was held at the Precinct Restaurant and Pub in Union
Square. The monthly event held around the city by the Chamber is
becoming quite the attraction for businesses here. Last week our
friends at the Cambridge Portuguese Credit Union hosted it; they along
with the Precinct did a great job. We want to congratulate the Pubs
owner, Ken Kelley, who made mention that he and his lovely wife are
expecting a baby any time now.
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