We have, over the past
couple of years, taken the chance around this date and looked back at
certain events and weighed in with our opinion – we live and work here,
just like most of you, so why not? This year, we decided to pick out a
few news stories and commentary columns and let them stand on their own
– we weigh in when we feel strongly about something – and we aren't
bashful about it.

This coming year, economics aside, stands to
be a very good year around here. There are plenty of long range issues
afoot, as Assembly Square and the Green Line Extension prove, with the
redevelopment of Union Square and Davis Square firmly behind them.
There will be plenty of debate over charter review and the return of
the condo ordinance – which may or may not be put on the back burner
with the anticipation of possibly very painful cuts to state aid.

In
a couple of weeks we will have a new President, and with him, a renewed
sense of national introspection that seems to have a 20 year cycle –
which is based more on political and economic benchmarks than most
people realize, at least in the last 100 or so years. Change is good,
and not just some peripheral "shell game" change either – the type of
change on multiple levels that will bring the pain before it brings the
healing.

We could get all wrapped up in the national and
international news type of bland cookie cutter style of journalism, but
for those people who have lived here all their lives, it isn't so much
about what happens on Wall Street that changes the way and manner we
live our lives, but more so what happens here in Somerville. Or is it?

Today,
more than ever, everyday life is more and more directly tied to what
happens on Beacon Hill and Washington, DC. Governor Patrick announced
the other day that the projected state budget gap will more than likely
be over $1 billion. This could end up being even worse if the
President-elect Obama and Congressional stimulus package isn't passed
in January and is stalled until February or even March – Gov. Patrick
will be in a race against the clock to make some serious decisions if
it is stalled even slightly.

So we wait, with baited breath, and
hope that the fiscal pain won't be as severe as it was in 2003, when
then Gov. Romney "slashed and burned" his way to a pseudo-balanced
budget. The semi-good news is that according to Mayor Curtatone,
Somerville is in a better than average position coming into the state
aid cut discussion, but, we can't dodge the bullet forever – so while
we sometimes revile our elected officials for acting in an occasionally
oblivious manner, let us not forget that they have made and will
continue to make decisions locally that are more in our best interests
than we tend to remembe