News Talk for the week of July 26

Is this possible?  All of us here at the Newstalk desk are finding this hard to believe, so we will throw it out there to see if anyone can confirm or deny this.  Supposedly, a young lady had gone to the Somerville Police station last week to reclaim her jewelry, which was worth approximately $5,000. It seems that it was being held in the evidence control room while her case was being tried in the courts. The case was over and she wanted her jewelry back. But, it appears that the jewelry is missing! We are wondering if this is true and we hope it wasn‚Äôt stored in that now well known ‚Äúmetal desk‚Äù that held the $31K.  We also heard that the State Police are investigating the situation, but can‚Äôt confirm this with anyone.  Speaking of the missing money, do you think the State Police are also investigating the Traffic & Parking missing money?  Maybe they should – it‚Äôs going on 8 months now.

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Apparently the Alderman from Ward 7 – Bob Trane – was all over his ward Friday night and into the weekend regarding the downed trees and sinkholes throughout the western part of the city – everywhere you turned he was there.  As opposed to his counterpart in Ward 6 – she wasn‚Äôt anywhere to be found.  We‚Äôre thinking that the Alderman from Ward 6 – Rebekah Gewirtz – was probably more interested in saving small coffee shops that forget to renew their leases. Several people living in Ward 6 mentioned this to us.  We didn‚Äôt see her at the Command Post on Powderhouse Blvd ‚Äì where many politicians and city officials were during the crisis.         
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It seems the Acting Chief has his hands full lately with all the missing money everywhere. Now we hear that about 6 retired police officers were supposed to be honored with a retirement party and promised gold watches, but the chief must be preoccupied, because it hasn‚Äôt happened yet – and it‚Äôs going on three years!  We hear they‚Äôre upset they were forgotten and blame the lapse of memory on the administration as well as the police union.      
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Will someone put in an order to have Alderman Tom Taylor clean up the debris in front of his house – it‚Äôs beginning to look a little shabby.   Oh wait a minute, was that him that said that about the Masonic Building on Highland Avenue?   
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Notice a lot of Real Estate signs around the city?  If you look closely, you‚Äôll see that some of these companies are using the city property to post their signs.  It‚Äôs beginning to look like Somerville is for sale.  Oh yeah, isn‚Äôt that the slogan one newcomer Real Estate company with balloons likes to advertise with?  We think in Newton or Wellesley they wouldn‚Äôt get away with it and maybe the city should be talking to these guys about ethics.   
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We heard from one Alderman that a local Real Estate company with initials CB has an agent who, when he/she doesn‚Äôt get a listing, calls the Department of Inspectional Services on the owner. If that‚Äôs true it isn‚Äôt right at all.  Talk about being a poor loser.  That‚Äôs almost as bad as the local Real Estate agent who drives around with a Handicap Placard ‚Äì in someone else‚Äôs name. 
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We agree that the good Alderwoman from Ward 6 shouldn‚Äôt be so fast to get her picture taken saving a local coffee shop that neglected to renew their lease.  We‚Äôd like to ask    why do these ‚Äúdo gooders‚Äù or, the progressives, want to butt into the business of businesses that aren‚Äôt any of their business?
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It appears that the brother of Alderman Sean O‚ÄôDonovan, who just happens to work for the City of Somerville – Mr. Kevin O‚ÄôDonovan – is the publisher of a new ‚Äúrestaurant bulletin‚Äù being circulated in the city.  Looks great Kevin, we like it, we especially like the idea that you got the City to advertise in it – it must be nice to have connections.  We just thought that if you worked for the city and you own a publication, then you can‚Äôt get the ads from the city, or can you?  Our question is, did the City give you clarification or did you ask for clarification from the Ethics Commission?         
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A slight correction from last weeks Newstalk regarding the ‚ÄúMax Pac‚Äù site.  We reported that we heard through the Somerville grapevine that the developers were going to package the deal, get their permits, and then hit the road – selling the parcel with permits to Tufts University.  Well we forgot to mention – there is also a church group that wants to buy the property as well and is waiting in the wings to purchase if Tufts doesn‚Äôt.  Now some skeptics are saying that we are saying this because one of our contributors owns a local Real Estate company and that person is upset because they weren‚Äôt getting the listings ‚Äì but that‚Äôs far from the truth.  The owners of KSS had mentioned over a year ago that if the project went through they were obligated to only use an outside company because of the source of financing.  At no time was it planned to give the local Real Estate company these listings ‚Äì so there is no hidden agenda there.  KSS apparently has several different people who speak for them, but not all of them say the same thing.  Isn‚Äôt one of them related to Senator Ted Kennedy?  If that‚Äôs true then we can all understand the double talk.       
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Norman “Stoney” Stone – that bad boy from the Somerville Boxing Club – is at it again. This time his old comrade, former heavyweight champ John Ruiz, is upset that Stoney hasn’t returned sentimental (and valuable) memorabilia stored in Stoney’s Wilmington home. One of the items is a boxing glove signed by former heavyweight champ and Joe Louis conqueror, Max Schmeling. Good luck getting your stuff back John, this guy has been doing this kind of thing around here for years but who would have thought he’d do it to a friend?