News Talk for the week of June 7

Alderman Bill White came out ahead at the ‚ÄúCondo Ordinance‚Äù committee meeting last Tuesday night – he asked some tough questions and City Attorney Ann Thomas who either drafted the proposed ordinance or at least had a part in it, was put on the spot by him.  Make no mistake, maybe it doesn‚Äôt say Rent Control as we knew it in the 70‚Äôs but it‚Äôs a form of rent control when it has to do with regulating rental increases and how evictions are handed out.  The crowd of over 250 present was clearly overwhelming against this ordinance.  Why is the city fooling around with the present ordinance anyways, are they opening a can of worms that‚Äôs going to come back and bite them?       

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Is Alderman White right that the current ordinance might be illegal because of it regulating two and three family homeowners?  What if a class action suit is filed against the City and it costs us taxpayers more and more money if the City once again loses?  By the way, can you name the last time the City won a case?  Speaking of lawsuits, we heard through the underground at the Police Station that there is another lawsuit coming down the road by an individual shortly – we heard that the same person might file against the Farm Team as well – that should be interesting,      
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We heard that the force behind the new condo ordinance is none other than the Somerville Community Corporation.  Apparently they don‚Äôt like competition and they want to be the only developers in town.  We heard that Attorney Ann Thomas, the drafter of the ordinance, was working closely with SCC ‚Äì and that the plan was to sneak it by the Board of Alderman quickly.  That was until that Cambridge property owner sent out that misleading letter to alarm everyone – boy he sure did learn a lesson didn‚Äôt he.  At least that‚Äôs what we heard from several sources in and around City Hall.  Oh yes, we have them there too.                  
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Apparently someone has been watching too much of ‚ÄúThe Sopranos‚Äù lately.  It seems that many people have witnessed the big parking problem at John’s Auto sales this past weekend.  Unregistered cars were parked all over the sidewalks, crosswalks and flowing into the Target parking lot across the street.  When it came time for parking enforcement to kick in and a few of John’s Auto Sales cars got towed, John and his wannabe gangster buddies apparently began making threats to certain people, supposedly stating that ‚Äúif one more car is towed from here, someone will get hurt.‚Äù  The same morons allegedly laid claim to having Mayor Joe, Alderwoman Heuston and Senator Barrios in their pockets at John‚Äôs Auto Sales.  They made these threats to the driver of the tow truck and told him to deliver the message to his bosses.  They changed their tune when five more tow trucks and the Police showed up to assist the driver who had been threatened.  It doesn‚Äôt seem smart to threaten someone enforcing the local parking laws, nevermind someone who works for one of the publishers of the local paper.  Not very bright, in our opinion.  Aside from the really stupid threatening part, something should be done to crack down on a business that puts people at risk of being run down because they can‚Äôt walk on the sidewalks.  The Mayor, the Senator and the Alderwoman should be outraged at someone throwing their names around like that and the Alderwoman should take some serious steps to ensure the safety of the public around this business before someone gets hit by a car and killed.
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Last week we mentioned that Lawrence Paolella was considering a run against Mayor Joe. Well, this past weekend Lawrence ran into one of our news-talkers and without even knowing it, confirmed the rumor when he said that he was considering his options. We will just have to wait and see what happens. He’s a nice guy but it will take a lot to overcome popular Mayor Joe.
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There’s a rumor out there that former Alderman Kevin Tarpley was recently trying to rent a space on Somerville Avenue to open up an Auto Repair Shop, but was turned away because he owed that landlord some back rent.  No shop for Kevin.  Come to think of it, isn‚Äôt there a city ordinance that says no more repair shops on Somerville Avenue because of all the protesting by residential neighbors?  Wait a minute‚Ķwasn‚Äôt it Kevin Tarpley who proposed that very ordinance way back when he was Ward 2 Alderman?  We have heard of short memories, but really.
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A big hello goes out to Helen Boliver and all those lovely ladies at Cobble Hill Apartments, we hear Helen hasn‚Äôt been feeling well lately and we are looking forward to hearing from her again soon.  Jimmy our delivery guy looks forward to dropping off the paper to the ladies there who are excited when he shows up.  We think it‚Äôs the paper they‚Äôre excited to get, but Jimmy tells us he gets the same thing across the city in a lot of our distributions spots.  What‚Äôs he trying to tell us?    
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Seems like the Barracuda from The Winter Hill had a fundraiser for our Congressman Capuano last week with lots of big business people there (some might call them employees and or board members) and oh yeah her minions were also present, wow they work hard don‚Äôt they, or do they?  Nah.  We hear that the Barracuda talks about people and not in a nice way, we don‚Äôt understand why, or is that the reason why she has the nickname?  You can ask anyone that works there, they might tell you!  Is it possible we have sources inside the bank that talk?  Hmmmmm.  Some sources tell us she‚Äôs not happy with our paper, we‚Äôre not sure why, but we guess when you own (excuse us we meant run) a bank you can get away with anything.  Or can you?      
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Speaking of fundraisers, Registrar of Probate John Buonomo had another fundraiser like he did last year and the word is that he exceeded $100K last years tally for his war chest.    We think that he‚Äôs building for the future here and someday will make a run for statewide and we say why not.
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Still no response from City Hall on the investigation into the missing Traffic & Parking money taken last December, is there someone new on the investigation maybe?  Is it even still going on?  We‚Äôre hoping along with the Mayor that the missing money is found or at least the person that took it is found.   
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Interesting that the Water Commissioner Carol Antonelli is telling us that it‚Äôs ok to drink the water even though it might be discolored.  We have one question – does she live in Somerville or is she one of those department heads that live outside the City and apparently has no problem telling us that colored water is fine since she herself doesn‚Äôt have to drink it?  Every couple of months there is something new down at the Water Department ‚Äì what‚Äôs next?  Monthly billings?  Oh yeah, that‚Äôs right, that is coming soon ‚Äì we already told you about that before didn‚Äôt we?  We think Jeanie should be brought back to the department, we hear a lot of people miss her, and we do too.
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We received thanks from Jimmy Veneziano for letting everyone know he‚Äôs formed a Finance Committee to possibly run for Mayor next year.  We think he‚Äôs going to run for something else though.  If you‚Äôd like to say hi to him, he‚Äôs usually at Victor‚Äôs in Ball Square daily at Noon with that other Mr. Important ‚Äì Tony S.  Speaking of Victors in Ball Square, not that they need any publicity, but their Pizza is second to none during lunch hour and the crowd there is like a who‚Äôs who of Somerville every day.
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