News Talk for the week of May 10

Apparently the Water Department still can‚Äôt get their act together. Seems the Aldermen have requested Superintendent of Water Carol Antonelli to appear before the full Board of Aldermen this week to explain herself and her incompetent department. Apparently the Aldermen aren‚Äôt too happy about constantly hearing their constituents tell water bill horror stories and would like her to explain herself and the situation.  It will be an interesting meeting Thursday at City Hall, everybody should bring their water bills.
   
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Senator Pat Jehlen, along with other state delegates, recently sent a letter to the Massachusetts Highway Dept. asking the state to explain why there was going to be a curb cut on the Lowell Street Bridge. The cut, by the way, would allow developer KSS Development (who plan to build a 229 unit complex on the old factory site) access to the property located at the Max Pac site. Apparently a copy of the letter also went to the Secretary of Environmental Affairs for the state and the Secretary of Transportation.      

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We heard from various sources that this feisty developer wanted some changes made regarding the Somerville zoning laws. News Talk was told KSS (Kennedy-Smith & Samaraweera) of the Max Pac site wants to change the zoning down there but could not get an alderman to sponsor it before the Board. Never ones to back down, an inside source told News Talk that the company had James Kostaras of Strategic Planning and  Community Development pressure the planning board to vote to submit the changes to the Board of Alderman. The Max Pac site is presently thought to be able to support 200 plus units but we also hear that 190 is what the city wants to give. Maybe that‚Äôs the reason KSS wants the zoning changes? You think?
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Congratulations to Joe Errico founder of Errico‚Äôs Studio‚Äôs in Davis Square, it‚Äôs hard to believe that he will turn 100 years of age on the 27th of this month. Joe still shows up for work every day and has more energy than some guys half his age. We have to find out if there‚Äôs something in the coffee at Diesel Caf√© downstairs. If there is, we‚Äôll have some.   
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Looks like the Farm Team Rag has been sold by their big brother – the Community Newspaper Company to a company in Illinois. We hope the employees over at the Farm Team are going to be alright. Now they’ll probably be even less local and relevant to those of us concerned with Somerville not Illinois. Oh well.
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It’s not just the Farm Team who look to News Talk for what’s going on in Somerville, but now their big brother the Herald is following up on our stories too. That’s what we thought anyways, when we saw their 2 page spread on the illegal immigrants who wait at Foss Park every morning for work from local General Contractors. News Talk was the first to report on that phenomena and we were flattered when the Herald followed us.
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Another celebrity arrived recently in Somerville — comedian and movie star Lenny Clark
has been seen around our fair city. Word is he‚Äôs about to star in a movie to be filmed in the ‚ÄòVille — reportedly he is going to be play a tow truck driver working at Pat‚Äôs Towing. Lenny was in town performing at the charity benefit in the Boston area before a huge crowd. He did find the time in his busy schedule to drive into Pat‚Äôs Tow yard to say hello to Billy Tauro and the gang though. While he was in the tow yard he almost got mistakenly towed for unauthorized parking, but our buddy Billy let him slide. What a nice guy.
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Still no conclusion to the Traffic & Parking missing money saga last December, but we hear that the investigation is well under way with hopefully some results soon.
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Gene Brune had a nice turn out this past Sunday at Anthony‚Äôs in Malden, lots of friends, supporters and elected officials paid Gene a visit for this his 22nd annual Breakfast. His loyal supporter Mayor Joe Cutatone was present, as he is every year, along with Senator Jehlen and Attorney General Tom Reilly who is a candidate for Governor. Gene‚Äôs been a loyal friend to many people over the years, he certainly was a popular mayor and now a popular Register of Deeds. 
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Last week we told you that former life long resident and Traffic & Parking employee Buddy Andrews was considering moving back to Somerville to run for mayor. Now we heard from reliable sources that political activist Herb Vargas will run against Buddy. All we have to say is, will the ever popular Mr. Important from Ward 3 near Benton Road jump in the race as well?
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Here‚Äôs a good one: seems that Paul Mackey, who heads up the ‚ÄúSomerville Home Buyers‚Äù seminar at City Hall, has been conducting these seminars with Cambridge Real Estate Firms and Agents. The wise guy figured he wouldn‚Äôt get caught but one of our News Talk staffers was in City Hall last Tuesday evening and witnessed it.  Hey, Mr. Mackey, there are enough Real Estate offices and agents here in the city who want to offer help — you don‚Äôt need to insult them in their own backyard. Actually, according to MLS, there are well over a dozen offices and maybe around 200 agents‚Ķ and this guy has to get a Cambridge agency to come into City Hall and do the seminar. We think it is a low blow and insult to the Somerville Real Estate community. That would be like telling the Somerville Police Department they can‚Äôt do extra detail in the city, its being out sourced through the Cambridge Police Department.   
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Congratulations on 25 years to CAAS down at Union Square, its great to see that the agency has survived and helped out a lot of Somerville residents throughout the years.  It was a tough time for the agency back 25 years ago. Lots of work and time sacrificed by many board members to get the agency split from Cambridge, so Somerville would be treated fairly. Some of us were there and served on the original board as well as incorporators of the agency and it appears that the director Jack Hamilton and the present board members forget the long hours/days/weeks/months it took to get the agency off the ground.  But still in spite of being slighted we wish them the best for another successful 25 years of service and longer.