The View From Prospect Hill for the week of April 5

It is becoming increasingly dangerous to flush the toilet in Somerville.
The latest round of water bills have been issued and, predictably, residents are ranting and raving about exorbitant and incorrect billing, but the water superintendent says everything will be okay – so it will be…right? It’s their own fault anyway, who do they think they are flushing the toilet each and every time they use it? Washing their hands as they please? (By the way, those are not the views of the water superintendent or the administration, they belong solely to us.)

Remember last November when we endorsed Nobody for mayor? Since we endorsed him/her, we paid close attention to how Nobody did. Counting blank ballots (that is a vote for Nobody after all), the News-endorsed mayoral candidate of 2005 ‚Äì Nobody ‚Äì  received 28% of the vote.
That is actually not a poor reflection on the opponent, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. A sizeable portion of that 28% likely did not vote because there was no race, not as some sort of civic protest (though others may have).
        Former Speaker of the House Tom Finneran once ran unopposed and only 60% of the people who caste votes did so for him. And ‚ÄúNone of the above‚Äù won a 1998 referendum on the question of Puerto Rico‚Äôs future. Puerto Rican voters were asked to decide what path they want their island to follow: outright independence, a limited form of independence, full US statehood, or none of the above. And the voters put the ‘none of the above’ option out in front. See? Mayor Joe‚Äôs 2005 re-election fared far better than those two (somewhat) similar examples. Don‚Äôt read too much into Nobody because when it comes down to it, he‚Äôs just another Nobody.
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We at the News have never claimed to be wise sages and we rarely offer advice, but listen to these parting words Somerville, don’t flush that toilet – you’ll regret it when you can’t pay your next water bill.