Pages
Stay In Touch
More
© 2021 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
Newstalk for the week of January 18th
Word around City Hall is that they still don’t have a clue as to who took the missing cash from Traffic and Parking. Everyone has been or is in the process of being interviewed down at the station and now they’re administering lie detector tests outside the city. Rumor has it that the administration is very embarrassed and is putting a lot of pressure on the Acting Director of Traffic and Parking to find out who took the money. We wonder, like our readers on our weblog have asked, are they making sure everyone who had access to the money has been interviewed?
**********
Senator Pat Jehlen recently held her annual Progressive Potluck dinner to show her appreciation to the city’s progressive powers that be. Unconfirmed reports said a well dressed man suspiciously resembling Mayor Joe was seen outside Pat’s house hiding in the bushes taking down license plate numbers of the cars that pulled up. Remember, those reports remain unconfirmed. For now.
**********
The Mayor recently proposed a home rule petition to double the fees charged to police officers and private contractors for detail work. His motivation was said to be to squeeze the Patrolmen’s Union, which has been critical of him lately, out of making detail money. The petition was sent to committee. Hopefully, it languishes there and Mayor Joe concentrates on tasks other than sticking it to the cops.
**********
We hope that the Mayor’s endorsement of Deval Patrick for Governor doesn’t backfire in our faces if Tom Reilly wins the office – you know, the same way it backfired on us when former Mayor Dorothy Kelly-Gay supported Shannon O’Brien and Mitt Romney took his revenge out on Somerville. All we can say is we hope not again.
**********
Wow, did you get the Census Survey mailing from the Election Department? Probably had your correct name and address, but incorrect Ward and Precinct. We wonder how that’s going to be fixed, and if it really doesn’t matter, as some have come out and said, then what guarantees do we as voters have that when we go to vote in the next election, we will have no problems? Can someone tell us how much money that’s going to cost us, in this year of the never-ending elections? How about how much money was paid to whom to print the mailing and who was responsible for proofing it before it went out?
There are way too many serious questions to be asked about this, and shouldn’t be taken too lightly by anyone. Aren’t you concerned about the next time you go to vote – whether it will count? We know we are very concerned and you should be too.
**********
The Farm Team can go right ahead and count the days the Lowell Street Bridge has been out of commission – we have decided to count how many “Snow Emergencies” the administration will call this Winter Season top raise revenue (that will hopefully not be stolen out the back door again). They only ticketed 2100 cars and raised a few hundred thousand bucks. Our count is ZERO since January 1st, thankfully. If you think we should count from the beginning of the snow, the beginning of the Season or the first of the year – let us know what you think.
**********
Speaking of Traffic and Parking, there is a very serious movement afoot in the business community across the city, especially in the squares, to petition the administration to roll back meter fines. Some local businesses have been very seriously hurt by the change in metering and have lost significant amounts of customers as a result. We heard that Alderman Bob Trane sponsored a resolution to ask the Mayor to review the current situation with the parking meters in the squares. Apparently back when the Mayor implemented the new meter policy in the squares, he promised the Board of Aldermen that he would review the situation after six months had passed and some people in the business community are worried that there will be no review without Alderman Trane’s resolution. Right away, other Aldermen jumped on board the resolution. Interestingly enough, Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan – who is one of Mayor Joe’s strongest allies on the Board – was one of the first aldermen to question if the changes were good for the city.
We wonder what will be the excuse to keep hiring new meter nazis – oh wait – that’s right, the Mayor is supposedly planning on proposing that the entire city become Permit Parking Only. Then he can hire more people – good for him.
**********
Congratulations to Joannie Batzek Рthe former meter reader (she prefers that to nazi) for being named for the second year in a row “Best of Somerville, 2006, Best Waitress”. Joannie has been around for (many) years and has many friends. You can visit her at The Paddock on Friday evenings and Kelly’s Diner on Sunday mornings. Denise (Rascicot) Kallis won 2nd place again. There were over 380 votes cast in this one category.
**********
It’s funny how the Mayor won’t go along and call the Police Station a “sick building,” but he’s in favor of moving the Police Department out of that building to the Powderhouse School. Hey wait a minute – wasn’t that project supposed to have been completed this past September and all the non-City Hall Departments were supposed to move into that space to save money on the rent on Holland Street and so they could sell Evergreen Avenue? We would like to know why it’s been two years now since the project started and there’s NO word on when it will be completed. We also would like to know if it’s true that there are TWO Project Managers being paid for this project – one that’s supposed to be doing the job and one that’s actually doing the job. Can anyone help with this one, because it seems a little fishy to us, doesn’t it to you?
If you found this article of interest, please consider sharing it.
Reader Comments