The Memorial Day parade was one of the biggest we’ve seen in the past 30 years, although some have said the “All American City” themed one in 1973 was as big—in any event the parade was excellent.

The Shriners added a lot to it this year and hopefully Somerville can continue having a parade like this every year. We think it brings out a lot of pride in our city, and we could see it in the people along the route. Congratulations to Frank Senesi for a job well done in planning it, along with the many volunteers who helped him throughout the day.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally the nightlife in Somerville is on the map. Recently, Nomar Garciaparra of the Red Sox was seen spending time in a popular local lounge in Union Square. We have also seen some old faces back in the city enjoying the restaurants
and the nightlife—from people we went to school with to former politicians—Somerville is a happening city. We wonder when the first Dorothy sighting will take place. We heard that Hall of Fame Alumnus Coach Hannah recently persuaded a college in the western part of the state to donate a huge scoreboard for all of the high school teams to enjoy at Dilboy Field. The sign was picked up and delivered by Pat’s Tow for installation preparations by the city. Thanks Coach Hannah and thanks Mayor Joe for making a great choice in Coach Hannah.

It’s time to say “there they go again”. The “Mystic Their View Only Task Force” filed yet another lawsuit to try and stop the city’s long overdue Assembly Square Mall plans. Why don’t they run for office—oh wait, they know they couldn’t get elected, so instead they file lawsuits screwing up the entire mess again and again. All those meetings and hard work by Mayor Joe and the Board of Alderman—minus Alderperson at Large Denise Provost—who just might be an honorary member of the Task force but won’t come out and tell you on TV. We have to wonder why. Maybe someone, or a certain newspaper, should find out who the members and supporters are and publish all their names, addresses and telephone numbers so that everyone in Somerville can let them know how just how upsetting this is to the rest of us. Hey, why
bother having a democratic process and elections, when all you really have to do to stop the majority will is go to court and file stupid lawsuits and have the courts decide for us.

We should get a petition going to have Dave Letterman come to Somerville for our own version of “Stupid Human Tricks” with just the Board of Aldermen as the showcase. We can have Tom Taylor with lessons on “How to not feed pigeons”, Bill Roche with his “Crashing cars in the yard” stunt, Denise Provost with “MS-13 Gang Ballet and Sensitivity Competition”, Dennis Sullivan breaking out his old “Dot Gay Cheerleader Sweatshirt” wear (with A- on the sleeve) and let’s not forget the former members of the board—stand-up comedian Vinny Ciampa and don’t forget Somerville’s not so favorite son—the current Register of Probate (we love to call him “video boy”) with instructions on how to be anti-covert with “How to say really stupid things three feet from a ‘Video Surveillance 24 Hours a Day’” sign. Gear up for the Democratic National Convention and the traffic gridlock it will cause our city. With the state closing down Route 93 from Woburn to Braintree, angry commuters will have no choice but to cut through Somerville, making our city a rest stop on a bad day. We hear that the Cambridge police have constructed their
own traffic evacuation plan—rerouting all traffic back into Somerville. Isn’t that nice of them?
Things must be going well for our Board of Aldermen away from their duties as elected officials (or not). A quick look at what some of them drive surprised us recently. Mercedes Benz, BMW, Cadillac Escalade—just to name a few—not too shabby. Must be nice to be part of the “team” (or not).

Recently, Congressman Capuano was on local access TV being interviewed, we clearly heard him state that he “hates” President Bush. Conjecture, debate and opinion are part of what it takes to be a productive elected official, not hatred. We hope the Congressman can see that even the strongest of differentiating opinions isn’t a justifiable precursor to hatred. Aside from this overly passionate statement, we hope you keep fighting the good fight Mike—you’re doing a great job in Washington. (He will probably
hate us for saying the “hate” part, but what can you do.)

Somerville News Publisher Donald Norton recently resigned from the Licensing Commission to devote more time to the paper, his real estate company and other local business interests he is involved with, along with his family. Good luck to former Alderman at Large John McKenna—who will be replacing Mr. Norton on the Commission—he’s a life long resident of the city and we know he will do a great job. It has been our opinion for a while now that the Cambridge Health Alliance has a defacto controlling interest in the Somerville Board of Health with Dr. Osler running the show. There has to be a doctor in Somerville that might care about the city who will do a better job than Dr. Osler. We again ask the Mayor to remove Dr. Osler and put the Board of Health back on track for the betterment of the city as a whole. We heard through the grapevine that former Mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay will be performing a gay wedding ceremony someplace in the city sometime soon. We are happy Mayor Joe stuck to his guns regarding gay marriage—it was the right thing and it showed courage.

We wonder how long it will take for the first gay divorce and just how that will go. Former Alderman at Large Vincent LoPresti was seen in the city recently. For those of you who don’t remember, Vinny was the first Italian-American elected as an Alderman at Large and he was also the largest vote getter in this city’s history with over 19,000 votes back in 1971. Vinny is doing well these days—he is living in Stoneham now and vacationing in Maine.

Former Ward 1 Alderman Richard Johnson is about to open a new restaurant in Ball Square—a family run business with his wife and his brother. The fare will be a blend of American and Mexican cuisine. We wish him the best of luck in this endeavor—he’s a great guy and he was a really good Alderman when he was in office not so long ago.