The Somerville Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours” get-together is 5-7 p.m., Thursday, March 5, at Olde Magoun’s Saloon, 518 Medford St., Magoun Square. No cover, free appetizers, excellent networking, gift certificate drawing. RSVP with the name(s) and affiliation(s) for you and your guest(s) to smackey@somervillechamber.org.

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It’s “Flashback Friday” at the City Club, March 6, 7-11 p.m. Do you still have that poodle skirt? Maybe your bellbottoms and platform shoes? What about those ripped jeans or hammer pants? Break them out! Take a journey back in time and dance the night away to songs from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90’s! (Costume dress optional) Tickets are $15. There will be cash bar, raffle tickets and 50/50. Tickets are being sold now and at the door. All proceeds benefit The Somerville PTA Scholarship Dinner Dance. They have awarded 5-6 high school students scholarships every year for the last 40 years. They want to start giving these students more. What better way than to have a dance? So come join in for a great evening!

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2015 Somerville Pop Warner Registration night fair is tonight, Wednesday the 4th, 5:30-7:00 p.m. at the Healey School during the Summer camp and activities Fair. Families can also pick up their 2014 pictures if they haven’t done so yet. They are looking for football and cheer volunteers. Having served as a non-profit volunteer for children is a great thing to put on your résumé or college application. Sign up today.

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Friends and Supporters of Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston are having a reception and fundraiser to support her re-election this year on Tuesday, March 10, 5:30–730 p.m. at the Mount Vernon Restaurant, 14 Broadway, East Somerville. Maryann has been a faithfully strong advocate for her constituents in Ward 2. She’s always out front with the issues that affect her ward. The proof is the many votes she receives every year.

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We want to wish the following Villens here and from here a very Happy Birthday: Best wishes to our own Editor, Jim Clark, an all around awesome multi-talented guy. We here at The Times are lucky to have him associated with us. Another local guy from a well-known East Somerville family, Steven Buckley is celebrating with what we hear is a big move for him at Assembly Row. We wish him the very best. To one of the many good guys and a dedicated city worker, Mike Browne is celebrating his birthday this week. He was one of many who spent long hours and days keeping our city streets plowed. Also another dedicated city employee/official, Eddie Nuzzo is celebrating this week as well. Another dedicated guy. To all the others celebrating this week, we wish them the very best of birthdays.

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We heard that the long-time chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals has resigned recently, Herbert “Butch” Foster served for many years as the Chairman. Some very controversial decisions were made under his leadership. The question is who is the mayor going to replace on the Board and who will be the new chairman? We bet this resignation comes as a surprise to many around the city. It did to us.

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The Somerville Redevelopment Authority has not only one vacancy to fill, but two. It seems that local Attorney Mike Dwyer resigned, or did he? The other vacant seat was the seat held by James McCarthy, who recently passed away. Leaving two vacant seats on a very important board should be interesting. We hear the mayor will be proposing replacements this week.

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The Old (1970s) Powderhouse School is back in the forefront now. It seems like a couple of years since Tufts withdrew from consideration. Now the administration has asked for new bids. Whatever happened to the neighborhood advisory committee? We looked online and the same people from before are still on the committee, or maybe City Hall hasn’t updated the list?

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Have you noticed that the postal service is on an every-other-day delivery schedule? Yup, this from the government agency that once boasted the slogan “Through rain, sleet, snow” delivery every day. It seems that this has been going on for a few months. Have you noticed that one day you don’t get mail, and then next day you get enough mail for two or three days in elastic band?

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Stand at the corner of Pearl and Medford Streets and you will notice that there is a one lane opened on the bridge, but someone somewhere has traffic moving a little strangely. It seems that in the morning the bridge is only open to traffic moving east to west (coming out of Boston), with very few cars coming in, but traffic west to east is backed up past the lights at School Street going into the city. In the evening its the opposite, with that one lane opened to traffic west to east, again with traffic backed up down Pearl Street.

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We heard that in Ward 1 two individuals are talking about running for alderman against the incumbent. In Ward 3, the anticipated vacancy of Adam Sweeting might see two candidates so far for his seat. In Ward 4 we also heard about two potential candidates for the School Board, and in Ward 5 the present incumbent, Mark Niedergang, might see an opponent with Courtney O’Keefe. Her name keeps popping up. In Ward 6, with the present Alderman Gewirtz on a leave of absence, two or maybe three are eyeing her position, including the current School Board member Paul Bockleman. We hear the Alderman at Large race might see a challenge by Sean Fitzgerald again. Other names are being mentioned and one individual who asked not to have her name mentioned – at least not yet – is considering running in Ward 6. There’s plenty of time to consider running. To find out what you have to do call the Election Commission at 617 625-6600.

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Be a writer…write now! Are you an aspiring writer? A beginner’s journalism course is being taught by popular Somerville Times columnist, Jimmy Del Ponte. Enrollees will have their stories published in The Somerville Times in a new segment that will be named by the students (their first writing assignment). The course will be held after school in room 239 at Somerville High School, Wednesdays from March 11 through May 6. Limited to 10 Students. Contact JDelponte@somervillema.gov, or 617-625-6600 x 2616 for more info. Sponsored by the City of Somerville Executive Office of Communications.

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The Maple Syrup Boil Down Festival is set for Saturday, March 7,10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at the Community Growing Center, 22 Vinal Ave. Watch and learn as sap from local trees is boiled down into pure maple syrup over a warm fire. Family-friendly activities, taste tests, hot cocoa, music, and more. Hosted by Groundwork Somerville.

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The Tufts University Department of Music presents Wood and Strings, with newly composed solos and duets for shakuhachi and classical guitar by Jeannette Chechile, John McDonald, Martin Schreiner, and Jeffrey Shivers, featuring performance faculty artist Elizabeth Reian Bennett, bamboo flute, and guest artist Aaron Larget-Caplan, guitar. The concert will take place in the Distler Performance Hall at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 8 p.m. The Granoff Music Center is located at 20 Talbot Avenue on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit as.tufts.edu/music/musiccenter or call the Granoff Music Center Box Office at 617.627.3679.

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Somerville and Medford State Representative Christine Barber has announced that she will serve on four committees for the 2015-2016 legislative session: Health Care Financing; Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture; Public Health; and Personnel and Administration. Barber said that she is very pleased with these assignments and is glad to have the opportunity to work on issues that are of importance to her communities of Medford and Somerville. Barber noted that a number of environmental issues and concerns have already been brought to her attention by constituents. “I am pleased to jump in, learn more about these issues, and move toward solutions by serving on the Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture Committee,” she said. For more information or to communicate with Rep. Barber’s office, constituents can contact her directly at Christine.Barber@mahouse.gov, or (617) 722-2425.