Drawing this Friday night so hurry up and get your ticket for the drawing for The Somerville High Scholarship Foundation that is once again having its huge drawing coming up in May 13 at the Highlander Café at Somerville High School. Refreshments will be served beginning at 7:00 p.m. Drawing at 8:00 p.m. Several door prizes will be given out during the drawing for the $10,000 grand prize. Tickets for the drawing are $100 each. You can purchase one or share the cost of one with many in your home/office or with friends. It’s a great fundraiser for the kids. Over the years the SHS Foundation has benefitted many students. Make your check out to S.H.S. Raffle and send it to SHS Raffle c/o Joseph Favaloro, P.O. Box 440275 Somerville 02144. It’s been a great organization here in the city since 1990 and has grown over the years, serving many Somerville graduates to further their education. See you at the drawing. It’s a lot of fun and a great night out.

************************

Leland Cheung, the Democratic challenger to Senator Jehlen this year, is going to have a fundraiser this Friday evening. Mr. Chung has been a City Councilor over in Cambridge since 2009 and has been very active with the progressives in Cambridge. His fundraiser is this coming Friday the 13th, right here in Sen. Jehlen’s backyard at the Aeronaut Brewing Company, 14 Tyler Street, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. We applaud him for being so courageous in at least running against her. It’s hard to imagine though how a left wing progressive is going to fare against the queen of the left wing progressives here in Somerville. Maybe he’s counting on a huge turnout in November, with so many new registered voters that never heard of Sen. Jehlen. You can RSVP for the event here: http://bit.ly/lcaeroRSVP. Contributions can be made through ActBlue here: http://bit.ly/lcaeronaut.

************************

A good guy and friend to many here in the city, Alderman at Large Bill White, has told us he’s going to have a fundraiser coming up on June 2 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Cantina La Mexicana. As soon as he sets it in motion, we will let you know. We’re very lucky to have Bill on the Board of Alderman. He’s one of the smartest and most forward thinking aldermen we have. He is currently in his fourth year as President of the Board of Alderman. You know you’re good when your colleagues on the Board keep voting for you every year for the office of President. Not in our lifetime has that accomplishment ever been made.

************************

The good Alderman from Ward 7, Katjana Ballantyne, who is also Vice President of the Board, will be hosting a fundraiser herself on Monday, May 23, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at 212 Holland Street. Alderman Katjana is a new face on the scene here in Somerville. She’s doing a great job up there in Ward 7, as we’re told by many who live there.

************************

Welcome back to the Ville! Local attorney Edwin Smith and his wife Martha Friend and daughter Augusta Friendsmith just returned this past week, co-leading the hardiest group of @habitatforhumanity volunteers imaginable. They exceeded all expectations and achieved every goal far ahead of schedule in a mission to build a multi-functional sports field for the community of Bellavista in #soacha Colombia. Congratulations to the entire team for everything they accomplished together with members of the local community. What a wonderful experience this must have been for these special people, to donate their time and energy. If more gave of themselves to do this sort of thing and spread the goodness that this represents, the world would be a better place.

************************

In 2010, according to City of Somerville voter registration, there were a total of 43,236 voters, of which 23,696 were registered democrats and 1,888 were registered republicans, with 17,324 registered unenrolled. In 2015, according to the same records, there were a total of 46,045 voters: 24,068 registered democrats, 1,855 registered republicans and 19,735 registered unenrolled. Just since January 1, 2016 to now there are a total of 49,969 total registered voters with 26,527 registered democrats, 2,028 registered republicans, and 20,892 registered unenrolled. That’s a total of an additional 6,733 new registered voters. Obviously, a lot of Villens have moved out and new residents have moved into the city. Many new residents have no knowledge of who’s who on the political map. Imagine you paid top dollar to move here and enjoy the finer parts of Somerville and you get hit with an additional tax bill to help pay for the Green Line – the mayor is going to ask the Board of Aldermen for $50 million – a new high school, a newly renovated City Hall, pay raises for non-union employees and who knows what else. Or imagine you’re a long time resident of the city and you get hit with a huge increase in taxes and you pass it along to your renters. What are you going to do but pass it along to your tenants, if you have any? We bet you can see more than the usual 10–15% that normally come out and vote in the city elections next year. What do you think? We think more and more will be forced out of the city. You know, with all the new registered voters here in the city, it might not be a good time for the mayor or the Board of Aldermen to recommend a substantial tax increase. We hear it could be as high as anywhere between $500 to $1,000 per homeowner, maybe even higher.

************************

By the way, we hear that pre-election day balloting will begin soon. That means those 49K registered voters can vote up to 20 days ahead of the polls official opening. This makes it easier for you to vote and harder for the candidates to figure out who voted.

************************

A very special Happy 53 Years Anniversary to our own Claudia and Sal Ferro. What a nice couple. Imagine, 53 years as a perfect couple. Claudia is our own famous photographer. Everyone in the city knows her and her famous camera. Sal, a lifelong resident of East Somerville, is known for his printing skills. Over the years he’s done printing for a lot of companies and political people. We can’t say enough nice things about the two of them. We are truly blessed to know them. We wish them nothing but the best and hope they enjoy each other for another 53 years.

************************

Monday evening a special Board of Alderman meeting was called to unanimously pass a 20% inclusionary zoning ordinance that will generate additional affordable housing and help preserve the character of this amazing city. After about two hours of discussion and votes on amendments, the vote to pass the 20% inclusionary ordinance was passed.

************************

Middlesex County District Attorney Marian T. Ryan, who is originally from Somerville, is having a fundraiser on May 19 over at Restaurant Dante, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Her campaign coordinator here in the city, Ward 3 Alderman Bob McWatters, has let us know he is looking for a good showing from Somerville. Marian Ryan is doing a great job as District Attorney working hard here in both Somerville as well as Middlesex County. We supported her in her very first election bid for the seat back couple of years ago and see that she has done a great job representing us.

************************

Happy Birthday to a lot of our friends and fellow Villens here this week: Happy birthday to attorney and great guy Edwin Smith of Highland Avenue. We mentioned him and his family just coming back from Columbia after doing some great work. Enjoy your birthday, Ed, and have a relaxing week. Also celebrating this week is former Villen and very popular Winter Hill resident Ed Palazzolo, who has been going through some very difficult times for a while now being laid up in a hospital in VA. We wish him the very best and hope that his troubles are behind him. He’s a nice guy and everyone who knows him will tell you that. Happy birthday Ed, and many more! Happy Birthday to Melissa Hurley, the lovely wife of b. Melissa is very involved with unions and has also been very popular here in Somerville herself. We hope she has a great day for herself.

************************

There’s a new website in town. Check it out at www.somervillema.com. The Somerville Times is on the site. Also check out www.medfordma.com. Someone asked online why we keep these two websites in Newstalk. We guess it’s because we like them.

************************

For those that might be interested in obtaining certification for firearms should look up the Lawrence Rod & Gun Club. They provide an extensive program at the end of which you receive certification for Massachusetts/NRA Certified Firearm Safety Classes. They run a class once a month, which is limited to 10 people and we hear that this is the place to go to learn safety when handling guns. Email gunclub@earthlink.net for more information and or go to their website at www.lawrencerodandgunclub.org and read up about the course. We’ve been told that the course has seen a major increase in people applying for it, especially women. We can tell you first hand here that it’s a great course and quite thorough. The same goes for this in Newstalk. The club has informed us that many residents of Somerville have called or gone to the club to find out about certification.

************************

Remember, for the best footwear and other name brand clothing go online to www.shoebuy.com, compliments of local resident and SVP Zach Zasloff.

************************

Students of Arthur D Healey School are organizing a No Drive Day for Somerville. The No Drive Day is intended to help reduce Somerville’s emissions when driving motor vehicles. It is expected to help reduce Somerville’s use of fossil fuels, air pollution, and mitigate climate change. The No Drive Day is taking place on June 1. The rain date of the event is scheduled for June 2. People who participate in the No Drive Day will walk, bike, bus, or carpool to school.

************************

The Somerville Council on Aging’s LGBTQ Advisory Board invites you to “Dinner & Conversation” on Monday, May 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Holland Street Center, 167 Holland Street, Somerville. Join them for a free dinner and interesting conversation. RSVP is a must. Please call 617‐625‐6600, ext. 2300 no later than Friday, May 13.