Tonight Wednesday the 22nd, at the ever-popular Sally O’Brien’s on Somerville Avenue, Union Square, Ward 3 Alderman Bob McWatters will be having a fundraiser from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. We hear that three special guests will be showing up to wish Bob good luck, of course along with the huge crowd he gets. One is his good friend Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan (don’t forget he’s campaign coordinator here in Somerville for her), the first District Attorney for Middlesex County who grew up here, in Ward 3, and her family is still here. No one packs them in like Bob does. Last time hardly anyone could move around. He’s very popular on his own, doesn’t need anyone especially property owners and developers and whatever to throw him a sellout time. He’s popular because he is truly a constituent alderman and reaches out to all the residents of Ward 3, not just the special interest of a few. He’s got support from all sides, and yes, he’s a great guy.

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Happy Birthday to a lot of our friends and fellow Villens here this week: Happy birthday to a good friend and nice lady, Gail Chambers, who is celebrating this week. We wish her the very best. Happy Birthday to Jack Nicas, formerly Asst. Editor here at The Times, who left and moved up to become a reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering Google. We wish him the very best in his future. A very special happy birthday to our good friend Paula LeBlanc, a lady with a big heart and one of the best Paralegals you can find. She works at Attorney Sean O’Donovan’s office. We wish Paula a huge happy birthday and we’re wondering if she’s making her own cake? A happy birthday too to the former director of Local First here in Somerville, Joe Grafton.

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Ward Four Alderman Tony Lafuente, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Board of Alderman, which met Tuesday night as a Committee of the Whole Board (the entire board attends), reviewed all the departments and recommended cuts added up to about $600K out of the $222M budget. The final vote and recommendation of the Finance Committee will be done at the next Board of Alderman meeting this Thursday.

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At Tuesday night’s budget meeting, Ward Five Alderman Mark Niedergang made a motion to reduce the mayor’s proposed salary increase. The special committee which recommended the raise for the mayor suggested an increase to $180K and Alderman Niedergang made a motion to reduce it to $160K, but his amendment failed with Alderman Lance Davis and Alderman Matt McLaughlin voting with Mark Niedergang, while seven other aldermen voted against his amendment. The mayor will be receiving a salary of $180K, which again in our opinion the he deserves. Another motion Alderman Niedergang made was to reduce the salary for the Board of Alderman from the suggested $40K to $35K. Again, his motion failed.

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Later on at the end of the budget meeting, once again Ward Five Alderman Mark Niedergang proposed a motion to cut Flowers & Flags from the DPW budget by $33K. He was voted down again. Then on his last motion, Alderman Niedergang proposed to cut Christmas Lighting by $25K. A roll call vote was made and Ward One Alderman Matt  McLaughlin and Alderman Niedergang were the only two voting to cut Christmas lighting. All the other aldermen were adamant in their votes to keep the Christmas lighting budget intact. Thinking about it, we thought of the Christmas Grinch story, and then remembered back when Alderman Niedergang was School Committeeman from Ward Five and wanted to make Good Friday celebration a non-holiday. We think one of the other moments was when a proposal by – once again – Alderman Niedergang to take the amount of $23K out of Veterans Services account which is earmarked for the Memorial Day Parade 2017. Guess what? Yup, Alderman McLaughlin (himself a veteran) voted to cut the monies out, but a majority of the aldermen present once again voted these amendments down and the $23K for the Veterans Dept is intact.

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The proposed budget for the city of Somerville is on our web site, over 200 pages www.thesomervilletimes.com.

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Speaking of the budget, we were amazed to see that Ward One Alderman Matthew McLaughlin was not present the entire week last week’s (June 13 to 16) budget hearings. We heard from several sources that he was on vacation. We also heard he was in California for the week.  The most important process of our city, the city budget and with it so important for the aldermen to address the issues of the budget and maybe save the city taxpayers some money or make suggestions? And here we have Alderman McLaughlin not present for whatever reason last week and not representing his constituency, the residents of East Somerville. Residents of Ward One, East Somerville need to be represented, in particular in the budget process. Maybe it’s work related, the reason he was absent, we don’t know. All we can say is what was said around the city by more than one city official and employees. Now we have gone and done it. He will be upset with us for telling you, the public, something that everyone in city government was talking about, and we are delivering.

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The other rumor or whispering around City Hall is that you, the taxpayers, will soon be hit with a big increase. Even worse, we predict that a 2.5 override will be on the ballot next year.

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At last night’s Finance Committee meeting of the Board of Alderman, Mr. Ricky Willette who is Director of Operations for the City’s DPW, was rushed to the hospital. We hope he’s back on his feet soon, he’s one of the good guys. Everyone likes Ricky. Our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

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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.

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Some questions remain that the Board of Alderman haven’t asked. Why are some employees of the city on paid leave, and one in particular we hear has been on paid leave for over a year and half collecting in excess of $80K. While there are others as well, maybe not as long of time but why is the city still paying? Then there is appointed people by the administration and part timers who don’t live in the city and don’t even work here, but are still on payroll. A population of 78K residents and we still have some working on the payroll?

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The Somerville Times is in the process of putting out some more boxes, approximately 12 more in strategic places to make it more accessible. There will be some new boxes at Assembly Square as well. A list of boxes will be out with a map showing where you can get the paper, even outside the boxes. If you would like to see the paper at some location near you, call us at 617-666-4010.

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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.

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For the best coffee and Donuts again we hope you consider Demet’s Donuts on Mystic Avenue in Medford. We need a real donut shop here in the Ville that is similar. Don’t forget, their egg breakfast sandwiches are made fresh and much better than those sold at franchise places. Also, you can pick up a copy of The Somerville Times there as well.

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Local guy and business man Zachary Zasloff, who is SVP of www.shoebuy.com, was recently appointed by the mayor to the Condominium Board of Directors. He’s a good guy who we know will bring new enthusiasm to that board.

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Drop over to Sally O’Brien’s any night and see live entertainment and, of course, get some great burgers. Lots of friendly people there, and you can enjoy some good conversation and be entertained at the same time.

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The OPENAIR Circus, a Somerville institution for 30 years, is excited to be starting up another summer of outdoor fun.  Information about the program and registration is now available online at www.openaircircus.org.  Classes start June 28.  Registration is only $20 for students or $30 for an entire family and covers the entire 6-week program. Also, the OPENAIR Circus will hold its annual pancake breakfast on Saturday, June 25 from 9:30-11 a.m. at First Church Somerville, 89 College Ave. Use the side entrance on Francesca Ave. They will be serving pancakes, eggs, sausage, veggie patties, coffee and O.J. Tickets at the door will be $10 for teen or adult (11 years old or older) and $5 for children (10 years old or younger). $25 for an entire family. All are invited.

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COLUMBUS was Portuguese NOT Italian: Lecture to be held Thursday, June 23, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., at the Somerville Public Library, 9 Highland Ave. Proof that Columbus was not Italian will be presented in this lecture by Manuel Rosa, author of six history books on Columbus, including Columbus – The Untold Story. Books cannot be sold at the event. Purchase ahead of time at www.Columbus-Book.com and pick up your signed book at the event. According to Rosa, the real Columbus presented in the new biography is not an incompetent amateur sailor who got lost on his way to India and gained immortal fame through his ignorance. He was actually a highly skilled James Bond of his day, who planned each step carefully. He had a secret mission that he carried out through lies, intrigues and treachery, which nobody had suspected up to now. Free and open to the public.