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On Saturday, October 8, it’s the Somerville High 50th Class Reunion, for graduates in 1966. This reunion will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton Wakefield Boston Hotel, One Audubon Road Wakefield 01880. A Dinner/Dance takes place from 6:00 p.m. to midnight. Make check out to SHS Class of 1966 and send to 44 Morrison Road, Wakefield, MA 01880. We know some have heard this before, but this class graduated in the sixth month, sixth day, at six o’clock 1966, 6/6/6/66 at Dilboy Field on a hot evening. Some say it was hell out there on the field, get it? Believe it or not a lot of the class of ‘66 still lives in Somerville and surrounding communities.
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Open House in Somerville with the local Masonic Lodge here in the city, King Solomon’s Lodge AF & A.M. at 125 Highland Avenue (rear up the driveway to the right of the building) doors will be open for residents to come and tour and ask questions about the Masons, the lodge and the building they occupy. Saturday, October 15 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. King Solomon’s Lodge was chartered September 5, 1783, just two days after the American Revolution ended. Their charter was signed by Paul Revere and they owned and built the original Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. They even have on display the actual documents conveying the land to the Masonic Lodge in Charlestown. Officers and members will be present and light refreshments will be served.
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There are questions on the ballot here in the city on November 8. One particular question the administration wants you to vote on is overriding proposition 2.5, which would make it possible for the city to raise your taxes to pay for certain items. Did you know they need about $50M for the Green Line? Then don’t forget about the new proposed High School. And what else?
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The one and only original “Best of Somerville” ballot is out this week and the winners will be announced the first Wednesday in November, so hurry up and nominate in your favorite category. We also want best idea this year and worst idea this year for 2016 here in Somerville. You can email, mail, call in or just drop your votes in the mail slot at 699 Broadway, Somerville.
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Get out and register to vote. There should be no excuses. The deadline to register is October 19 and new to the election process will be Advance Voting, which will begin on October 24 at the Board of Alderman chambers, second floor at City Hall. For more information and also for absentee ballots for those who can’t get out to vote, call the Election Department at 617-625-6600. They are hard working people in that department and will be glad to assist you. They are very dedicated and committed to making sure the process here in Somerville will go smoothly. Right now we have just over 50,000 registered voters and voting early will be a big help.
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Happy birthday to a lot of our friends and fellow Villens here this week: Happy birthday to one of the nicest ladies here in the city and married to a great guy, we salute Annemarie Carey-Browne and wish her a very happy day and week for herself. Also celebrating is one of Somerville’s good guys, an activist who takes after his great father, we wish Ben Echevarria a very happy birthday. Happy Birthday to another Somerville good guy, Michael Buckley, who celebrates this week as well. Happy birthday to the good senator from Everett, who is very well known here in Somerville, Senator Sal DiDomenico, a good guy who is always in touch with his constituents, no matter their background. Happy birthday to the younger Michael Capuano, who serves on the city Planning Board, an up and coming politician who will undoubtedly follow in his father’s footsteps. Happy birthday too to Gay Koty, a nurse here in the city working in the School Department. She’s very sincere and committed to her job. We wish her a happy birthday this week. And to a good friend who used to live here in Somerville who is coming back, Dr. Halim Muslu, a dedicated doctor and family man. We wish him a very happy birthday. Finally, to Chris Podymaitis, a lifelong resident here along with his family. A nice guy, we wish him a very happy birthday. To all those that are also celebrating this week we hope you have a great birthday.
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The latest on our Winter Hill vs. Ten Hills Turkey: From good sources we hear there are two of them and they can be seen frequently on top of the Mystic Avenue projects. The Winter Hill Turkey seems to like early morning commuters. He has no problem crossing the street, as if he has no fear. He likes to hang out mainly on Mystic Avenue during rush hour, walking between the projects and Foss Park. He is really something. Last we reported, there might be two of them, but we haven’t seen the other one yet. But were looking for him or her.
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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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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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Wow, did you see our Congressman Mike Capuano last week at a hearing on the Wells Fargo crap going on? He took down the head of Wells Fargo. He was fantastic and reminded us of his days as our mayor, where he did a great job. Mike was Mike. He sure knows how to let people know how he feels. It’s just too bad congress can’t do anything legal to this guy, who is President and CEO at the same time. Imagine all those thousands of people being ripped off and he stays on that job. Despicable. Maybe anyone who has an account with them might consider changing it. We hear that the Winter Hill Bank is great and local and extremely honest and friendly. That’s what we hear!
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Happy Tails Pet Rescue, a volunteer run, no-kill shelter and adoption program is holding a fundraising yard sale on Saturday, October 8 (rain date Sunday, October 9), 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., 2 Bradley Street, Somerville. All proceeds go directly to the animals.
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The Highlander Cafe is open to the public. Dine in at the Highlander Cafe, the student-run restaurant at Somerville High School Open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., 81 Highland Avenue, Somerville. Phone: 617-625-6600 x6232 Check out their menu at http://www.somerville.k12.ma.us/schools/somerville-high-school/highlander-cafe.
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The Tufts University Department of Music presents Mbira: Music of the Spirits of Zimbabwe, a performance by Zimbabwean master musician, Fradreck Mujuru and, Erica Azim playing the healing music of the mbira, used by the Shona to connect the living with the ancestors for over 1,000 years. in the Distler Performance Hall at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 7 p.m. Born to the largest extended family of mbira players in Zimbabwe, Mujuru has played mbira since the age of 8, and is now known internationally as an outstanding performer, teacher, and instrument maker, while continuing to play in ceremonies for the ancestors at home. Azim is America’s leading proponent of the Shona mbira tradition, and has toured with various Shona mbira masters and taught thousands of Americans to play mbira, and to support the tradition in Zimbabwe.
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Thank you Somerville Times for notifying the voters the negative effect the mayor’s scheme to pour more unnecessary taxes on the residents. High School and as historically happened before the school census will drop and the citizens will have a white elephant paying to heat/a.c./etc. a half filled school. “T” cannot afford the GLX so the mayor will burden the residents with the expense. VOTE NO on Question 5, save your homes, keep the rents at affordable rates.
In a brief search of the city’s website, I found the actual language of the proposition 2.5 override question to appear on the November ballot.
Question 5 (Specific to Somerville)
Shall the City of Somerville be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one-half, so-called, the amounts required to pay for the bond(s) issued in order to design, engineer, construct, and equip the new Somerville High School?
That’s it! This question only addresses the funds needed to pay for only one particular item – a new Somerville High School. It is not an unrestricted tax increase the city administration wants to fritter away on things like public transportation projects or fixing our aging infrastructure. By repeatedly misrepresenting this ballot question, The Somerville Times has done a disservice to its readers and to the residents of the city this paper calls home. By the way, it’s not just the city administration that wants you to vote for the override. It’s families with kids in the public schools. Families with no kids in the schools. People without children. It’s born and bred Somervillians and new arrivals. It’s Somerville High graduates and folks who have never step foot in the building. It’s anyone who believes that one of the hallmarks of a great city is modern and good schools.
I can’t justify a further increase in my tax bill. Over the past 10 years we have seen our property tax bills grow at a rate significantly greater than 2.5%
To give you an example I picked a random house off of the assessors site we’ll call it 100 “Lowland” ave in Somerville:
Tax year Property Value Tax Rate/1k Total Tax
2015 699300 12.61 $8,818
2014 632200 12.66 $8,003
That $800 increase isn’t because the tax rate went up, because it went down, but rather because the assessed value went up. causing a 10% increase in the tax bill.
I personally experienced an 11% year over year increase in my tax bill. I’d make a bet that the majority of home owners have seen a similar increase in our tax bill. I expect to see a similar increase this year.
I cannot in good conscious vote for MORE taxes and fees that go on indefinitely, and have no legal restriction on use.
@Somerville Swift – while the question gives a reason for the requested override it does not obligate the city to use the money in such a targeted way.
I’m not opposed to funding a new high school or new water pipes, I just want accountability and better planning in local government.
Sorry about trying to write out a chart. to put this simply my tax bill has gone up by an average of 11% a year since 2013 despite the tax rate going down every one of these years to to changes in the assessed value of my home.
I pay 38% more in taxes in 2016 than I did in 2013 and I do not see the benefit of it.
– the parks are not 38% nicer
– the roads are not 38% smoother
– the schools are not 38% better
– the neighborhoods are not 38% safer
The city is going to raise the assessed value of my home again this year by another 5-15% this year. Which means if the tax rate stays flat I will see a 5-15% increase in my tax bill this year. The city asking us to raise the cap on the tax rate above and beyond this built in increase is an insult.
Look and see what the change has been for you between 2013 and 2016. Its public information – http://gis.vgsi.com/somervillema/
If you are a renter it means your land lord is passing on that increase to you. If you are an owner this comes right out of your pocket.
We need to demand fiscal accountability.
Yes ritepride, a big NO is the proper answer. What are they thinking?
I must apologize for further promulgating one of this publications misrepresentations of the ballot question. Question 5 is not a proposition 2.5 override – the revenue from which could be used for any municipal expenditure. The question before Somerville voters is one of debt exclusion. The additional property tax collected can only be used to service the debt from the construction of a new Somerville High School. The template language for the question is taken directly from M.G.L. Ch. 59 Sec. 21c(k) describing proposition 2.5 debt exclusions. The fears being stoked by this paper that this ballot question is some type of nefarious administration cash grab to fund bike lanes, community hemp gardens and whatnot are baseless. The design and cost of the proposed new High School was arrived at through an open, transparent and well documented process as required by state law. Moreover, since at least half the funds will be coming from the state, the design and construction of the new school will be under constant scrutiny by several agencies.
NO is the proper way to go on question 5. Over the years the mayors and BOA past n present have played a shell game on the residents / renters of Somerville. Prop 2.5 was the start of the con game. Thousands of State, County and Municipal employees laid off. services cut / reduced. Meantime taxes and fees (sub taxes), increased, yet no laid off employees, (except political hacks), services returned to pre- Prop 2.5 period.
Just look at city budgets over the years. Example when the city was going to place street sweeping services under private contract. DPW commissioner Koty stood before the BOA and stated the high cost of maintenance on the city’s existing street sweepers was very expensive, the larger roller brush cost several thousand dollars each, etc. and by privatizing street seeping here would no longer be this expense as those city sweepers would be replaced by contractor sweepers…..Ah.h! Surprise…surprise…surprise! Every year since the street sweeper program has been privatized, look at the city budget, year after year, and Comm. Koty is still ordering sweeper parts for city sweepers that
should not exist. Why? Again the old Somerville Shell game. Comm. Koty lied. What he did not tell the public at the cable televised budget hearings back then. The private contractor just sweeps the residential areas and does not supply street sweepers for the night sweeping of the business (squares) areas, municipal parking lots, and special events like after parades, road races, running events, etc. thus the city did not eliminate the DPW Commissioner’s “costly” city sweepers, Meanwhile check the rising costs over the years for the “private sweepers”.
The brick and mortar of the existing high school is better than the product used today. All those buildings mayors and BOA members said were so old and in danger of collapse, Union Square Police and Fire Stations, still stand today. The old [original] Police station on Bow St. The Lowe School on Morrison Ave are some of them. Beware citizens!
Ritepride is correct.
Building a new high school is a bad idea. It will cause rents to soar since the already struggling landlords can’t afford the previous triple increases, and recent water hikes – an estimated $300 annually.
I attended the meeting about the water increases and asked when they will be putting in a new sewer system at an estimated cost of $3 billion.
They say the developers will have to start paying to help the city. Don’t hold your breathe.
Again, more disinformation offered by the misinformed – or those with a particular political agenda to press.
The high school must be partially repaired and added onto, just as the selected plan recommends. Those involved in the decision making process did a great job in formulating this plan.
The state has firmly indicated that the existing structure is unsafe and renovations at the very least are absolutely required. The proposed plan is the ideal solution.
Of course, YES ON 5 is the only responsible choice.
Matt C: 11% a year? 38% in 3 years? That sounds much higher than what I have seen I’ve been in my home for 10 years. Most years my tax bill stayed pretty flat and in some years it actually decreased. The 2 highest increases I saw were 6% in 2010 and 9% in 2012, but the rest of the years it was less than 2%.
MarketMan, Here are some raw numbers I looked up 2 single family properties in ward 5 to see the increase in assessed value. Like me they have seen a nearly 50% increase in assessed value since 2013.
2013 Tax Rate: 13.42
2016 Tax Rate: 12.53
House 1
in 2013 the assessment was 306k in 2016 487k, tax increase of $1995
– 306*13.42 = 4106
– 487*12.53 = 6102
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change since 2013 of 1995.59
House 2
in 2013 the assessment was 317k in 2016 506k, tax increase of $2086
– 317*13.42 = 4254
– 506*12.53 = 6304
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change since 2013 of 2086.04