The mayor wins by large margin to advance onto the November ballot. It was very unusual going to the polls this past Tuesday, especially if you didn’t live in Ward 1. The only race on the ballot was the mayor’s race, with three candidates, the top two advance. Mayor Joe Curtatone will face off with first time candidate for office Payton Corbett, a  truck driver/ union member. The race in Ward 1 was for School Committee with four running. The top two will advance to the November election. The top two vote getters this past Tuesday for Ward 1 School Committee are Emily Ackman and Kenneth M. Salvato.

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Two more weeks until the The Somerville Police Department will be holding a golf tournament in memory of police officer William “Billy” Nolan, a great officer and wonderful family who is remembered by many here in the city. The tournament will be held on Friday, September 29, at 7:00 a.m. for coffee. 7:45 board golf carts and 8 Shotgun start. Golfers are $150 and Dinner only is $50, to be held at the Hillview Country Club, 149 North St., No. Reading. If you’d like to participate and want more information contact Somerville Police Relief Association c/o Captain Michael S. Cabral, at the Police Department, 22 Washington St., Somerville 02143. If you’d like to help out by sponsoring, the cost is $100, send to same.

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Welcome back to work the real brains behind the DPW, Tommy Barry, who has been out with knee surgery these past several months. Apparently, they the city won’t pay him for his time out. He’s back just in time while the Assistant DPW Commissioner Ricky Willette is out having surgery himself. We wish him a speedy return. It’s a good thing Tommy is back just in the nick of time. Just saying.

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Speaking of the DPW, we were tipped off that the self-appointed so-called wannabe cop or journalist from that blog was sitting in his super-duper (estimated value of $80K) red corvette – maybe he’ll show up in his Rolls next time – last week, parked in a special permit space for DPW employees, watching the comings and goings of the DPW. We don’t want to give them any advice, but if you’re going to do surveillance work at least show up in a non-conspicuous car, don’t park in a permit parking space and, finally, maybe you might want to try that retro T-bird? You know, the one with the dealer plates on it!

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We noticed that there is a lot of hullabaloo about The Times making a whopping $100K from legal ads from the city since 2011. Yup we won’t deny it, but that works out to about $14K per year. Do we have to teach them how to do math? Simply divide 7 years into 100K and the answer is roughly $14K a year. Sorry guys, but that’s not even enough to pay a year’s printing costs. It seems like Mayor Joe’s opponent is also making a big deal out of $100K over 7 years. Maybe to them it’s a lot of money, but doesn’t even come close to covering our expenses. After all, we print several thousand papers more than they do. Yeah, sure, we’re bought by the mayor with all those ads, which by law,  the city has to run somewhere. No, we’re not for sale at $14K, but maybe they are!

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The primary over in Medford was held last week. We’re glad to announce that our good friend – and we think one of the best city councilors in Medford – Adam Knight was voted to continue to the November ballot. We hope he tops the ticket and he has our support. Also, we support Mayor Stephanie Burke, who will be on the November ballot. She’s a great mayor and doing a lot of good for the city of Medford.

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Happy birthdays this week to the following: Big happy birthday to Alderman At-Large Mary Jo Rossetti who is celebrating. We hope she has a great birthday for herself. A good guy and great pub owner here in Somerville, we wish a big happy birthday to Conor Brennan of P.J. Ryan’s in Teele Square. Make sure you wish him a HB and buy him a Guinness. Happy birthday to former Somerville native Joe P. Bordonaro, one of Somerville’s success stories of the 80’s. We wish him a happy birthday. Who can forget Donna Piro-Andon of the famous Ward 5 Piro’s and Piro Print Shop? Donna is a great person, always cheerful and smiling. She has that Piro charm. Her father was an alderman for many years. Happy birthday to John Paglierani, formerly of Somerville, and another happy birthday to Christopher Patti, who now lives here in Somerville. Happy birthday to former Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan, a successful lawyer, business man and all around nice guy. We wish him a special Happy 50th and many more. Ward 5 misses his service. Happy birthday to the many others celebrating this week. We hope they all have a great day for themselves.

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Ward 3 Alderman Bob McWatters will be having a campaign get together and fundraiser at Sally O’Brien’s on Somerville Ave. on Wednesday, October 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Last time his opponent sent spies to monitor the event. Alderman McWatters is a good person. He’s being accused of taking money from developers, but maybe some unopposed candidates might want to stop spreading lies. They might find an opponent in two years that they might not like.

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Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston is out every day working hard for her re-election. We know that every time you turn around in the ward she’s there. She has a great following and is making sure working hard is the reason why. She’s a good alderman who is dedicated to the future of Somerville and, although she represents a big part of Union Square, she’s on top of what’s going on throughout the city. By the way, Beacon St. is one great road. The work is done and a job well done. Thank you, Maryann!

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Last week we congratulated Ward 1 Alderman Matt McLaughlin on his new job over in Cambridge, being paid about 50k a year as an aide to City Councilor Dennis Carlone. We’re wondering how did Councilor Carlone pick Alderman McLaughlin, who says he lives in Somerville, over a constituent in Cambridge, a city of 100K residents. Can no one can be found to be his aide there? By the way, the other morning The Times received a message from a resident of Ward 1 who gave his name (yes, unlike that blog, we do get real calls from real people) that Matt McLaughlin called him on the phone late one night recently and asked for his support. The gentleman, who was wakened from a deep sleep, told Matt he had a sign in his yard for Elio LoRusso, and that he was supporting him. The man said Matt proceeded to yell and scream about his support for LoRusso. The resident/voter of Ward 1 said he was startled and was seriously thinking of going to file a police report against McLaughlin. Matt McLaughlin sure doesn’t learn much from his mentor, Ward 5 Alderman Mark Niedergang.  Maybe Matt should calm down and instead of working for and walking the rounds with other candidates that are running for office, especially his efforts to elect candidate Payton Corbett for mayor against Joe Curtatone, as well as for others for a different office, he might want to focus in on his own campaign. By the way, Elio LoRusso is running for Alderman in Ward 1. Just saying!

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It appears that Ward 1 Alderman Matt McLaughlin shut down his twitter feed about the same time as when the mayoral candidate Payton Corbett was exposed for not so very nice remarks regarding women, Asians and Blacks. Why did Matt shut his twitter feed down? Maybe he thought of some comments he might have made that needed to be blocked and not read?

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A small group of – we guess – Bernie Sanders supporters and left wing progressives endorsed candidates for public office this year. We’re wondering why there was no research done on the various candidates? It must be embarrassing to have endorsed mayoral candidate Payton Corbett only to find out about his remarks made online regarding women, Asians and Blacks that were not what you’d exactly call PC. So, is the credibility of Our Revolution Somerville seriously called into doubt? We’re just asking. It seems so to many out there and to us as well. It sounds like the old Somerville Progressive Democrats who used to meet in a telephone booth. Now they probably just changed their name. For some reason they don’t want to be called just plain old Democrats. The Citywide Democratic Committee is having its annual BBQ/Picnic at Powderhouse Park this Sunday, September 24, beginning at 12 noon. Ward 1 Alderman Matt McLaughlin, who is up for reelection, is endorsed by this group. So are a few others running for office. We wonder if they checked them out as well? We heard this group considers Mayor Joe Curtatone to be too much of a conservative. Now seriously, are they for real? Who in their right mind thinks this?

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Congratulations to Paul and Lauren McGlashing on the recent new addition to their family. Born this week is Paul Steven McGlashing, weighing in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 inches long. He will be a big hit in this very popular and welcoming Somerville family. We wish all three the very best, and long and happy memories. Stop in at Albrandi Barber Shop on Holland Street and say “Hi” to Paul. He’s the best barber in Somerville under 75 years of age.

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Triple and double worth repeating: notify our State Senator Pat Jehlen and both State Representatives Denise Provost and Christine Barber to look into the lease of the Winter Hill Yacht Club for Criminals. We hear that the club is not at all comfortable with the publicity regarding allowing convicted felons as members. Again, we can’t understand why the club who rents from the state that beautiful piece of land – which has a huge fence around it, not to mention a gate to keep out residents – can still occupy the premises. We understood that the lease with DCR states no criminals can be members, or is that the club rules? We get confused sometimes. We also understood that over 90% of the membership doesn’t even live here in the city and we know that many from the city have applied but must wait their turn. Maybe they don’t have a criminal record, might that be a reason that the club won’t open its membership? Just saying. There needs to be an investigation of their membership list and their applications. We raised this question before and we will keep raising it until the club cleans up its act. Don’t forget, some of us here used to be “Life Members” until the E board changed the rules. It seems like they always want to change the rules when it suits them. We think it would be good to see DCR revoke the lease and make it a public boat landing for the residents of our city. We’re for opening up the facility for public use by the residents of Somerville.

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The Fifth Annual Somerville Moms’ Diaper Drive launches Saturday, September 23, and runs through Sunday, October 8. All diapers will be donated to the Somerville/Cambridge WIC office, which serves Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington, Watertown, Lexington, and Belmont.  There are a variety of ways to donate including dropping diapers off at one of the many businesses and organizations hosting boxes in the area or purchasing diapers from the Amazon registry and having them sent directly to the WIC office. More information about the Fifth Annual Somerville Moms’ Diaper Drive can be found on their website at http://somervillediaperdrive.blogspot.com/ and on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/somervillemomsdiaperdrive/.