Newstalk for April 14

On April 14, 2010, in Latest News, by The News Staff

Last week there was a sort-of public hearing on a proposed new park down on New Washington Street. The hearing was held by the Director of Parks and Open Space. When one of our Newstalkers arrived, it appeared there were more city employees then residents to hear about the new proposed park. Well, apparently the director doesn't interact well with questions and started to get annoyed that our guy was asking them. You'd think if it was a public hearing, and he was the director of the department, that the city would at least give lessons on how to react to questions being asked, wouldn't you? Too bad because we would have liked to hear about the new park. This isn't the first time public employees have either been rude or blocked entrances to public hearings… If you're holding a meeting and you're a governmental agency, especially holding a hearing, its open to the public, isn't it?

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Next Monday morning at 10 a.m. at Foss Park, the annual Patriots Day celebration will be held with the ride of Paul Revere. Last year none of the state delegation showed up and barely a handful of the alderman did as well. Bet because it's an election year they show up?

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Speaking of politicians, there's still time to take out papers to run for one of the representatives seats and the senator's seat for this fall. You have to call the Secretary of State's office and get your papers there and filled out to be on the ballot for September or at least November. We hear one local business owner is running for a Governor's Councilor seat. Hopefully a few more will take out papers.

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Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary to Tom & Sonya Murphy of Murphy the Florist fame here in Somerville. So how does that work? Does she or he call another florist?? We wish them the best and many more years.

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Corner of Elmwood Street and Elmwood Terrace there was a dedication last week honoring two generations of veterans and naming the square after them. DelPonte Square named after our own Jimmy's grandfather Guiseppe who served in WW1, Ferdinando (Freddy) his father who served in WW II and his uncle Joe who served in Korea. The DelPontes are a great Somerville family, all well-liked by everyone that knew these guys, and Jimmy the apple doesn't fall far, a nice guy as well. Pretty nice that the city recognizes these fine gentleman and their family.

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April 28th at 4:30 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre the fifth annual Mayor's Town meeting will be held, sponsored by the Somerville Chamber of Commerce. For reservations contact the chamber offices, smackey@somervillechamber.org

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The Somerville Lions Club Eye Mobile Clinic will be at the Healey School on Meacham Street this coming Tuesday morning the 20th from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Free eye screening exams.

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The Somerville High School Scholarship foundation is holding its annual fundraiser and is once again selling tickets for a $10K drawing to be held May 21; Tickets for the drawning are $100 each. For ticket information send your $100 check to SHS Raffle c/o Eugene C. Brune at PO Box 440275 Somerville 02144, upon receipt of the check they will send you back your ticket and good luck, this is a worthy charity here in Somerville. One of the founders was our own Bob Publicover whose idea and hard work paid off; the Foundation has raised over a million dollars since its beginning.

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Lions Charity Breakfast also coming up on Sunday May 2nd at the club house 9 New Washington St. 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tickets are $10 pp, contact President Billy Tauro at 617 293-2016.

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So we hear through the political grapevine that former mayoral candidate Tony LaFuente hosted a fundraiser for Mayor Joe last week. We hear a lot of local businessmen from both Cambridge and Somerville were present.

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Our sincere condolences to the Cataldo family on the recent loss of John Cataldo, who was the owner and founder of Cataldo Funeral Home on Winter Hill, before it closed down a few years back. John was a good guy and was very involved here in the Somerville community. He will be missed very much for a lot of things, in particular his generosity to Somerville.

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Congratulations to Eddie Nuzzo to become permanent Superintendent of Inspectional Services for the city of Somerville. Eddie has worked for the city since 1998 with the oversight of a number of important capital projects. We wish him the best of luck in his new position.

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Speaking of Inspectional Services, let's hope something is done with a former mayoral candidate's back yard that is filled with rubbish and debris like a junk yard — three unregistered vehicles lined up on the property line.

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Somerville Adult Evening School Registration takes place April 15, 6:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. at the Somerville High School Main Office. Register for Somerville Adult Evening School courses including Drivers Ed The 5-week session only costs $75 with additional materials fees, starting on Tuesday, April 27 and ends May 27. Classes will meet on Tuesday or Thursday evenings and include: Jewelry Making, Pastels or Watercolor Art, Computers, Culinary, How to Manage Multi Family Homes, Casting and Moldmaking, and Furniture Making. Register in person at SHS or online. Contact: Principal Sophia Carafotes @617-628-2594