The pre-July 4th fireworks here in Somerville is this Thursday, June 28. We hear it may rain, and you know what that means. But as of today it has not been cancelled. Let’s hope whoever is in charge of the event or here in the city makes the right call this time.

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Happy birthday this week to several locals: Happy Birthday to local Winter Hill resident Jonathan Buck, who is celebrating this week. He is manager of Mirak Motors in Arlington. Stop in and see the many Chevrolets and Hyundais for sale and wish him a happy birthday. Happy birthday to former writer for The Times, Beecher Tuttle. We wish him a good day. Happy birthday to local real estate agent at Benoit Realty, Len Ferrari, who grew up here in Somerville. Happy birthday to former resident Dean Glines. We hope he has a great birthday as well. Happy birthday to Katherine Cremins. We hope she has a great birthday this week as well. Happy birthday to Rod Laurenz, who is a member of Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis, as well as being the Chamber of Commerce’s president. Also celebrating this week is local attorney and good guy Phil Privitera. We wish him the very best of birthdays. He’s 50 now, and we’re sure he will have a big party. Happy birthday as well to all the others we may have missed and, yes, there are a few more out there. We sincerely wish them the very best of birthdays.

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Congratulations to Russell and Michelle Koty, who were married this past weekend. Russell is the youngest of the Koty family, and the last to get married. We wish them both a long and happy marriage. We hear that Mayor Joe Curtatone officiated at the ceremony.

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Happy 50th Anniversary to our good friends Gennaro and Ida Fasano, a great couple. Lately Ida has been getting more involved with her artwork and is pretty good at it. We wish them both the very best future together. They are celebrating at a party in Winchester this coming Saturday and we will be there. Ida still works as a real estate agent for The Norton Group.

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Out of the 15 members elected last year for the Neighborhood Council in Union Square, 13 of them ran on a slate of being members and/or supporters of Our Revolution. Some would say so what, others might say they were trying to stack the Advisory Board. We hear one of the newly elected members has moved out of the city, but they haven’t replaced him and we hear they won’t. Transparency is wonderful, but not for everyone. We also hear they might want to get a copy of Robert’s Rules and most likely a copy of the Sunshine Laws here in Massachusetts. Just a suggestion. Funny, we know lots of people in Union Square, and they haven’t a clue as to who these people are!

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Have you been watching these guys on the Board of Aldermen? Especially these new ones? We guess they ran for office not knowing what the job entails, especially with the budget process. Instead they ask some of the strangest questions of the various department heads. Some examples are one alderman asking the Chief of Police if the police report those people that bring cockroaches in their homes to the city? Does the Police Department have any armored vehicles? And, of course, the best one so far, to the Personnel Director asking if they could have a job with the city. Wonder what he thinks the board of aldermen is? We realize that some might be in over their heads, but some questions might be better asked off camera where the residents cannot see and hear.

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The Somerville City Club is looking to increase its membership. For the time being membership is open to any resident here in the city It’s a great organization that has been around a long time, with lots of activities that support local charitable groups here. Contact the club on Innerbelt Road across from Holiday Inn for more details.

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Have you thought you’d like to do some writing, a little story about Somerville as either a newbie or Villen? We have about 80K people and we would love to hear about your adventures here in the city. Maybe you want to write about a particular subject like our Bob Doherty and Dorothy DiMarzio, or like when Jimmy Del Ponte wrote his stories about the city (hey, that’s an idea maybe we can talk him into a little writing again). Or maybe you’d like to express your opinion like Bill Shelton, as many others have over the years. Not just the politicians, but those from our community. Give us a call at 617-666-4010 or email news@thesomervilletimes.com and tell us about your idea. We would love to tell it to the rest of Somerville.

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Congratulations to Lisa Ramos, the new manager at the Century Bank on Fellsway. She was inducted into Somerville Rotary as one of its newest members. Lisa is a fantastic person, a great asset to Century Bank, and we hope she enjoys Rotary and the many great things they do here in the Somerville community.

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Best of luck to Mark Alston-Follansbee, who is retiring this week as director of the Somerville Homeless Collation. He has done a great job. We wish him the very best in all his future plans.

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Members of the Somerville Kiwanis Club are implementing a school supply drive program to help less fortunate children and families to be ready for the new school year starting in September and they need your help. Along with the Parent Information Center and Somerville local schools, their goal is to distribute 200 backpacks filled with necessary school supplies to children in need, grades 7-12, by early August. Please consider donating supplies or making a monetary donation to help these kids in our community. To donate supplies or support the effort financially, please drop off your donations at one of the following local locations between July 1 and July 30: East Cambridge Savings Bank, 285 Highland Ave.; Winter Hill Bank, 342 Broadway; Winter Hill Bank, 5 Cutter Ave.; Naveo Credit Union, 493 Somerville Ave.; Century 21 Commonwealth, 205 Holland St. Or, make a check payable to: The Somerville Kiwanis Club SSD and mail to: Pauline D’Aurora, Treasurer Kiwanis Club of Somerville, P.O. Box 45303, Somerville MA 02145.

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The City of Somerville will be closing out the celebration of Pride Month with a free screening of Suited at the Somerville Theater on Thursday, June 28, at 6:00 p.m. Join in for an evening of film and discussion about the important issues of sexual orientation, inclusion, and gender identity. Following the screening, a panel discussion will be moderated by Somerville Media Center.