Budding builders and ninja masters rang in Lunar New Year at LEGO Discovery Center Boston Saturday with a preview of the attraction’s NINJAGO: Dragon’s Rising event. What better year to find your inner dragon power than 2024, the year of the dragon!

Sublime to add more than 23,000 square feet of pilot and R&D space to the Somerville innovation hub. — Photo courtesy of Somernova.

 Rafi Properties, owner and operator of Somernova, the 7.4 acre innovation campus and community dedicated to helping people and companies iterate and grow faster, announced today that Sublime Systems (Sublime) will expand their headquarters on the campus. Sublime, the leading developer of a fossil-fuel-free, scalable, drop-in replacement for traditional cement in concrete, will add more than 23,000 square feet of space for their 250 tonnes-per-year pilot facility and R&D lab to their footprint, in addition to the 6,500 square feet they currently occupy on the campus. Sublime’s expansion underscores Somernova’s continued status as a leading hub for the rapid growth of early-stage and venture-backed climatetech and tough tech companies in the region.

Community members are invited to attend “Uplifting Youth Experiences,” which will feature two special presentations: The Harvard Kennedy School of Government will be discussing the findings of their strategic study: “Mitigating Small Business Displacement in Somerville, MA” that centers on understanding the obstacles facing small business owners in Somerville. Then, the Department of Racial & Social Justice’s Youth League will present their research into displacement and gentrification in Somerville.

The Armory Cafe’s Songwriter Sessions next evening of music takes place on Saturday, March 2.

Somerville Songwriter Sessions at the Armory Cafe presents an evening of music on Saturday, March 2, with songwriter/songwriters Zion Rodman, Rob Laurens and Sam Bayer. The concert features a set by each artist, followed by a round robin song swap.

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Mandarin: Mayor Katjana Ballantyne wishes those who celebrate a Happy Lunar New Year!

The City of Somerville’s Digital Bridge Initiative and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, are inviting community members to join a virtual meeting to share their voice and help shape the city’s digital equity planning.

— Photo courtesy of Somerville Fire Department

Captain Mark Matthews was promoted to the rank of District Chief at the February 8 City Council meeting. District Chief Matthews (center) is shown at his promotion ceremony with Assistant Chief Sean Tierney and Chief Charles Breen.

THE BEST OF SOMERVILLE 2023

Readers choices for 2023

Congratulations to the winners!
Please support their businesses and let them know you saw them in
The Somerville Times

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Best Idea in 2023:
Somerville Community Path Extension

Worst Idea in 2023:
Removing parking spaces in front of local businesses

Review by Dennis Fischman

There’s a trend in the murder mystery genre: take a historical figure, perhaps a writer herself, and make her the detective in your own book. Stephanie Barron did it with her Jane Austen mysteries. Nicola Upson is still writing her series starring Josephine Tey, a Golden Age of Mystery author herself. There have been Oscar Wilde murder mysteries (by Gyles Brandreth) and even an Agatha Christie-as-detective series (by Andrew Wilson).