Homelessness in the city is reaching a critical stage according to some city officials and residents. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Yoko Zhu

Somerville City Council members requested that the mayor declare homelessness a public state of emergency at the latest Somerville City Council meeting on Thursday, August 24.

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

By Will Mbah
Candidate for Somerville City Councilor at Large

Each year at this time, when the state of Massachusetts finishes its budget, our finance officers at city hall must take a careful look at what the governor and legislators have done, in order to determine what new monies or cuts in funding the city can expect.

Massachusetts State House Employees union organizer Morgan Simko appeared before the Somerville City Council to advocate for a resolution in support of the union’s efforts to allow collective bargaining for its members.

By Cassidy Beek

The Somerville City Council Meeting was called to order on Thursday, August 24, by Ward 3 City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen. Topics included the unionization efforts of the State House staff, an update from Mayor Ballantyne on the Winter Hill School and a discussion about the Armory building.

— Photos by Claudia Ferro

On Friday, August 25, members of the King Solomon’s Masonic Lodge of Somerville along with the Delta Lodge of Braintree donated Project Delta Kits to the Somerville Police Department.

In 2022, the Somerville community lost 22 residents due to opioid-related overdose. To commemorate our friends, neighbors, and loved ones who passed away, City of Somerville will place 22 purple flags on the front lawn of City Hall on August 31. One larger flag will also be displayed, representing all Somervillians who have been lost to an opioid-related overdose in the past. City Hall will also be illuminated purple in recognition of National Recovery Month. The flag and light displays will be viewable for the entire month of September.

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I have driven past this location many times only to think to myself, I must give this place a try. Well, I finally went, and now I’m kicking myself for not going sooner. I guess better late than never!

While its precise origins in the late nineteenth century are a bit unclear, the observance of Labor Day has generally come to signify a celebration of the common working class in America, in a somewhat similar fashion as that of International Workers Day on May 1 throughout other parts of the world.

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In May of 2023, I was a participant in an international poetry festival at the U/Mass Lowell Campus, in Lowell, MA. Many of the poets and writers there were from South America, and it was a pleasure to meet, read, and talk with many of these folks. In May we were confident that the dreaded virus was not a threat. The reports from the media indicated that the numbers had greatly diminished.

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Ryan Stovall is a former adventurer, world traveler, and Green Beret who earned his MFA from Fairfield University in 2021. Black Snowflakes Smothering A Torch is his first book.