Here is the COVID-19 update for Monday, November 22, 2021. Please also check somervillema.gov/covid19 for information and resources that are updated frequently.  

Incidence rate rising again: After a brief dip in local case numbers in October, Somerville’s COVID-19 incidence rate has risen more than 50% over the past two weeks. See the latest Somerville case data at somervillema.gov/covid19dashboard.

Enforcement efforts will focus on impaired driving

To ensure safety for the citizens of Massachusetts, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) will be conducting alcohol enforcement operations at bars in major Massachusetts cities from Thanksgiving Eve through New Year’s Eve.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, Ward 1 Councilor Matt McLaughlin, Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, and Ward 4 Councilor Jesse Clingan invite you to a virtual community meeting to discuss proposed streetscape changes in Gilman Square.  

This meeting will primarily focus on the feasibility study for constructing an accessible path from Marshall Street to the Medford Street bridge and Community Path, as well as options for protected bicycle lanes on Medford Street and Pearl Street from School Street to Skilton Avenue.   

By Erica Dakin Voolich

Previous years in October I’d be telling you about teams each of three students arriving at the gym at Tufts University for an engineering challenge on a Sunday afternoon. Well, guess what happened twice with Scrapheap during the pandemic? No such event was possible again in 2021. Tufts reopened for their students in this fall, but not for outside groups of kids under the age of 18.

City staff at the Public Space and Urban Forestry (PSUF) and Parks and Recreation Departments, and our team of consultants, finished the last details of the renovation of the Dilboy Stadium track and field and commemorate the work’s completion with a ribbon-cutting

Salvatore A. Ferro, Jr., of Somerville passed away on November 18, 2021. He was 79 years old. Sal was the beloved husband of Claudia N. (Ficarra) Ferro. Born in Cambridge, he was the son of the late Salvatore A. and Josephine (Grassia) Ferro Sr.

Prior to his retirement, Salvatore was the proprietor of Ferro Printing Company in Somerville. He was a member of Project Outlook with his wife Claudia in Somerville and was a member the Somerville Chamber of Commerce.

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The City of Somerville Traffic Board will hold a virtual public hearing on Wednesday, December 1, regarding the Somerville Traffic Commission July 15, 2021, actions making regulatory changes for the College Avenue Mobility Improvements Project. 

Join Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, the Somerville Department of Health and Human Services, and the Somerville High School Gender and Sexuality Awareness Alliance (GSAA) on Tuesday, November 23, at 3:30 p.m. for a ceremony in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance. The ceremony will take place on the City Hall concourse, 93 Highland Avenue. The ceremony’s speaking agenda will include Mayor Curtatone, Somerville LGBTQ Liaison Jack Treanor, and local transgender educator and activist Matisse DuPont, followed by a raising of the Transgender Pride Flag. The event is open to the public, and all community members are welcome. For more information about the GSAA and other LGBTQ+ programming, events, and resources, please contact LGBTQ Liaison Jack Treanor at jtreanor@somervillema.gov.

(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)

To Whom it May Concern:

With the election behind us, I’m not sure whom, if anyone, would prefer their name to be removed from this circulation. Please let me know and I will be sure to do so. That said, it is my sincere hope everyone on this list will support Cobble Hill Apartment’s desire to have the City cancel their plans to place a new fire and police station at 90 Washington Street, and find a more appropriate location instead.