The Somerville Math Fund was pleased to be able to award four year renewable scholarships to these outstanding math and science students. They are Top (left to right): Samiyra Afife, Henry Ayanna, Owen Chew, AJ Feldman, Brayden Goldstein-Gelb; Bottom (left to right) Nasreen Kaur, Alexandra Marston, Justin Millette, Sophia Sim, and Kevin Wen.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund is pleased to announce the winners of their renewable mathematics scholarships for 2021. The Math Fund was founded to celebrate and encourage math achievement and these students deserve to be celebrated for their work in math and science while in high school. Thanks to the generosity of many individuals and a few organizations, this year we were able to award a record 10 scholarships, totaling $60,000 over four years.

The Democratic Ward Committee in Ward 7 Somerville is proud to host a Ward 7 Councilor candidate forum over Zoom on Monday, June 28, at 7:00 p.m. Underscoring our commitment to diversity and inclusion, all four candidates for Ward 7 Councilor were invited and have accepted our invitation to participate: Alexander Anderson, Becca Miller, Judy Pineda Neufeld and Maria Koutsoubaris.

By Jim Clark

Somerville Police officers were dispatched to a Barton St. location last week on reports of a man that was trying to open a car door and had displayed a knife to the reporting party.

The suspect description fit the same from an earlier nearby call for a smashed windshield and it is believed that it is the same suspect for still another incident. The suspect was later identified as Pershing B. Reid III.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

When I was young, we didn’t have cell phones or laptops but we sure loved our transistor radios! We took ours to bed and listened every night.

One of my prized possessions as a pre-teen was my little transistor radio. I still remember the smell of the plastic and connecting the earphone for the first time. In 1965 I was 12 years old. My sister was a year older and we both got transistor radios for Christmas. Transistor radios were sold at Radio Shack, Lechmere Sales, Woolworth’s and Grants. You could probably get a slightly burnt and scorched one from Bargain Center.

Denise Cosby, former realtor with Somerville’s The Norton Group and current Realtor with The Messina Realty Collective and her colleague Fay Rackley, is launching a project named The Just-in-Time Initiative on zoom for parents and families of victims of murder. In addition to Denise being a realtor, she is a writer and a parent of a murdered child.

17 Bond St. arrival conditions. — All photos courtesy of Somerville FD

The Somerville Fire Department has battled two serious three alarm fires within the past week. Both of these fires have been determined to be accidental, the result of smoking. The first fire, on Friday, June 18, was reported just after 3:00 p.m. at 93 Temple Street. Arriving firefighters encountered heavy fire in the rear of the third floor. The building was an occupied three story dwelling containing three apartments. The fire spread into the third floor apartment and into the attic space eventually burning through the roof.

The building suffered heavy damage due to fire, smoke and water and all nine adult occupants have been displaced. Somerville Health and Human Services responded along with the Red Cross. Seven firefighters suffered minor injuries. The fire claimed the lives of two pet cats, a rabbit and a bird. Firefighters responded back to the building the following day to extinguish a smoldering area that was burning between several layers of roof. That fire was quickly extinguished.

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By Joe Creason

The Land Use Committee and the Planning Board held a joint public hearing on June 17 to hear the perspective of residents on several zoning ordinance amendments.

The public hearing began with a conversation regarding a petition requesting an amendment to the zoning ordinance in the Boynton Yards sub-overlay district submitted by 13 registered voters living in a condominium building at 80 Webster which abuts the Boynton Yards project.

(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 Benjamin Echevarria

Systemic racism comes in many forms.  While it is often hard to detect, the signs of systemic racism can be found in the way organizations use their rules to favor their white benefactors at the expense of black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). While conservative organizations such as the police, the Republican Party or Fortune 500 companies are often cited as examples of institutions that perpetuate systemic racism, such systems cannot exist without complicity from liberal and even leftist organizations.

— Photos by Bella Levavi

By Bella Levavi

Somerville Eviction Response Network led a protest in Davis Square Tuesday, June 15, in response to the expiration of the eviction moratorium due to occur nationally June 30.

The City of Somerville will host its annual Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration at Trum Field on Wednesday, June 30 (rain date July 1). Live entertainment at Trum Field will begin at 6:30 p.m. with DJ Brother Cleve playing pop, soul, funk, and other classic tunes followed by Booty Vortex taking the stage at 8:00 p.m. Fireworks will begin at approximately 9:15 p.m. While fireworks attendees are not required to wear masks, anyone who is not fully vaccinated is advised to wear one whenever they are in a crowd. To ensure public safety and pedestrian access to events, traffic and parking restrictions will be in place. For more information, please call 311 (or 617-666-3311), or visit www.somervillema.gov.