Mobile COVID vaccine clinics will be coming soon to Somerville. Dates, times and locations will be announced shortly, and you can sign up to get alerts for them at https://bit.ly/3uegRBv.

Pick the place and time that works for you. We want everyone in Somerville to get their vaccine so we can put this pandemic behind us.

Initiative funded by Baker-Polito Administration Regional Pilot Project grant to address uniquely local economic needs

The Cambridge and Somerville Chambers of Commerce today introduced the “Cambridge-Somerville COVID Resilience and Recovery Urban Partnership.” The four-month pilot program will emphasize economic empowerment and revitalization among disadvantaged populations.

By Jim Clark

Somerville Police officers were dispatched to a Windsor Street location last Friday evening on reports of a motor vehicle accident with unknown injury.

Upon arrival, the officers observed a vehicle with significant damage and total airbag deployment, and a man, Lamont Sands, of Holbrook, pacing back and forth outside of it.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

I usually write about the old days of Somerville in one shape or form. It’s pretty simple because I can delve into actual proven history which is chronicled. Plus, I was usually there. It’s rare for me to get a scoop, or an inside tip on a cool story. Well, the following is a hum dinger! I may have found the source of how and when the three extra ” so goods” became part of the iconic Neil Diamond song Sweet Caroline.

Members of the Somerville City Council have expressed impatience with the slow pace of progress in making safety improvements to McGrath Highway pedestrian areas.

By Joe Creason

The regular City Council Meeting held on May 13 began with a moment of silence. The remembrance was for a couple Navy veterans and long-time Somerville residents, who passed away before many felt it was their time to go.

Local artists Juan Diaz and Brett Cullen recently created new artwork at the Sacramento Street pedestrian tunnel.

By Jessica Sisavath

The Somerville Arts Council (SAC) debuts a new mural at Sacramento Street by local artists. The Council contacted local artist Hector Sanchez to search for local graffiti artists to help paint a mural at Sacramento Street’s pedestrian tunnel.

A row of open injection booths line the walls at Insite Vancouver, a safe consumption site in Canada. There are 13 booths in this facility. — Photo courtesy of Vancouver Coastal Health

Plan to launch nation’s first supervised consumption site is back in motion following pandemic pause

By Juliet Isselbacher
Somerville Wire

Supervised consumption sites – otherwise known as overdose prevention sites – have been implemented with demonstrable success in Canada, Australia, and much of Europe. Such sites allow people to consume substances – including intravenous drugs – under the supervision of trained professionals, who can administer or arrange life-saving care in the event of a medical emergency.

Join a town hall meeting on Tuesday, May 25, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., to discuss plans to establish a supervised consumption site (SCS) in Somerville. At the meeting you can learn more about how SCS work, see data from a recently conducted needs assessment and evaluation, and ask questions of city officials and public health experts. The meeting will be hosted on Zoom, and there will also be an option to call into the meeting from a phone. Visit somervillema.gov/virtualtownhall at the start time of the meeting to join live or get call-in information. The Somerville Public Schools will also send meeting information via their alert system to all student families and conduct additional multilingual outreach via the School’s Somerville Family Learning Collaborative. Call-in information will also be available on the day of each meeting on City Cable TV and the Educational Channel (channels 13 and 15 on RCN, channels 15 and 22 on Comcast) or by calling 311. You can submit feedback and questions about information presented at the meeting online at http://bit.ly/SCSComments. The comment form will be left open until Friday, June 11.

Eagle Feathers #64 – On Guard!

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

*This article originally appeared in the October 29, 2014 edition of The Times. We are repeating it this week in memory of Olympia Dukakis, who recently passed.

Olympia was her name … fencing was her game … and acting was her fame.

Her immigrant mother and father came to America from Greece and named her after the fields of Olympia, the site of the ancient games. As a young girl, she grew up in the tough ethnic neighborhoods of Lowell and Somerville and learned to be a scrapper while living here before, during, and after World War II.