The Urban Forestry Committee is looking out for the welfare of both residents and trees in the city.

By Elizabeth Long

On July 16, the Somerville Urban Forestry Committee met virtually to discuss residents’ concerns, city updates, and other various topics. “The Urban Forestry Committee is a great group of knowledgeable and dedicated people who are working really hard to support the city’s Urban Forestry program,” said Vanessa Boukili, Senior Urban Forestry Landscape member. “In addition to advising on many projects in the city and working on educational campaigns, they recently initiated the city’s first Adopt-A-Tree program which has been a huge success in getting residents to help care for the city’s newest street trees.” 

Even with the scheduled Phase 3 reopening easements, some business such as entertainment venues will still not be able to operate normally.

By Isabel Sami

Last Friday, July 17, Somerville pushed the Phase 3 business reopening for a second time, now planning to enter the next phase on August 3. This step allows movie theaters, gyms, cultural centers, and performance halls to open with restrictions.

By Alberto Gilman

The Somerville City Council’s latest regular meeting took place virtually on Tuesday July 14.  All eleven councilors were present. Moments of silence and approval of meeting minutes from June 11 followed shortly thereafter.

Darron Fernandes-Smith and Saladin Islam were among those who collaborated in creating a new mural at the South Street Farm as part of this year’s ArtBeat event. — Photos by Jessica Sisavath

By Jessica Sisavath

For ArtBeat Week, Groundwork Somerville involved the community to help create a new mural at South Street Farm. With this year’s ArtBeat Week theme “Chance,” Groundwork Somerville sent out a survey collecting responses from the community about the meaning of urban green space, climate care, and the impact of COVID-19 in regards to nature. With the help with Board members of the Groundwork Somerville, they were able to receive supplies to sketch and paint the mural. The responses from the survey served as an artistic tool for the mural’s theme, “A Chance to Rest.”

Registered voters in Somerville should have received their applications for mail-in voting. If you fill it out and return it, you will be able to vote in the September 1 primary and November 3 general election without having to go to a poll site. Mayor Joe Curtatone explains this simple process here: https://youtu.be/k8mH7g0Z5ww. Anyone not registered to vote or registered voters who have not received their mail-in voting application can go to https://www.somervillema.gov/ELECTIONS for easy registration and to download a mail-in voting application.

By Rachel Berets

The Somerville Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee (Somerville PTAC) met Thursday, July 16 to discuss Somerville’s “Shared Streets” initiative, the Washington Street Bridge construction, and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) ridership in Somerville.

(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 Chris Allen

I’m writing in response to your June 17th article, “Couple lovingly restores 69 Berkeley St. to bring it back to its original SF design”.

We’ve all been through a lot these past few months. The social distancing, the masks, our favorite places of business and sources of entertainment temporarily shut down, etc.

It wears on the nerves and dampens our spirits, but at the end of the day we understand that these measures are necessary to mitigate the dangers that the COVID-19 epidemic has imposed on us both globally and locally. We are behaving responsibly, and so far it looks like these sacrifices are paying off. Infection rates in the city are low, even while neighboring communities are still experiencing intermittent spikes and higher than acceptable levels of new cases recorded on a daily basis.

Eagle Feathers #209 – The Dilboy Post

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

It was exactly one century ago in 1920 when 155 veterans from World War I returned home from France. Early on, they founded and named The George Dilboy Post 529 V.F.W. honoring one of their heroic brothers in arms, Army Private George Dilboy. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions above and beyond the call of duty and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Somerville honors him with a memorial in front of City Hall and the George Dilboy Memorial Stadium.

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Reviewed by Off the Shelf correspondent Gregory J. Wolos.

As I reread William Evans’ powerful new book of poems, We Inherit What the Fires Left, in preparation for writing this review, I couldn’t help but think of Covid-19 and its oversized impact on the Black community.