— Photos by Claudia Ferro

Mr. Darrell and the West Somerville Neighborhood School music program put on a winter concert on Friday, January 24, for families and friends of the students.

Lots of great talented students sang and played instruments for the appreciative audience that was in attendance.

By Anna Schaeffer

The Somerville City Council gathered on Thursday night, January 23, for its usual meeting to discuss matters of legislative and public concern.

The meeting began with a moment of silence in remembrance of Catherine B. Canaan who passed away on January 18. A math teacher who was deeply involved in the Somerville community, Canaan used her retirement to actively pursue the Somerville Math Fund and manage state education assessment examinations.

The site where La Ronga Bakery and Delicatessen conducted business for many years has been sold to 599 Somerville Ventures, LLC.

Laronga Realty Partnership announced on Monday the sale of 599 Somerville Avenue, to 599 Somerville Ventures, LLC, managed by Rafi Properties, LLC (Rafi) which occurred on Thursday, January 23.

The approximately 21,908 sq. ft. mixed-use site was home to La Ronga Bakery and Delicatessen, a family-owned and operated Somerville business for over 50 years.  Known for high quality breads and turn-key manufacturing, La Ronga distributed products daily to local colleges and universities throughout the region as well as popular retail grocers such as Trader Joes.

(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 Matthew McLaughlin

When people use the phrase “identity politics” transportation policy does not come to mind. Yet if you examine the debate over bike lanes, there are undertones of a cultural divide that mirrors national politics.

Bike lanes straddle the line between basic infrastructure improvements and cultural lightning rod. They are seen as an attack on the American way of life to some, and treated as a progressive litmus test to others.

Well, the big news around the city this week is the announced delays in construction and reopening of the bridges that have been closed due to the Green Line Extension Project’s activities. We are certainly disappointed by the delays. We have been contending with the traffic snarls and rerouting for quite some time already, and now we’re being asked to put up with it a bit longer. It is important for all of us to get out and support the local businesses that are have been feeling the effect of the bridge closures already. We sure hope that it will all ultimately be considered worth the trouble and expense.

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Located just inside the Armory building on Highland Ave., the café is a great meeting spot to grab specialty coffee, like lattes, cappuccinos and beyond, a great selection of teas, freshly baked muffins and an assortment of other baked goods, as well as fresh breakfast sandwiches like bacon, egg and cheese, or an egg sandwich on a bagel or on regular bread if preferred, bagels with cream cheese, oatmeal and smoothies.

There seems to have been a bit of a dust up created since the City Council’s Legislative Matters Committee lent serious consideration to the idea of banning gas powered and very loud leaf blowers in the city.

Some are vociferously in favor of such a measure, while others bemoan the perceived notion that the city – once again – is overstepping its authority by micro-managing issues that should otherwise be left to the general public to work out on their own.

A public information meeting will be held by MassDOT to discuss the planning study for the proposed Intersection Improvements at McGrath Highway (Route 28)/Mystic Avenue (Route 38) project in Somerville.

The meeting will be held at East Somerville Community School Auditorium, 50 Cross Street, Somerville, on Wednesday, February 12 at 6:00 p.m.

( L to R) Bob McWatters, Congressman Joe Kennedy III and Sally O’Brien’s owner, Liam Mannion

Congressman Joseph Kennedy III made an impromptu visit to Union Square on Sunday, January 26. While in Union Square he visited Bow Market and stopped in at Sally O’Brien’s. Kennedy is challenging fellow Democrat Ed Markey for the Senate seat in Massachusetts.

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“Miriam Levine is a poet, memoirist, and fiction writer. Her five collections of poetry include The Dark Opens, winner of the Autumn House Poetry Prize, and Saving Daylight (2019). She is the author of Devotion, a memoir, and In Paterson, a novel. Levine has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review. She is professor emerita at Framingham State University in Massachusetts and lives in New Hampshire and Florida.