The Somerville City Council has drafted a proposed ordinance which seeks to establish the city as a “Welcoming Community” for migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.

By Jim Clark

Members of the City of Somerville City Council co-sponsored an ordinance at their latest regular meeting on April 11 which seeks approval of a “Somerville Welcoming Community Ordinance, to establish Somerville as a Welcoming Community, to declare that all are welcome here, and to increase public confidence in city government with guidelines for our voluntary involvement in federal immigration enforcement.”

Freeze frame of video inspections of sewer pipes in the Davis Square area. The inspections, which covered 6.8 miles of pipes, identified at least $3M in needed repairs.

By Denise Keniston

At a public hearing on Monday, April 22, in the Somerville High School cafeteria, while rain pounded down outside overflowing the outdated water and sewer system, Director of Water and Sewer John DeLuca presented – and tried to sell residents on – the “critical need” for a 6% water bill increase and a 7.5% sewer increase. The increase goes into effect on July 1 and will finance surveys, inspections, and repairs- all part of a capital improvement plan.

Congratulations to the Stop & Shop workers who finally got a contract and are back to work. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if the city workers could got one? But who knows?

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Tonight in Saugus, it’s the 7th Annual Giggles Comedy night, the Freemasons on Highland Ave. are hosting their annual Giggles night club with a great night of comedy and a silent auction. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. at The Tower of Pizza on Rte. 1, Saugus, Giggles Comedy Club. This year, like the last, local comedian and great guy Lenny Clark will be there, and he’s bringing some of his friends. It should be a great night for laughs, all the pizza you can eat and over 20 baskets to bid on at the silent auction. The money raised is for the “insurance fund” for the Masonic Building at 125 Highland (rear) Somerville. Open to Masons, their families and friends, cost is only $25 pp.

Author of ” Murder at Harvard’s Kirkland House: A Mother’s Worst Nightmare” Denise Cosby.

Denise Cosby, mother of Justin Cosby, who was murdered on the campus of Harvard University in 2009, has penned a searing look at the loss of her son, the court cases that followed, and the impact on greater Boston community. The subject of media headlines for years, the death of Justin Cosby focused attention on issues of race and privilege against the backdrop of an Ivy League school. The book is set to be released on April 27.

(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 the editor:

James Healey and millions of young people around the world have got that right: it’s way past time to get serious about the climate crisis (“Getting serious about climate change,” 4/17). Watching the dedicated activists from the Sunrise Movement, from Extinction Rebellion and the school-based Climate Strike take action all over the world, we can see just how far ahead of their leaders these young people are.

They say that the old must make way for the new. But sometimes it is terribly difficult to let go of the familiar, some of which may have been familiar throughout a lifetime.

Watching various structures go down these past few days in and around the Ball Square area was something of a gut wrenching sight for some. Others took it in stride in their acceptance of the inevitable. Either way, a dramatic sight it was.

Eagle Feathers #177 – Monarch of the Mystic

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The first European settlers in what is now the Somerville area found a sparse number of Indians inhabiting this location. Fur trappers and French explorers just a few years earlier had observed that the aboriginal population amounted to many thousands in this region. They were members of two powerful tribes, the Massachusetts and the Pawtuckets.

Sanjeev Selvarajah was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka on October 16, 1981. He moved with his mother, Sandra, and his younger brother, Vinoo, at age 7 to join his father, Eswaran, in Boston, Massachusetts. After attending Tiny Tots in Sri Lanka, he attended the Hamilton Elementary School and the St. Columbkille School in Brighton, MA, after which he attended the esteemed Boston Latin Academy. Sanjeev received a full scholarship to Boston University, and later attended UMASS Amherst.

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One thing I tell my creative writing students is to “notice” everything. And that is not easy to do in our mad rush – this fever dream we call life. But poet Judy-Katz Levine notices the birds cawing to her in conversation, a trembling cup of tea, her childhood of “Hard balls, sassafras, streets with bicycles…” Her poems are wells of imagery. This work is by a poet who lives deeply in the moment.

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18-year-old Julia Mastorakos, from Hampstead, NH, is a Marketing Communications Advertising Major at Endicott College. Her preferred genre of writing is poetry.