The Friends of the Community Growing Center (FCGC) – a 501(c)3 that manages the Somerville Community Growing Center – seeks individuals with diverse backgrounds and life experiences to join its Board of Directors. The Center is a city-owned, volunteer-run green space that for the past 25 years has been on the cutting edge of innovation in urban agriculture and community activism. We are in the process of renovating the Center through a Conservation Preservation Act grant, and are looking for individuals interested in helping to guide us into our next 25 years. Candidates should be excited to delve into any of the different facets of this unique urban space regardless of their primary area of expertise.

The Board of Aldermen Committee on Open Space, Environment and Energy invites all interested community members to a Public Hearing on Trees. The Hearing will take place on Wednesday, October 3, at 6 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers, City Hall, 2^nd Floor, 93 Highland Ave. The Committee will discuss and invite brief public testimony on a range of issues relating to public trees and the city’s overall tree canopy including the tree planting schedule, tree canopy development, the coming new Urban Forestry Committee, the drafting of a Native Tree and Plantings ordinance, Green Line Extension-required tree removals, and potential tree plantings for Junction Park.

(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)

Dear Editor,

I’m writing to urge Somerville voters to vote Yes on 3, to keep in place Massachusetts’ public accommodations law. This law is about treating our transgender neighbors and community members fairly.

Many of us have a part of our identity that make others look at us differently – our religion, politics, sexuality, or culture. Most people know how it feels to be bullied or excluded, and transgender people want privacy and dignity just like everyone else. Just as it’s wrong to exclude people based on what they believe, it’s wrong to discriminate against transgender people for who they are.

(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 Joseph A. Curtatone

Our country generates staggering amounts of waste. In fact, the average American produces more than 4 pounds of trash every day, which means that, collectively, we are creating 700,000 tons of garbage not every year or every month, but every single day. Sure, part of that waste gets recycled, but recycling is no longer enough.

Like many others, I’ve long been under the impression that I was doing enough by recycling cans, plastic, and paper – dragging my full recycling cart to the curb once a week. And while recycling is better than throwing things in the trash, it’s becoming increasingly clear that we can all do more. At the end of the day, recycling is still waste. So, to get to the root of the problem, we need to reduce the amount of waste we create in the first place.

Somerville maintains strong growth district-wide in new Next-Generation MCAS Assessment
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Brown School among 52 MA schools to earn “School of Recognition” designation

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released results of its spring 2018 state-wide assessment, the new Next-Generation MCAS. Several changes in how accountability results are calculated – including additional indicators and different comparison groups for each school based on a school’s average percentile between 2014 and 2016 – establish the spring 2018 Next-Gen MCAS as a new baseline year for the state’s assessment. The spring 2018 results will serve as the baseline for target-setting for 2019 and beyond, and should not be compared to last year’s Next-Gen or previous years’ Legacy MCAS accountability ratings. The spring 2018 next-generation MCAS was again administered only to students in grades 3-8. Students in grades 10 will begin taking the new MCAS assessment this spring.

By Jim Clark

31-year-old Michael C. Lacey, of Boston, turned himself in today at Somerville District Court after being sought by authorities for the September 10 incident involving desecration and vandalism of portions of Somerville Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

The incident was witnessed by a Somerville resident, George Gatteny, who took photographs of the suspect and reported the incident to police. According to the witness, Lacey allegedly removed four American flags from a grave site, flung them to the ground and urinated on them.

By Jim Clark

Police officers were dispatched to the Mt. Vernon restaurant on Broadway last week on reports of an intoxicated individual who was refusing to leave.

Upon arrival, the officers encountered the manager of the restaurant and its owner, along with the customer in question, later identified as John Delaney, of Charlestown.

According to reports, Delaney appeared to be agitated and was arguing with the restaurant management staff.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

We can rebuild him! When NASA astronaut Steve Austin is injured in the crash of an experimental aircraft, he is “rebuilt” in an operation that cost six million dollars. Hopefully, our co-payments for today’s replacement surgeries won’t ever be that high.

I’m going in next week for my second hip replacement. Oh boy!

City doubles down on upping the green
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Where have all the flowering trees gone? And why are they going? These and many other questions are being explored by city officials after many have said enough is enough.

By Jim Clark

City of Somerville officials have been feeling the heat over the past several months, and not strictly from the summer sun, unfortunately so for the many who are concerned concerned with the issue keeping enough healthy trees around.

In a flurry of arboreal zeal, the city’s Board of Aldermen have bandied the issue about for some time now. From questions about why certain numbers of trees have been taken down, to proposals for regulating tree removal on private property, a lot of talk has been going down, with much more to come.