Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

My dad graduated from Somerville High School in 1938, my mom in 1944, my sister in 1970, and I was in the class of 1971. My family did 12 years of serious time at SHS. I say that because even though we still managed to have the time of our lives in high school, the teachers were tougher and the rules were stricter.

By Shira Laucharoen  

In commemoration of Somerville residents lost to drug overdoses, the City of Somerville held a Memorial Gathering and Overdose Awareness Ceremony at City Hall on August 30. Attendees placed 156 purple flags on the lawn outside of the building in honor of the 156 Somerville lives ended by addiction since 2000, with one larger flag representing those lost in previous years.

The impacts of the Broadway Bridge closure were discussed at a community meeting last Wednesday. ~Photos by Donald Norton

By Jim Clark

A community meeting to discuss the Broadway/Ball Square Bridge closure and detour routes was held last Wednesday, August 29, at Community Baptist Church in Somerville.

The City of Somerville Director of Transportation and Infrastructure Brad Rawson led the meeting, opening with a few remarks concerning the Green Line Extension project construction activities, as well as the present and future impacts that the project will have on the community as time goes on.

Thank goodness that the Somerville Chamber of Commerce and its director Steve Mackey saw that the meeting on the closing of the Ball Square Bridge last week was not what the 150 residents and businesses were hoping for. The Chamber is having a Green Line Extension buffet breakfast at the Holiday Inn on Tuesday, September 11, 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. It is very important for the businesses from Ball Square and any of the residents as well to attend. Hopefully, the community can work out something else instead of closing out the entire bridge for 12-14 months. Political figures should be answering to the community for what they are allowing to happen. Think about how you vote for these people to represent you to be your voice. That is not happening here. Let’s hope the paid help at City Hall won’t be up there again lecturing us on the impact and why it’s happening. Working out another solution is what they should be doing. What’s wrong with our Senator and State Representatives, never mind the local Board of Aldermen, who are busy wasting time banning T-shirts. We thank the Chamber of Commerce and Winter Hill Bank for sponsoring this. Be there and make your voice heard. If Medford and other communities can close half a bridge at a time, then Somerville should be no different.

Mayor Joseph Curtatone traveled with a delegation to Honduras to learn about the country’s living conditions.

By Shira Laucharoen  

Mayor Joseph Curtatone embarked on a trip to Central America as part of a fact-finding mission, with the purpose of learning about living conditions and gathering information that will help protect immigrant rights in the United States.

Curtatone, who traveled with U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern and representatives from human rights groups, aims to combat President Donald Trump’s plan to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from Central America.

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS SEVENTH DISTRICT

(D)Michael E. Capuano  – Candidate for Re-nomination

(D) Ayanna S. Pressley  (Won)

Although 17 years will have passed since the terrible and tragic events of September 11, 2001, took place, for many of us the shock and horror remains fresh in our memories. And since we, as New Englanders, were relatively close to the sites of destruction and loss of life, we can perhaps feel those sensations of sadness and even anger a little deeper than some others might, especially since our own Logan Airport played a role in the perpetrator’s deadly scheme.

Eagle Feathers #161 – British Landing

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

It was the end of the summer in 1774. In Boston, tensions between the occupying British Army regulars and the Massachusetts Colonists were at a near boiling point. For years, citizens had suffered intolerable acts and taxation. British Tories, or citizens in favor of English rule, were moving closer to the city for protection, and local town farmers began withdrawing their gunpowder stores from the colony’s arsenal at Charlestown’s Quarry Hill.

Triangle Field near Somerville’s Powderhouse Circle is one of the fields available to Somerville’s recreational athletes. ~ Tufts University Photo

Tufts University provided Somerville’s youth sports programs with daily access to its athletic fields and facilities for over 450 hours this year in an effort to help address a shortage of city space. The arrangement – which benefitted sports like basketball, softball, tennis, soccer, lacrosse and baseball – continues Tufts’ commitment to supporting the university’s host communities.