Join Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Ward 4 Alderman Jesse Clingan, and Superintendent of Schools Mary Skipper on Monday, September 10, at 10 a.m. for a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Winter Hill Community Innovation School. The ribbon cutting will celebrate school improvements including: roof, window and door replacement funded by the City and its partners at the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), as well as the second phase of renovations to the schoolyard.

City offices will be closed on Monday, September 3, for Labor Day. Trash, recycling, and yard waste collection will be on a one-day delay all week. There’s no street sweeping on Monday and parking meters and resident permit parking won’t be in effect.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

The Greenline extension … meh … New High School, wonderful. Union Square revitalization … God Bless!

Somerville isn’t just the new train stops, the fancy donut shops or the festivals. Without people, real people, there is no Somerville.

My Somerville is the person who I see at Dunk’s who tells me about their grandkids. My Somerville is the new neighbors on my street who invited us over for brunch. My Somerville is seeing two of my SHS class of ‘71 in one day. My Somerville is reading a positive, uplifting comment on Facebook by my friend and the best mayor this city will ever see, Gene Brune. My Somerville is having a laugh filled 10-minute conversation with Jack Connolly while walking our dogs on College Ave. Somerville is bumping into my pal Bobby McWatters in Davis Square.

Co-Chair of the City of Somerville’s Commission for Women Kristen Strezo.

By Kristen Strezo
Co-Chair Somerville Commission for Women

The cold reality is that some Somerville residents will be the victim of violence, domestic or otherwise. Based on last year’s statistics, Somerville is projected to have 671 reports of domestic incidents and 140 domestic assaults in 2018.

One of the Somerville Commission for Women’s (SCW) goals is to connect citizens with as many resources as possible so that each Somerville resident may live their best, supported lives.

The Somerville Home has been serving the needs of area seniors for 120 years.

The Somerville Home, a licensed residential care facility for senior citizens, today announced the difficult decision to discontinue operations and close the building by the end of the year.  The decision to close is voluntary and due to financial reasons.

The Somerville Home, a private, nonprofit organization incorporated in 1898, operates a 59-bed Level IV rest home located at 117 Summer St. in Somerville.  The current building was constructed in 1927.  There are 46 residents currently in the facility and most have their care paid for by the state.

(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

Taking a closer look at notable city data—and interesting numbers. 

Zero Deaths or Serious Injuries on Somerville’s Streets: Somerville has long been committed to creating safer streets for all modes of transportation, but we formally made the commitment to strive for zero deaths or serious injuries on the City’s streets when we announced the launch of our Vision Zero Somerville initiative last September.

By Donald Norton

Last Thursday night at the new Lucky Strikes bar in Assembly Square, the Somerville firefighters joined with MDA for a fantastic fundraiser for MDA.

Lucky Strikes, located on the ground floor of the Massachusetts General Building, is a new addition to Somerville’s Assembly Square.

The National Weather Service has issued Heat Advisories for most of southern New England through Wednesday, where heat index values between 95 and 100 degrees are expected. Although the worst of the heat and humidity will be today and Wednesday, it’s possible these conditions will last into Thursday as well.

Below are some ways to stay cool in Somerville as well as precautions to take to avoid overexposure to the heat.

JoAnn Bocca-Rivieccio, representing Somerville Overcoming Addiction, thanked the Board and the administration for doing its part to shed light on the relentless scourge of addiction in our society.

By Jim Clark

A resolution introduced and approved at the latest City of Somerville Board of Aldermen meeting last Thursday supporting Somerville Overcoming Addiction and other community groups by resolving that September, 2018 shall be Recovery Month in Somerville.

The resolution in full reads as follows: