The Somerville High Girls Volleyball team played Everett at Everett High on Wednesday, October 18. The Freshman and Varsity teams won, and Junior Varsity lost to Everett. On Friday, October 20, they went up against Waltham at home. The Freshman team lost, Junior Varsity and Varsity won. They played in Somerville on Tuesday, October 24, in Somerville against Malden. The score was not out by our deadline.

By Donald Norton

On Tuesday of this week the City of Somerville held its “Halloween Party & Dance” for seniors at the Holiday Inn. The MC and DJ was the one and only George Landers, who was there to lead the group in song. Mayor Joe Curtatone and Middlesex County DA Marion Ryan sang many songs with the estimated 100 or so people present. Good food was provided by the Holiday Inn, along with trick or treat bags for the attendees and lots of music and entertainment. The crowd was very pleased.

By Jim Clark

A police officer was dispatched to a Glen St. residence last Thursday on reports of a harassment prevention order violation.

Upon arrival, the officer spotted the alleged violator, Frank Chan, in the driveway of the residence, packing a bag.

Taking a closer look at notable city data – and interesting numbers
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By Joseph A. Curtatone

(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)

58 percent census return rate: Of the census forms mailed out in early 2017 to every household in Somerville, only 58 percent of them have been returned so far. Census responses do more than simply provide us with useful data; they also dictate the flow of some federal funding that is population based. As a result, taking the time to fill out and return your form is a simple and easy way to help fund city programs and services.

On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, Somerville voters will cast their ballots in a City Election for the offices of Mayor of Somerville, various Board of Aldermen members, and School Committee Members in Wards 1 and 2. This week, the Somerville Times asked each of the qualified candidates for Mayor of the City of Somerville to describe why they would be the best choice for the office they are running for and what specific policies they would advocate or implement in that position, along with a bio if they choose to include one. Their responses are presented here in alphabetical order based on their last names.

Sen. Sanders delivered a rousing endorsement of local and state level candidates up for election in November.

By Eesha Pendharkar

Sen. Bernie Sanders came to Somerville on Monday to endorse 18 candidates for local office in Cambridge and Somerville. The Somerville and Massachusetts chapters of Sanders’ grassroots movement, Our Revolution, organized the event at which the progressive Vermont Senator spoke.

Election Day will be here and gone, then the fireworks begin. Nice of Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (everything should be free) to stop over briefly here in Somerville, and we mean briefly. We hear that he needed GPS to find us this past Monday morning. He was here long enough (maybe an hour) to shake hands with the local politicians (imagine he never met any of them before) running for office, to say “Hi” and then endorse them. He gave the same endorsement as Our Revolution Somerville gave (you know, that large group of Socialists – approximately 40 members) who used to be called the Progressive Democrats of Somerville, way back a few years ago. What we are wondering about is a couple of the candidates running look like they are trying to distance themselves from the long-time residents over the new Socialists? Bernie the Socialist Senator endorsed the following incumbents: Alderman At-Large Bill White and Mary Jo Rossetti, which surprised us. Wasn’t Bill a proud Republican not too long ago? Ward candidates Alderman Matt McLaughlin (not surprised here, remember he said he’s an activist first then an alderman), Alderman Mark Niedergang (again not surprised), Alderman Lance Davis (very surprised since he’s a billion dollar corporation lawyer), and those were just some of the incumbents. Here’s a bet: how many do you think he met and talked to before Monday’s endorsement? Again Sen. Bernie wasn’t here long; he probably had to get back up north to his multi-million dollar Island mansion he bought on that private island after the DNC convention last year. Just saying!

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The Somerville Media Center produced and hosted the only Mayoral Debate at the center on October 23, 2017. Candidates for Somerville Mayor, incumbent Joe Curtatone and challenger Payton Corbett, faced off in the 28-minute program moderated by WBZ – TV and Radio political reporter, Jon Keller.

Participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday: (L to R) Tom Galligani, Director of Economic Development, City of Somerville; Liz Barno, Community Director, Greentown Labs; Courtney O’Keefe, Executive Director, Somerville Local First; Don Law, Union Square Partners, LLC; Mayor Joe Curtatone; Nadia Cheng, Head of Operations, RightHand Robotics; Esther Hanig, Executive Director, Union Square Main Streets; Greg Karczewski, President, Union Square Station Associates (US2).

By Somerville Times Staff

The former Union Square Post Office building will soon be home to RightHand Robotics, a local technology company that grew out of a team of researchers from Harvard, Yale and MIT.

RightHand Robotics is a leader in end-to-end solutions that reduce the cost of e-commerce order-fulfillment across industries, bringing the latest technological developments from the lab to the warehousing industry.

Once again, Somerville is thinking big. Really big.

The city and its neighboring partners are now competing with more than 200 like-minded communities across the North American continent, hoping to win the favor of e-commerce giant Amazon in becoming the site of its second corporate headquarters.