By Matthew McLaughlin

Dozens of Somerville residents met at Albion Park on July 14th to discuss renovation plans for the park.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan, as well as city officials and police attended and heard a variety of ideas as well as concerns from people.

This was one of a series of meetings held by the city and Weston and Sampson, a construction company with experience in building parks around Massachusetts. Cheri Ruane, a project manager with the company, said they look forward to collaborating with the city and its residents.

Assistant superintendent reflects on first year with Somerville

By Jack Nicas

Dr. Vincent McKay, assistant superintendent of the Somerville Public Schools, finished his first year with the city in June. And despite student rallies in the state house and city schools’ continual struggle to meet ‚Äúadequate yearly progress,‚Äù he stands ardently behind the MCAS.

“I think we owe it to our kids,” he said, “to have all students achieve that standard.”

McKay grew up on the south side of Chicago before moving to Newton, where he resides today. Although he sends his children to public schools in Newton, he prefers the Somerville system.
‚ÄúI love the size of our district. We’ve got 5,000 kids and the resources to really make a difference,‚Äù he said.

Ever since that winter night in 1916 when Marcel Duchamp, John Sloan, and several other artists declared Greenwich Village an independent republic by climbing to the top of the Washington Square arch, building a bonfire and shooting off some cap guns, certain neighborhoods have become identified as havens for the arts.

The latest local example of this is Union Square where city planners are rezoning the area to give incentives to arts-related commercial and housing developers. The zoning, still in progress, would set aside affordable live-work spaces for artists.

It is important to note that current affordable housing in the area would not suffer and artists are not going to jump the line for an affordable place to live. According to the city, nobody will lose an affordable unit because an artist got one.

By Melanie Cordova

That slight breeze won’t do it, trying to find those shady spots in the street won’t help either, and not even that air-conditioned sanctuary a few steps away is enough. There is only one thing that can cool us down on these dog days of summer: water.

That chemical substance that is vital to all life forms is a constant thought for those who are outside during these summer months. Perhaps that is why ‚ÄúThe Secret Knowledge of Water,‚Äù an art exhibit that runs at The Nave Gallery through August 17, feels so right. Curated by Karl Gustafson, this exhibit features 19 local and regional artists whose work explores, interacts, and captures water’s many forms and mysteries.

Community group meets with developers to push for jobs, improved traffic patterns

By Elijah Adamson

An East Somerville community group met with the Assembly Square developers Wednesday to voice concerns about the plan, asking questions about traffic patterns and the availability of jobs for local residents.

‚ÄúIn Somerville, we hear the reason to do these developments is to clean up the environment, to increase the tax base and create jobs. But then a very small proportion of those jobs ever end up going to local people, and we don’t want to see that happen again,‚Äù said Mary Jo Connelly of the East Somerville Neighbors for Change. ‚ÄúThere’s not a plan; there’s not a commitment; there’s not a mechanism for making it happen.‚Äù

Competitive and free basketball attracts kids from around Somerville

By Jack Nicas

Go to the Mystic Avenue Projects on any Tuesday or Thursday night of the summer and you’ll barely find a soul. However, keep walking towards the rear of the development and you’ll soon find the absent residents.

An orange-jerseyed boy dribbles up the court, pointing and shouting directions to his teammates like a general in war; he couldn’t be a day over 11. Suddenly, a skinny, light-skinned arm, exposed by a freshly torn, sleeveless yellow jersey, pokes the ball out of the general’s control. The two race for the loose ball; the skinny arm reaches it first and guides it up to the basket for a smooth lay-up. The crowd applauds Mohammed Borus, the younger division’s league leader in points and rebounds, a 12-year-old star.

By Tom Nash

Over the objections of Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz, an ordinance that will fill two deputy police chief positions passed during a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen Thursday.

The ordinance, passed 10-1, authorizes filling the long-vacant deputy chief positions from within the department while allowing Police Chief Anthony Holloway to appoint officers to the position instead of following civil service hiring practices.

Foster and Alderman Sean O’Donovan exchanged money for a decade

By George P. Hassett

At a public hearing this month, Herbert Foster, chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said he did not think about politics when voting to approve a controversial project at 42 Craigie St. being developed by an alderman.

"I treated this like the applicant was John Smith," he said.

But a review of Craigie Street developer and Ward 5 Alderman Sean O’Donovan’s campaign finance records reveals Foster and O’Donovan have been exchanging financial contributions for a decade, with most of the money going to Foster.

Very interesting campaigning going on with Stickers Carl and his out of district teams that are knocking on the doors, apparently they leave “notes” signed by Stickers Carl giving the impression that he was there personally when in fact it’s the teams knocking and then when there is no answer they’re leaving them. Some of our Newstalkers in the district watched as one team of knockers were on one particular street in South Medford with no sign of Stickers Carl anywhere. Maybe he was busy finding those missing papers!

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Massachusetts Equality sponsored a small fundraiser for Stickers Carl this past Tuesday night in Teele Square at Sabur, apparently the Governor was present. Nice to see that Stickers Carl aka Prince Carl of the PDSers (you know, that Secular Progressive Group), managed to get the Governor there (now he just has to do his job and get the governor to increase our local aid). Congratulations to Stickers Carl for finally having a fundraiser in the district. But we think it‚Äôs pretty interesting since we thought the only candidate actually on the ballot, Bob Trane, was a big campaigner for Governor Patrick.