On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Another birthday – yippee! – I guess. Birthdays used to mean presents, a cake and a party. Today a birthday is mostly just another year that I survived. I turned the speed limit this year – 55 – and I can’t believe I’m this old, but I am glad to be still here.

I actually have an AARP card – and if I retired today, I would get a whopping $1,100 a month (or something like that‚Ķnot even half my mortgage payment). Hey, my youngest kids are 10 and 12, so I have a long way to go. My nerves are what I am most concerned about, because they are shot – I pray for patience. I have all the other stuff down pretty well, like the picking up and dropping off and all that junk and because I married at a later age, I am an ‚Äúolder‚Äù dad (I’m grandpa material) – that just means that I get cranky easily and require more naps. I sometimes go to bed before my kids do.

An 18 inch sinkhole opened on Medford Street yesterday, possibly as a result of last week’s severe rainstorms.

Congratulations to Peter Ungar and the Foss Park Neighborhood Association for their ability to do what so many elected officials in the city could not: get the state to recognize and respond to Somerville’s needs.

The $2 million slated for Foss Park improvements by the House is a welcome change from the city’s long history of being overlooked and neglected by state agencies. Inadequate public transit, closed bridges and decayed state-run facilities became the norm in Somerville. Any inferiority complex that already existed here has only been exaggerated by the state’s very real failures to take care of their property.

Sixty percent of the city’s open space is run by DCR – often poorly. Train tracks cover our city yet we have only one stop. We don’t need to remind readers about the Lowell Street Bridge. And we have pools and hockey rinks that consistently open late and when they are finally open they contain the same major structural damages as the year before.

By George P. Hassett

The challenger and only candidate on the ballot for the State Rep. seat that covers parts of West Somerville and Winter Hill, blasted House Speaker Sal DiMasi and said at the July 25th Somerville News contributor’s meeting that he would support casino gambling if elected.

Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane is challenging incumbent State Rep. Carl Sciortino for his seat Sept. 16. Sciortino is running a sticker campaign after, he said, his nomination papers were stolen from his State house office.

At Friday’s meeting, Trane criticized Sciortino for aligning himself with DiMasi.

“I would never be associated with someone like that,” Trane said. “His unethical behavior has embarrassed the entire House.” Trane said that if elected, he would support new leadership.

Biggest city park could get infusion of cash for long-delayed upgrades

By George P. Hassett

It is 8 a.m. on Sunday. Foss Park is empty and the only sound is wind and traffic. Dwight Lancaster, who lives across the street from the park, calls the scene “pristine.”

But within an hour the city’s largest public park is buzzing. The first in a daylong series of Brazilian soccer league games kicks off and the park will be full until night. Impromptu cookouts are held, music booms out of loudspeakers and goals are scored. A casual observer notices the competitive fun out on the field, but under the players’ feet the field itself is wearing down – where there used to be grass is only dirt now.