Mystic Learning Center picnic pulls community together

By Jack Nicas

On a beautiful summer day, The Mystic Learning Center held its 18th annual Mystic Avenue community picnic Wednesday, August 20. The picnic featured games, raffles, face painting, a DJ and a talent show, where youths from the community showcased their skills.

The Learning Center’s summer basketball league also officially wrapped up its season at the picnic. League Director Hugh Coleman announced league MVPs and handed out certificates and bags inscribed with players’ team names.

For the 18th consecutive year, many individuals and organizations from the community helped make the picnic happen. The Somerville Housing Authority, Century Bank and Middlesex Savings Bank contributed funds on top of individual donations from Learning Center Executive Director Florence “Fluffy” Bergmann, Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero, and housing authority members James McCallum and Paul Mackey.

Students lobbied for improved conditions

By Jack Nicas

After months of protests, petitions and political involvement, Tufts students and janitors’ hard work has paid off. On Aug. 11, the janitors received a new contract from ABM (formerly OneSource), the cleaning company through which Tufts contracts its janitors.

The contract’s ratification marked the end of summer-long negotiations between ABM; a bargaining committee made up of janitors; the Jumbo Janitor Alliance, a university-recognized student group; and SEIU 615, the local union representing the janitors. Tufts Vice President of Operations John Roberto said in an email that the contract goes into effect immediately.

By George P. Hassett

A 23-year-old Everett man who was shot in the face Friday night has refused to give police any information on who shot him.

The victim, whose name police are not releasing, was shot after an argument on Glen and Brooks streets Friday night, police said. When officers arrived there was no one in the area, police said.

Looks like Alderman Sean O‚ÄôDonovan is making huge leaps toward getting himself on the ballot for the Sept. 16 register of probate primary – he hosted a different kind of kickoff party last week at the Dante Club on Craigie Street ‚Äì an  ‚ÄúUnenrolled Registration Rally‚Äù, converting registered Democrats and registered Republicans into Independents for him to get on the ballot. Over 300 showed up and signed on to the campaign according to several sources at the event. Already bumper stickers and signs are out as well. With less than three weeks to the election, he‚Äôs moved very fast to position himself on the ballot for the position of Registrar of Probate, hoping to unseat current Register John Buonomo in November, who was recently arrested for allegedly taking money from courthouse vending machines.                                                

AG: Carey stole $2M

By George P. Hassett

A former Somerville real estate attorney was indicted Friday for allegedly stealing $2 million in what authorities are calling a “mortgage stacking” scheme.

Kevin Carey, 48, of Middleboro, continually refinanced the loans on four properties he or his family members owned without paying off the existing loans, authorities said. He was the agent for a New England title insurance company, which allegedly allowed him to issue title insurance policies on the mortgage transactions he processed and hide the existing loans.

Photos by Scott Liberatore

A drab stretch of land underneath McGrath Highway became a futuristic dance floor Saturday night when Project MUM: Somerville’s Final Frontier moved into orbit. The intergalactic dance odyssey, part of the Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion series, featured four hours of music spun by a team of DJs led by DJs Flack, Yamin, Axel Foley & Pace. Dancers grooved all night under lighting by illuminist Todd Sargent and special visual effects by by VJ Dziga. 

By William C. Shelton

(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.)

Over the last decade, studies and surveys continually report a decline in American civic engagement. By civic engagement, they mean “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.”

Last month, I wrote a column suggesting that the watchdogs that historically guarded the interests of Somerville’s citizens-aldermen, the press, and citizens groups-had all been domesticated. It’s equally true that this could not have happened if their citizen masters had not been snoozing. Well, ‚Äúsnoozing‚Äù may be the wrong word, since they’re often working too hard to pay attention.

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

Recently I was on a literary panel on the Somerville Community Access TV show “Art Matters.” One of the writers on the panel was N.S. Koenings. Koenings who lives in the Union Square section of the city, teaches at Hampshire College and is originally from East Africa. She told me that she has lived on three continents, traveled extensively, so her fiction is not situated in one particular place. This is a frightening prospect for a Somerville provincial such as myself.

Koenings said she makes her long, once-a-week trip to Hampshire College to teach writing. She chooses to live in Somerville because of its vibrant arts community. In the ‘ville she has enough distance from her job that she can let her hair down, and drop the professorial persona for a bit.

Inner Belt development hinges on location of facility

By Jack Nicas

The city is faced with a dilemma: the Green Line extension, supported almost unanimously in the community, may now hinder the city’s largest frontier for development. The state transit office maintains that a new maintenance facility must accompany the long-awaited extension. With the amount of space required for the facility, few options exist outside of the Inner Belt.

St Clement’s: part two

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.)

Because of all the positive feedback I received on my first St. Clements Elementary School column, I pray that you enjoy this sequel of sorts – especially Frank Sharpe and Gary Murphy. Now remember, we are talking many, many years ago and things have changed a lot over there on Warner Street – St. Clements School is a fine institution of parochial learning.