By Joseph A. Curtatone

(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.)

Last week, I submitted my proposed FY2009 city budget to our Board of Aldermen.  The proposal can be seen on the city’s website, www.somervillema.gov, where you will also find my overview presentation and the budget highlights of each city department as they  are presented to the Board’s Finance Committee over the next two weeks.  I hope you’ll take a look – and that you will attend the Finance Committee’s public hearing on the budget on Monday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. in the Aldermen’s Chambers. Thanks to the ResiStat program, we’ve already accepted a lot of resident input on our budget priorities – and that input is reflected in our proposal – but this hearing is another opportunity to make your voice heard. 

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

This November will mark the third year the Ibbetson Street Press Poetry Award is presented at the Somerville News Writers Festival. The previous winners of the award have been Michael Alpert and Michael Todd Steffen.

Since 1998, when the press was founded by Doug Holder, Richard Wilhelm and Dianne Robitaille, “Ibbetson Street” has published a biannual literary journal and more than 40 collections of poetry by local and national authors. Its journal and books have won numerous “Pick of the Month” awards in the Small Press Review. Recently Ibbetson Street has been included in the prestigious “Index of American Periodical Verse,” along with many other top small press literary journals. Ibbetson Street has been reviewed favorably by any number of small press literary magazines, both in print and online. Ibbetson books and journals have been featured on NPR, PBS, Verse Daily and other venues. Its books and journals are collected at Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Buffalo University libraries, to name only a few.

By George P. Hassett

In the midst of an economic downturn, aldermen last week passed an ordinance that, according to critics, will drive up costs on city construction projects.

The Responsible Employer Ordinance was passed 7 votes to 3 on Thursday. It will require all companies doing work on city projects of $100,000 or more to participate in a state approved apprenticeship program. Many small companies do not offer such programs.

Nave Gallery hosts exhibit until July 12

By Jack Nicas

Evolution can occupy many forms. Sometimes it takes billions of years and yields monumental results, such as the development of the human race. Sometimes it takes as little as one year and yields only a slight alteration in an artist’s work, such as a Bert Sterns poem of 2007 to one of 2008. Nevertheless, change is always taking place. 

Somerville artists put their evolution on display Thursday evening at the grand opening of the “Fanning the Flames” exhibit at the Nave Gallery.

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.)

Wednesday, June 11: I get the call from my daughter, the family planner, asking where I want to eat for Father’s Day – I tell her Bertucci’s and she says that’s fine, but don’t let her brothers (10 and 12 years old) talk me into another place. They would choose The Outback or Texas Roadhouse. I figured there would be less of a wait at Bertucci’s.

I also said the same words that my Dad used to say to me when I asked him what he wanted for a gift: ‚ÄúI don’t need a thing, so please don’t waste your money.‚Äù I know she will get me at least three gifts, which I know I will love.

When did being a ‚Äúwannabe‚Äù become a ‚Äúshouldn’t have tried‚Äù? Sure, it’s 2008, and there are still plenty of wannabes running around this city. Wannabe gangsters (mafia style), wannabe politicians (pod people), wannabe players (certain employees of the SHA) and other various assorted wannabes have been part of this city’s sub-culture forever.

They move through life like they have their own gravity field and make people sick to their stomachs along the way, but they somehow manage to survive and even thrive in our community. To some, that would say a lot about the fixtures in this community that feed into and feed off of the constant stream of excrement that ebbs and flows like the tide.

The hard part of dealing with the wannabes is you can never tell when bullshit begins and the last vestiges of reality finally evaporate. Sadly, it’s hard to say what brings people to put themselves so far out there, in an attempt to even be deemed a wannabe, that they risk their reputation, their family’s reputation and even life and limb sometimes.

By George P. Hassett

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is calling his proposed fiscal 2009 budget “a great achievement.”

In a time when other cities are laying off teachers and trying to pass tax overrides, Somerville, he said, is maintaining services without layoffs and increasing education spending by $2 million.

New initiatives include a police K-9 unit and Emergency Operations center, the full time staffing of Fire Engine 4 and 238 new trees.

The proposed budget is $165,079,540, about $7 million more than last year. According to Curtatone, the city received less than a 1 percent increase – about $312,398 — in state aid from last year.

That meager increase combined with tough economic times across the country, a decline in condominium conversions and skyrocketing energy costs made next year’s budget a challenge, Curtatone said. The city will spend at least $700,000 on heating oil alone, an increase of 52 percent since last year.

By Matthew McLaughlin

Mayor Joseph Curtatone met with Somerville’s Youth Council June 10 to discuss open space in the city.  The council, which is made up of several youth agencies in the city, made recommendations for future park and open space projects.

The meeting at City Hall was the last in a series of meetings for the year. The council made several suggestions, including improved water fountains, more artwork at parks, community bulletin boards at playgrounds and more overall youth involvement in city plans for open space.

By George P. Hassett

Between 2001 and 2007, five former Somerville High hockey players died young. Brian Liberatore, Nicky Peters, Dave Martini, Ryan Sullivan and Matthew O’Brien were all ‚Äúgood kids from Somerville‚Äù who died too soon, said Jonathon Mahoney, 21, a 2004 graduate of SHS.

On Saturday, Mahoney brought more than 200 people together to honor the memories of his fallen friends and raise money for the Somerville High athletes of tomorrow. A street hockey tournament at Conway Park raised $1,200 for a scholarship fund dedicated to the memory of Liberatore, Peters, Martini, Sullivan and O’Brien.

City program employs some

By Melanie Cordova

Last September, 18-year-old Gregory Rego finally got his break. After countless applications with no callbacks, Rego was finally hired.

‚ÄúI had been searching for a while, I applied to Good Times, K-Mart, a lot of places,‚Äù said Rego, ‚Äúbut when you don’t have that much past work experience, they don’t want you.‚Äù

Now however, Rego will again have to go into the summer job market. Although his job at Teen Empowerment is still going strong, tuition at Bay State Community College is forcing Rego to go through another round of applications.