My
grandpa was a proud Italian-American citizen and a World War I
veteran.. He was also a custodian at the old Bingham School. His name
was Giuseppe, and he was my dad's father. A lot of people just called
him Joe. He started a long tradition of "Joes" in my family. There's my
Uncle Joe, the fireman and glass guy, and his son Joe. There's also my
brother Joe, the Harvard grad, and my son Joe – oh, and my cousin's son
Joe (my uncle Joe's grandson).

My grandpa's house smelled like
cigars and we could always expect a squeeze on the cheek and a happy
greeting whenever we visited. When we walked through the front door we
were welcomed by grandpa's familiar "well-a, well-a, well-a – nice-a,
boy-a" and the big grandpa hug – hey that's what grandpas do.

No
thanks to poison gas during the war, grandpa only had one lung –
although it was cool telling my friends that story while showing off
his helmet. His back yard still has the grapevine that he made his wine
from. My aunt Olga lives there to this day and the bottle capping gizmo
he used in the wine making process is still in that cellar. Grandpa
used to use Ballantine Ale bottles to put his wine into and I still
have one of the last bottles in my kitchen today.

Shortly after
we moved into our house near Davis Square in 1960, I remember my mother
looking out the window and saying in a panicked voice "what in the
world is going on?" Before we had even put in the driveway, a large
City of Somerville DPW truck was backing into our yard over the curb
and crushing through the bushes. We went out onto the back porch as the
city truck dumped a huge load of concrete chunks in the yard. Mom
yelled down at my father and grandpa who were supervising the dumping,
asking what was going on – and my dad yelled up "this is our new garden
wall!" The concrete chunks were pieces of the old Davis Square sidewalk
that had just been jack hammered.

You see, grandpa was Italian,
which meant he was a pretty good stonemason, so for the next week, I
watched grandpa and dad turn pieces of an old sidewalk into a beautiful
retaining wall that is still standing today. My grandpa helped his son
get his first home up and running, because that's what grandpas do. The
only thing that stinks is that the wall is still there, but the guys
who made it aren't.

Grandpas are awesome people – my dad was a
good grandpa too. When my sister passed away, he took over caring for
his 9-year-old granddaughter, Nikki. They became best friends who
needed each other equally. He made her breakfast every morning, he
fixed her hair and he took her to school everyday. She made him laugh,
drove him crazy and kept his blood pumping. Grandpa delegated duties to
the rest of the family. Cousin Carol and Auntie Olga were in charge of
buying Nikki her clothes and providing the woman's touch. I was in
charge of picking her up after school and cooking supper every night
(thanks to McKinnon's and Shake and Bake). I was, and still am, in
charge of scaring the boys away. The other aunts and cousins were also
activated to be there in lieu of her mom and may I say they all did a
damn good job.

But it was grandpa who was the "general in
charge" of the whole operation – it was amazing to see a 72-year-old
man completely take control of a situation and make sure this young
girl had everything she needed. Did I mention that he also had to go to
court every couple of weeks to ensure that Nikki stayed in his custody
and out of harms way? Ahhh…the golden years – but that's what
grandpas do. After a few years of running the show, grandpa's loving
heart gave out – Nikki was now 11. When we explained to her what was
going on and that grandpa's heart wasn't working anymore she said
tearfully: "well he can have mine." Fade to 13 years later, Nikki went
to Matignon High School and graduates from Salve Regina College – and
grandpa looks down from above, smiling and saying, "mission
accomplished."

So we have that garden wall in my backyard as a
testimonial to my grandpa and a well-adjusted 25-year-old young
professional woman as a testimonial to her grandpa. Both are sturdy,
strong and enduring – thanks to the love, dedication and planning that
went into each project – and that's what grandpas do.

(August 2008)

A
former classmate of mine got my e-mail address from this column and we
started corresponding. We both graduated from the Western Junior High
School in 1968 (the last graduating class before the big fire). He
graciously sent me a copy of our graduation picture, you know, the ones
that are all rolled up? Thanks Dennis K.

I can't believe we were
ever that young – I also can't believe I shot the bird in the photo. We
thought were so old and mature, but we were really still children. I
got several lumps in my throat when I saw the faces of some friends who
are no longer with us, but after unearthing a slew of memories, I got
to thinking about how fashions have changed.

First of all, where
the hell did those clothes come from? Some of mine (at the time) came
from The Truc in Harvard Square as well as Robert Hall, Kresge's and JM
Fields. We were a big Anderson Little family. I still remember the
tailor with that little piece of white soap marking my inseam (that was
pretty creepy). I know for a fact that a few kid's shirts came from
Mickey Finn's in Davis Square and that my desert boots were purchased
at Thom McCann's.

A lot of us guys wore those beige suede bucks
with the pinkish rubber soul and heel. I actually have had a pair of
those throughout my entire life. The really cool dudes had black shiny
pointed black boots with a "Cuban heel." We called them fence climbers,
and they packed a mean kick – they were also known as Beatle Boots. The
O'Neil brothers had them. I think you had to go to some store in
Central Square to get those babies.

Some of us got taps put on
down at the cobbler. Remember putting dimes in penny loafers? I recall
having to beg my parents for almost every piece of cool clothing I got
– it was always the complete opposite of what they tried to stick me
with.

The hairstyles have really changed as well! Miss Charlton
had this up-sweep do that was kind of like a beehive. Maybe they called
it a bouffant? She was gorgeous. Too bad we were her very first class
ever – what an introduction to teaching – I'm amazed she didn't change
careers after that year. Miss Hagerty not only had the beehive "thang"
going on, but she drove a blue Mustang with a white convertible top –
she was probably the coolest teacher I ever had, plus she was nice to
us kids. She taught me all the French I know – oooh la la.

I
have to say that Mr. Perno, Mr. Lundy and Mr. Mackey were also great
teachers/administrators. Mr. Kelly left to help Robert F Kennedy's
presidential campaign. As we marched through the halls in an orderly
fashion we heard: "line over there, line over there." All the teachers
up the Western were decent to us kids – strict, but fair – thank you
all for some precious memories.

There were a few real knockouts
among the 9th grade girls – these young ladies were in an elite group I
called "the untouchables" – they were definitely out of my league.

The
girls wore a variety of hairstyles ranging from pageboys to those that
flipped at the shoulder. I don't know the correct name for that style
but they all looked great. The smell of Aquanet can still bring me
back. There were a lot of those headbands and barrettes in style in
1968. Some guys had the sideburn thing going on – I was jealous because
I hadn't reached that level of manhood yet – I was still shaving
nothing, hoping that something would grow, but I had to wait it out.
Remember that bit of advice? "If you keep shaving, it will eventually
grow." – well, it didn't work for me.

There were still a few
"Fonzie" haircuts (with the DA), but most of the boys had bangs of some
sort – a look (no doubt) that we can thank the "Fab Four" for. The in
thing seemed to have one eye covered by bangs. It was cool to have to
keep jerking your head in order to see properly. I had the hair jerk
move mastered. Long hair was on its way in, and I wanted to be Paul
McCartney.

Lots of double-breasted blue blazers with brass
buttons usually worn with a white turtleneck underneath were in vogue
in 1968. I call that the "Dave Clark Five" look and it was a good look
for some of us. There were a few plaid suit jackets in the mix also.

I
don't know if it was the era, but as I look at the 1968 graduating
class of the Western Junior High School, I see that there were a lot of
wise guys – we thought we were cool – and some were. I'm not entirely
sure I was one of the cool ones – I was definitely one of the
troublemakers, that's for sure – I got into trouble trying to make kids
laugh.

It's hard to imagine that it was forty years ago. I
always say the same thing when I realize how fast time has gone by – I
wish I had saved a lot more dough.

Styles changed over the next
three years when we hit the high school. The bell-bottom nudged its way
into the mix to do battle with pegged pants. Shoulder length hair grew
in popularity accompanied by dungarees. A cool look was a matching
dungaree jacket, perhaps with a peace sign patch ironed on someplace.
It was a "hippie" uniform.

I can't believe how many of my 1968
classmates remained in my life to some degree. Freddy Benoit married my
cousin (and friend) the former Carol Beninati. Charlie Vigneau, to this
day, is my best friend and my son's godfather. I got a nice e-mail from
Sharon Mahoney the other day. Ritchie Collins lives one street over and
we are very close pals and were band mates for the last 40 years off
and on. I am in touch e-mail wise with the other Richard Collins (from
North Street) and the former Dolly Stringos (give my love to Fluffy). I
see Dom and Pat Oppedisano all the time (say hi to your mom). Those two
have honestly not changed that much at all. I drive by Ronnie Bonnett's
house a lot, but I never see him. Alan F. is up in New Hampshire and we
just touched base again after over 20 years. I saw Rich Senesi in
Boston a few times. I bumped into Billy Wade at Doherty's. I used to
see John Mattson almost every day – hey Johnny, where the hell are ya?
Phil Lorenzo (Philly Poo) still lives two houses up from me and we are
true buds for life.

Styles may have changed, but true
friendships last forever. I hope all of my former classmates are happy
and healthy – I hope you are enjoying your children and grandchildren.
I couldn't end this column without naming a few of my friends that we
lost from that magical Western Junior High School class of 1968. Rest
in peace Dennis O'Neil, Gary Lameiras and Richard Salvo.

What
is a fence viewer? Wood and bark measurer? A grain weigher? For some,
these leftover jobs from Somerville's 1899 city charter are proof that
the city's political culture needs reform.

In his inaugural
address last month Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone promised to convene a
charter reform commission this year to examine possible changes to the
structure of city departments, elected bodies and government
procedures.

But the first move by an elected official to
explore such changes failed last week when Ward 4 School Committee
member James Norton's proposal to send "a statement of support of the
mayor's proposal to convene a Charter Reform Commission and ask that
the mayor appoint a member of the School Committee to that commission"
was voted down by all other members of the School Committee.

The
fairly tame resolution provoked strong reactions from the other School
Committee members. Ward 7 member Mary Jo Rossetti said, "My blood
pressure is ready to burst. I absolutely, positively will not support
this motion."

Ward 2 member Theresa Cardoso said, "Where is the
outcry from the community? There is outcry – just on the other side in
opposition to this."

However, Curtatone said that strong
response will not deter him from appointing a task force
"representative of the entire community" to analyze the charter.

"That
was a lot of over reaction," he said. "We are not focused on any one
area of city government, services or departments. They [the School
Committee members] overreacted. It is inaccurate to say this process is
about the School Committee." Curtatone did say that changing the
committee to an appointed board is something the task force could look
at.

Pieces of the city charter are outdated, he said, yet he
would not go into details about his own views on what should be
changed.

One thing Curtatone said he would not support in a charter reform is any lessening of his power as mayor.

"I
believe in a strong mayor form of government. I think it makes the
mayor more accountable to the voters. I don't believe in the Cambridge
model of a city manager and a weak mayor. I'm accountable to the voters
every two years, if they don't like what I am doing they can vote me
out of office," he said.

Curtatone said his motivation for
charter reform comes from frustration with his city's lack of power
over "basic housekeeping issues."

"We had to send home rule
petitions to the State House to create the position of a 311 director,
remove the police chief from civil service and to combine the jobs of
health and building inspectors," he said. "Home rule is a myth. Most
times municipalities find themselves handcuffed when trying to serve
the needs of their communities."

The task force will analyze the
charter and any possible changes will be sent to the State House for
approval, he said. However, if city officials want to change the terms
of office for the mayor or aldermen a charter change committee will
have to be elected by city voters, said Alderman-at-Large William A.
White. Changes to the School Committee could be made without an elected
commission, he said.

The issue of charter change was last raised
in 1995 when aldermen submitted recommendations to former Mayor Michael
E. Capuano and no action was taken. In 1982, aldermen passed, and the
mayor signed, a comprehensive charter revision. In the Legislature, it
passed the House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate.

White
said he expects more discussion on the issue in the year to come but
for now he has not heard much about it from constituents.

"I have not had anyone contact me about it," he said.

(November 2008)

To the Charter Review Committee,

I
sincerely appreciated the opportunity to give testimony at your Nov. 10
public hearing. I hope you are not discouraged that, from mildly to
passionately, all but one person who spoke was critical of your
preliminary recommendations. That may explain why the hearing, which
was scheduled to be broadcast at least five times on the city's cable
channel, never was.

I respectfully suggest that you might have
begun the work of your committee by gathering evidence on how
Somerville government is benefiting or injuring its citizens and,
therefore, how it should be changed. In just five meetings, you covered
a truly remarkable range of topics. Yet I detect scant mention in your
meeting notes of the Somerville-specific historical context and
conditions that inform your judgment. So please consider my own view.

There
were times when Somerville's government was more explicitly rife with
patronage than it is today. It has been over two decades since city
officials went to jail. But even then, citizen watchdog groups, a
vigilant local press, and extensive, diverse, and politically active
relationship networks helped keep city government honest. They have
faded away. In their absence, the executive branch has steadily
accumulated more power. The legislative branch has disappeared in all
but name.

For as long as anyone can remember, our mayors
withheld city services from the wards of disobedient aldermen and
worked for the election of obedient ones. But in the absence of
vigilant watchdogs, aldermen have become more vulnerable to such
pressure.

This parallels and is fed by the enormously increased
size and volume of donations going to mayoral campaign funds,
particularly from interests living outside of Somerville. The current
mayor won his position by spending $35 per vote, more than any
municipal campaign in Massachusetts. By comparison, aldermen seldom
spend more than $2 per vote.

The resulting autocracy expresses
itself in many ways. The current administration refused to release
elected officials' ethics statements as required by law. In response to
a Freedom of Information Act action, they released them with key blocks
of information blacked out. They offer the laughable excuse that the
Massachusetts Ethics Commission does not require the release of
officials' phone numbers.

From 1975 to 1985, the Board of
Aldermen vigorously debated and passed legislation regarding at least
twenty major issues, often with five to six votes. In the last ten
years, I count two significant pieces of legislation originating from
the Board. The rest were the mayor's initiatives, submitted by a Board
member. Dissenting votes were rarely more than two or three.

The
eclipse of aldermanic power, trends in campaign financing, and the deal
making that takes place outside of the public eye are, taken together,
troubling. So many significant decisions over recent mayoral tenures
flaunted the best relevant evidence, suggesting the extent to which
they were influenced by political considerations. Their outcomes speak
eloquently to their quality.

Over the past century, the response
advocated by the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Louis Brandeis to such
conditions was a council/manager municipal charter. So I was
disappointed by your easy dismissal of it. At your July 9 meeting, you
had "agreed to research and discuss a city manager [i.e., a
council/manager] form of government." Then at your Sept. 10 meeting,
"the committee agreed that there is no desire to move away from a
mayoral form of government."

When I asked what your research on
council/manager government had involved, your response was that some
committee members read the book, The Adapted City. When I asked what
your discussion had involved, you said that committee members had made
these observations: there is a trend among municipalities toward a
mayoral form of government; some committee members believe that an
elected mayor is more responsive to the voters; some believe that
council/manager government is more appropriate for homogenous, suburban
cities, while strong-mayor government is better for diverse urban ones;
and some believe that our strong-mayor government is working well, so
there is no need to change it.

I would suggest that

•
trends mean little without understanding the historical reasons for
changing governmental forms specific to each municipality that
comprises the trend;

• over the decades, our own strong-mayor government has become unaccountable to the voters;

• you should actually examine objective conditions before you pronounce Somerville government to be working well;

•
and Lowell, Worcester, and Cambridge are all larger and more diverse
than Somerville, but have done quite well with council/manager
governments.

Lowell and Lawrence had very similar economies
when Lowell adopted council/manager government, as did Cambridge and
Somerville when Cambridge did the same. It is fascinating to compare
the subsequent trajectories of these two pairs of cities' fiscal
health, political participation and general wellbeing.

And
then there is diverse and urban Chelsea, whose strong-mayor corruption
and incompetence made it the first U.S. city forced into receivership
since the great depression. In fact, only about 10 percent of
Massachusetts' municipalities have strong/mayor governments, but they
account for all but one of the Commonwealth's significant municipal
corruption scandals. I imagine that your colleague Gerry McCue can
describe how Chelsea has steadily come back since it adopted
council/manager government.

Somerville citizens now have no
real means of redress other than by voting for a mayoral challenger.
Without an incumbent's bulging campaign coffers and patronage-based
army, a challenger's chances are miniscule. If you summarily dismiss
consideration of council/manager government, then I am astonished you
have not recommended initiative and referendum, which do not exist in
our charter.

I do applaud your recommendation to finally grant
the Board of Aldermen authority to appoint their own staff. How about
their own counsel? Your fiscal and financial recommendations are very
much appreciated as well.

The notion that a person of color
appointed by the mayor could effectively represent fifty ethnic groups
is dubious, however, as is the notion that School Committee members
should possess some kind of "expertise" other than speaking for their
constituents.

Taken together, the recommendations you have made
thus far are feeble in the context of our history and objective
conditions. Council/manager government is not intrinsically superior in
every situation. But its adoption would leaven an inertial,
old-boy-network political culture that excludes the recruitment of
fresh and diverse talent, perpetuates patronage, and fails on your
criterion of benefiting all citizens. Somerville's structural fiscal
deficit is one of its products.

When our nation's founders
decided to change their form of government, they began the Declaration
of Independence by stating that "a decent respect for the opinions of
mankind" required them to state their reasons for doing so. They
defined the values that would guide the transformation of their
political institutions. And they cited the history and resulting
conditions that compelled that transformation. I would encourage you to
do the same.

There are many among Somerville's citizens who
would simply like unpoliticized consideration of their job applications
and performance, impartiality in service distribution and zoning
decisions, or a city government that tells the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Most do not enjoy the luxury of
dispassionately discussing forms of municipal governance.

A
controversial proposal that brought hundreds of landlords to City Hall
in protest is back and this time, according to the mayor, it is not
slanted in favor of tenants. But the proposal, which would revise the
regulations surrounding the condo conversion process, comes after the
local condo market reached its peak and conversions in the city have
slowed dramatically.

In fiscal year 2006, when the ordinance
was first proposed by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, there were 565
multi-family homes converted into condominiums. In fiscal year 2008,
there were 217, a 61 percent decrease.

Still, Curtatone said an
ordinance adding clarity and predictability to the process is needed.
"There have been clear abuses of the process in the past where tenants
were wrongfully evicted to make way for condos," he said. "The rate of
condo conversions have declined but even one case of abuse is enough
for the city to respond."

The original proposal would have
increased notification times – to up to four years – and reimbursement
payments – to up to $2,000 – that landlords would be required to
provide low-income, handicapped and elderly tenants before converting
their multifamily buildings into condos and selling off the units.

The
new proposal calls for relocation payments tied to rental rates and
shorter notification times for tenants in two- and three-family
buildings. "The new ordinance is predictable and clear for tenants and
property owners alike," Curtatone said.

As the real estate
market boomed in Somerville earlier in the decade, block after block of
two- and three-family homes were converted into condos. Between July
2004 and June 2005, 578 condominium units were created, a 70 percent
increase over the prior fiscal year, according to city records.

In
the new ordinance, city lawyers called the previous spike in
conversions "a serious public emergency" that cut down on Somerville's
stock of affordable rental units. Critics of condo conversions say they
force out many longtime residents, taking away from the city's
traditional character.

The 2006 proposal was branded as "de
facto rent control" by Skip Schloming of the Small Property Owners
Association and a mailing that group sent out brought an angry crowd to
City Hall for the public hearing. During the May 30, 2006 meeting,
angry landlords cheered Alderman-at-Large William A. White when he
challenged city lawyers on the legality of the ordinance and heckled
Curtatone when he spoke in favor of it. Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz
said it was the most contentious hearing during her tenure on the board.

Gewirtz
said she does not expect the same level of opposition to the new
proposal. The working group Gewirtz led to revise the ordinance after
the negative reaction included both tenants rights advocates and the
CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. The result, she said, is a
proposal that protects the interests of both tenants and landowners.

The
new condo conversion ordinance will be submitted to the Board of
Aldermen later this month and sent to the Legislative Matters Committee
for a public hearing and discussion.

(August 2008)

Middlesex
County Register of Probate and former Somerville alderman John Buonomo
was arrested yesterday in connection with his alleged theft of public
monies.

Buonomo, 56, of Newton, was put in handcuffs Wednesday
by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District
Attorney's Office. He was charged with 18 counts of breaking and
entering into a depository, eight counts of theft of public property by
a City/Town/County Officer, and eight counts of larceny under $250.

Prosecutors
said Buonomo, a county-wide elected official, engaged in a repeated
pattern of stealing cash from copy machines and money machines at the
Office of the Register of Deeds over a period of weeks. Video
surveillance cameras installed by the Middlesex District Attorney's
PACT Unit allegedly captured Buonomo stealing numerous times during the
months of June, July, and August. The Register of Deeds office is
located in the same building as the Register of Probate office.

"It
is highly troubling that a public official would engage in the kind of
brazen theft of public monies that we allege here," Middlesex District
Attorney Gerry Leone said. "We believe that Mr. Buonomo violated the
public's trust by regularly accessing these cash machines without
authority and stealing taxpayer money. I want to thank the Secretary of
State's Office, the Registry of Deeds, the Trial Court, and the Chief
Justice for Administration and Management for their cooperation during
this investigation. I also want to commend the members of the
Massachusetts State Police in our PACT Unit for their comprehensive
investigation – and that investigation continues."

The
investigation, conducted by the Middlesex District Attorney's PACT
Unit, began in June when information was obtained regarding the
suspected ongoing theft of monies from numerous copy machines and cash
machines within the Registry of Deeds, located at 208 Cambridge Street
in Cambridge. The Registry of Deeds had noticed monthly shortages in
receipts received from their copy machines estimated to be as much as
thousands of dollars over a period of months.

Based on this and
other information obtained during a subsequent investigation, State
Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's PACT Unit
installed video surveillance equipment in the second floor and basement
areas of the Registry of Deeds office. During the following weeks,
usually at the end of the work day, Buonomo was regularly observed on
video accessing the money machines in the basement and second floor of
the Registry of Deeds, prosecutors said. He was often captured on video
removing a stack of dollar bills, counting the money, and then
returning a portion of those bills to the machine while pocketing the
rest.

During the weeks of the investigation, Buonomo was
allegedly captured on video accessing one of the machines on at least
eighteen separate ccasions. He is believed to have taken cash for
himself on at least eight of those occasions.

According to the
Registry of Deeds, Buonomo has no authority to access the cash machines
or copy machines on the Registry of Deeds side of the building nor does
he have the authority to remove money from the machines.

The breaking and entering and theft of public property charges are felonies. The larceny under $250 is a misdemeanor charge.

Buonomo
faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the breaking and
entering into a depository charge. He has a long history in Somerville.
He was first elected to public office in the city in 1979 when he was
elected to the school committee. He then served as the Ward 4 alderman
for 12 years and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1989 and 1999.

And he was successful. Two days
later in the April 9 edition, The Somerville News published an admiring
story crediting Craven as an "NBA bigwig" – he said he was the director
of player development for the Seattle SuperSonics – still in touch with
his local roots.

In an interview that lasted more than 90
minutes, Craven told elaborate lies about relationships he claimed to
have with Sonics players, coaches and management. In fact, Craven
admitted to the News this week that he has never met any of the
SuperSonics players he claimed to be mentoring.

As a lawyer for
the SuperSonics said, "The Somerville News has been duped by a
publicity hungry local citizen." The News should have fact-checked
Craven's claims and regrets the error.

However, News staffers
were not the only ones suckered by Craven's trickery. This week Craven
admitted he lied to dozens of people in the city – including his wife
and his brothers – about his NBA job..

When he came into the
News office in April, he was wearing a SuperSonics jumpsuit. He passed
out team t-shirts to friends and family. After the story was posted on
TheSomervilleNews.com Craven said he went online and anonymously wrote
50 comments under the story lauding himself as "an asset to the
community" and "a hunk."

When a reporter interviewed him for this story the question that kept popping up was, "why?"

"I don't know why I did it. I keep coming up with question marks when I think about it," Craven said.

The
lies started in June when he flew to Seattle to meet someone he met on
the Internet. He told people who asked that he was going out for a job
interview and after three more trips out West claimed he had been
hired. While he was in Seattle, Craven said he did catch a few
SuperSonics practice sessions that were open to the public and even
went to a few games.

"I got a good sense of the team and how they played together," he said.

Craven
said he tried to contact SuperSonics General Manager Sam Presti
repeatedly while he was in Seattle to try and get a job with the team
(in the April interview with the News Craven said he had a longtime
personal relationship with Presti. In a letter from the SuperSonics the
team said he had "no relationship whatsoever" with him), but never made
a connection.

"I just wanted to scout and work for the team so bad I think I started to believe I did," he said.

One
person who believed Craven worked for the SuperSonics said he would
often call after games, claiming to be with the team. "I started to get
into basketball. I thought I had met someone who worked in the NBA.
Little did I know he was just your average sociopath," said the person,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

And the lies didn't
stop there. Craven admitted to the News that he had also used other
people's names when he met strangers. He said he told people he was
Jeff Turner – a 6 foot 9 inch former NBA player who even die hard
basketball fans strain to remember. Craven himself is 6 foot 8 and said
Turner's obscurity was one reason he used the name.

"He talked
about his career with the Nets and the Magic. He spoke at length about
covering Larry Bird and playing on the same team as Shaq," said a woman
who knew Craven as Jeff Turner.

As bizarre as it was, Craven
seemed to be getting away with his many ruses. He first told people in
Somerville he had an interview with Seattle last June. And, in addition
to telling people he was Turner, he also told strangers he was Todd
Lichti – another unremarkable, tall, white, former NBA journeyman.

But
it seems it was his thirst for attention – and his trip to the News
office – that finally did him in. The woman who knew him only as Jeff
Turner googled Turner's name and saw a picture that didn't match the
man she knew.

The woman then called the police who, she said,
contacted Craven "to tell him he was a weirdo" but could not charge him
with any specific crime. When she found out his real name, the woman
searched the internet for Ron Craven and found the News article and the
dozens of glowing comments posted under it.

From that moment,
Craven's days pretending to be director of player development for the
Seattle SuperSonics were numbered. The real Jeff Turner filed a
complaint with the NBA's security division. The Sonics released a
letter unequivocally stating Craven has no relationship with the team.
Reporters in Seattle are retracing his steps in that city.

(May 2008)

This
summer represents something of a milestone for me. I've now been in
Somerville longer than I lived in California, where I am "from." So,
I'm thinking about the differences between there and here.

Just
about every year when December arrives, I think that I must be
self-destructive to live here. Decades ago, I stopped having the
flashbacks and anxiety attacks associated with post-traumatic stress
disorder. But depression is one of its legacies that I must regularly
deal with. For some reason, the dark of Somerville's winter gets it
going.

This last winter was really bad. By evening, I'd feel so
down that I didn't even have the energy to heat up frozen dinners. I'd
just crawl under the quilt with one and lick it.

Then, just
after income tax return day, everything changes. Spring has the impact
of a religious experience. The waxing sunshine and the explosion of new
life make my spirits soar, and I wonder how I could live anywhere else.

Californians
are often caricatured in the minds of New Englanders. It's true that
almost every nut cult in the history of the universe has at least one
adherent in Los Angeles County.

But for the most part,
Californians want and care about the same things that you do. They care
about their children's health and wellbeing. They want to be paid
fairly for working hard. They don't want to be continually stressed
about money. They would like the streets to be clean and for things to
get fixed when they break. They want government to be honest and
effective. They would prefer to breathe clean air and live a long time.

Californians
are more comfortable than Somervillians are in expressing warm
feelings. They are more welcoming, but relationships don't have the
depth and endurance of those here.

Somervillians are more
comfortable expressing negative feelings. They are less welcoming, but
relationships are stronger and loyalties are tighter. Many people I
know in Somerville have friendships that go back to high school, while
I haven't spoken to anyone that I went to high school with for over
forty years.

Personally, I would prefer to live among people who
easily express both positive and negative feelings. Having to conceal
either one makes me feel lonely. But we must deal with the world as we
find it.

One of the reasons that we find the differences in our
world that I have described comes from how and why the people who came
from Europe expanded across this continent. They formed communities
along the East Coast. As within all communities, conflict was
inevitable. The frontier provided a means of escape for those who were
unable to work through the conflicts, or to live with their outcomes.
It offered a new life to those who had messed up their old one, and
opportunity to those who didn't see much opportunity where they were.

As
a group, those who went West were the least integrated into their old
communities, with the least skills in resolving conflicts, building
relationships, and sustaining community. The other side of the West's
celebration of individualism is its yearning for community.

In
community, you are known, and you must find a way to live with those
you have offended. Oddly enough, if you aren't obligated to continually
interact with others, it's easier to be warm toward them. The
consequences of their indifference, or their antagonism to your
overtures, are greatly reduced. There are always others to interact
with.

But strength, trust, and endurance in relationships don't
come from what we have in common. They come from how we deal with our
differences, how we resolve our conflicts.

When the web of
relationships is not strong enough to sustain community, it's easier to
attribute imagined evils to public figures, because you don't know
them. I often disagree strongly with Mayor Curtatone. (See my next
column, for example.) But I can't pretend that he is some cartoon-like
villain, or that his policy choices are willfully malign, because I
know him and find much to like about him.

There are other
differences between here and California. On average, drivers here are
much worse. I attribute this to the relatively lax enforcement of
traffic laws here and the fact that New England cities weren't built to
accommodate the automobile. Within a few years, we will come to
appreciate the latter.

California has rarely experienced the
government corruption that regularly makes news in Massachusetts, and,
per unit of service, government is more costly here. I see this as the
consequence of one party controlling government so long that it becomes
complacent.

Yet for all of the dissatisfactions that I might
express about Somerville, its people are the best. They are honest,
hardworking, loyal, realistic, and funny. We can argue heatedly and
still remember that we like each other.

As I just wrote that, I
remembered one night in the aldermanic chamber after a hearing on
Assembly Square. Steve Post and I were yelling at each other at the top
of our lungs. At some point, I looked at him and felt foolish. I
quietly said, "I'm just so disappointed." The soul of compassion, he
replied, "yeah. I know."