***************

We reported that
Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane was amongst the missing, well he's been found
and is not doing well – he's been very ill these past few weeks and
hasn't left the house except to go to the doctors for all sorts of
tests…we wish him well, and a speedy recovery – if you want to wish
him well, please email him at roberttrane@aol.com or look for him on
Facebook.

***************

We hear that Alderman at Large
Dennis Sullivan and his bride to be Melissa will be buying a home in
the Ten Hills shortly after their Wedding this coming Sunday. We heard
that Dennis received the endorsement of the PDSers – all 15 of them (or
less) and that he was so excited about it. We also heard he was the
only Alderman at Large to attend Rebekah's event last week. Does that
mean that the PDSers and SCC members are targeting one of the other
three Aldermen at Large for defeat with their own home-grown candidate
Morales?

***************

Recently a well-known member
of our community, Kevin Fantasia, passed away after a long bout with
MS. Kevin was the son of former State Rep. Mary Fantasia – also known
as the "Lady of the House" back in the day. Kevin owned a well-known
popular bar on Somerville Avenue – many people here in the city liked
Kevin and will miss him. Kevin served on the SHA Board of Directors for
many years – our sincerest condolences to his family for their loss, he
was a good guy.

***************

Congratulations to
Somerville Police Detective Mario Oliveira, who organized and worked
hard to get off the ground the 1st Annual Police Golf Tournament to
raise funds and support Massachusetts C.O.P.S. kids program. Held last
Friday on the 25th at the Hill View Country Club in North Reading – it
was a huge success and raised several thousands of dollars in
donations. Det. Mario is a very popular guy around Somerville, well
known and very well respected; he's a good guy always doing good deeds,
he deserves a huge "Thank You" for his hard work.

**************

The
Somerville Chamber of Commerce's monthly After Business Hours get
together will be held on the 1st (Thursday) at Machu Picchu, 307
Somerville Ave, in Union Square. All businesses and co-workers are
encouraged to attend; it's a great networking function so remember to
bring your business cards. This months host is After Hours Chair
Michelle Mulvena of Moschella & Winston. Members and non-members
are welcomed to rsvp by Sept. 30th to smackey@somervillechamber.org or
call Steve Mackey of the Chamber at 617-776-4100.

***************

Our
own good long time friend and former Publisher Bob Publicover is doing
well with his treatments over at Beth Israel hospital – he is
remarkable having AIDS for over 30 years now and has managed to pull
through all the ups and downs and comes back stronger each time…Bob
is celebrating his 60th birthday (yesterday the 29th). Give him a shout
out at his email bobpublicover@aol.com and say hi or he's on Facebook
regularly with his own updates. Bob has been involved in a lot of
charities here in Somerville, given his time and money over the years,
a true Somervillian all these 60 years. He's very special friend to
many here.

***************

Our own Jamie Norton – Ward 4
School Committeeman – had his fundraiser this past Monday night at the
popular "On The Hill Tavern" in Magoun Square, owned by Bob Antonelli.
A huge crowd of over 100 supporters, friends and elected officials
showed up to give their support. Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero and Mayor
Joe Curtatone did the introductions and hosted the event for Jamie and
a great time has had by all who came to show their support.

***************

Our
condolences to Gay Koty – and her family – who lost her sister Dottie
Lou Burroso this past weekend. Dottie was one of the nicest people,
always with a smile and always telling it like it is – she was a great
friend and funny lady to all her friends and family. Her passing ends
the long time suffering she endured and she will be missed – may she
rest in peace.

***************

Welcome aboard this week
to Tom Nash – who comes to the paper full-time – taking on a lot of the
responsibility as the Assistant Editor. Tom will work hard on the News
portion of the paper and also collaborate with Editor Jamie Norton in
developing the Cambridge edition of the newspaper. Tom has been writing
for our paper over a year now and has been covering, amongst other
topics, the Board of Alderman issues – he also lives here in the city,
continuing the trend we have set in being the real community newspaper
in the city. Anyone else notice no Farm Team papers at all in any of
their boxes? Check out the stores on Wednesday and see how many of
their papers aren't sold.

***************

Speaking of The
News, it is time for the third annual "Thank You" party where we thank
all the advertisers, writers and contributors over the past year. The
Precinct in Union Square will be hosting The Somerville News Thank You
Party on Wednesday, October 14th from 6 pm to 8 pm. Everyone is welcome
to attend and meet the Publishers and the Editorial Staff of the paper
and of course Cam will be there as well – she writes the Ms. Olio
portion – and we already know ahead of time that people want to meet
her.

***************

Last Saturday at the College Avenue
Congregational Church, the members of the Board of Aldermen all
volunteered to display their cooking skills and help raise money for
the church. We hear all the Aldermen were there at 3 pm prepping the
food and cooking it – but late straggler Alderwoman Rebekah showed up
after 5 pm with a pan of lasagna already made and cooked. Guess she
didn't want to put her cooking skills on display in front of the other
board members – more transparency at work. Well, over a 100 people
showed up and everyone was pleased with the food we hear.

***************

The
Ward 5 School Committee race is heating up – Anna Lavanga, candidate
for School Committee, has been out there nightly walking the ward very
quietly, one resident of Ward 5 told Newstalk she was at their door
twice in the past 4 weeks.

***************

Some
communities change and forget the past – that's a shame. Then again,
most communities don't have history dating back 250 plus years either,
so maybe we have it better than most – at least from a historic
perspective.

Traditions, unwritten rules and customs – those are
the things that change with the times. We invite change into a
community that is ever-evolving demographically – but there is a line
you don't cross. Don't try to take away religious holidays just because
you can – don't try to call an important local holiday "annoying" and
think you can get away with it – don't step on the dyed-in-the-wool
traditions that have a place in our hearts.

We have a whole list
of historical places, events and inventions that came from Somerville,
so when one of those is elevated to a larger stage, it is with a great
sense of pride that we all share in the moment. Such is the case with
Fluff. As you probably know, it was invented here in this city many
years ago.

What you probably don't know is that the
Fluffernutter sandwich has been proposed by a State Representative to
be named the Official Sandwich of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
That's a pretty big deal, so we all need to get behind this one and
help make it happen.

So take the time to send an email to your
State Representative or State Senator and tell them you want to see the
Fluffernutter named the Official Sandwich of the Commonwealth – and
then go get some of the delicious white stuff and a jar of peanut
butter and enjoy the flavor of the most perfect sandwich. Ever. And if
you are somehow from here and have never had one – then you need to
take care of that immediately. Enjoy.

Alderman-at-Large Bruce Desmond and Ward 3 Alderman
Tom Taylor had originally submitted an order at the meeting calling for
speed bumps to be included among improvements at Kelly and Dickerman
parks.

When told speed bumps could only be installed on
federal projects, Desmond amended the order to call for calming tables
— raised areas that slow traffic and double as crosswalks.

"Nobody
will be there except us when one of our kids gets hit and killed,"
Desmond said. "If [a raised table] is not good enough let's have the
federal government come and tell us they have to take it out, because
it's a bunch of crap as far as I'm concerned."

"This is our
town; we want to protect our kids. This is how we start doing it," he
added. "Let them come here and fight us, because they certainly don't
come here when we want them to."

"He's absolutely right," Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston said. "Who's going to tell us to take this out?"

Ward
4 Alderman Walter Pero pointed out the Board had minutes earlier
approved an $85,000 grant from Spectra Energy to install a calming
table on Fellsway West, which would be the first in the city.

Pero also noted there are speed bumps in Somerville, on the roads built in the federally funded Mystic housing project.

"The ironies here abound," Pero said.

The order passed and will be discussed in the Public Health and Safety Committee.

The
measure first received Board approval in July 2008 but failed to get
the required State House vote before the legislative session ended.
Police Captains Michael Cabral and Paul Upton have served as acting
deputy chiefs since last September.

Cabral reviewed the
reasoning for putting the positions in the hands of the police chief at
the board's Sept. 24 meeting, noting it is an essential part of the
department's reorganization.

Under the plan, any senior officer
at the police department would be eligible for Police Chief Anthony
Holloway to recommend for the one-year position. After approval from
the Board of Aldermen, the position would be up for renewal.

The
same arguments were lodged for and against the measure, with Ward 6
Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz expressing concern about politicizing the
positions by taking them out of civil service.

"I'm very
concerned that as we move towards a trend of removing positions from
civil service we open ourselves up to a situation where we might have
people being put into positions in the future who might not be
qualified for the job," Gewirtz said.

Cabral countered that the
civil service system, which relies on tests to determine whether an
officer is qualified a position, the Board would have a voice in the
process.

"You evaluate us for our entire careers," Cabral said. "We didn't just come up here as deputy chiefs … You know us."

Also responding to Gewirtz, Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero said the Board should not tell the department how to manage itself.

"For
us to think that we can manage the police department with a plan that
we would propose as opposed to the one they brought to us, I think it's
just simply wrong," Pero said.

The plan passed 9-1, with Gewirtz voting against the measure.

Last
Thursday evening, I led a seminar at the Ash Institute for Democratic
Governance and Innovation at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. I
spoke about Somerville's growing reputation for innovation in municipal
government, and about how mayors and other elected leaders can foster
and drive innovations that improve services, save money and make the
best use of new technologies.

Somerville has developed a close
relationship with the Kennedy School over the past several years. The
City has benefited from what amounts to free labor and advice from
Kennedy School students and faculty. K-School grads work in a number of
city departments, including our Police Department and the Office of
Strategic Planning and Community Development. I've even been taking
some courses there myself – and it's been a valuable experience.

With
all of that in mind, I was more than willing to develop a presentation
that covered SomerStat, 311, ResiStat, Shape Up Somerville, the ACE
(Accurate, Courteous, Easy) customer service initiative, our
comprehensive police reorganization and all of the other programs and
policies that have brought Somerville so much national and regional
attention – and played a major role in winning us recognition by the
National Civic League as a 2009 All America City.

Even though
I only had enough time to touch on the highlights, laying out our
record for a Kennedy School audience was still a valuable experience:
just like the inaugural and mid-term addresses I've given every January
for the past five years, the evening provided an opportunity to reflect
on how much we have accomplished – and how much more we need to do to
fulfill this city's terrific promise and potential.

As I talked
about the ways we've adopted and adapted best practices from all over
the country, I was reminded how quickly something that was once new and
exciting becomes a matter of routine. 2004 isn't that long ago, but
it's amazing how many changes we've been able to make in technical
systems and procedures that make Somerville's government more
accountable, transparent and cost-effective.

It's also amazing
how much you can get done just by paying attention to what's going on
outside your own community. As I told my fellow students, you don't
need to be an inventor to be an innovator – but you do need to be an
adaptor. Somerville has often been the first community in Massachusetts
or New England to adopt a new idea, but only because we were the first
to figure out a way to do it gradually and inexpensively. We're willing
to start out with a basic version of a program like SomerStat or 311,
and then expand it gradually by adding new features, more departments
or other enhancements until it compares very favorably to fancier and
more elaborate versions that come with a much higher price tag.

But
as my good friend, Mike Shea, likes to say, "In politics, the question
is never 'What have you done?' It's always, 'What are you doing now?'
And that's just as it should be. As proud as I am of the way we have
upgraded our city systems, I am committed to doing even better. We need
to get even more data onto our website, and we will. We need to bring
even more new technology into play to improve our response time on
service and information requests – and we will. We need to do much more
to reduce our carbon footprint through more efficient energy usage –
and we will. We need to upgrade and rebuild even more of our aging
infrastructure, and we will do that, too.

Of course, "doing even
better" was made much harder by the current state and national fiscal
crisis. We've already absorbed the deepest cuts to local aid that
anyone can remember, and we may well have to endure another round of
cuts in the current fiscal year. It's not going to be pretty.

On
the other hand, the systems we have already put in place have created
efficiencies and savings that have helped us expand services in the
past, and will help us preserve services going forward. Combined with
the growth in our commercial tax base that is coming with the continued
development of Assembly Square, the enhancements to Union and Magoun
Squares and to the East Somerville section of Broadway, and – at long
last – the construction of the Green Line Extension, our best practices
in governmental operations will help us weather these tough economic
times and bounce back stronger and faster.

Current trends
suggest that the national recession is ending, and that Massachusetts
will emerge more quickly than in most other parts of the nation. When
that happens, look for Somerville to be one of the communities that
leads the way – not because we have more wealth or a bigger industrial
base than other Massachusetts cities and towns, but because we've been
willing to embrace the new ideas and technologies that help us use our
resources more efficiently. You can see it every day – in where we've
been and in where we're going.

The Sept. 27 tour, sponsored by the Somerville
Historic Preservation Commission, was led by Ed Gordon, president of
the New England chapter of the Victorian Society of America.

The
two-hour program, titled "From Powder House Pickles to Ball Square
Brickyards," covered Nathan Tufts Park and historic houses on Broadway,
Powder House Terrace, Kidder Avenue, and Ball Square.

Gordon
began the tour at the park's Field House. Built in 1935, it was
commissioned to give work to unemployed construction workers. Their
design referenced the much older Powder House, sitting on the hill
directly above.

The Powder House was originally a windmill,
later purchased by the colonial Massachusetts government to store
gunpowder because its location was ideal for defending against an
attack. British troops seized the munitions in 1774 – a dress rehearsal
for the march to Lexington and Concord just seven months later.

After
leaving the Field House, tour goers braved the rain and the traffic to
cross the rotary at Powder House Square. Looking down Bromfield and up
Broadway, Ed Gordon tells them, "Somerville has what is probably the
finest collection of two-family houses."

Some of the grandest
of these are located on Broadway, which was known as the Road to Mystic
in the mid-1600s and served as a route out of town. With the expansion
of the electric trolley at the turn of the 20th century, Somerville's
population doubled and its landscape changed drastically as home were
built to keep up.

The next stop was 771 Broadway, which sits
on the original Tufts family homestead. Built in 1899, the home is one
of many built to meet the housing demand. Bill MacDonald, the owner and
renovator of the property, greeted the tour goers. MacDonald and his
wife purchased the house in 2003 and completely renovated it, currently
using the home as a clinic for patients suffering from eating
disorders.

Inside, MacDonald's handiwork is visible at every
turn. The exterior, including the front porch running the length of the
house, was updated with granite and composite flooring that will help
the renovation outlast the weather.

The efforts have not gone
unnoticed. The home received a preservation award from the Somerville
Historic Preservation Commission, which uses historic homes as learning
tools for students. Among its current projects is a showcase of
Somerville High School students' artwork featuring 11 historic homes at
the Center for Arts at the Armory, itself among the city's most
prominent historic structures.

A large tent
has also been erected overnight to screen and sign up local extras that
want to be in the movie and put them up on the silver screen.

*********

We
also hear that former Mayor Dot Gay, who was defeated this time 6 years ago, is
backing Martha Coakley – at a recent event here in the city, her husband was
heard telling people that the Gay's would be with Coakley. Apparently more then
one person overheard that, but we were shocked when we were told. Wasn't it Mike
Capuano who gave a picture of him standing with Dot supporting her for
re-election, the year she lost to Joe? One thing everyone knows about Mike is
that he's loyal, and if this rumor is true, he might not be happy. But then
again, the Gay's know what the word "loyalty" means…or do they?

***************

Alderwomen Rebekah Gewirtz is having her
fundraiser tonight at Redbones in Davis Square – we hear the place is going to
be packed and it starts at 5:30pm.

***************

Now we hear
that Alderman Bob Trane has been amongst the missing lately, nobody has seen him
or heard from him, appears that Trane is off the track somewhere, so to speak.
We're sending out a search party – hoping he's ok and everything is fine…he's
properly working those streets up there in Ward
7.

***************

Rumor has it that Marty Martinez, the man about
town, which has lived in all parts of Somerville – is or will be moving to Ward
7 again. The gossip grape vine is abuzz that he has moved again back to Ward 7.
What makes this more interesting was a little well placed rumor around that
State Rep. Carl Sciortino is seeking an appointment from our Governor and if he
gets it he will resign. Marty would be right in the district to run for his seat
then…again, it's a rumor, but wouldn't it be funny if it was true? Those
PDSers are so transparent, aren't they?

***************

Our own
Ward 4 School Committeeman Jamie Norton will host a fundraiser at the "On The
Hill Tavern" (499 Broadway – Magoun Square) this coming Monday night, the 28th
starting at 6 pm. Tickets are $50.00pp (suggested donation). Many of Jamie's
friends and family will be there and it should be an interesting evening.

***************

What the Fluff is this Saturday in Union Square,
from 4 pm to 7 pm on the Union Square Plaza. Somerville, in particular Union
Square, is the home of the invention of Fluff – by Archibald Query in 1917.
Every year lately Union Square has been celebrated with games, musical and
theatrical performers, inventors, culinary wizards and humorists – enough stuff
to fluff out and for every one in the family to enjoy.

***************

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago the passing of
our friend Barry Parsons from East Somerville, a life long resident. His wife
Emily and family are having a celebration of life and remembrance of Barry on
Sunday September 27th at 2 pm at the Knights of Columbus hall at 570 North
Avenue, Wakefield. For further information, contact Koleary70@hotmail.com –
Barry was a nice guy and is already missed.

***************

Boring election year here, but in traveling
around to the various other cities and towns nearby, you can see by the signs
that some of their elections might be more interesting. We have no primary and
only 3 ward elections in November and there will be an Alderman at Large race as
well with 5 candidates and only 4 to be re-elected. So it might be interesting
to see the various Alderman at Large candidates working wards 4, 5 & 6 –
where the races are. Already one candidate, challenger Morales, sent out a large
mailing. We're still trying to figure out who the PDSers and Somerville
Community Corp are tying to vote out of office amongst the Aldermen at Large –
it's very apparent that both groups support Morales.

***************

Congratulations to Jose Jorge for being installed
as the new Master of King Solomon's Masonic Lodge here in Somerville, he was
installed by the Kilwinning Club of Boston in full Scottish regalia and bagpipes
this past Saturday. King Solomon's Lodge, which is heading into its 226th year
of existence, is having another Open House on Saturday October 17th, at 125
Highland Ave (rear building). The public is invited to come and ask questions
and see what a Masonic Lodge looks like – check out all the history and maybe
just come and talk about the latest by Dan Brown, who has been writing about the
Mysteries that Masonry is all about. There are several hundred Masons here in
Somerville, and tens of thousands statewide, which is a charitable organization.
Come meet Wor. Jose, the first Portuguese-born Master of that lodge here and
some of your neighbors who are from Somerville. A website is in progress and
will be online with full pictures of all the Paul Revere jewels and ancient
historic papers from the lodge here in
Somerville.

***************

Looking for Senior Housing? Know
someone who is? The Somerville Home on Summer Street is having and informative
meeting at the Somerville Public Library's main branch on Highland & Walnut,
Thursday September 24th from
6:30-7:30p.m.

******************

We're just reminding you that the
2nd Annual Fireworks on the banks of the Mystic at Assembly Square will be on
Saturday, October 3rd from 4 to 8 pm with the fireworks at 8 pm. It will be a
great time – there was a large crowd last year and best of all brought to you by
the folks at Federal Realty and Mayor Joe Curtatone. Mark it down in your
calendars – there will be plenty of
parking.

***************

Community Baptist Church at 31 College
Avenue is having a Rummage Sale – Flea Market this coming Friday the 18th and
Saturday the 19th from 10 am to 2 pm each day. Many tables with lots of stuff
and best of all fresh baked homemade food. Sponsored by the Jolly
Elders.

***************

Somerville High School class of 1949 will
be having their 60th Reunion coming up shortly; cost is $55.00pp, for info email
neilruth2468@yahoo.com

***************

Happy Birthdays go out to
Emily (Mama) Tauro, Emily is the mother and matriarch of the Tauro Family and
she's a great lady to boot. Happy Birthday also to Mary Murphy of the TF Murphy
Florist family, and mother of popular Tom Murphy Jr. well known in the business
community here in Somerville – Happy Birthday to both ladies and many
more.

***************

On the movie scene, we hear Ben Affleck will
be filming a movie about a Wells Fargo Bank heist here on the Somerville /
Cambridge line at the Twin Cities Mall sometime next week – stay tuned – we'll
get the word what day…the movie name is supposed to be "The Town." Also don't
forget this Monday with Cameron Diaz filming her movie 480 Columbia
(Nissenbaum's Auto) Keep watching online for all your local movie film
information here first and only in Newstalk.

***************

In
the works and coming shortly to all the Cambridge residents a new paper framed
after our own News – by request throughout Cambridge and in the local
neighborhoods another paper…We found out how popular The News is in Cambridge
by attending a City Council meeting not to long ago and we spotted some our of
papers over there. We're going to be looking for writers over in Cambridge and
especially in the neighborhoods which have long been ignored by the Farm Team
over there.

***************

Appears the big boys in Boston are
reading our column here and getting their ideas from us and putting them on
their local sites – claiming to be the "local guys." We have news for them, you
can't be local if you're not even living and/or working here and you just copy
our stories and the Farm Team stories and then try and tell people you're more
local. It doesn't work that way, we're more local because everyone here at The
News lives/works here in Somerville and some for many, many years – What's
local? We are.

***************

The Somerville Lions Club and King
Lion – our own Billy Tauro – again raised a lot of money this past Saturday
night with the poker games and cigar night, only thing was smoking outside, not
in…

Okay, so we are a political city. Most of us,
whether old-timers or new-comers, have some kind of political experience in our
blood. So we know better. Or do we?

The natural inclination is to think
that since Mike Capuano is now in the race, it's a done deal. Well, that's
awesome in theory, but it won't happen merely because we all "like
Mike."

Mike Capuano, albeit late the to table, will most likely win the
race to fill Teddy's shoes in the Senate. If and when he does, it will be all
because of him, not his name (he's not a Kennedy), not because he already holds
statewide office (he doesn't) and certainly not because all the unions are
running scared to support him (like they are running face first into Coakley's
backside).

Mike Capuano is a "what you see is what you get" kind of
politician. Sure, he might not be as polished as other, seasoned, veteran
Congressmen or Senators, but who cares? Ted Kennedy wasn't a saint, and he got
the job done, for his state and for the ideals he stood for.

Mike might
have been caught up in the Pelosi tidalwave for a while there in the Congress –
hey, it's not easy to be a standout kind of Representative when you are up
against 434 other screaming voices every day – but that's okay, Mike. You run
because you believe in what you stand for, you believe in the idea that you
don't have to be popular, as long as you stand for the right reasons, you know
what loyalty and constituent services mean. Those are the reasons why we like
you Mike. Why we liked you when you were Mayor. And why you will be a great
United States Senator.

Now get out there – and raise more money, and show
this state how real Somerville politician's campaign across this great
Commonwealth of ours. Win the seat, and make us proud.