"The developer has come forward with a [new]
idea," Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz said at the meeting, held at the
Dilboy Post. "There have now been more ideas … and the developer
wanted to seek neighborhood feedback."

The 26 residents from an
area abutting the still-empty lot on 343 Summer St., just behind the
Veterans of Foreign Wars' Dilboy Post, remain skeptical.

Four
of the neighbors in attendance at the Sept. 30 meeting have filed
litigation against the project during the past five years. During that
time, the project has technically changed hands three times, although
it has remained within the same group of investors.

The Summer
Street property where a group known as Emerald Development planned to
build a 14-unit condominium development since 2002 has remained empty
as a series of litigation has stalled progress. A 2004 suit by abutter
Dr. Mohamed Hanif Butt found its way to the Massachusetts Supreme
Court, which ruled in favor of Emerald, now known as Dakota.

The
original plans called for the structure to reach under the foundation
of Butt's orthodontist practice, one of the several factors Gewirtz
said has kept the project in limbo for nearly a decade.

"The
reason this has gone on for so long is the developer has refused to
work with the neighborhood," Gewirtz said after the meeting.

With
the construction permit on the brink of lapsing early this year, the
Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved an extension at its Feb.
18 meeting. After residents called into question the erroneous
justification that it could only be renewed once, city officials told
them a recording of the meeting had accidentally malfunctioned.

While
Dakota has until March 2010 to begin work, their ongoing lawsuit
against the city over a proposed fire lane that would take down a
public shade tree continues to block progress. Gewirtz, who organized
the Sept. 30 meeting and one in April, is among the city officials
named in the suit for her efforts to prevent the tree from coming down.

In
addition to Dakota's litigation against the city, which the group used
as the justification for hardship to gain the permit extension, a
lawsuit filed March 9 by residents Carol Dempkowski, Nancy Iappini and
George O'Shea alleges the ZBA overstepped the boundaries of what city
ordinance defines as "hardship."

New plans, new concerns

At the Wednesday meeting, DiGirolamo said that aside from resolving the tree issue, "Dakota has the right to build."

"But
we're not here to talk about that project," he said. Instead, he and
developer Roberto Arista came armed with revamped designs based on a
plan unveiled in April that would include a four-story, 30-unit
condominium project on the site of the current VFW post's parking lot.
A new VFW would be built on the site Dakota currently owns, in what
DiGirolamo termed a "land swap."

The developer of the sites,
DiGirolamo said, is now known as Strategic Capital Group.
Cambridge-based Oaktree Development was presented as the likely builder
at the April community meeting but has since backed out.

Arista,
presented both in April and last week as one of the developers, is a
partner at Dakota, but said the project was now operating independently.

The
new plans call for "low intensity" commercial space on the ground
floor, which DiGirolamo said would not be intended for retail use,
although residents expressed doubt that the developer could mandate the
space not be used by retail businesses despite his assurances.

Residents
also expressed concern over both the added traffic to the neighborhood
and the 67 parking spaces that will be allotted to the condominiums.
DiGirolamo said an independent traffic study estimates the development
will generate 225 trips per day.

"This building has become
antiquated for their needs and would need serious refurbishing,"
DiGirolamo said. "This would be their new home."

Uncertain future for current VFW site

While
he said the VFW's neighbor, Winter Hill Bank, has expressed interest in
buying the other side of the building and expanding, nothing has been
finalized.

The plans still lack a fire lane, one of the central
areas of dispute throughout the history of the project. Nancy Iappini,
one of four residents who has sued Dakota over the project, asked why
one wasn't included in the revamped design.

"Don't talk around me on the fire lane issue," Iappini told DiGirolamo . "We've been at it for 10 years."

The
proposed VFW plans were also called into question by Iappini and others
concerned that windows from the bar area would be in view of people's
homes.

"None of this is set in stone," DiGirolamo said, adding
that the plans would be filed with the city by late October and subject
to ZBA approval.

Gewirtz said a third community meeting would be
scheduled for the last week of October. Most of the residents who spoke
expressed a desire for a structure of no more than three stories, and
that a scale model be presented to show how such a building would
affect the neighborhood.

In addition to Gewirtz, all four
aldermen-at-large attended the meeting, with Bruce Desmond asking
DiGirolamo to take the neighbors' concerns seriously.

"Like my
colleagues here we've been fighting this development for years,"
Desmond said. "I hope that Rich when you go to the developer that you
really impress upon them that they have to lower the scale of that
building."

Gewirtz is optimistic that the final plans would be acceptable.

"My
expectation is that this situation will work itself out in the best way
for the neighborhood," she said. "I think (Dakota)has taken a lesson
away from the situation they experienced, and my impression is that
there's a more collaborative approach."

A group of
citizens are taking this a step further by working to make Somerville a
Transition Town, a concept that originated in Ireland and is taking
hold around the world.

The main aim of a Transition Town,
organizers say, is to raise awareness of sustainable living and build
local resilience. Communities are encouraged to seek out methods for
reducing energy usage as well as increasing self-reliance, such as
community gardens used to grow food.

"Transition is about
building community to build resiliency and to have more support
systems," said Vanessa Rule, a Somerville resident who helped found
Transition Town Somerville. "Instead of working against something, it's
about creating a better future."

The group of about a dozen
residents has met several times since its inception last spring to
discuss initiatives, create steering groups and work on getting the
word out.

The project began after Rule, also a chairperson of
Somerville Climate Action, attended a workshop on Transition Towns last
November and decided to start the movement here. The group is working
on making Somerville a certified "Transition Town."

Co-organizer
Emily Hardt, who also attended the Transition seminar last fall, said
she was immediately interested in organizing a Somerville group.

"It
has a more positive vision and is very much about envisioning the
future we want and to work collectively to make this a reality," she
said.

Group member Patricia Wild said getting the message out about the dwindling energy without sounding "doomsday" is the challenge.

"It
is a tricky message, but also there's an amazing component of 'let's do
this together,' " Wild said. "A lot of people do think about riding
bikes, taking public transportation, growing their own food and buying
local because there is a kind of hippiness and green flavor to it. But
I don't think that as a community Somerville gets that we have to do
all those kinds of things and more because in 15 years there may not be
any more oil."

Aside from awareness events, Rule said the ultimate goal is to create what she called an "energy descent plan."

"We live in a carbon-contained world," Rule said, "so how do we
continue to grow the community while decreasing our reliance on fossil
fuels, and then develop a plan for that across the community."

"It's
not as if you walk out of the house and smell CO2 and see the threat,"
she added. "When people are dealing with the day-to-day that is
tangible, it's hard for them to see. So for us, the challenge will be
to how to communicate all this, and in ways that go beyond the bar
graph and intellectual argument, to make it more engaging."

Visit http://group.google.com/group/transitionsomerville for updates and meeting information.

Romelus, a former Marine, was awarded
$225,000 by the city in 2009, although under the settlement the city
admitted no wrongdoing. The payout was the result of an alleged beating
that Romelus received in July 2006 by Somerville Police Officers James
Slattery, Sean Sylvester and Kevin Shackelford. Romelus needed 18
staples to repair damage allegedly inflicted by police. The event began
when officers questioned Romelus about his involvement in a possible
drug deal while working at the Good Time Emporium. The officers
involved arrested Romelus and charged him with Assault and Battery on a
police officer, for allegedly striking Officer Sylvester, as well as
resisting arrest. It is unclear what, if any, disciplinary measures
were taken against the officers. The three officers involved in the
incident were listed as active members of the department according to
the city's proposed 2010 fiscal budget. Romelus, whose attorney claimed
the attack was racially motivated, was acquitted of the charges during
a jury trial in July 2007.

When asked if the arresting officers
took any special precautions given the department's past history with
the suspect Deputy Chief Paul Upton replied, "The arrest and search of
his person and the inventory of his vehicle, was conducted according to
proper police procedure and the same is required to be done for every
similarly-situated person. He was booked and released in the usual
manner."

Neither Romelus nor his attorney could be reached for
comment. He will be back in court on December 1, 2009 for a pre-trial
hearing.

It
was Red Bones' first ever Oktoberfest celebration, with a nice humble
beginning this year and plans to work with the Somerville Chamber of
Commerce to make it a city-wide event next year.

The Mad
Bavarian Brass Band played the traditional German polkas, marches, and
all around "happy music" that the kids in attendance particularly
loved. There were tents emanating the heady scents of bratwurst,
knockwurst and sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and pretzels. And of course
there was plenty of German beer to the delight of those who wanted an
excuse to drink during the day.

"I like that everyone is just
hanging around, enjoying themselves on a sunny, Sunday afternoon," said
Evan Ng of Chicago, who was in town visiting his Somerville friends.
"It's always nice to come across a fun event like this and just take a
moment to relax."

His friend, Rob Gant of Somerville, bit into
a potato pancake and nodded with approval. "I never had a bacon potato
pancake before, and my family is German."

Jeff Reese and Patti
Davis of Medford (they used to live here in Somerville) came to Davis
Square just for the event. Reese had visited Munich, Germany (where
Oktoberfest originated) a few years ago, so this day was also a bit
nostalgic. He was impressed that Red Bones-which traditionally serves
up barbecue-was able to create authentic-tasting German food.

"We
just met some people who live near us in Medford," Davis said, "Events
like this are a great way to get to know people in the area."

The
Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the October 12
marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to the Saxon-Hildburghausen
Princess Therese. The citizens of Munich were invited to join in the
festivities which were held over five days on the fields in front of
the city gates.

Today, the event entails erecting tents the size
of football fields and drawing millions of tourists. Craig Gunderson of
Jamaica Plain went to Oktoberfest in Munich a few years ago and said
that the Somerville scaled-down version was much more relaxing, akin to
visiting a fest in a small town in Austria.

Gunderson was
making his routine pilgrimage to Somerville to get bread at When Pigs
Fly Bakery when he came across the festival.

"Oktoberfest to me is about community," he said. "They love their festivals in Europe, as community is the center of life."

And
he added it's great to have events like this in the fall, as people
have to celebrate before winter comes and it gets too cold.