Few
Somerville residents realize Assembly Square's scale. The distance
between its North and South ends is the same as that between North and
South Stations. But while the downtown area has 12 T stops, Assembly
Square will have only one, so it should serve the site as well as
possible.

MBTA officials expect to begin construction next fall.
At a recent community meeting regarding the station's design, nearly
every Somerville resident who spoke asked T officials to add a second
head house.

A head house is not the little structure that one
found behind homes before the arrival of indoor plumbing. It is a
T-station entrance and exit. And building the Assembly Square station
with only one head house, as is now planned, can have a significantly
negative impact on East Somerville and Ten Hills residents, on
Somerville drivers, and on breathers.

The reasons begin with the
333,000+ autos that daily travel on the five roads surrounding Assembly
Square. Most Somerville drivers are acquainted with the congestion that
daily plagues Route 28 in particular for long periods.

Assembly
Square's planned developments will greatly increase traffic, but not by
nearly as much as the 100,000 auto trips that were forecast by the
developers' traffic engineers before the settlement agreement
negotiated between the Mystic View Task, Federal Realty Investment
Trust, and IKEA.

Working together, the parties found creative
ways to halve the number of required trips. By comparison 50,000 trips
per day was the increase in I-93 capacity created by the $15-billion
Big Dig.

An essential element in this plan was finding every
means possible to encourage Orange Line use. The developers pledged $15
million to build the station, and Congressman Capuano obtained a $25
million Department of Transportation commitment.

At the outset
of settlement discussions, IKEA negotiators promised that at Assembly
Square they would create a whole new model for IKEAs in urban areas.
Ultimately, they proposed, and the Planning Board approved, the same
old blue box. Including its parking structure, it will be six times the
size of the Home Depot. IKEA officials conservatively forecast that
their Somerville store will generate 6,180 new car trips on weekdays
and 10,510 on Saturdays.

Readers will be familiar with the
legendary traffic backups created by the Stoughton IKEA. The distance
between Route 24 and the Stoughton IKEA is 2 miles on a four-lane road,
while that between Somerville's I-93 Lombardi-Street exit and the IKEA
site will 1050 feet on a two-lane road. And IKEA projects that half its
vehicle trips will come from the North on I-93.

Many of IKEA's
Boston-area customers will be students and others beginning new
households, and many of those could come on the Orange Line. That's
where the second head house comes in.

To reach IKEA from the
proposed single head house, customers would have to walk a circuitous
quarter mile, climb or escalate up and down the equivalent of six
stories, and then return with their purchases. This will seriously
discourage those who would otherwise come by train. An additional head
house at the station's Southern end would allow for a level walkway
between the top of the T escalator and the IKEA, substantially
increasing train users and reducing car trips.

The
single-head-house station's price tag has now grown by almost $10
million. The Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization has agreed to
cover this increase by using some of its regional highway funds.

So
where would the money for a second head house come from? The obvious
answer for a good chunk of it is IKEA. The company is benefiting
greatly from $65 million in road improvements in front of its site,
financed with state and federal transportation funds.

IKEA has
made large contributions to local governments elsewhere to mitigate its
traffic impacts. It gave $10 million for a bike-friendly highway
project in College Park, Maryland, for example.

It's hard to
imagine that the world's largest furniture company's managers could
claim that they can't afford it, although IKEA's erstwhile CEO said
that worldwide sales had declined for the first time in the company's
history. He thinks that consumers' spending is shifting toward
electronics products.

Local activist Wig Zamore has an idea for
IKEA. It could recruit a high-volume computer/electronics store to
share its property. That store would have more frequent visitors, from
a smaller trade area. IKEA would have less-frequent visitors, but from
a larger trade area. Together, they would boost each other's sales. And
with a portion of this increase, plus rent from the electronics store,
IKEA could help pay for a second head house.

The Assembly
Square T station could better serve Somerville with two more important
improvements. Draw 7 park is a hidden jewel on the Mystic River. An
exit from the T station directly into the park would make it less
hidden and more accessible.

Finally, as now designed the station
will be visible from only a tiny portion of the site. It would be best
to increase visibility for both head houses by putting them at the ends
of Foley Street and IKEA Way.

With these changes, the T station would be a much better asset for Somerville and for visitors to Assembly Square.

Fellow Somerville High School alumni, Marshall M. Sloane, who is the Chairman and Founder of Century Bank, and Somerville High School Headmaster, Anthony Ciccariello, were among those who gathered at Century Bank Headquarters in Medford for the presentation of the checks earlier today.

Filipe Zamborlini of the Student Immigrant Movement spearheaded the presentation. Zamborlini, an immigrant from Brazil himself, has a very pertinent experience with the difficulties of being an undocumented student. He referred to this problem as "having a block on your life…there is nothing you can do to step over it." He, and the entire crowd of around twenty-five in attendance Monday night were in agreement that this Act is imperative in giving non-citizen students the capabilities to succeed.

The DREAM Act is not the first of its kind. According to Zamborlini, the act has gone through subtle changes, including to its label. It has been attempted four times, but to no avail as of yet. The act intends to repeal a law enacted in July of 1998 that inhibited any illegal alien to attain any post-secondary school benefits from the state, as well as to legalize about 65,000 students nationally within the first year. This act would permit the individual states to regulate their own immigration policies instead of the Federal Government having the only say.

To be eligible for this, the person would have to be enrolled in a college, have lived in the United States for at least five years before turning sixteen years of age, in good moral standing, and has never been under deportation order. After following the proposed procedures, eligible persons would then be informed by the Secretary of Homeland Security that they would get accepted into the program. If rejected, the person could petition for a second chance.

In basic terms, the act would give eligible students a temporary residency. This would be valid for six years, and after the completion of either two years of military service, acquisition of a bachelor degree or higher, or at least two years of post-secondary completion, the student would then be able to apply for permanent residency. Although it hasn't been discussed of yet, the six years enacted under the DREAM Act could count toward the current five years of United States residency that is required to apply for citizenship.

The Education Act of 1965 came up in the conversation, being very appropriate to this current movement. Although there is almost no chance of this Act passing this year, the advocates of it hope for it to be voted into law within the next year. The DREAM Act could possibly be voted together with a larger bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, but that is not a certainty quite yet either. Congress is still discussing measures to fix immigration policies.

Regina Bertaholdo of Somerville's Public School District brought up the fact that for the most part, all of the students who would benefit from this are most likely bi-lingual, an imperative factor in the ever-expanding global economy. According to Zambolini, if this act were to be passed into law, it would "aid in the unification of families, promote a desire to stay in the United States and build a successful life, allow students to come out of their shadows, and act as a major step for the CIR. It would prove that immigration reform is needed and worth while."

In response to the question "what can we do to further this all," Zambolini stated that the next steps would be to push this Act into law. All of the representatives from Massachusetts are currently co-sponsors of the Act, so now it is important to convince the representatives of nearby New England states to push the bill as well.

This is the summer of CCP meetings: the
CCP has been hosting meetings in the neighborhood of each proposed
Green Line Extension Project stop within Somerville. The Gilman Square
event was the sixth out of seven of such meetings.

As the
meeting began, I had an uneasy feeling that there were too many
community organizers and too few community members. Since CCP is a
collaboration between Groundwork Somerville, STEP (Somerville
Transportation Equity Partnership), Somerville Community Health Agenda,
and Somerville Community Corporation, there were a healthy dose of
representatives from these organizations. Members of Teen Empowerment,
as well as a contingent from Tufts University were also present.

But
maybe some of these community organization representatives are also
residents, I thought, optimistically. It was certainly true that the
members of Teen Empowerment had roots in the neighborhood…

Before
I could finish this train of thought, community residents began
trickling in. I breathed a sigh of relief. A community meeting without
community members would be a pretty dismal story to cover. As the
meeting started, there were about 15 or so neighborhood residents,
appearing to represent a diverse set of economic and ethnic
backgrounds.

Ellin Reisner from STEP and Janine Lotti from
Groundwork Somerville took turns leading the meeting, which consisted
of helping us focus our vision for the Gilman Square area in ten years,
when the proposed Gilman Square stop should be fully operational and
its effects felt throughout the community.

Early into the
meeting, I was surprised that Reisner asked each of us to participate
in a vision-quest. I was freaked out as she asked us to close our eyes
and imagine walking through the neighborhood ten years from now, on a
nice sunny day. A few of us did not close our eyes upon the first
request, and she had to politely ask us again. She continued by asking
us what we saw, smelled, and heard as we walked through the future
Gilman Square neighborhood.

Further research into The
Somerville News Archives revealed that this vision-quest was the
brainchild of Abi Vladeck, a summer intern at SCC, through Tuft's Tisch
College. In the end, I'm not sure if Abi's approach was any more
effective than simply asking us how we envisioned the neighborhood in
ten years. To be fair, the exercise did spark discussion and allow us
to engage in productive dialogue.

Residents were happy to
discuss their hopes and fears about the implementation of the proposed
stop: keeping businesses local, ensuring that low and moderate income
residents wouldn't be shoved out by insidious rent increases,
maintaining the local character, improving car traffic and pedestrian
conditions, ensuring planning for green spaces, public safety, and
reserving new jobs for the community were the main subjects brought up
during our conversation.

Both Reisner and Lotti did an
excellent job of distilling our organic discussions into focused themes
which they listed on a large paperboard for everyone to internalize.
Reisner explained that this initial series of CCP meetings was meant to
spark discussion and focus our vision, and that subsequent meetings
will focus more on turning these visions into concrete proposals that
will be presented to the state.

When asked why CCP had decided
not to include either the state or the city of Somerville in these
discussions, Reisner indicated that this community process was meant to
run in parallel with government initiatives, and that the CCP would be
ready to share its proposals with the government once they felt that
they were ready to adequately and articulately represent the concerns
and desires of the community.

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

The
Somerville Police Department will be hosting their 1st Golf Tournament,
hopefully the first of many, on Friday, September 25th at the Hillview
Country Club in North Reading. Money raised will benefit the
Massachusetts C.O.P.S. kids program. For more information, email
Detective Mario Oliveira, Chairman of the Golf Committee at
moliveira@police.somerville.ma.us or send in a $135.00 per player fee
or a $100.00 Sponsorship donation to: Somerville Police Detectives c/o
Mario Oliveira, Somerville Police Department, 220 Washington Street,
Somerville MA 02143.

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

Last weeks Boston
Harbor cruise for Mayor Joe was pretty nice night out there on the calm
waters – enjoying the company of a few hundred Somerville residents.

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

While
some were on the cruise, others from Somerville were jam-packed at the
Paul McCartney concert. Host Bob Publicover, along with the Norton's,
attended and had great seats on the field in front of the stage. Great
concert and great company. Bob recently had some tests done and it
appears he will be undergoing some operations very soon; we of course
wish him well and keep you posted.

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

Some
might remember Ricky Hart of the Hart Family (10 brothers and sisters),
well Ricky and his wife Jamie just had their third child delivered –
this time it's a girl. Congratulations to Dick and Mary Hart – the
newborn's grandparents.

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

Happy Birthday to
Kaitlin Norton, daughter of our own James Norton, who will be attending
Somerville High this year, all the way from England – she is 15 years
old. Also Happy Birthday to Lisa Marie Tauro, the daughter of our own
Bill Tauro – Lisa Marie turns 20, and we hear they might be planning a
huge party for her. Congratulations to both.

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

Don't
forget the Somerville Lions "evening at Wonderland Park" on Thursday,
August 20th – only $35.00 pp, including a hot and cold buffet in the
clubhouse. The last night for greyhound racing here in Massachusetts.
Contact Billy Tauro, president at 617-290-2016 or mail checks to Gene
Brune, 25 Lowden Avenue, Somerville MA 02144 by the 17th of August.

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

Last
week we asked if anyone recognized the literature that candidate Luis
Morales for Alderman at Large put out – we got several persons telling
us that it looks a lot like former 3 time loser and PDS Presidente M.
Martinez's literature – "For one Somerville." You know how we predicted
the endorsements for the 3 ward races ahead of time, well we again
predict they will meet in the small room at the VNA and vote to endorse
candidate Morales.

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

Best wishes to Barry
Parsons of East Somerville, who has been in and out of the hospital,
he's not doing to well. His lovely wife Emily is holding down the fort
at home and well wishes to her and Barry are very much appreciated.
Barry is a nice guy and has lived here in Somerville and been active in
a lot of organizations up until lately.

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

Our
old friend and popular Somerville Barber Tony Alibrandi just celebrated
20 years having his namesake baseball team, the Alibrandis, ball here
at Trum field last week. Tony and his wife Donna are probably the most
generous people here in Somerville; they constantly give support to his
team and other organizations here. We wish him another 20 years.

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

There
is still a chance to contribute to the East Somerville Cookbook – the
deadline has been extended for online recipe submissions until this
Friday, August 14th – don't miss out, and share your recipe. Go to
http://www.eastsomervillemainstreets.org for more details.

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

Project
MUM, an open-air dance party under McGrath Highway, is scheduled for
Saturday, Aug 29th. This year's event is an intergalactic space odyssey
featuring four hours of music, video mashups, and dance-offs. You won't
have to travel to a galaxy far, far away to find the best Saturday
night dance scene; this gritty urban space odyssey is only minutes away
from Union Square. Participants are encouraged to come in their best
space attire! Project MUM as an ArtsUnion Event presented by The
Somerville Arts Council and ARTSomerville. Go to
http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org for more details.

We are talking about that
nameless little group that still, to this day, continues to spew the
disgusting diatribe about how corrupt this city is, how everything is
held in a tight power base, how there are always back-room deals and
white envelopes flying through the air with the greatest of ease. Every
now and again, someone will find a little something something to
complain about when it comes to a certain Dept. Head or elected
official, and invariably then a comment is made about another associate
or colleague from 30 or 40 years ago, and somehow this is relevant to
today.

It's silly, really – because the ultimate irony is that
every decade or so, when they seem just at the point of getting some
real traction, they fall apart and disappear back into the shadows.
Some learn to stay away from the spotlight and not hold the torch for
insanity when they finally get the axe, and others just continue to
bang the gong. So sad, really.

Getting back to the irony that
never gets the traction – is that they start out with the greatest of
intentions – fighting the good fight against the establishment, putting
democracy at work, bringing important issues into discussion – but
invariably, they fall victim to the very things they espoused to be
against in the first place. They claim there is no transparency, but
they want to hold secret meetings. They claim there is rampant
government corruption, but there hasn't been any in almost 30 years.
They claim that not enough is being done, but then don't want to pay
for it, under any conditions, especially when it comes to fees and
fines. They claim a great injustice has been done, instead of learning
the difference between a public meeting and a public hearing.

The
greatest folly that usually starts the beginning of the end for the
latest cycle/iteration of political neophytes is when they start to
believe they represent something bigger than themselves. That they
alone can make someone go away who has been here their whole lives,
that they can effect city-wide change with a single letter to the
editor or guest commentary, that they can run someone out of business
with an audibly laughable weblog, even so far as to think that they can
rid the city of the "old school" politician by putting someone in the
race against them for office – and then act shocked and indignant when
it happens right back at them.

Change is good, challenge is good, questioning is good, transparency is good. Arrogance and ignorance mixed with them, is bad.

Mark Alston-Follansbee, Executive
Director of the Somerville Homeless Coalition, greeted attendees of the
event and happily mingled with guests throughout the evening. "Redbones
is the epitome of a community partner," Alston-Follansbee said, "Their
charity and participation in the community is incredibly important."
The Somerville Homeless Coalition receives approximately 85 percent of
their funding from Federal and State agencies, but they are responsible
to raise the remaining 15 percent. The Annual Pig Pickin' is one of the
biggest events to help in their fundraising. Over the last eight years,
the SHC has developed 80 permanent housing units and has placed 125
individuals and families in permanent housing. They are part of a
coalition between 6 Somerville agencies, including the Somerville
Community Corporation and the Community Action Agency of Somerville to
utilize money from the Federal Stimulus package for Homelessness
Prevention.

According to Mr. Lambert, the City of
Somerville's Infrastructure dates back to the turn of the 20th century,
making it well past due for some strategic improvements. Somerville
Avenue is an example of an area that was assessed and fixed through
this style of improvements. Its drainage system was not only
undersized, but also completely outdated because of its construction in
the late 1800's. Factor in the low part of city in which it lies, and
thus the problem arose, causing major flooding. This problem was solved
in 2008 by the Somerville Avenue reconstruction project, which replaced
the old drainage system with a new 66' storm drainage system including
culvert.

The Inner Belt District is currently a faulty area in
terms of flooding. According to Mr. Craig and Mr. Lambert, the MBTA's
rail infrastructure has blocked drainage into Miller's River. This was
apparently a foreseen issue back when the construction was beginning;
the MBTA promised to implement a system and treatment facility to
prevent any problems. The now proposed solution is to seek a commitment
from the state to make necessary improvements that are estimated to
reach up to $30 million.

This drainage issue brings multiple
problems with it, flooding being the obvious and immediate one. One of
the others is the health of the rivers and bodies of water around
problem areas. The current 'combined sewage' system that carries
sanitary and domestic wastewater, industrial wastewater and storm water
drains into the river in the event of wet weather. This jeopardizes the
cleanliness of the water, polluting it with all forms of waste.

Other
infrastructure issues that were addressed include the city's water
usage, and the decline of 'Green Factors.' The city plans to encourage
residents to cut down on their water usage, as well as assess ways of
making the city greener on the whole. One of the actions taken during
this 'Trend Phase' was to take an inventory of the trees in
Somerville's boundaries. The inventory showed a little more than 11,000
trees, 75% of which are in good condition, and valued at just under $16
million overall. Somerville is currently the most 'concreted' city per
square mile in Massachusetts, a statistic that the Office of Strategic
Planning and Community Development intends to eradicate.

In
respect to transportation in Somerville, Mr. Craig and Mr. Lambert
found many trends on aspects like vehicular traffic, the commute to
work, buses and rail services, bicyclists and more. Oddly enough, in
2000 Somerville commuters used public transit for close to one third of
all commuting trips, trailing only Boston and Brookline in rider ship.
This statistic could be seen as unlikely, considering that there is
only one rail service stop (Davis Square – Red Line) and fairly shoddy
bus service. Still, this shows the opportunity to cut down on single
drivers with the implementation of more public transit abilities.

One
startling statistic found is that Middlesex County has seen an increase
of about 7 million vehicles between 1993 and 2001. Also, it was found
that there are fewer miles of roadway per registered vehicle length, as
well as more registered vehicles per square mile of land in Somerville
than any of the surrounding areas. This causes problems in parking, and
in transit.

Those in attendance at this meeting addressed the
fact that driving is made entirely more convenient than mass transit.
This, of course, leads to residents resorting to driving, rather than
using the greener form of transportation. Projects like the Green Line
Extension, and the new Orange Line station construction at Assembly
Square will be imperative to making the city a greener and more
efficient space in respect to commuting.

The goal of these info
sessions, according to Mr. Craig, is to act as a primary phase that
will provide a fact-based foundation for the beginnings of projects to
improve the City of Somerville. The next phase will be one of
'Visioning,' where the Office of Strategic Planning and Community
Development will turn to big scale community forums that will be
composed of both the public and an elected committee. The hope is to
produce and solidify plans and objectives by mid next year, and present
them to the Board of Aldermen by early 2011.

For any more
information on this meeting, as well as the many more to come, visit
the City of Somerville's website or call 311. The hope of these info
sessions is to raise public interest, and get the community involved in
the improvement projects. The more public voice and opinion present,
the better the chances are for an improved Somerville.

Well
when this edition comes out, I will be hosting my fifth or sixth (I
can't remember) Mayor's Annual Senior Picnic. It's been 29 years since
former Mayor Brune started the great tradition. I will have the
pleasure of working with the gregarious and talented George Landers
,who is the city's official DJ, and a very good one at that. I love
seeing the sea of seniors as I look out from the stage. I have to say
that it is one of my favorite days of the year. I have made a lot of
friends at the picnic over the years. I bump into these folks at
Johnnies, in Davis Square, even at K-Mart. They are a wonderful
audience. This year I will be presenting the Sunsetters who June Knight
and I had the pleasure of directing this year. I usually put together a
few parody songs for the crowd.

I must now take a detour to
touch a serious reality for a moment. In a one minute period I saw a
grown woman up Powderhouse park who, sadly, could not read. Although
she was smartly dressed in what looked like GAP pants, Rockport shoes
and a cute little up swept hairdo, she lacked one of life's simplest
functions. This was evident to me as she was allowing her huge mixed
breed dog prance freely around the park. Now you know and I know that
there are signs posted that say "all dogs must be on a leash," yet this
woman ignored that sign. Was she illiterate or just irresponsible and
blatantly breaking a law? Man that burns me up. Of course I had to yell
out, "you know there's a leash law!" And a moment later, a car
screeched as a pedestrian was in the cross walk. See, the pedestrian
did not wait to check if there were any cars coming, and she also did
not make sure that the driver in fact saw her. You cannot just dart out
into a crosswalk assuming the cars will automatically stop. You have to
give the driver a chance to acknowledge that there is a person
crossing. She was almost hit. On Sunday a guy in an older Lincoln Town
Car came inches from broad-siding my truck with my son in the passenger
seat. This man never saw me. He was pulling out of the Clarendon Towers
and damn near killed us. Then some nut started beeping like a mad man
at me because I stopped at the intersection of Highland and Willow – he
wanted to proceed down Highland to Davis, and I wanted to let the 3
boys continue walking across the street… who were already IN THE
CROSSWALK! I know it's summer but, we all need to simmer down.

Back
to Big Wednesday. At 7 pm in the evening, 14 youngsters will take the
stage at Somerville High School Auditorium to sing 8 new songs about
Somerville. The show is called "Back in the 'Ville" and it is presented
by Project STAR – Summer Theatre Arts and Recreation. It was a free 6
week summer workshop that borrowed it's name from the historic Title 1
program of days gone by. We have a 3 piece band and a lot of energy.
It's a short show, but we will have a raffle and some former Project
STAR members may actually take the stage to share some memories. Next
year we hope to expand our enrollment. We did this on a very small
budget this year. We started out small and made our own little
backgrounds, but next year we hope to have more parent and community
involvement and a bigger group. Actually, our student-painted
backgrounds are dwarfed by the enormity of the high school stage, but,
hey…it's our first shot! I think we did pretty good for an upstart
group. What we lack in sets, we make up for in energy. Sophia Carafotes
was my able-bodied assistant, and she worked her tail off. Also the
counselors from the Recreation Commission helped enormously. The
Communications Department and the Mayor's Office did their usual huge
part in supplying support. The Sunsetters also enter our home stretch.
You can catch the schedule on Somerville Cable or on the city web site.
The show is basically about a guy who returns to Somerville after over
30 years, expecting that things stayed the same. You will share
memories of The Waldorf, The Woodbridge Inn, Frascatis, Speedy's Pizza,
The Venice Café, The Blarney Stone, and many more.

So there's
two big events on this "Big Wednesday." The Senior Picnic and "Back in
the 'Ville." We hope this show will evolve into a vital thriving summer
theatre program, giving many kids the chance to take the stage and
strut their stuff. We have some exciting school year things going also
that I will share with you later.

Enjoy the rest of your summer
and stay cool, both physically and mentally. When I used to get all
crazy and started acting impulsively and like a hot-head, my dad would
say…"slow Down." So let's take some advice from Fred. Slow down, and
enjoy the Senior Picnic, "Back in the 'Ville," and the rest of summer
2009. You can email Jimmy direct at jimmydel@rcn.com.