Dear Mayor Curtatone, Alderman Gewirtz, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals:

We
lend our voices to the unanimous opposition to the proposed Dakota
Partners (formerly Emerald) 14-unit building project at 343-349 Summer
Street. We ask that the Zoning Board of Appeals DENY the request for a
hardship extension of the 2002 special permit for 343-349 Summer Street
(scheduled for discussion at the ZBA meeting on February 4).

We have read the request for a hardship extension of the special permit. The petition is entirely without merit.

The
petition focuses on the issue of relocating of a public shade tree in
the path of one of multiple fire lane access routes proposed over the
past 7 years. The second paragraph states that the ZBA implicitly
acknowledged the necessity to relocate said tree during the 2002 review
for the special permit. One of the ZBA's conditional items on the
original special permit is that the fire lane access issues be resolved
(Condition #7 on SPSR #2002-23).

Dakota Partners followed the
legal process for requesting removal of a public shade tree for the
fire lane proposed across the Dilboy Post property. The neighborhood
opposition to the tree removal and the proposed 14-unit building is
unanimous (see petition filed by Tom Bok of 335 Summer St, which was
signed by over 100 Somerville residents and over 60 neighboring
residents). Dakota Partners received full due process in their request
for removal of the tree and were denied. The denial of the tree
relocation request means that this proposed fire lane access is
impossible. Hence, condition #7 of the special permit is still not met.

Dakota
Partners mentions exploration of an alternate fire lane access through
Dilboy Post and Winter Hill Bank, which was not accepted by Winter Hill
Bank. Dakota Partners has also approached the owner of an adjacent
residential building on Hawthorne Street about an fire lane through his
property.

In 2002, Dakota Partners proposed a 14-unit building
without fire lane access on their own property. Over the past 7 years,
they have explored multiple fire lane options via easements on adjacent
properties without any success. The bottom line is that condition #7
cannot be met with the proposed 14-unit building design and the
existing adjacent properties.

Dakota Partners has had more
than sufficient time to explore and try to resolve fire lane access to
their proposed building. There is no exceptional hardship stated in
their application. The expiration of a special permit is designed
precisely for cases like this one: the original building concept is
flawed and the conditions placed upon it by the ZBA cannot be met.

The
petition also mentions other items that are irrelevant. Dakota Partners
has already received extensions related to the suit filed by Dr. Butt.
Alderman Gewirtz has properly represented the wishes of the residents
in her ward in her opposition to removal of the public shade tree.
Alderman Gewirtz is under no obligation to respond the latest building
plans (with the obstructed fire lane) until condition #7 has been met.

Dakota
Partners has simply proposed a building that does not fit on their
property. The 14-unit building is much larger than the surrounding
residential buildings as recognized by the ZBA in their rezoning of the
lot to Residential A. Dakota Partners has not responded to any of the
many requests by the neighbors to adjust their original design to be a
better fit with the neighborhood. Dakota Partners has a history of
poorly designed and built projects and flagrant non-payment of taxes
and deserves no special consideration by the City of Somerville. This
particular proposal for a 14-unit building has run its due course; it
is time to let the special permit expire and for Dakota Partners to
propose a building that fits on their property.

Sincerely,

Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay, Sujoy Mukhopadhyay

Also 300 employees will be laid off and the addiction and
pediatric units at Somerville Hospital will be closing as well. Ninety
beds will be moved from Somerville to the Cambridge Hospital.

Doug
Bailey, CHA Spokesman said,"Some of these decisions are painful and we
know it's a tough time for many people. From our perspective we've been
able to preserve a lot more than we've had to cut."

Cathy Levin
of M-Power, a consumer run advocacy group for the mentally ill is
worried about the effects the budget cuts are going to have on the
mentally ill segment of the community. Cuts also include a large amount
of beds in the mental health wards of Whidden Hospital in Everett.

"If
you don't have community services, there's a good chance the person in
a psychiatric crisis is going to go through the ER. Sixty percent of
them (that go through the ER) are sent to a mental hospital. This slows
things down in the ER looking for a mental health bed for them, and
this slows it down for everybody in the emergency room. So my deepest
concerns are the beds being cut in Whidden," she said.

Levin
continued, "The mental health beds get cut because they aren't money
makers. Mental health beds are not profitable. In a sense you're
robbing Peter to pay Paul, because if the people can't get help in
outside resources, they come faster to the ER."

Mr. Bailey was
very aware of the suffering involved. "It's really difficult to convey
how much painstaking research and deep thought goes into these
decisions. We're keeping the ER open and the Cambridge Hospital is less
than a mile away."

Levin continued , "The Cambridge-Somerville
Social Club was just cut. It was a fantastic day program for people who
are too disabled to work. There were a lot of interesting people.
Artists and writers and some of the intellectual community who have
college degrees but at some point in their lives just lost it. As these
programs are cut, it's just going to cause homelessness. Where are
people supposed to go and what are they supposed to do?!"

Whether the pain is moderate or severe depends on what
happens at the state level for the time being. Regardless of whether
the Governor "generously" spared Chapter 70 money (school aid), the
reality is that in a city like Somerville, where the single largest
section of the total municipal budget goes directly to the school
department, the pain of financial cutbacks needs to be shared across
the board in an equitable fashion. That's only right.

This
economic downturn is affecting so many different areas all at once, to
the point where it's next to impossible to determine if any one
financial segment of public or private industry will be spared. If that
sounds gloomy and doomy, that's because it is meant to be exactly that.

The
property owners and business owners in the city are already at the
breaking point, carrying the brunt of the responsibility for city tax
revenue. And when you are waved at from Beacon Hill and given the
"you're on your own" wink, then this Mayor is going to need certain
tools at his disposal to avoid cutting back on public safety and
educational services.

Nobody wants to see police, firefighters
or school teachers laid off. We as a community do so much with very
little as it is, and it will take a lot of creativity to get through
this downturn locally.

The tools that are designed to spread out
the pain so that it doesn't hurt one particular group more than others
will certainly be unpopular for the Mayor and the rest of the elected
officials. It will take raising fees and costs for services, it will
take a meals tax add-on, it will probably take more parking tickets –
but in the end, it is essentially what is needed to ensure an equitable
distribution of fiscal restraint.

It isn't even as simple as
saying "fiscal restraint" actually. That would imply that there is
money to spend, and based on the numbers being talked about, the money
just isn't there. So yes, along with hikes in fees and fines, there
will be cutbacks on hiring personnel, a slow down in operational
spending for the different city departments (including police, fire and
schools) and some serious measures taken to reduce ongoing costs such
as retirement, medical, etc.

Will Davis Square look like the
wasteland it was in the middle to late 70's again? Probably not. We are
hurting here, but it's much worse elsewhere. Someone who just lost
their job or their house won't agree with that statement, but overall,
as a community, it is true – we don't have dozens of homes being
foreclosed on every week, we don't have entire city blocks of empty
storefronts, we don't have hundreds of people begging for food and
money at the T station.

The price of the paper back
then was 15 cents and James F. Brennan was the Mayor. One of the cover
stories was "Trum Recaptures Track Crown," after an absence of five
years. Richie Salvo, Dean McKiel and Arthur Koropolous were among the
star athletes who competed with the other parks throughout the city.

Parke
Snow was having its August "White Sale" – you could get a Cannon bath
towel for $1.87 and facecloths – 2 for 87 cents. Cotton bedspreads were
$4.99, while a woven bedspread set you back a whopping $5.99. My cousin
Carol reminded me that there was also a cobbler (shoe repair guy)
downstairs in Parke Snow. They had booths where you could wait while
you got re-soled or heeled. I remember having taps on your shoes made
you very cool, and you could get them there. And speaking of shoes, the
Giant Shoe Outlet at 412 Highland Ave was having a pre-school sale.
Girls "popular T-strap styles" in smooth mock leather, black or brown,
in sizes 8 ¬Ω to 3 cost $1.39. Nurses white oxfords were $3.33. You
could buy a pair of men's work boots for $4.97. Now that's what I call
a sale. Put on those new shoes and head over to Paramount Beverage
Company at 225 Elm Street and pick up a case of beer for $2.99. Joseph
Goodell, registered pharmacist, was featured in "Pharmacy Footnotes." –
his drug store was at 852 Broadway, right in Powder House Square.

Rigazio
Brothers car dealership on Beacon St. could put you into a brand new
1969 Rambler for $1899. Other deals on the lot included a 1968 Javelin
for $2495 (remember the commercial where the carload of girls would
pull up and say " Hey Javelin"?) or a nice little (with engine in the
rear) used 1962 Corvair for 95 bucks.

Arrow Pontiac had some
good deals too. A '66 Mustang for $1495, a 1968 Firebird stick shift
for $2100, and a '61 Ford T-Bird for $495. Don't you wish you could go
back in time!

Vinny Piro announced that he would not seek
re-election as Alderman for Ward 5 so he could concentrate fully on his
duties as State Representative.

A look at the classifieds was
very entertaining. The first thing I noticed was that there were no
area codes back then. Check this ad out: "Somerville, College Ave,
Davis Square, 4 room apartment. Heat, hot water and parking included,
$160 a month." And that was one of the expensive ones. How about this
gem: "Cambridge, 4 rooms $95 a month." Furnished rooms were in the
vicinity of $20 a week. If you were going to buy a house, JJ Nissenbaum
had this one up for sale: "Somerville West, two family 6 and 6 (rooms),
Philadelphia style, 2 car garage, $22,500." Can you believe it? If you
were looking for a job and you were a registered nurse, you could pull
down $135 to $175 a week at Somerville Hospital.

Johnnie's
Foodmaster, boasting "5 stores to serve you," had some pretty sweet
deals. 5 ears for 25 cents, 3 lbs of peaches for 39 cents, 2-6 packs of
tuna for 69 cents. You could pick up some nice New York style pastrami
for a mere 99 cents a pound. Where's the beef? Hows' about some nice
Boneless London Broil for 98 cents a pound? Can't beat that with a
stick!

Colonial semi-boneless hams were on sale for 85 cents a
pound. There was a coupon for 2 rolls of Bounty Paper Towels for 15
cents. I'd be the quicker picker upper if I could pick them up for that
price today.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little trip through
the pages of Somerville history. If you are like me you are wishing for
those days just for the deals. But they say that it's basically the
same because of salaries and the economy and all that stuff. I couldn't
believe that so many of the old ads looked so familiar. Remember
Johnnie's Foodmaster's mascot? It was the little grocer with the
glasses, mustache, apron and professor's mortarboard with the tassels.

Incidentally,
there is an updated version of Project Star that just may be ready,
this coming summer – stay tuned! Now only if we could bring back some
of those old prices and great deals, along with our youth, and our
patience, and our fighting weight, and…

Speaking
at the Jan. 29 Board of Aldermen Committee on Health and Public Safety,
Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher said none of the equipment has suffered
malfunctions like the brake failure that killed Boston firefighter Lt.
Kevin Kelley Jan. 10.

"Any complaint of a brake issue, the mechanic is sent to the station – they never move the apparatus," Kelleher said.

Kelleher
said the department relies on one mechanic with emergency vehicle
certification to service all of its 14 firefighting apparatus and 15
vehicles, a situation he said was not ideal.

"Our maintenance
program, to be perfectly honest with you, is not where I'd like to see
it," he said. "Our mechanic is straight-out all the time, doing
everything."

A partnership with the Cambridge Fire Department
enables their maintenance shop to service Somerville equipment when the
mechanic is off duty.

While the department added four hybrid
Toyota Priuses to its lineup in 2007 to replace the fleet of aging
Crown Victoria sedans, Kelleher said those still in use pose the most
serious safety problems.

"Some of those vehicles are over ten years old," he said. "(The mechanic) tries to keep them together as best he can."

Asked
if the brakes have failed on a call, Kelleher said it has never
occurred, adding the most recent incident in Boston points to problems
unique to that department. "Some of (those incidents) lead you to

believe
that stuff doesn't get reported to the maintenance shop in a timely
manner," he said. "We don't leave anything to chance."

"The time is always right to do the right thing."

–Martin Luther King Jr.

I
believe that citizenship is not a passive status, but an active
process. From Washington D.C. to Somerville, MA, the pathetic state of
our dreary, divisive, ineffectual and money-driven politics results in
large part from reduced citizen participation.

When citizens do
not actively engage the world, they do not understand it. They become
more vulnerable to ideology and to the simple-minded nonsense pushed by
spin doctors whose goal is to manage impressions rather than convey
truths.

The institutions that nurtured communities – extended
families, neighborhoods, churches, service organizations, unions,
precinct organizations, political clubs, fraternal organizations, and
so on – were also venues in which people discussed current events,
challenged each other's perceptions and formed opinions. As these
institutions have all disintegrated, citizens have become more
isolated. They have become more susceptible to the pabulum broadcast on
television and the hateful and cartoonish views transmitted through
talk radio.

Coming together to make a difference in their
communities is one of the few ways in which citizens now learn
political and economic reality, one of the few contexts in which they
listen to each other and test their assumptions. You can bet that
Somerville citizens who organized to change real estate developments at
Lincoln Park, Craigie Street, Park Street, Max Pack, Magoun Square,
Assembly Square, Union Square and the Inner Belt have a much better
understanding of how Somerville's politics work than do citizens who
remained uninvolved.

Another outcome of institutional
disintegration is that schools are increasingly burdened with functions
that family and community once performed. Among these are moral and
civic education. As with most subjects, civics and American history are
largely forgotten once the tests have been taken and the grades
awarded. There is little lived experience to attach these subjects to
in students' minds.

A partial solution is service learning. It
is based on what the ancient Greeks called "praxis," and advocated by
such educators as David Kolb and Paolo Freire. Students learn concepts
in their classes and learn from practicing the concepts in their
communities. The concepts guide and inform the practice; the practice
illuminates and tests the concepts.

Service learning can
involve assisting nonprofit agencies to improve people's lives. Or
older students tutoring younger students in such basic skills as
reading. Or students participating directly in political organizing.

Lisa
Grabelsky teaches at the Winter Hill Community School. Last fall she
required her students to spend three hours working in the offices of
the presidential candidate of their choice. Students initially
resisted, but once into it, they were enthusiastic. They became more
engaged in their studies. Their sense of self worth increased.

This
suggests some benefits that go beyond learning a subject. Students who
do service learning have lower dropout rates and more positive
attitudes toward school. They are better prepared for the work world.

By
working with each other and with people outside school, they form bonds
and begin to reweave the ties of community. They discover their own
capabilities by making a tangible difference in something that matters.
They often bring their parents into the life of the community.

On
January 22nd, three Teach-for-America veterans with roots in Somerville
led a community meeting to discuss possibilities for service learning
in Somerville. After a terrific presentation, attendees engaged in
lively and wide-ranging discussion.

Many thought that service
learning should be a requirement. Former aldermanic candidate Fred
Berman said that we think math or reading is important enough to make
it a requirement. If we believe that citizenship and community service
are important, we should require them as well. He suggested that
younger kids look up to older kids, and older kids can set an example
of service.

Others were more cautionary. They said that
requiring service learning puts an additional burden on
already-burdened teachers. Its quality can vary significantly based on
the teacher's enthusiasm. School Committee member Mark Niedergang
expressed ambivalence about requiring it.

Rob Hollister, Dean
of Tufts University's Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service,
suggested an alternative to requirements: create service learning
opportunities that are compelling. He added that students who have done
service learning enhance the colleges that they attend and enrich the
quality of their education. He believes that colleges can support
service learning in their local communities.

Regarding when to
begin service learning, School Committee member Mary Jo Rossetti
thought that the younger that it begins, the more effective it will be.
I agree. It's possible to find something meaningful for kids to do in
almost every grade level. Rossetti and Niedergang believe that we
should research the best practices across the U.S. and then improve on
them.

Local activist Alex Pirie anticipated that
service-learning might suffer from a disparity in students' income
levels, where the more advantaged are more able to participate. He
thinks that there are solutions, however. Others said that students
with little to do at home have become enthusiastic participants.

An
official from the Massachusetts Department of Education said that its
important to "map" services performed onto the curriculum. That is, to
effectively align service activities with their related subjects to
yield the greatest learning.

Pirie, described an unanticipated
benefit of the service learning in which he was involved. Adults are
better behaved when young people are watching them. And students'
intolerance of tedium makes meetings go faster.

A proposal to allow the Davis
Square restaurant permission to stay open until 1 a.m. on weeknights
and 2 a.m. on weekends for the next 60 days will be up for a vote again
at the Feb. 12 meeting. It will take three aldermen to table the item
again.

The votes stood 6-1 in favor of the measure when Vice
President Jack Connolly, who serves at-large, invoked Section 15 of the
city charter. The rule allows votes to be tabled when two or more
Aldermen are absent.

"It was clear to me that a lot of
information was being absorbed by everybody, and perhaps two more weeks
of waiting was not going to be crippling," Connolly said after the
meeting. "I think it would be helpful for the discussion."

Ward
6 Aldermen Rebekah Gewirtz, like Connolly a neighbor of the restaurant,
walked out of the meeting after being reprimanded for swearing.

"I
think we're making it into a much bigger deal than it is," Gewirtz said
later. "We've used (Golden Light) as something to be made an example
out of. For someone who's been in business for so long, it's important
he have the ability to keep fair hours."

The Board of Aldermen's
most recent attempt to curtail the restaurant's hours began in October
after Connolly brought up noise complaints he had received.

Gewirtz,
who beat Connolly for the Ward 6 seat in 2005 after serving 22 years as
the incumbent, has defended the establishment. She has cited both a
petition by residents in support of the extended hours and a lack of
complaints from a senior living center across the street as evidence
that the restaurant's violations have not been an issue for her
constituents.

Connolly said several Golden Light neighbors have
complained to him, and that a petition from residents opposing the
extended hours may be in the works.

The Committee on Licenses
and Permits voted to extend the restaurant's hours at its Jan. 22
meeting. The measure was approved by a 2-0 vote, with Ward 2 Alderman
Maryann Heuston and Connolly not present.

In granting the
request for extended hours, both Ward 7 Alderman Robert Trane and
Committee Chair Bruce Desmond told Golden Light owner Bruce Lam that
this was a last chance to abide by the rules – which Lam seems to have
been violating for most of his 26 years in Davis Square.

At the
committee meeting, Desmond pointed out Lam's continued violation of his
hours despite the committee's previous attempts to allow the hours to
be extended on Christmas and New Year's Eve.

"I feel like I've extended myself trying to help you…and then you violated that as well," Desmond said.

Eight
people, including Lam's first delivery person and first customer, spoke
in favor of allowing the extended hours. All speakers noted the
necessity of Lam's extended hours both as a late-night

option for Somerville residents and for the restaurant's survival.

No one showed up to speak against the request.

As
the hearing ended, Lam stressed the importance of the Golden Light to
late-night workers. "A lot of people are hungry after one (a.m.) – taxi
drivers, police after work. If you keep me open after one I'll keep the
place clean and people will have a place to eat if they're hungry," he
said.

Lam said he would put up a new signing stating his new
hours, and that he would try to keep customers seeking after-hours food
at bay.

Police Chief Anthony Holloway and Captain John O'Connor,
West Somerville substation commander, said they remained concerned that
Lam's lack of compliance with the current hours placed a burden on the
department. O'Connor said more than sixty direct patrol calls had been
requested for Golden Light in the past month and a half.

"He's
got to understand that two o'clock means two o'clock," Holloway said.
"We send officers by there and he's open 45 minutes, an hour later. He
was instructed one time to close, shook his head yes to my captain,
then stayed open."

O'Connor added that Lam had recently been
caught serving customers out of the back door after he had been
instructed three times to close.

"He needs to comply with the
rules that are out there," Holloway said. Turning to Lam, he added,
"Other than that, we don't care how late you stay open. It doesn't
bother us."

Connolly said he hopes the two weeks to consider the vote may change some votes.

"Perhaps
they'll say 'Hey maybe we need to be a little more emphatic.' I've seen
a lot of votes change over two weeks, and this will give people another
chance to heard on it," he said. "Citywide, it's not a huge issue, but
what that is doing is setting the table for more petitions for more
late night places. If it's business first and neighbors second, you've
got to draw the line."

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

This
Thursday night the City Democrats will meet at the Argenziano School at
290 Washington Street at 7 pm to elect delegates to the state
convention coming up later this spring.

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

Guess
there was a huge back up in the sewers over at the La Quinta Inn/Hotel
this past couple of weeks, seems it took 3 days to have PT Kelly and
the city to clean all the used needles and what was said to us
thousands of sexual items, that grossed out everyone there. Gives new
meaning to "check out time" doesn't it?

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

According
to more than one source, a City of Somerville Fire Department
"employee" (not firefighter) has been getting paid as a City employee
and at the same time has access to the city's fires, and is the paid
photographer for the Farm Team's paper while on duty. We are not
complaining, but we heard from more then one source that the person is
on the scene of all the fires first and they allow him to cross over
the lines to get a better picture.

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

Bye
Bye Birdie, the 2009 Somerville High School Musical which tells the
fictional story of a publicity stunt mounted by 1950's pop star Conrad
Birdie, will be running from Friday, February 6th through Sunday,
February 8th at Somerville High School (81 Highland Avenue). The entire
community is invited to enjoy an evening of local theatre with student
performers. Tickets can be purchased at the door and are $7.00 or $6.00
for senior citizens and children aged 12 and under. Friday and Saturday
shows start at 7:30 PM. Sunday matinée begins at 2:00.

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

Everyone
is worried about cutbacks and layoffs, including our finest at the
Police Department, lots of talk about layoffs coming up and don't
understand why the two sub stations are opened in a city only 3.5 maybe
4 square miles large. If cutbacks come and hopefully before the layoffs
begin at the Police level they want other things cut before that
happens. The substations might be a good idea in normal times, but some
think that closing them now would help to save one policeman's job.

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

Speaking
of layoffs, the big one is coming from Cambridge Health Alliance, and
no one should be surprised, we hear that over 350 layoffs in the next
few weeks and Somerville will be hit especially hard. Be interesting to
see how many layoffs in Somerville as opposed to Cambridge, we hope
Somerville will not be short changed again by them.

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

By
the way we have clarify our terminology on what a "Secular Progressive"
is – all we can say is that if you Google the term, you will read it
for yourself. To all those PDSers out there that feel victimized every
time someone says something against you, at least look up the term and
get it straight. Being a Secular Progressive has nothing to do with not
believing in God – and we agree that not all the PDSers are Secular
Progressives.

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

Long time resident and
great guy Jimmy Brennan of Bromfield Road hasn't been doing well lately
and he recently came home from the Lawrence Memorial Hospital and is
resting – we hope he's back on his feet soon and seeing that big smile
on his face.

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

The
Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA) has criticized the proposal
that, in their view, singles out one industry for an additional tax.
Small profit margins and unusually high operating expenses make
restaurants particularly vulnerable to the economic crisis, they said
in their press release. Adding, "[Restaurants] employ approximately
9.5% of the Massachusetts workforce; now is not the time to put more
jobs in jeopardy."

Restaurants around Somerville, big and small,
are grappling with what the passage of the restaurant tax could mean
for business during a time when they see customers cutting back on
spending.

The Great Thai Chef, a 38-seat restaurant in Union
Square, has already been trudging through what one server called
slowest time in its 10 year history.

"Even the regulars who used
to come in 5 times a week are now coming in 3 times a week," she said,
"it seems like everyone's trying to save money." She wasn't sure about
how the additional tax would affect their business, but said that she
couldn't imagine it being much slower. Two of the five staff members
have already left in recent months because they couldn't make enough in
tips.

But the restaurant is innovating with the hope of
attracting tentative customers. They will soon start serving Thai tapas
at night, offering a menu of small plates created with the assistance
of J.J. Gonson, a local chef who has become a local favorite with her
catering business and cooking classes.

Taqueria La Mexicana,
located a few doors down in Union Square, has also been dealing with
slower-than-usual business in recent months. Co-owners Robert and
Carolina Rendón have run the Taqueria for 13 years, attracting a
following with their tasty and very reasonably priced Mexican dishes.
This past spring they decided to expand and created the Cantina, a
bright and festively adorned dining area with a full bar.

"Whatever's
going to happen is going to happen" said Mr. Rendón about whether the
legislature would decide to approve the tax increase. His attention is
more focused right now on bringing people back in, and taking advantage
of their larger space's amenities to do this.

One way they
hope they can attract larger crowds is through live entertainment. On
Fridays, a mariachi band plays for diners in the Cantina from 8 to 11
p.m., and they recently began hosting salsa nights on Saturdays, when
they offer lessons and dancing on the Cantina's sizable hardwood floor.
They have also started serving Sunday brunch, and are considering
hosting a Tango night. Generally, they are keeping their ears open for
what their customers want.

The news of the tax increase is also
resonating just North at Highland Kitchen, the Spring Hill area
restaurant which has been serving upscale comfort food since it opened
in late 2007.

Business is still good at Highland Kitchen, a
feat that co-owners Mark Romano and Marci Joy attribute to "a great
neighborhood and a cast of regulars." The 90-seat bar and restaurant
has also become a destination for those outside of Somerville, perhaps
in part because of the high-profile backgrounds of its proprietors,
good reviews and reasonable price points.

"Hopefully the tax
won't affect our pricing," Mr. Romano said of the potential increase.
Should the measure pass, they'll have to look at their finances more
closely, but he hopes that they will be able to absorb the extra tax as
a cost of the restaurant, rather than pass it on to the customers.
"Sure it's a business," he said, "but you also want to make it
affordable for people, especially in these tough times."

Mr.
Romano hopes lawmakers take the state of the economy into consideration
when they vote on the tax increase. "For other small businesses that
are not doing as well," he added, "this measure could be the final
straw."

At the other end of the spectrum is the Ninety-Nine
Restaurant and Pub, a chain that runs 60 restaurants across
Massachusetts. Although a manager at the 220-seat Assembly Square
location declined to comment on how business has been there, the
company's president John Grady outlined the possible effects that a tax
increase would have on their business.

"I understand the
challenges the state is facing, but it is unfair to single out
individual industries" he said, echoing the sentiment expressed by the
MRA. He worries that the increase will be detrimental to business,
saying that "any time you raise the price there are going to be
customers who don't come with you."

He also drew attention to
difficulties the proposed tax increase could create for companies that
operate in multiple municipalities, saying "it could be cumbersome
trying to keep track of the different laws in different places, and
would add an administrative expense."

Mr. Grady fears that
ultimately the additional tax will affect their profitability, which
could effect their servers' hours or benefits. The number affected
would not be insignificant, since the chain is one of the largest
employers in the Massachusetts, employing about 4,200 across the state.

So as Somerville restaurants work hard to get people through
their doors, it appears that the biggest question on their mind may
actually be for their customers: how would they respond to the tax
increase?