If you're a real long-time Somervillian, they should!

Paul
Haley, Father Hogan, Davis Square Star Market, Belden Snow, Gorins,
Gilman Square, Cutter Square, Cholerton School, Proctor School, Chief
O'Brien, Harold Wellls, Bill Donovan, B&M, Squires, Hostess,
Brickbottom, John McKenna, Denis McKenna, Michael McKenna, McKenna
Funeral Home, Porter Estate, Reilly, Brickley.

The memories are many if you're an old timer. Most of them are good ones.

Al
Collins, Red Babin, The Observer, Times, Post, Press, Jim Hall, Dr.
Burns, Isobel Cheney. Al Giroux, John Joyce, HK Porter, Jim Scanlon,
Cobble Hill, Lana Sumner, Pal Palmer, Mother Palmer, Kevin Palmer,
Kermit Marsh, Re Line Task Force, Trolley 88, Bretta, Larry &
Father Jim.

C'mon now, how many do you know?

Rent
control, no 4th term, buy those Journals, Tim Creedon, Peter Piro,
Minister Mayor, Prospect Hill flag, Vinny Piro, Blarney Stone Pub,
Woodbridge Inne, Barney Go Home, Pat Carney, Engine 4, Billy Joyce, Mom
Brune, John's Restaurant, Kennedy's Butter and Egg, WT Grant. WJHS,
SJHS, NJHS,

ob Hilliard, Paul Foster, Maureen Amaral, Maris
Vinovskis, Chief Pino, Fodera, Dr. Card, Dr. Moy, Dr. Cheverie, Dr.
Kacoyanis, Dr. Ivy, Guy Wayne, John P. Sousa, Bob Pye, Dick Bridge, Stu
Matheson, Cumberland Farms, A&P, Mr. Sy, Western Union, Mr. Rose,
Woolworths, Kresge's, Steve Dowd, John Shoppet, Joe Omeara, Teresa
Lamb, John Yee, Cornerstone Baptist, Larry French, The Friend, The
Gleaner, Walter Whitney, Joe Marino, Harold Drew, Kay & Chips,
Person Davis.

Martha Perry Lowe, Sam Walter Foss, Rose Grillone,
Dr Marks, Sam Perlman, Sunnyside Hospital, Gil Foster, Butch Foster,
College Ave. Variety, Harold Mollahan, Elmer Colcord, Louise Muzzey,
Harold Corbett, Chuck Salvo, Linda Prime, Jimmy Ryan, Harry Ellis
Dickson, Ira Stephanian, John Henry, FDG, DPB, JL, Harry Freeto, Dave
Stryker, Joe Corish, Dr. Freeman, Leo C Donahue, Gino's Clothes, Peter
Bart, Al Dente.

And just a few more to finish you off;

Belcastro,
Qualitz, Howe, Gino Binari, Ray MacDonald, Gene Scott, Car Barns, Stone
train stations, Lucy's, Lucia's,. Henry the Jeweler, Mrs. Barber's
Penny Candy, Davis Square Wallpaper, Paramount Liquors, the blizzard,
the Squires Fire, the water main flood and the great blackout.

That's your Somerville 101 for today. PS – this is my 350th column.

Last
winter, Somerville declared a total of four snow emergencies. This
season, we've already had three, and it's barely mid-January. I'm still
a strong believer in the long-term hazards of global warming, and I
will continue to work on reducing our city's carbon footprint, but it's
clear that we need to remain vigilant about coping with severe winter
weather.

We've been fortunate that none of our recent storms
have been true blizzards: this winter's snowfall totals and storm
duration have, so far, been fairly manageable. I have even heard
grumblings that Somerville has been overaggressive about declaring snow
emergencies – and, as in years past, I have also received a few
complaints from those who believe that we use snow as an excuse to
raise money by ticketing and towing the unwary.

Although I
strongly disagree, I understand that, to some extent, I brought these
unjustified suspicions on myself: Back in January of 2004, when we
established clearer, more proactive snow emergency protocols, we also
had the unfortunate experience of relying on local and national
forecasts to declare a snow emergency for a storm that never came. We
were working with the best information available – but we ended up
canceling hundreds of tickets and refunding dozens of tow charges.

The
lesson we learned was that while our protocols were good ones, we
needed to be even more suspicious of the conventional media weather
wisdom. Over the past five years, we have tried to be very careful
about picking a time to declare an emergency that will ensure that snow
is falling by the time we begin ticketing and, if necessary, towing of
vehicles. To this day, however, I remain convinced that it is better to
give people early notice of an impending snow event so that they have
plenty of time to move their cars. If the snow starts an hour or two
later than it's supposed to, than we simply have to live with that.

When
all is said and done, I'd much rather live in a city like Somerville,
where we give people early warning and then, even when the emergency
goes into effect, give them four hours to move their cars. Our policy
helps parkers and drivers alike, because it means not only that
residents have hours of advance warning, but also that our DPW has
access to more road surface before the snow accumulates. As a result,
we are able to do a much better job of plowing and conditioning our
roads, keeping them open for emergency vehicles and other essential
traffic.

This isn't just my opinion: After almost every storm,
we hear from residents and non-residents alike who report that,
whenever they cross our boundaries during and after snowstorms, the
difference in road conditions is obvious and welcome. And that
difference isn't only a matter of convenience – it's also a sign that
our city is a safer place to live.

For all these reasons, I am
very grateful to the DPW, Traffic and Parking and Police personnel who
work as needed through nights and weekends to keep our city open and
functioning. No city in the metro area has a better record on this
critical area of governmental responsibility and competence.

Of
course, no snow emergency management policy can ever be implemented
perfectly, and we will always have motorists who get ticketed and/or
towed because, despite all our efforts to get the word out, they didn't
know a snow emergency was in effect. On our narrow streets, snow plows
sometimes scrape vehicles or knock off outside mirrors.

Perhaps
the biggest issue for many Somerville residents is what to do with the
snow. As the most densely populated city in New England, we have very
limited open space on either the macro level (open, unused land) or
micro level (private yards and public curbs, walks, gutters etc.). When
we have extreme snow events, we actually have to truck snow out of some
of our major commercial squares because there just isn't enough room to
stack it up out of the way until it melts. For decades, cities and
towns used to dump snow in adjacent river or harbor waters, but – for
very good environmental reasons – we can't do that any more. We used to
be able to "store" snow on unused City property, but we've been
steadily converting parcels like the old Kemp Nut site into parks, so
most of those locations are no longer available.

Street by
street, residents shoveling their walks and driveways face a similar
problem. As a lifelong resident who has always lived on the even side
of the street, I am intimately familiar with the challenge of clearing
the sidewalk and the driveway without throwing snow into the street. I
know the end result on some blocks is mini-mountains of snow on the
curb or near the intersection – and I know this poses a challenge for
pedestrians, but there is no ideal solution, so we simply have to work
together and be patient with one another.

As for living on the
even side of the street (where we plow to the curb) as opposed to the
odd side (where parking is allowed during snow emergencies), my
personal experience is that the extra shoveling on the even side is
compensated for by the fact that I get my curb spaces back much faster
after the emergency ends. Those on the odd side of street have snowy,
rutted and sometimes inaccessible curbs for days afterwards.

If
you are a recent arrival in Somerville, you may want to look over our
snow emergency procedures, which you can find online at
www.somervillema.gov, or obtain by calling Constituent Services at 311.
If you haven't done so, you should also sign up for the Connect CTY
notification system to receive snow alerts by phone and/or email.
(We're working to add SMS text messaging to the list of notification
options.)

The key factors to remember are these:

1. We almost always declare a snow emergency when local forecasters predict four or more inches of snow for our area.

2.
When we declare an emergency, we try to do so as early as possible, and
we send out messages via media advisory and Connect CTY (30,000 phone
and email messages to residents and businesses). We post alerts on our
web homepage and on City cable channels (15 and 16 on Comcast; 15 and
13 on RCN). We activate flashing blue lights at 22 major intersections.
Our police drive through city squares and neighborhoods using their
cruisers' PA systems to warn of the impending emergency. And, of
course, you can always call 311 (617-666-3311 from outside Somerville)
or our automated Information Hotline (617-628-SNOW) for the latest snow
emergency information.

3. During snow emergencies, residents and
businesses should make a special effort to let their visitors and
customers know about Somerville's procedures. While we try our best, we
can't inform everyone all the time and, despite what cynics claim, we
don't like to issue unnecessary snow tickets.

I
opened The Somerville News last week and almost fell off the chair.
There, on page 12 to be precise, the page of superlatives dazzled me
for a few seconds: I had been anointed Best Teacher of 2008! "What are
these people smoking?" was my first reaction. I immediately made a
mental survey of my accomplishments in the past year, trying to find at
least one reason that justified the choice… but couldn't. I'm a
conscientious teacher, a good one as a matter of fact, but the best?
Get out! There are hundreds of educators in the city that could have
been named to that honorary position instead of me. I could be… the
best immigrant teacher…? No. The best male immigrant teacher…?
Definitely not. The best Cuban male immigrant teacher…? Well, there
isn't another one in the city, so…

After the initial shock I
slowly began to come to terms with my celebrity status, especially when
Sully the custodian congratulated me with an incredulous face. It felt
good to be recognized, so I started to convince myself that maybe there
was something about me, some hidden talent, that I hadn't noticed
before. Perhaps it was my charming accent. Or the reverse Mohawk on my
head. Or this unique sense of humor that only I can fully understand,
let alone appreciate. Or…

As I tried to find an answer to my
quandary, other troubling thoughts started to creep into my mind. How
would I convince my students that I deserved the honor? Even worse, how
would I convince my colleagues…? Judging by the dirty looks, the
coffee "accidentally" spilled on my grade book, and the slashed tires
on my car, I could deduct that my fellow teachers were not too happy
with my nomination. tried to make them see that I was as surprised as
they were, but no one took me seriously.

So now that I am Best
Teacher, I wonder what benefits the nomination will bring me. Will it
ease my way to an early retirement with full salary and benefits? Will
I get Red Sox season tickets? Maybe an exclusive space in Market
Basket's parking lot? Or perhaps the much-coveted Key to the City,
awarded by Mayor Joe himself?

Everything looked very promising
until I took a second look at page 12. Then my enthusiasm began to
fizzle. I noticed that the Best Teacher was someone named Barrios, not
me. What a disappointment! "It was too good to be true after all," I
sighed. And ever since then I've been trying to find the lucky
colleague to congratulate him, but haven't been successful. He's
obviously keeping a low profile. Does anybody know who he is?

"It's been incredible," says Steve Grossman, Senior
Vice President of the company "not one prospective client does not want
to discuss going green." With an election season that has made the
environment a hot topic and the general public's growing concern for
the environment, there can be no better time for a company to already
be invested in green solutions.

"We have a two and half year
track record in helping our clients turn green when everyone else in
the industry is just waking up to it." Says Grossman. It is for these
reasons eco-friendly companies like Google and Green Mountain have
sought Grossman Marketing for their services.

Founded in 1910,
Grossman Marketing was once known as The Massachusetts Envelope Company
– a small business specializing in selling envelopes. Founder Maxwell
Grossman, always dreamed of owning his own company and now his dream
has lived on through four generations. With the help of his sons,
grandsons, and now great grandsons, Massachusetts Envelope Company has
evolved into Grossman Marketing, offering integrated consulting
resources and environmentally-sound communication products and
marketing materials to all of their clients.

Always
future-minded, Grossman Marketing began looking into eco-friendly
marketing solutions in 2006. Any sort of manufacturing involves the
combustion of fossil fuels, which creates carbon dioxide and other
hazardous chemicals that can lead to global warming. Concerned about
how many natural resources were used in the creation of their products,
the Grossmans decided to investigate renewable power to differentiate
themselves from other marketing and print industries.

In 2007,
Grossman Marketing began buying renewable energy credits from two
California wind farms. While increasing their overall power bill, the
purchase of renewable energy credit assures Grossman that the majority
of their payment will be reinvested in the production of renewable
energy from the wind farms. With this energy credit, Grossman Marketing
successfully offsets 100% of its own energy consumption, allowing them
to accurately state that all of the envelopes made in their facilities
are produced with renewable energy.

The first 120 million
envelopes Grossman Marketing produced with wind power have saved 33,000
gallons of oil and currently Grossman is well on its way to doubling
those numbers.

Grossman Marketing's green-friendly products
also extend beyond renewable energy. The company offers a wide variety
of promotional products made from recycled materials and envelopes
produced from a biodegradable corn based polymer.

Recently,
Grossman Marketing has received the business of the Presidential Forum
on Renewable Energy – a non-partisan group founded to ensure renewable
energy and conservation were a top agenda for the presidential
candidates this fall. When the Forum opened their offices in New York
City, they hired Grossman Marketing because of their green friendly
marketing products. Grossman Marketing provided the forum with
four-color business cards, letterheads and envelopes all printed with
soy ink on paper stock produced with renewable energy.

Curtatone was very serious about fighting to keep the
Green Line maintenance facility from being built in its proposed spot
directly next to Brickbottom.

"We're very committed to pushing
for this change. We don't believe this will work. We cannot accept it
if it is built right here – and you can base that decision on logic,
not just emotion."

The mayor gave an opening statement, various
city leaders were introduced and then Monica Lamboy, Executive Director
of Strategic Planning, gave a powerpoint presentation to a group of
about 75.

Lamboy presented an overview of the whole project with
aerial views, and then progressed to the main concern of many of the
audience – the location of the maintenance facility.

The current
Environmental Impact Report from the State was expected to be published
in January and some leaders said the best organizational strategy was
to wait until the final plan was published.

Lamboy mentioned
there were 6 to 8 alternative plans for the Inner Belt. "It was a
sincere search, they really looked at these options, but at the end of
the day, the state came back to their original plan."

The mayor
continued on about the struggle with the Executive Office of
Transportation (EOT). "We want them to envision something positive for
our city 10, 20, 30 years from now. They've had a committed position
all down the line. There's a lot of tunnel vision with the left hand
not talking to the right hand. It's really tough…they care, they want
to do a good job, but it would be great to see more creativity and
talent in the process."

Many of the group spoke during the Q and
A that followed the powerpoint presentation. Most of the crowd were
Brickbottom residents and many were very worried ,since the proposed
maintenance facility would be just 20 feet from their home.

A person asked if the MBTA was involved. Lamboy answered: "The MBTA has not been involved as far as strategy is concerned."

Another
asked if the Governor was involved. Curtatone said, "He is aware of it
and he has listened, but we're mainly dealing with Secretaries at this
point."

An elderly man and 20-year complex resident spoke up:
"Id love to see a picket line in front of the Governor's house with
signs saying How would you like a maintenance facility built 20 feet
from YOUR house?! In order to get this defeated maybe we have to be
more active, more dramatic. We have nothing against the workers. I know
everyone needs work, but they will use this against us."

State
senator Pat Jehlen was present and she was asked her opinion."We need
to understand the constraint they're working under in order to get them
to move on. I'm hopeful, but you have to understand what the other side
is working with."

Another resident added: "A lot of artists
voted for Governor Patrick. We're a cultural capital. I think that's a
greater issue for the City of Boston and the State."

Alderman
Bill White and Brickbottom trustee-resident Heather Van Aelstcboth
emphasized the best strategy was to wait until after the plan is
published to completely organize any resistance.

The mayor had
also passed out to the group a letter from his office to the EOT – he
then summarized the letter and stressed it's three main tenants about
the whole Inner Belt project. "Our team has said to them repeatedly we
want these three main things: no impeding of economic growth., we want
to decrease barriers to movement and access not increase them, and no
facility should adversely impact the quality of life for area
residents."

The discussion continued and the only heated moment
of the night occurred when a man argued that not putting the
maintenance facility at North Point in Cambridge but sticking to the
current plan of locating it next to Brickbottom would help both cities
because of the business brought in by further North Point development.

A
lady resident turned sharply to him and said, "You obviously don't live
here." A disagreement followed about what would be business zoning and
what would be residential. The lady said there would indeed be business
sections in the Inner Belt that would bring business and revenue to
Somerville. The mayor agreed.

A thoughtful female resident said:
"It should be like Cambridge here. It's such valuable land, so close to
these world class institutions. How can we help you? What can we do to
make this tangible for you?"

It was stressed again that the
community should wait for the publishing of the EIR. A man asked
whether the rest of the city cared and would join in a fight. The mayor
seemed positive about this. "The high school (gym) has been filled more
than once (in the past) – they'll come out. We haven't yelled at the
state for some time."

The older man who spoke before said," I'm an original Brickbottomer. Our lives really depend on it."

Another
resident questioned the Mayor as to how serious he was about a
resistance to the proposed plan. Curtatone said, "We're going to be as
tenacious as a rabid dog on this. But we still need to be strategic on
how we do things."

Before the powerpoint presentation, Alderman
Maryann Heuston pushed for aldermen throughout the city to make regular
inspections and ticket infractions without warning. She made note of
when her three walks were for January and encouraged anyone interested
to join her.

Joe Beckman, consultant to the YES Program,
was on the board which created the foundation for the program.
Currently, Beckman is working to broaden the program so that more
individuals will become aware of its existence.

Now is an
optimal time to sign up for the program because "It is not fully
enrolled," said Beckman. "We're actively seeking almost 20 kids to
enroll in this program, by the end of January."

"We have a
priority for low-income kids. We can take up to 10 kids who don't meet
that requirement. Every kid who's admitted in this program will be
guaranteed a job," said Beckman.

Despite the low-income
requirement, some other students are allowed to participate in the
program. However, half of the participants must abide by the income
stipulation.

Career development is paramount to the goal of
the program. "The real focus is that kids run the risk of not
graduating, of not getting a job, or the risk of not knowing enough
about careers to find a job that leads to another job, that leads to a
real career," said Beckman.

Because students experience
difficulty clinching a job until the age of 16, that is the minimum
age, at which students are accepted into The YES Program, according to
Beckman. "It involves career exploration, which means being a
volunteer, or in some cases, a paid staff member, from time-to-time,"
he said.

Typically, students in the program all possess unique
objectives, which they wish to pursue, on a broad and specific level.
"The goals really are to help kids develop their goals in terms of the
training or skills they might need," said Beckman.

Do you want
to develop a clearer picture of a participant? Beckman describes one
adolescent in the program: "One of our kids is quite charming and a
very good soccer player, but he's also in the vocational department and
has been in the vocational department for four years. He's sort of
moving toward [having a career in] a restaurant. He's also interviewing
now with the Boys and Girls Club about being a soccer coach and being a
coach for younger kids. Both of those occupations are worth his serious
exploration."

The YES Program includes tours of jobs sites and
of colleges, as well as offers assistance in resume development. In
addition, volunteers attend the program to discuss their occupation and
what it entails, on a daily basis, according to Beckman.

Although
funding for the Yes Program has remained consistent, in order to obtain
additional money for the program, it is essential that more eligible
students enroll. "There are at least 10 to 12 to 15 slots open now,"
said Beckman.

Funding for YES is provided through Employment
Resources, Inc. and the Workforce Investment Act. Special assistance
with YES is provided by the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program,
according to a press release.

Beckman believes that it would be
beneficial for the YES Program to partner with other agencies in order
to select more students to partake in and benefit from it.

"Part
of my role is to partner with other agencies, who may want to make [the
YES Program] available to their kids," said Beckman.

All
kidding aside, unless you are completely irrational, you have to
understand that George W. Bush is not the anti-Christ. He is not the
cause of every problem this country has at the moment, but he is an
easy target, and quite frankly, he did it to himself. He certainly did
create some of the problems we are facing nationally today – and it is
apparent he knows that as well as anyone else when analyzing his
remarks this last week of his Presidency.

You want to know what
a "bad" President is like? Open a history book and look into the
spectacular failure of our fifteen President – James Buchanan was. Now
that was a President who needed a security detail after he left office.

While
"Dubya" leaves office with the highest unfavorable (popularity) rating
in the history of rating such things, he will most likely land in the
low 30's in history books when all is said and done. But enough of that
– we want to make this space this week less about the outgoing guy's
shortfalls and more about the new feel-good attitude that should be
sweeping across the nation in the next few weeks.

Hopefully the
House and Senate can come together with bipartisan support for the much
needed, immediate initiatives and legislation that will come flying out
of the White House not only in the next few weeks, but the next four
years.

Our country deserves a chance to get back to normal again
– to put behind us the failed foreign policies of the past several
Presidents, to put an end to the extreme dramatics that lay just behind
the cyclical nature of our economy, to start funding programs like No
Child Left Behind and once and for all – start seriously looking at
alternative energy sources and get behind such great ideas as stem-cell
research.

Now is the time for us to reap the rewards of electing
an exciting new President and get behind his clear vision of where we
need to be going as a nation – because while the effects of local
policies might more directly impact our daily lives right this second,
we cannot forget even for a minute, that all things local trickle down
from our national and state policies.

A
junk car comes in to Nissenbaum's Auto Recycling Center and just about
every part enters their vast inventory for re-sale. At Gene Brune's
annual scholarship breakfast last year, I bumped into Allen Nissenbaum
and I have wanted to do this story ever since. I actually recognized
him from my many visits to his establishment during my youthful "fix it
myself" days. Last week I was invited by Allen to come down for the
behind the scenes grand tour.

Nissenbaum's Auto Parts has been
in operation since 1910 with the fourth and fifth generation of the
family currently running things. In 1968 ,Allen and his brother Joseph
joined the business. It is the only job Allen has ever had – right out
of college. I walked into the showroom and counter area where the used
tires and hubcaps are. The place looked the same as I remembered it,
with the familiar brown wood paneling. The rich smell of rubber also
brought back memories. The place was basically unchanged from when I
was a frequent customer years ago. Allen was more than just a man
giving a tour of his business – he is personable, funny, entertaining,
knowledgeable and very passionate about the family business. He had
many quips, jokes and anecdotes at his "disposal". There is a wonderful
framed timeline picture depicting the history of each generation that
ran the business. His great grandfather Jacob, who started it all, was
basically a rag man back in 1910. The business grew with each
generation – expanding and nurturing the operation as the years came
and went. Allen's dad just passed away last July at the young age of 95.

Until
the other day, I had only been in the showroom area of the business –
but this time I was escorted through the entire operation. We started
in the showroom (office), where I said hello to Allen's brother and
partner Joseph. We walked through a huge area with shelves that went
from the floor all the way to the ceiling – each shelf housing
specifically cataloged auto parts.

We entered the dismantling
area where every reusable part is carefully removed from a car when it
is brought in. There is also a section where they drain every drop of
all fluids from the automobile. These fluids are carefully disposed of
in an ecologically approved manner. I asked about "The Crusher" and
Allen told me we would be seeing it shortly. Waiting to see "The
Crusher" was very suspenseful for me – we walked through a large
outdoor area that had piles of cars stacked up that had had already
visited "The Crusher." Allen said that since the price of scrap was
down, they were just keeping them around until the price went back up.
It was very cold as we made our way closer to "The Crusher" -then –
there it was. It was kind of creepy as we approached it in the very
furthest part of the yard. It did basically what the name said, crushed
old cars into metal pancakes. I felt like I was on the set of some old
mafia movie.

Allen also told me that maybe in 20 years or so,
the approximately 7 acres of his "junkdom" could possibly be housing –
when the Green Line comes to Union Square. Yikes!

My history
with Nissenbaum's goes back to when Allen's hair was darker but he was
just as energetic and witty as he is now. The cars my friends and I
were driving in 1970 and 1971 were real cream puffs. The only reason we
could afford the 50 or 100 bucks to buy them was because they were
either family hand me downs or just plain heaps. We got them because
they were destined to be junk boxes. I was lucky enough to have a
cousin (Butch) that was a mechanic. Whenever I had a breakdown, Butch
would check it out, and would say something along the lines of: "your
transmission is shot, go down to Nissenbaum's and get another one –
bring it back – and I'll put it in."

I used to love going in
into Nissenbaum's showroom back them – you would tell them what you
needed and they'd go and get it for you. Every part has a number on it
which they can look up in their computer now. Eventually, I got pretty
good at doing the simple repairs like water pumps, generators and even
starters. All I had to do is pay attention to how the old one came off
and put the new one on the same way. The worst thing was changing a
part in the freezing cold. You always ended up with numb fingers or a
scrape.

The 1967 Dodge Dart with the 225 cubic inch slant-6
engine my dad passed on to me was easy to work on – a lot of space and
a small engine. With Nissenbaum's help supplying the needed parts, that
car kept running for years longer than it should have – too bad it
finally died. Well, actually, too bad I killed it. The red "idiot
light" that told you the engine was low on oil burned out – with no
oil, the engine seized. I could have "used" the dipstick instead of
"being" a dipstick.

Retreaded tires were very affordable at
Nissenbaum's for a 17-year old driver too, and actually they still have
an inexpensive assortment available – Allen loves the fact that all the
parts are road tested!

On my tour, I was like a kid in a junk
store. I was always intrigued that one man's junk can be another man's
lucrative living. I think I am a budding junk man with all the crap I
am hoarding at my house.

We are lucky to have a business like
Nissenbaum's in Somerville that is so rich in history. Anyone who knows
Allen knows that he is a lot of fun to be around – he could have been a
professional entertainer or even a politician. Actually, he is an
entertainer – he has a knack for keeping you smiling when you see him
and he never runs out of creative dialog. Allen has a true love for his
family, his business and the City of Somerville.

I felt like I had been taken behind the curtain in OZ.

Allen
gave me some great Nissenbaum souvenirs that I will treasure – a hat, a
t-shirt, a 1975 Ford Fairlane driveshaft and a to-go container of
tranny fluid! (just kidding)

The buckets of lug-nuts at the
door really struck me. I hope Allen doesn't sell any to New York
Yankees fans that are visiting Fenway Park. They have been known to
throw them at Red Sox players.

If you want to be entertained and
kill some time, go to the "parts search" section of Nissenbaum's web
site and enter the information from one of your old cars. I searched
for a water pump for my old 1967 Dodge Dart, and there were actually
several in their inventory.

Allen left me with an entertaining
anecdote – he said: "Don't forget, it is better to be seen than to be
viewed." I viewed a lot of old cars that probably could tell many
stories, if they could talk.

Spending that time with Allen
Nissenbaum at his Auto Recycling Center (while his brother Joe kept
working) was one of the most enjoyable days I can remember in a long
time. You can email Jimmy directly at jimmydel@rcn.com.