By Donald Norton

Local attorney and a lifelong member of Somerville’s business community, Philip Privitera, was honored last week at one of his final meetings to preside over the Mystic Valley Lodge in Arlington.

Eagle Feathers #151–The Year Was 1872

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The date was January 1, 1872, a time when Somerville would celebrate her incorporation from a thirty-year old sleepy town into a young city. One of her immediate priorities was public safety. Less than three months earlier, a fire destroyed the city of Chicago on October 8 and 9, 1871. It remained the worst fire in American history until the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. The Chicago fire killed over 250 people, burned over 200 acres and destroyed over 17,000 structures.

Tony Alibrandi.

By Donald Norton

Whether you are an old customer or new one, we all offer a big welcome back after some major heart problems to Tony Alibrandi at his barber shop on Holland Street. He’s looking good and he’s cutting hair again like the pro that he is. He is celebrating almost 60 years of work cutting the hair of many notables here in the city. Tony is a great guy and he has a great assistant in Paul McGlashing.

Community volunteerism is an uplifting thing to observe and, especially, to participate in. When the efforts involved result in making the community a bit cleaner and a more comfortable place to live then it is all to the better.

Arrests:
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 Angelina Demelio, of 34B North St., April 9, 11:20 a.m., arrested at 34R North St. on warrant charges of witness intimidation and body disinter.

Zachary Colon, of 5 West St., Old Town, ME, April 11, 12:12 p.m., arrested at Broadway on charges of assault and battery, violation of city ordinance possession of a dangerous weapon, and armed robbery.

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From Michael Casey’s website:

In 1972, Michael Casey won the Yale Younger Poets Prize for Obscenities, a collection of poems drawn from his military experience during the Vietnam War. In his foreword to the book, judge Stanley Kunitz called the work “a kind of anti-poetry that befits a kind of war empty of any kind of glory” and “the first significant book of poems written by an American to spring from the war in Vietnam.” Its raw depictions of war’s mundanity and obscenity resonated with a broad audience, and Obscenities went into a mass market paperback edition, and was stocked in drugstores as well as bookstores.

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Maryann Corbett is the author of four books of poems, most recently Street View from Able Muse Press. Her poems appear widely and have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, American Life in Poetry, The Writer’s Almanac, and the Poetry Foundation website. She is a past winner of the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize and the Richard Wilbur Award. One of her poems will appear in The Best American Poetry 2018.

MassDevelopment has issued a $6.9 million tax-exempt bond for Somerville Community Corporation Inc. (SCC), a nonprofit that supports low- and moderate-income Somerville residents by promoting and preserving affordable housing. SCC will use bond proceeds to buy and renovate nine units of affordable multi-family housing in Somerville as part of the corporation’s “100 Homes Initiative,” which launched in 2015 to help SCC buy and secure the long-term affordability of Somerville properties. SCC also used bond proceeds to refinance previously issued debt, and East Boston Savings Bank purchased the bond.

Tour the park with Jef C. Taylor of Boston’s Urban Nature Walks group.

Celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day at the Quincy Street open space with a tree planting, art activities, a clothing swap, nature walks, art projects, and interactive activities for people of all ages

The Somerville Arts Council and the City of Somerville, in partnership with Greg Cook, present the Starting Over Festival, a free Arbor Day and Earth Day celebration at the city’s tiniest “urban wild.” The festival will take place at Quincy Street Open Space, 16 Quincy St., from noon to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 22 (Rain date: April 29). Join a scientist on a tiny hike in the park exploring wildlife here in Somerville. Help plant a tree and take home a free seedling. Hear poetry. Participate in activities, games and art. Bring clean, unwanted clothing for a free clothing swap – or donate your clothes to be recycled!

There will be a Public Hearing before the Board of Aldermen’s Committee on Housing and Community Development on Monday, April 30, 2018, at 6:30 p.m., in the Aldermanic Chambers, 2^nd Floor, City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, on the Order of Alderman Ben Ewen-Campen, Chair of the Committee, for public input on the condition of affordable housing units in the City, and whether there is an affordable housing crisis that constitutes a public emergency (Docket #205334). The public is invited to attend and be heard.