Somerville Representatives Christine Barber, Mike Connolly and Denise Provost joined their House colleagues this week in voting to pass H.4517, An Act relative to firearms, known as the “red flag” bill to allow family members, health care providers and law enforcement to petition the court for an Extreme Risk Protective Order (ERPO) that would suspend an individual’s license to carry or firearm identification card if they are deemed at risk of harming themselves or others.

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I am writing to register my disagreement with the proposed Fire Suppression Charge.

I disagree not with the concept of having some fee, but rather with the excessive amount of the fees.  Beyond mere self-interest (the building we live in has a fire suppression system), I feel that private sprinkler owners are being unfairly targeted as part of addressing a systemic problem with our water system.

This month, the Somerville Board of Aldermen approved and allocated more than $8.3 million in Community Preservation Act funding to ten open space and historic preservation projects and the 100 Homes Initiative, upon the recommendation of the Somerville Community Preservation Committee (CPC). The Aldermen previously approved the CPC’s recommendation to provide $1,200,402 to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in March.

Eagle Feathers #154 –The Passport

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

As far back as the biblical period of ancient Egypt and Rome, early passport systems were in vogue. It was a time when traveling out of one’s country was rare and dangerous. In Rome, official travelers carried a letter in the name of the emperor called a tractorium.

On May 15, Somerville Rotary Club inducted David Worzala as a new member at the Holiday Inn Boston/Bunker Hill in Somerville. Worzala and his family moved to the area from Madison Wisconsin, where he was active in the DownTown Madison Rotary Club for the past 15 years. Worzala is a public policy consultant and small business investor.

Nestled behind P.A.’s Lounge off of Somerville Ave. – 1 Bow Market Way, to be exact – is a new public market, Bow Market, brought to you by Zach Baum and his other co-conspirators.

Zach Baum.

Baum, a graduate of Tufts University, who has a background in high tech and real estate development, told me he was influenced by the Agora-style markets in ancient Greece, public open spaces used for assemblies and markets.

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Ari Alkalay Appel is a poet and essayist who lives and works in Roxbury. He enjoys cycling and woodworking during his free time. He grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Newton North High School. He studied at Whitman College in Eastern Washington, where he obtained a degree in Rhetoric Studies. He also studied at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Arrests:
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Joseph Shahbazian, of 73 Cedar St., May 21, 12:17 p.m., arrested at Cedar Ave. on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and threat to commit a crime.

Orville Maxwell, of 40 Ramsey St., Dorchester, May 22, 3:58 p.m., arrested at Medford St. on a charge of operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs.

Discussion to focus on topics of interest to community members

 Tufts University will hold a community meeting on Wednesday, May 30, the second this spring designed to inform community members about programs, resources available to them, provide an overview of recently completed and upcoming projects and solicit feedback on issues of interest to local residents.

Kick off the summer with Carnaval along East Broadway.

SomerStreets: Carnaval returns for the ninth year of shaking up East Somerville! SomerStreets will kick off the 2018 season on Sunday, June 3, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. (rain date: Sunday, June 10).