Owner of backbar, Sam.

By JT Thompson

Sam: shaved head and full beard, the young white owner of backbar, a hipster cocktail bar located behind an anonymous looking metal door in a little alley just off the main plaza of Union Square.

When I walk into backbar one sunny afternoon at 4:30, Sam is sitting at the bar, wearing brown jeans, red sneakers and a mauve, long-sleeved t-shirt. I was looking for a bartender to approach, and he was wearing an apron, with leather straps across his back, serious looking things, like what a whiskey barrel craftsman or gunslinger would wear.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro 

Somerville residents celebrated Earth Day with the City of Somerville, Groundwork Somerville, and Comcast Cares at the annual Spring Cleanup and Community Barbecue. Residents were invited to join ward captains and city officials in each of the city’s seven wards to plant flowers, weed open spaces, and clean our open spaces.

By Jim Clark

Police officers were dispatched to the Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant on Elm St. last week on reports of a larceny.

Upon arrival, the officers spoke with the alleged victim who reportedly told them that he had set down two phones, an Apple iPhone 7 Plus and a Google Pixel, on a table and stepped away for a few minutes. During the time that the victim was away from the table and his phones, two females and a male, later identified as the suspects, approached the table where the phones were, sat down at the adjacent table, and looked at both phones a few times.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

The Somerville Arts Council and the Somerville Office of Sustainability and Environment presented the Tiny Great Outdoors Festival, a free Arbor Day and SustainaVille event, at the city’s tiniest “urban wild,” Quincy Street Open Space on  Sunday, April 23.

Call for community benefits agreement to protect Union Square Community
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By Union United

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Residents, workers and small business owners joined with State Reps. Denise Provost and Mike Connolly and Union United on Thursday, April 20, to call for Union Square developer US2 to affirm their commitment to negotiate a binding agreement with the community to address displacement concerns, including affordable housing, local jobs, workers’ rights, small businesses, open space and other priorities.

“Jack once hit a hole in one.”  That was a quick memory of one of his accountant friends when he heard about the death of John Edward Rourke on April 24, 2017, known to his friends and business acquaintances as “Jack.”  He died at his home in Somerville where he had lived for 38 years.

A resolution sponsored by Alderman At-Large John M. Connolly’s calls for increasing the state marijuana oversight commission to five members and letting other state departments have seats on the commission.

By Joe Ruvido

The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a resolution recommending that the Massachusetts State Senate delegation increase the marijuana oversight commission from three to five members.mj, but signals the Board’s desire to play a role in the formation of regulations regarding recreational marijuana. Alderman at-large Jack Connolly introduced the resolution to the Board at their most recent meeting.

An extension of protections for city-owned trees from being unearthed at will by contractors was one of the ordinances recommended at the latest meeting of the Board of Aldermen.

By Jordan Deschenes

Somerville’s Legislative Matters Committee met last Thursday to discuss four major items related to ordinances, two of which were recommended for passage by the Board of Aldermen. The meeting was cut short by a half-hour due to an ongoing City Planning Board Meeting that several aldermen needed to attend, including the Committee Chairwoman, Mary Jo Rossetti.