The Board of Aldermen rejected a plan to allow direct PILOT payments by Tufts.

By Josie Grove

The discussion around a minor vote at the May 28 Board of Aldermen meeting raised a series of perennial frustrations for the Board of Aldermen.

By Jim Clark

Police officers were dispatched to Mike’s Pizza in Davis Square last week on reports that a female who appeared to be intoxicated was asleep at one of their customer tables.

By Joseph A. Curtatone

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

The rainbow flag is flying proudly in front of City Hall and Somerville High School, raised by members of the high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, school and city officials. In June we celebrate LGBT Pride Month, and we have much to be proud of. The cause of equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer members of our communities continues to spread. Only 26 years after Andrew Sullivan’s vanguard essay in The New Republic arguing the “conservative case” for same-sex marriage was derided across political lines, we now await a Supreme Court decision that could secure that hard-fought right later this month. Securing the freedom to marry, however, would not be the end of the drive for LGBT equality. As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month, we must also remember that around the country, children, their parents, our co-workers and more can face discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Pride Month should also be a time when we recommit to work to ensure that no one in our country is treated like a second-class citizen.

Josh Lewin and Katrina Jazayeri. — Photo by Rachel Leah Blumenthal

By Haley ED Houseman

Much has been made of Union Square’s transformation in recent years: is it all uninvested hipsters, or growth that is made to last? In the case of the new restaurant Juliet, the focus is on community building and investment by two young restaurateurs who have deep convictions about being involved in the neighborhood.

Concerned Somerville residents gathered at Somerville High School last week for an opioid awareness event sponsored by the Ryan Harrington Foundation. — Photos by Douglas Yu

By Douglas Yu

Before the Ryan Harrington Foundation’s first opioid awareness event began at Somerville High School on June 3, Joann Riviecio stopped by the tables of 16 local health advocate organizations, and talked to people who were struggling with heroin overdose.

By Oliver Bok

The massive frozen mounds may have melted, but the impact of the snowiest winter on record is still being felt on Somerville’s balance sheet. The February blizzards left a $9 million deficit, forcing Mayor Joseph Curtatone to trim the 2016 budget he presented to a special session of the Board of Aldermen on June 4.

By Josie Grove

Last Tuesday evening, Winter Hill residents used colorful markers and Post-its to shape their neighborhood’s future.

That evening at the Somerville By Design meeting at the Healey School, the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development presented concept sketches of a possible future for Winter Hill. Residents asked questions, and provided feedback by writing and drawing directly on the sketches. This was the final step in Somerville By Design’s three-part process to create a plan for the neighborhood’s development.

CAAS’ Spring Party! This year it is at the Arts at the Armory on Thursday, June 11 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend this event free of charge. Beverages and light refreshment will be served.  CAAS is the local Community Action Agency here in Somerville, “working to end Poverty where we live.” Started back in the early 80’s, they do a lot of good things here in the city. For more information go online www.caasomerville.org or call 617-623-7370.

— Photos by Claudia Ferro

SomerStreet: Carnaval returned for its 6th year of shaking up East Somerville on Sunday, kicking off the 2015 season.

Eagle Feathers #80 – Second In Command

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

After the battle of April 19, 1775, which began in Lexington and ended in what is now Somerville, the budding country needed leaders. Out of the thirty-five American generals who served in the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island’s 33 year-old Nathanael Greene was the youngest. He was born in 1742, exactly one hundred years before Somerville’s birth in 1842.