Will offer guidance and technical assistance on business operations to eight businesses

The City program that helped small retail and restaurant owners in Magoun Square, Winter Hill and Union Square improve their businesses earlier this year is now aiming to support East Somerville businesses, through a partnership with East Somerville Main Streets and Retail Visioning.

$700K available to eligible nonprofits and private entities for remediating contaminated properties

Thanks to a recent grant award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the City of Somerville now has $700,000 available to lend for assessment and cleanup of contaminated properties that can threaten environmental and public health—and can then be turned into new homes, offices, parks and more.

Somerville Neighborhood News is a community service production of Somerville Community Access Television and the SNN team produces a bi-weekly newscast.

A couple of headlines in the latest newscast are:

By Blake Maddux

Howard Jones brings his musical artistry to Johnny D’s on Tuesday, November 3. — Photos by David Conn

Prior to becoming a mainstay of 1980s radio and Music Television (MTV), Howard Jones gave piano, keyboard, and synthesizer lessons as a way of “keeping money coming in whilst working on [his] grand project.”

When that project succeeded, it led to a string of Top 40 singles in Jones’s native UK and the US. Although he never reached the superstar levels of some of his contemporaries, his unique videos, distinctive synthesizer, and lyrics of a somewhat philosophical and optimistic bent made him one of the more memorable pop stars of the decade.

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 term “anchor store” usually invokes the idea of a large department store, grocery store or some national chain in a big shopping center, but in our neighborhoods, it’s actually small local businesses that are collectively our anchor stores. Instead of one megastore trying to offer everything, our neighborhoods and squares have independent entrepreneurs who specialize in a particular product or service, often in a way you can’t get anywhere else. Nowhere is that more evident in Somerville than on East Broadway. From boutiques to eateries, the businesses along this newly reconstructed and improved stretch of East Somerville are intrinsic to the neighborhood’s identity and success. They are a cornerstone of its foundation. So, the City is targeting support for these businesses as we launch the next round of our Small Business Assistance Program.

By Donald Norton

The Somerville High School Scholarship Foundation celebrated its 25th Anniversary last Saturday evening, October 17, at the Holiday Inn.

By Jim Clark

Police officers were dispatched to the Home Depot store on Mystic Ave. last Thursday on reports that a suspected shoplifter was being detained by store loss prevention personnel.

Upon arrival, officers were briefed by store employees and taken to the loss prevention office where the suspect, Noah Phillpotts, was being held.

The state-of-the-art DS 200 Precinct Scanner & Tabulator is scheduled to be in place in time for the March 1 presidential election. — Photo courtesy of Election Systems & Software

By Josie Grove

Somerville voters will notice something a little bit different when they cast their ballots in municipal elections in the future. Last Wednesday, the Finance Committee approved $188,344 appropriation from the Capital Stabilization Fund for new ballot counting machines.

— Photos by Kevin Dickinson

Somerville’s Haitian and Brazilian communities came together for “Haiti and Brazil Hit The ‘Ville,” a cultural festival on Sunday, Oct. 18, featuring music, dance, food, family-friendly activities and more for the entire community.

Weather permitting, on Thursday, Oct. 22, and Friday, Oct. 23, a MassDOT contractor will install a temporary pavement layer over the entire length of Beacon St. as an interim measure to improve roadway conditions prior to the full-scale reconstruction project.