Join Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Ward 1 Alderman Matthew McLaughlin on Friday, Nov. 20 at 10:30 a.m. for the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Symphony Park. Located at the corner of Pearl and Florence Streets, Somerville’s newest park is inspired by the legacy of the Hadley family who created music on this site and beyond. It features:

~By Donald Norton

The Little Sisters of the Poor on Highland Ave. held their annual Christmas Bazaar on Saturday, November 14. Beautiful Christmas items were on sale and their wonderful raffle prizes were a highlight of the occasion. The bazaar has become a cherished Christmas season tradition in the city and is highly anticipated by the many who attend each year.

The Somerville Historic Preservation Commission (SHPC) announced today that it has extended the deadline for nominations for the 2016 Preservation Awards until Monday, Dec. 7. The SHPC will honor Somerville residents who performed significant restoration or maintenance efforts on designated historic buildings, or on non-designated buildings erected before 1965.

If you live in Ward 1, which includes Assembly Square, East Broadway, and the neighborhoods around East Broadway, you’re invited to the Ward 1 ResiStat community meeting tonight.

ResiStat meetings are an opportunity for you to learn more about things happening in your neighborhood as well as ask questions and share your ideas with the Mayor, elected and city officials, and your neighbors.

The city is calling for improvements in the flow of traffic in targeted areas of East Somerville. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Jim Clark

At their latest regular meeting, the City of Somerville Board of Aldermen addressed issues relating to traffic delays in East Somerville.

An order sponsored by Alderman At Large Dennis M. Sullivan, Ward One Alderman Matthew McLaughlin, Alderman At Large William A. White Jr., Alderman At Large Mary Jo Rossetti, and Alderman At Large John M. Connolly directing the Director of Traffic and Parking, the Chief of Police and the Director of SPCD to review the traffic problems in East Somerville and develop a traffic improvement plan was discussed and approved at the meeting.

The community came together on Sunday to celebrate the life of Franke Rivieccio and to contribute funds to local non-profit organizations, including Somerville Overcoming Addiction. — Photo by Claudia Ferrro

Paying tribute to one of Somerville’s own
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By Charles Lane

A Celebration of Life fundraiser was held in memory of  Franke Rivieccio on Sunday, Nov. 15 from 2 to 8 p.m. at Arts at the Armory in Somerville.
The celebration offered food, music from WildFire and DJ Brian Ray, and poetry by Matt Ganem, who also hosted the event.
Raffles and resource tables for families dealing with drug addiction were also featured.

City Hall rolled out its new website not to long ago, and although we didn’t see much difference at first glance, one of our Newstalkers went online to pay a Traffic & Parking ticket and couldn’t do it. They then called the department, and at first the young lady who answered the phone was extremely helpful and explained that, yes, there were some problems but she worked him through it. Then another Newstalker wanted to download election results and again ran into a problem. Half the page came out black. So we’re wondering how much did this version cost? We heard it’s like the third version done, and what was the cost? Maybe before they roll out a website, they might want to get some testers involved.

By Ellie Churchill and Ryann Mack

Somerville’s Superintendent of Public Schools Mary Skipper.

As you may already know, Mrs. Mary Skipper has been chosen to be the new Somerville public schools superintendent. She is the first woman to have that job. She has replaced Mr. Anthony Pierantozzi, who had been our superintendent for a long time. But, Mrs. Skipper has been through a lot before becoming superintendent, so she is an interesting person. She grew up in a sportsy environment, and has done several teaching and school jobs before this one, so she is experienced. Also she grew up on the Arlington-Somerville line, so she is familiar with the Somerville environment. We think you’ll agree, as we have already found out, she will be interesting to learn about.

Eagle Feathers #91 – Forgotten Fred

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

He kept them laughing throughout the twenty turbulent years which molded them into America’s Greatest Generation. This was the time covering the 1930’s Great Depression, followed by World War II and its recovery. There wasn’t much humor to be found. Somerville’s John Florence Sullivan was one of those few who provided needed comic relief during this time.

Is it just our imaginations, or are we experiencing an alarming up-tick in the number of thefts in the city?

It seems as though car break-ins and other forms of petty larceny are at an all time high. Why is this so? Most people we hear from are blaming the drug problem – specifically opioids abuse – for the sudden surge in crime.