This Friday and Saturday is the annual Arts Beat Festival 2014. ArtBeat is a massive arts hootenanny, with a slew of bands, dance troupes, 75 craft vendors, food and visual arts. This year’s theme is HATCH, so expect to see creativity hatching galore. Decorate an egg and pop it in the Hatch-O-Matic contraption. Check out the newly born MUSCRAT art bus. Behold recently hatched creatures including a baby alligator! $3 donation requested. Friday night: 6-10 p.m., Sat: 11 a.m-6 p.m. For the full schedule and descriptions: http://somervilleartscouncil.org/artbeat/2014/schedule.

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A Boston Globe op-ed from July 1 claimed that “at heart, Somerville’s Union Square redevelopment is an anti-gentrification plan. The only way to moderate spiking rents is to build more.” Unfortunately, the redevelopment itself is not an anti-gentrification plan. It will take strong community involvement and proactive anti-displacement measures to make it one.

The process of finding a replacement for our outgoing Chief of Police has been quite an undertaking. From a “nationwide search” – yielding four New Englanders as final contenders, as it happens – to a thorough vetting process involving city officials and the general public, we have before us now two finalists who are excellent candidates for the position.

By Jim Clark

Police were dispatched to a Bow St. location last Friday in response to reports of a dispute in progress.

Upon arrival, they were met by two men, both alleged victims of assault by a woman, Cheryl Pederson, 39, who was described as the girlfriend of one of the men and a friend of the other.

Mark Redmond looks more like a lumberjack than a jazz aficionado.  This tall, imposing man with a thick beard joined me at my usual table in the back of the Bloc11 Café in Union Square to talk about his relatively new series: “Jazz at The Green Room.” The Green Room is at 62 Bow St. in Union Square and was founded by Somerville musicians and vocalists Michael and Anney Barrett. The space, according to Redmond, was a former dry cleaning establishment. It hosts a variety of events that lean toward the classical side, but not exclusively.

A good poet like Keith Tornheim can latch onto a certain image, (in this case fireflies) that can — (pardon the pun) — light up a poem.