Arrests:
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Salvador Castro-Ramos, 19, of 17 Autumn St., April 28, 12:17 p.m., arrested at 91 Highland Ave. on a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Three juveniles, April 28, 5:13 p.m., arrested at 95 Wheatland St. on charges of trespassing and felony daytime breaking and entering.

Christoph Boyd, 42, of 36 Parker St., Attleboro, April 29, 9:05 a.m., arrested at 709 McGrath Hwy. on warrant charges of uninsured motor vehicle or trailer, unregistered motor vehicle, and number plate violation.

Join the Somerville Council on Aging Teen empowerment and Artist Emily Bhargava for East Somerville peace quilt project. Help  create a peace quilt to welcome guests to the cross street center.

Free workshops on the following dates:

Wednesday, May 7 from 12-1 p.m., Cross Street Center, 165 Broadway.

Thursday, July 17 at 6 p.m. for the East Somerville Main Streets Block Party.

Wednesday, July 23 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Project wrap-up at Cross Street Center, 165 Broadway.

For more information, contact Janine at 617-625-6600, ext. 2300

VENTURA, Robert A. Sr, 78 – Of Chelmsford formerly of Somerville May 1, 2014. Beloved husband of Lucille (Armstrong). Loving father of Randy R. and his wife Mirisa of Melrose and Rodney R. and his wife Betty-Jo of Leominster. Loving brother of Jean Barry and her husband Don of Somerville. Cherished Papa of Owen, Maeghan and Joshua Ventura. Relatives and friends invited. Calling hours to be held at the George L. Doherty 855 Broadway (Powder House Sq) Somerville, Tuesday 4-8pm. A Funeral Home Service will be held on Wednesday morning at 11:30 followed by interment at the MA Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery, Winchendon, MA at 2pm.

The community is invited to a public meeting to provide feedback on a report that details how the city conducted its accessibility Self-Evaluation for streets and sidewalks, and the system used to develop the curb ramp schedule and reconstruction priorities for sidewalks.

Somerville Full Circle High School recently participated in the Eco-Carpentry Challenge with The Furniture Trust. As part of the challenge, students from throughout Massachusetts were tasked with creating new products using gently used furniture donated by local corporations. The Furniture Trust delivered a suite of used office furniture, to each school, and in an effort to inspire creativity, allowed students free reign to develop their own projects. During an event on Thursday, April 10, students showcased their finished projects that ranged from a potting bench with tool storage and seat to a game room with modern gaming chair and dartboard. Projects were judged during the event by a distinguished panel of industry experts in four categories. The students from Somerville Full Circle High School built a two-seater couch and a racecar bed for a toddler.

Feedback at two public hearings in May will help finalize criteria used to determine CPA funding priorities for affordable housing, open space, recreation and historic preservation

Want to help determine how the City of Somerville should spend at least $1.5 million on affordable housing, open space, outdoor recreation and historic preservation projects? The Somerville Community Preservation Committee will gather public feedback at two public hearings in May that will assist in finalizing the criteria the Committee uses to determine which projects are recommended for funding through the Community Preservation Act (CPA).

Lo-fi art fest takes over Somerville, Massachusetts
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Wheel of Fortune — Shero.

This June the second annual Somerville Toy Camera Festival (STCF) will take place at five locations throughout Somerville, making it among the largest toy camera festivals in the world. Showcasing the work of local, national and international photographers, the STCF highlights the talents and creativity of artists using low tech tools to create high art images.

MBTA agrees to construct dedicated bicycle and pedestrian way in conjunction with Green Line Extension, creating 2-mile path through Somerville

The Community Path is heading to Boston. Massachusetts Department of Transportation Secretary and CEO Richard A. Davey announced today that the MBTA will build an extension of the path along the future Green Line from Lechmere Station to the forthcoming Lowell Street Station, connecting to the current path and bringing the total length of Somerville’s bicycle and pedestrian path to 2 miles.

Auditions for the 2014 Sunsetters will be held on Wednesday, May 7, in the Somerville Cable TV studios next to Somerville High School (entrance is at the end of the SHS/City Hall parking lot below the SHS library). The Sunsetters are Somerville’s longtime youth song and dance group that performs on the streets of Somerville throughout the summer. Kids ages 12 to 17 are invited to audition for this paying position. Rehearsals will be Monday through Thursday for the months of May and June. Auditions start at 7 p.m. Come with a song prepared to sing.  A CD player will be available. Bring your IPod or phone to sing along with. Good luck!  For more info, contact Jimmy Del Ponte at jdelponte@somervillema.gov or 617-625-6600, ext. 2616.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

(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)

A couple of years ago I changed the name of my column from On the Silly Side to Life in the Ville. “Ville” is just a simple abbreviation for Somerville. A Villen (according to the new pop culture) is someone from Somerville. This Villen thing has calmed down lately, but when it first hit it was all the rage. Everybody wanted a Villen sticker or a Villen shirt or hat. The Villen Cooperative Society came out as the source for these items. They even copyrighted the word “Villen.”  Really? Isn’t that like trying to copyright the word “Townie,” or “West Ender”? Nevertheless, the terms Ville and Villen are now a part of Somerville’s fabric, even though some old-time Somerville loyalists don’t like it. As one young lady stated to me, “The Ville is better than what they used to call Somerville.” (I refuse to even write that derogatory word because it burns me up to no end. But if you want to know what it is, check out Somerville, Mass., in Wikipedia.) While we are on the subject, I think we should petition Wikipedia to have that horrible slang term removed.