By Jeremy F. van der Heiden

The Board of Aldermen’s regular meeting March 13 began with a discussion on the support of Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, which seeks to empower domestic workers with similar rights to those of other members of the workforce. Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz explained how action needs to be taken because of exploitive actions taken against these types of workers by their employers.

 — Photos by Claudia Ferro

Students at East Somerville Community School recently explored the history and customs of ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology. They wore costumes and gave presentations on what they learned.

Predicting the distance a wheel will turn after 1.5 or 2.5 revolutions.

Friday, March 14, was Pi Day (3.14), so it was a perfect time for Somerville middle-schoolers to celebrate all things math.

About 350 students, parents, teachers and volunteers from the high school, PTA and community, celebrated Pi Day with Pi Night at the East Somerville Community School (ESCS) by eating pizza for dinner before spending the rest of the evening estimating, creating, collecting data and answering questions before ending with pies for everyone and pi-symbol (π) pencils for the students.

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)

Somerville is thriving. A commitment to our values, made explicit in our prudent, strategic investment in our community, has resulted in success stories across the city. Our students are testing better than they have in years. The city has seen 73 net new businesses open in the last three years, many of them locally owned and operated. We’ve made our city more walkable and bikeable, built and renovated even more green and open spaces, and increased our overall quality of life with more services than most cities and towns, even while we’ve slashed discretionary spending in our budget by finding smarter, more efficient ways of doing business. Our success story has Somerville in demand, adding to the pressure from a housing market that has extraordinary regional demand and too little supply. While we have been acting and are acting to address the housing crunch with a long-term strategy guided by the community through SomerVision, aiming to build more housing and provide real tax relief by expanding our tax base through strategic development, we must also act today to protect the residents already here that have helped us make Somerville in demand.

The Somerville Times editor David Smith sits down with the mayor for the latest edition of The Mayor’s Report.

Stephen Bradley and Deirdre O’Kane will be honored for their film, Noble, at this year’s Irish Film Festival, Boston, running from March 20 to 23 at the Somerville Theatre.

Following a one-year hiatus, Irish Film Festival, Boston, sponsored by B.A. Event Promotions/Rás na hÉireann, will run from March 20 to 23 at the historic Somerville Theatre and will screen approximately 30 films. This year’s lineup will offer a host of contemporary Irish films, receptions with visiting Irish filmmakers, cocktail parties and a few surprises.

Somerville firefighter, Jay McKenzie.

The Painted Burro celebrated its two-year anniversary with a churro burro tower eating contest. Five contestants lined up to take down a tower of the fried Mexican doughnuts washed down with The Painted Burro’s horchata iced coffee. The winner, Jay McKenzie, a Somerville firefighter, walked away with a $300 Alpine Restaurant Group gift card, which can be used at The Painted Burro’s Downtown Crossing location, anticipated to open later this year. He also received a trophy, first place medal and bragging rights.

Proposed legislation would increase exemption on principal residences to 35 percent, City to explore additional exemption increases

Somerville homeowners would receive the highest property tax exemption in the state under a proposal submitted by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone to the Board of Aldermen this week, and the city continues to explore increasing exemptions for seniors, veterans, widows and those with disabilities that are already double the state limits.

Tufts unable to meet timetable on redevelopment of former school; Process to Proceed to Consideration of First Alternate Bidder

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced that the City of Somerville will re-open the process of finding a developer for redevelopment of the Powder House Community School, due to Tufts University being unable to meet the timetable terms on a land disposition agreement.

Members of Fossil Free Somerville write letters to elected officials asking them to support S.1225, a bill that would require the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust to freeze new investments in fossil-fuel companies and urge a transition of new investments to renewable energy-related organizations.. — Photo courtesy Fossil Free Somerville/Facebook

By Jeremy F. van der Heiden

The Somerville Board of Aldermen held a special public hearing Thursday, March 13, after a petition was signed by 129 registered voters that called for the city to take several actions toward divesting from fossil-fuel companies. The specific target of this particular petition was the Somerville Retirement Board.

Although the hearing would have ended with a vote on the item, which included such calls to action as urging the Retirement Board to identify holdings that include fossil fuels and cease any new investments into these firms, among several others, an unexpected statement prevented this right from the outset.