Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane boasts seven years in the chamber. ~Photo by Andrew Firestone

By Andrew Firestone

As an incumbent, Alderman Bob Trane has had a lot to face down in this election for Ward 7 alderman. Several months ago, Trane was put out of commission following serious injury in a car accident in which he was struck from behind. Returning to duty, Trane is touting his work in “thinking outside the box” and his time of service to the city as Alderman since 2004 in his re-election bid.

Joan Puglia wants more accountability from the BOA.

By Andrew Firestone

Joan Whitney Puglia was born and raised in Somerville, returning to the city to help her parents and raise her family in 1970. Working as an administrative supervisor at Tufts University, Puglia says that her experience working towards developing young minds, as well as her work with the Somerville Local Development Corporation, a non-profit that gives loans to small business, make her an ideal candidate for Ward 7 Alderperson.

Katjana Ballantyne says she will bring her business experience to the fore.

By Andrew Firestone

Ward 7 candidate for Alderperson Katjana Ballantyne moved to Somerville almost 20 years ago. With two daughters in the Somerville School system, and a host of non-profit and private sector businesses, Ballantyne has devoted her time to working into the community to create affordable housing as a past President of the Somerville Community Corporation, as well as founding two start-ups, Nilsson Associates, a design firm, and a company that specializes in Green economy.

So, we’re as happy as all that, are we? That’s awfully good to hear. What with the economy still in the tank, jobs as scarce as ever, and uncertainty looming eternal, it’s comforting to note how stalwart and confident we can be in the face of it all.

The “Happiness Survey” reminds us that it is to our advantage to count our blessings at the end of the day. Our society has made it through tough times before, and we should always be thankful for the good things that still remain to be enjoyed.

Poet Margaret Young uses costumes, food, old pop songs, as well as nature, and just about everything else on this world stage for material for her writing. Nothing is too insignificant or marginal: she gives a voice to it all. As her mentor the poet Gary Snyder taught her, poets should give voice to that cannot be voiced; this includes everything in the human world.

Poet Jake Montgomery knows the power of the mind, the power of perception. He explores these concepts by focusing on and using wordplay with inanimate objects like rocks and minerals, fool’s gold, so to speak. Montgomery is a young, emerging poet and we here at the LYRICAL hope to hear more from him in the years to come.

At about 7:40 p.m., a Somerville Police Officer attempted to place a subject under arrest for an outstanding unarmed robbery warrant out of Malden District Court.  The suspect, who is tentatively identified as Demetrius Tragiou, age 30, got into a physical struggle with the officer and fled into the residence at 56 Broadway, where he barricaded himself inside.  The suspect, who was known to the officer to have a violent history, told officers that he had hostages inside and he would harm them if they tried to enter.  Police officers then secured the residence and called in a SWAT Team and negotiators from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC).

Residents now can access online data concerning public works services
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Breaking new ground in customer service, the City has published the monthly performance statistics of its Department of Public Works. Available online through the City website, the first set of data posts the DPW performance numbers for the month of July.

The public now can see how the DPW service levels fared for 46 different services. Areas of coverage include school building repair, roadway services, trash removal and water/sewer repairs. The expected amount of time to complete the service request is listed next to each service type and each case of late service delivery is captured in the report. The City, through its SomerStat office and 311 Constituent Services Department, collects and evaluates this information on a constant basis in order to identify service inefficiencies and develop strategies to improve those service levels.

Somerville schedules multiple meetings to educate public about October zero-sort launch.
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During the month of September, City officials will be hosting meetings all over Somerville to educate the public about the October switch to zero-sort recycling.

Who is #1? When it comes to top-level Somerville spook rock, there can be only one answer: Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling.

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling springs new video on an unsuspecting world

By Jim Clark

Just when you thought it was safe to surf YouTube again, an aggressive-subversive phenomenon jumps up to bite you on the backside once more. This time it just might tickle.

Somerville’s own Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, a quirky, ultra-cool, and decidedly enigmatic artistic force has released yet another music video offering, First We Take Manhattan.