Representing the 99 percentile, occupation has come to Boston and the numbers keep rising. - Photo by Andrew Firestone

By Andrew Firestone

Occupy Boston has attracted some Somervilliens it seems. With little glamor, or glory, these young people camp out in tents out by South Station in Downtown Boston. They claim to fight for the “99 percent” or the percentage of the country they rally around who receive exponentially less wealth than the top one percent.

There will be a debate between the candidates for Alderman At Large this Monday night, October 17, at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square,. The doors open to all at 6 p.m. and the debate takes place from 7 to 8 p.m. All four incumbents and three challengers will be onstage. From our point of view, since our paper will be represented, do you have a particular question you’d like to have asked, put before the candidates, or any particular candidate? Let us know by going online to our web site and posing your question and we will take the most interesting question and make sure our panelist is made aware of it. Go online to www.thesomervillenews.com and under the Newstalk post your question or concern.

– Photos by Harry Kane

On Saturday, October 8, Shape Up Somerville, The Welcome Project, and the Somerville Housing Authority hosted a Block Party to celebrate the Mystic Mobile Market. The event took place at 530 Mystic Avenue in Somerville, on the lawn in front of the Mystic Activity Center at the Mystic Housing Development.  Events included pumpkin decorating, pumpkin recipe handouts (multilingual), cooking demonstrations, live entertainment and dance demonstrations, and arts and crafts.

As families struggle to make ends meet, businesses scratch and paw to stay afloat, and protesters occupy Wall Street, we here in the ‘Ville face our own share of challenges in this seemingly stalled economy.

Somerville cares about stopping domestic violence and demonstrated its resolve with a candlelight vigil. - Photo by Andrew Firestone

By Andrew Firestone

The people of Somerville spoke out against domestic violence this last Wednesday, October 5, holding a candlelight vigil and marching the circumference of Union Square. Joined by Chief Thomas Pasquarello of the SPD, Alderman John Connelly, and Rep. Denise Provost, the group assembled at the East Somerville Public Safety building afterwards, and shared their perspective on the problem of domestic violence.

By Andrew Firestone

The long-toiled over East Somerville Community School (ESCS) rebuilding process seems to finally be taking shape. In a joint Board of Aldermen-School Committee meeting last Wednesday, October 5, the Mayor detailed how he and the team assigned to managing the project had used value-engineering to save $3 million of their $8.1 million gap, enough to set out the first phase of construction beginning on in the first week on November.

Arrests:
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Harold Barnett, 29, of 16 Crowninshield St., Peabody, October 3, 12:41 p.m., arrested at 15 Edmands St. on warrant charges of resisting arrest, assault and battery, miscelaneous municipal ordinance violation, and shoplifying by concealing merchandise.

Laura Durette, 30, of 133 Broadway St., Everett, October 3, 4:50 p.m., arrested at 220 Washington St. on a warrant charge of shoplifting by asportation.

Naticha Lewis, Nichole Lewis, and Kathlyn Almeida deliver strong serves for the Somerville High School Girls Freshman Volleyball team.

The Somerville High School Girls Freshman Volleyball team tied in a tough match with Methuen last week. The Highlanders won the first set and dropped the second, leaving the team with a tie.

Sonja Darai fields questions about the city’s various Commissions and the roles that they play in enhancing the quality of life in Somerville. - Photo by Hary Kane

By Harry Kane

A workshop designed to educate the public on the city’s commission programming met on Thursday, October 6.

In Somerville there are five Commissions: The Somerville Commission for Women, Multi-Cultural Affairs Commission, Commission for People with Disabilities, Fair Housing Commission, and Human Rights Commission.

DeWitt Henry is an acclaimed essayist, and fiction writer. He is the founding editor of Ploughshares literary magazine, perhaps the most influential literary magazine in the country. Henry has a new memoir out, Sweet Dreams, that covers his youth, his time at Harvard, the formation of Ploughshares, and his coming of age as a writer and a man. I spoke to him on my Somerville Community Access TV show Poet to Poet to Writer to Writer.