Dickerman Park final plan.

By Andrew Firestone

After years in the planning, 2011 will see Somerville receiving a major facelift as several major development projects, both public and private, are scheduled to begin. From East Somerville to Davis Square, roads will be repaved, homes will be erected, and the long awaited Assembly Square project is projected to finally break ground.

Among the major public projects is an overhaul of Broadway through East Somerville. Currently at 75 percent design phase, the city hopes to take the street down to single lane traffic, while adding bike lanes and wider sidewalks, which would also include adding additional lights to the area. Private funding for the project will come from Stop & Shop, as well as the Federal Realty Investment Trust in connection with their Assembly Square project.

This Friday night at the Somerville City Club starting at 7 p.m. is the fundraiser to help Det. Mario Oliviera and his family recover after Mario was shot in the line of duty Nov. 3. Tickets are available at the door and if you can’t make it you can still purchase raffle tickets. Mario has gone through a lot and he’s very well known here in the city. He’s a nice guy from a nice family and this is one good way to help out someone who has helped so many others in the community. Stop down, say hi and buy some raffle tickets. We hear its going to be wall to wall with friends. The City Club is off Washington Street directly across from the front door of Holiday Inn, lots of parking and easy to find.

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Here’s some good stuff, we heard, it appears that one of the Somerville Police officers was caught with his hands in the cookie jar! Or should we say candy jar? Rumor has it that back in October a generous Somerville citizen walked into the police station and donated bags of candy for the “Children’s Haunted House” on Broadway. Later that day, a police officer was allegedly caught on film red handed, we hear, hauling the Halloween treats to his personal car. When he was later confronted about the sweet tooth crime “denial” was the answer, so a choice of either a polygraph test or resignation was given to him and he took early leave, retirement. Now you’d think that with all the cameras nowadays a police officer would know to watch out.

By George P. Hassett

A Somerville police officer with more than 20 years on the force resigned this week after he was caught stealing a bag of Halloween candy from the station, according to multiple sources.

Robert Vozzella’s resignation was effective Tuesday, according to city spokesman Michael Meehan. Vozzella had worked as a patrolman since 1988. Meehan declined to release any other information regarding Vozzella but multiple sources said Vozzella was told he could resign or take a polygraph test in connection with the missing bag of candy. Sources said Vozzella chose to resign.

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An MBTA bus driver, who allegedly had an open bottle of vodka in his pocket when he crashed into a car at a Somerville intersection, was fired this week.

A termination letter was hand delivered to John McCarthy, 61, of 6 Chester Ave., on Monday after he was arrested Friday on charges of drunk driving and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

By Alderman William Roche

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

I am not sure what the intent was of printing the breakdown of the Board of Alderman’s (BOA) attendance at Committee meetings without any type of analysis, explanation or clarification. I believe it did a disservice to your  readers  and an injustice to all members of the BOA, especially me with the sub-headline “Alderman Roche attends fewest meetings.” It truly misrepresents our attendance, especially mine since I had a 100% attendance record for assigned Committee Meetings. With this in mind I would like to try to straighten out reader confusion trying to understand this breakdown.

Arrests
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Matthew Henebury, 40, of 70 Boston Ave., Jan. 17, 4:55 p.m., arrested at home and charged with disorderly conduct.

Vilson Poleto, 25, of 398 Medford St., Jan. 19, 12:21 a.m., arrested at 359 Medford St. on warrant charges.

Shatika Conward, 23, of 86 Howard St., Cambridge, Jan. 19, 4:09 p.m., arrested at 501 Medford St. and charged with operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license.

Well, my old friend Ed Galing, 94, will have a new book of poetry coming out hopefully early this year entitled “Pushcarts and Peddlers” (Poetica Publishing Company). It is a collection of Ed Galing’s Jewish themed poetry. Now, Galing is a regular contributor to my Lyrical Somerville column, and I have kept in touch with him mostly by phone for over a decade and even started a blog for him at edgaling.blogspot.com.

Hugh Fox is a noted scholar, avant-garde poet, memoirist and a founding editor of the prestigious literary award the “Pushcart Prize.” Fox is a member of the Somerville Bagel Bards, and has been a featured reader at the Somerville News Writers Festival. At 76, Fox is dealing with the cosmos, mortality, sex, and love, everything that has obsessed him since he cut his teeth on this stage.

Sasha Garczynski is off to a running start, capturing the top spot in the 600 meters in wins over Medford and Everett. - Photo by Siobhan Murray

Consecutive wins to open season

By Mike Rubin

Led by multiple strong performances, the Somerville High girls track team is off to a fast start. After cruising to a 66-15 win over Medford, the Highlanders rolled to a 73-13 victory over Everett. Currently, the Highlanders stand at 2-0 overall.

In the Medford win, the Highlanders were guided by Pristine Mei, who delivered a solid win in the two-mile run with a winning time of 13 minutes 13 seconds while Nicole Genard cruised to a win in the hurdles en route to a time of 8.9.