"It's
more practical for tenants if they negotiate, rather than foreclose,
but many people don't know that," said Tchen, a Melrose resident.

It's also a pretty complicated process that a lot of people don't understand, said CAAS intern Emma Dillon.

CAAS
and the Cambridge & Somerville Legal Services (CSLS) Sunday went
door-to-door for a foreclosure outreach campaign to talk to tenants and
owners on the foreclosure list about their rights and how it may be
possible for them to stay in their homes. About a dozen volunteers
appeared for the information and training session before heading out
armed with the list of homeowners who CAAS and CSLS identified as being
in one of the stages of foreclosure. The list came from public records
that were printed in local newspapers.

There are 161
properties in Somerville in the various stages of foreclosure, said
April Kuehnhoff, an attorney-to-be (she just passed the bar exam) for
CSLS. Of those, 17 are bank owned, 17 have been resold to private
individuals, 37 have had foreclosure auctions scheduled and 90 have had
orders sent of the intent to foreclose (with no further process) sent
to them.

CAAS has been tracking evictions for about 15 years,
and typically they see about one or two this year, said Melissa
McWhinney, the CAAS director of outreach. To see 161 homes pop up on
the foreclosure schedule list was alarming, which led CAAS and CSLS to
reach out to tenants.

Somerville is faring better than many
other communities, such as Chelsea, Dorchester, Lynn, Lowell, and other
parts of Boston, McWhinney said. Somerville property values have been
fairly stable during this past year's housing crisis. When homes are
sold at inflated prices, but valued at less than what they are bought
for, that is when communities get into trouble, she said. Somerville
has not seen those fluctuations.

The foreclosure process is
complicated, and takes a long time. That is why volunteers were
instructed to tell people that CAAS and CSLS will hold a meeting on
Nov. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the CAAS office at 66-70 Union Square to answer
questions. Lawyers will also be present. It takes about a year from
when a person first misses a mortgage payment to when they receive an
eviction notice, though it really varies due to the numerous stages
that occur (see sidebar below).

Rachel Bedick, CAAS' outreach
organizer, said it's nerve wracking when first knocking on doors. Some
owners may not even know their homes are being foreclosed, even after
it's published.

Volunteers were armed with flyers in four
languages-English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole. They also
had language booklets with key phrases and to help them identify what
languages people might be speaking if they were unsure.

The
residents were told to relay how CAAS and CSLS can help people stay in
their homes, find rental assistance, seek advice, or refer them to
another source who could help them. The volunteers also stressed that
the foreclosure process is lengthy, and that no one would be kicked out
of their home in the near future.

Ari Daniel Shapiro lives
around the corner from the CAAS office. He showed up on Sunday to knock
on doors to support his community and gain a better understanding of
the diversity that exists outside his doorstep.

"It's a big issue," he said. "I just wanted to be a part of it."

You can reach CAAS at (617)-623-1392 or rbedick@caasomerville.org.

1.
Missed payment-Usually the mortgage payment is due the first of the
month. A late fee is assessed after the 15th day of the month.

2.
Demand letter- After the 60 days of missed payments a demand letter is
sent to the homeowner in attempts to collect and giving them 30 days to
resolve the delinquent amount.

3. Notice of default- After 90
days of missed payment, the loan is transferred to the foreclosure
department. The notice of default is then recorded with the county the
property is located in and mailed out to the homeowner within ten days
the default is recorded. The homeowner is given 90 days from the
recorded date to resolve the default.

4. Notice of Sale- If
after 90 days from the recorded date, the default is not resolved then
a notice of sale will be recorded. This notice states that the lender
will sell the property in 21 days. The copy of the notice will be sent
to the homeowner, posted in the county paper for three consecutive
weeks and at the county courthouse.

5. Trustee Sale- After 21 to 25 days of the notice of sale, the property is sold at a foreclosure sale or auction.

6. Real Estate Owned- when a property is not sold at auction, then the lender lists the property with an REO broker.

7. Eviction- if the property is sold to the highest bidder, then the eviction process starts for the foreclosed owners.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kayla_Hoang

We celebrate Veteran's Day on Nov. 11, but I found a place where it's Veterans Day, every day.

I
spent about an hour at Tony Matarazzo's Barber shop at 294 Broadway the
other day, but I didn't get a haircut. What I did get was a refreshed
feeling of patriotism and pride, and a renewed appreciation for the
courageous veterans that fought to keep us free. On a table in Tony's
Barber shop is what is known as the Armed Forces Honor Roll book. It is
a neatly assembled collection of photographs, newspaper clippings,
discharge papers, family shots, and even Western Union telegrams, all
telling a the story of the brave veterans from the Winter Hill
neighborhood. Phil Vozella, who is also a barber at Tony's explained
why the book was started and why it is so important. "These are
neighborhood guys, customers, and friends who answered the call of duty
and served their nation. There are photos of veterans from World War I,
World War ll, Korea, Viet Nam, Desert Storm, and even Afghanistan and
Iraq. Bob Quinn, a Korean War Vet, just did the whole book over. The
plastic sleeves and easy to read text make it an extremely interesting
and easy to read collection.

One of the most prestigious entries
is that of retired four-star Gen. John Sheehan from Putnam Rd in the
Ten Hills Area. He was one of 13 children and his dad drove a truck for
First National foods. The General's father was known as "The Irish
Whip" because of his softball pitching talent. The General used to cut
the hedges at St Polycarp Church. You can hear many more stories at the
barber shop.

Tony Matarazzo himself volunteered for the Navy
when he was just 16 years old. Tony tells stories of his fellow
veterans like they just happened yesterday.

There is a section
showing the Wilson brothers, who all served in Korea and returned
safely to Somerville. There was Fredrick, Woodrow, Walter and William
who I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with at the barber shop.
William turned out to be an old friend who I hadn't seen in about 30
years. "Willie" is a four- time commander of Post 299 in Cambridge.

There
is a wonderful picture the five Shea brothers — John, Richard, Edward,
Robert and Albert. Fred Solberg's story is pretty exciting, he escaped
from a POW camp twice. He ran Fred's Hardware on Marshall Street and
Broadway for years.

As Phil says, "It is a book to tell the
story of our local boys who served their country in time of need." The
book is a testimonial that serves as a reminder of the bravery and
unselfish dedication of the servicemen from the Winter Hill area.

You can see a great photo of Vic Leone in the book. Yes, the same Vic Leone from Leones Sub and Pizza!

Some
of the names and photos in the book are: Tony and Nick Cortese, Emilio
Caizzi, Joe Vigliotti, Arthur Harrington, Vito Capello, John S. Hayes,
Bob Haley and Retired Full Colonel Joseph W. Mercuri of the Nation
Guard.

Phil tells this story , which is one of the most exciting
I heard during my visit. On their landing craft heading to the invasion
of Okinawa, John "Hard Rock" Burns, along with many other somber
servicemen were quiet. Also on board was Corpsman George Doherty.
"Hardrock" say, "Hey, I'm the only one who thought ahead and brought
his own funeral director!" The funny line eased the tension of the
moment. George Doherty of course went on to run the Funeral Home in
Power House Square.

It is Phil and Tony's wish that the people
of the neighborhood, especially the younger generation, look at the
book and understand the sacrifices that their fellow citizens made for
their country. Phil Vozella is a human encyclopedia on Somerville
Veterans history. It was a pleasure and an honor spending an hour with
them.

I walked out of Tony Matarazzo's barber shop with a
feeling of deep appreciation for what our brave veterans did for our
nation. Go to Tony's and check out the Armed Forces Honor Roll Book. If
you get a haircut there you will look great on the outside and feel
even better on the inside .

Let's not forget to keep in our
hearts and prayers, the many dedicated and brave servicemen and women,
who are serving our country and preserving our freedom right now.

There are three different Veteran's events for the month of November:

Street
dedication: Joseph Duffy, father of Patrolman Paul Duffy, Saturday Nov.
7th 11 a.m. corner of Powderhouse Blvd. and Dow St.

Annual
dinner honoring police and firefighters of the year: Tuesday, Nov. 10th
7 p.m. American Legion Post #19 124 Highland Ave. (names have been
submitted for citations)

Annual Veterans Day ceremony: Wednesday, Nov. 11 10 a.m. VFW George Dilboy Post #529 371 Summer St.

During
a forum to solicit feedback on the work of the Lower Mystic River
Corridor Strategy project last Wednesday night, Metropolitan Area
Planning Council (MAPC) planners unveiled Phase 2 of the project that
began in 2007. The purpose of the project, planned for the cities of
Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, and Somerville, is to bring
the neglected waterway that encompasses 76 square miles of watershed
(though the project is restricted to the six-city area) from the Lower
Mystic Lake all the way up to East Boston.

"This area has not
realized its full potential," said Mayor Joseph Curtatone, before
introducing MAPC planners. "We have a river that we can use as a
regional asset. It's exciting to undergo this study."

Thus
far, the project's steering committee has met six times, and last
unveiled it's progress during a public form in Everett last January.
This meeting outlined the six strategies that the steering committee
has come up with since then. A synopsis of some key points are as
follows:

1. Acquire, protect, enhance, and link regionally
significant open space parcels-While the Mystic River Reservation is
fairly complete in Medford, there is much less open space in the lower
reaches of the river. The steering committee identified ten parcels,
including the Assembly Square area (1.5 acres of DCR-owned upland
currently used only seasonally for boat storage) and the Sullivan
Square connector trail (a new pedestrian link between Draw 7 Park and
the Route 99 Bridge).

2. Enhance and encourage sustainable
development and redevelopment along the corridor-Development along the
Mystic River has historically been industrial. The six cities have
identified important developments currently underway, such as the
Assembly Square mixed-use plan and the Rivers Edge project in Everett,
Medford and Malden. These projects should use green building, native
landscaping, and trail construction. MAPC should also provide an
analysis of Brownfield priorities.

3. Improve access to and
along the river through the development of water transportation, public
transit, roadway improvements, and bicycle and pedestrian
accommodations-Priority transportation projects include the Green Line
Extension to Route 16, the I-93/Mystic Avenue Interchange, and the
Orange Line station at Assembly Square.

4. Work with regional
partners to influence policy and ensure that agencies and organizations
have sufficient resources to effect change on the Mystic River-Elements
of this strategy include asking the MAPC to work with the Environmental
Protection Agency (as the EPA recently began a new Mystic River
Initiative in April 2008), asking the MAPC and six cities to work with
the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and with the
Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to work on eliminating combined
sewer overflows.

5. Develop and advocate for a strong
legislative response to Mystic River needs-The state Legislature is a
critical partner to revitalize the lower Mystic River. MAPC and the six
cities can work to create a Mystic River Water Quality Commission that
includes full city representation (originally House Bill 841 in the
2007-2008 Legislative session). The bill has been refiled for the
2009-2010 session and pending a final bill number.

6. Develop
and maintain an information clearinghouse-Although many agencies
involved in the Mystic River issues maintain Web sites, information
must collaboratively reach the public.

Visit www.mapc.org to
access a PDF of this report, which describes the above in detail, and
also contains various maps of the region. Look to the "Smart Growth"
tab on the left of the home page, and scroll down to the Mystic River
project, and the array of PDFs.

Part of initiative number six
has already been completed. MAPC recently developed a "dynamic" map of
the lower Mystic, also located at www.mapc.org. In addition, MAPC
recently updated its Web page to make it more user-friendly, and has
been working on a more robust email list, said Joan Blaustein, MAPC's
project manager.

The MAPC is proud of its interactive map, which
people can zoom into, move around, and zoom out to see how the Mystic
River project relates to surrounding neighborhoods. Blaustein asked the
audience to play around with the map, and contact her if there are any
suggestions to improve it. The map also contains links to other ongoing
projects, such as the Green Line Extension.

Marc Draisen, the
MAPC executive director, said that two lessons learned thus far come to
mind. First, cities and towns must work together to figure out what
will work for the major corridors, which includes the riverway.

"The
Charles River received a good amount of attention, but we haven't paid
attention to this riverway," Draisen said. "I know that money is tight,
and that we can't fund everything right away, but we can use this time
to prioritize."

Second, people need to focus on the future
needs, he said, again, stressing prioritizing. "Planning is only as
good as the implementation that follows it," he said, adding that this
night was the kick off for the implementation phase.

People in
the audience mainly asked about land acquisition issues-including
whether land could be taken to revert it back to its natural
habitat-and toxic waste, pollution, and water run-off issues.

Blaustein
said that the MAPC is working with the Mystic River Watershed
Association to assess water quality data and zeroing in on any "hot
spots." The MAPC has looked at a host of land acquisition issues and
prioritized where they can make the most progress. They are open to
hearing from people about other acquisition possibilities, Blaustein
aid.

"It is easy for us to prioritize open space," Draisen
said. "If our map can help us find critical Brownfields, if a site
appears to be useful, then we prioritize it. We can clean it up and use
it in a more recreational way. It is difficult to get listings of
Brownfield sites, because such a list, unfortunately, does not exist."

***************

Halloween
was here and the full moon wacko's were out in force in Wards 4, 5 and
6 trying to spread their lies again. The Farm Team is now officially in
bed with the wackos. Does anyone read that rag anymore? Did anyone see
the hit piece they did on Campano on something from 55 years ago, that
they could've done the moment he announced but instead waited until a
week before the election? Maybe the new Editor and new Asst. Editor
think they can raise circulation by destroying someone over an incident
that only he knows the truth about. We know something that the Farm
Team won't tell you…their circulation is way down. Ask yourself
this…have you seen any Farm Team papers in their boxes in the past
several months anywhere in the city? Do you see what a lot of people
see — dozens of papers left unread on the floors of stores six days
after the paper is out? The best is the 3,000 mailed for FREE in the
city to the elderly. What a shame that paper has gone straight down
hill and fallen off the cliffs with their alignment with the PDS and
their henchmen. Their biggest supporter and advertiser is the Winter
Hill Bank. No wonder no one reads the Farm Team anymore…. Here's a
quiz for you…count how many local Somerville ads in the Farm Team….
then count the Winter Hill Bank's ads. ……Surprised? What number do
you come up with?

***************

Election's over and all
the rumors and lies put to rest for another year. As usual the left
wing nuts PDSers were out spreading lies and venom this past weekend,
especially down in Ward 4. KB the so-called journalist was sending out
e-mails and making phone calls berating individuals who were not voting
for the endorsed PDS candidate. So not only do they hold quasi-secret
meetings and spread negative rants, now they are going berserk and
making stupid accusations.

***************

Guess which alderman was playing solitaire when the Little Sisters of the Poor was being recognized at the last meeting? …

***************

The
public hearing on the Green Line extension project is set for Nov. 18
at 6p.m. in the Somerville High School auditorium. One question we
should be asking at the hearing is, if they are planning on being
completed by 2014 how come many of the property owners that directly
abut where the rail is going haven't been notified by anyone?

***************

Best
Hamburger / cheeseburger is definitely Boston Burger Company over in
Davis Square….after they won the Best of 2009 in Somerville, some of
us decided to try them out and the verdict is in…..awesome, just
plain awesome — the best ever….if you haven't been there…you might
want to give it a try and see why they got the Best of Somerville 2009.

***************

We hear that Mike Buckley who left city hall here to join the mayor over in Everett has left his position over there now.

***************

LYNDELLS
BAKERY famous for great bakery for so many years here in Ball Square
(124 years) has opened a new store in the North End at 227 Hanover St.
They look to be some stiff competition for all that great Italian
pastry.

***************

Recognized by Somerville Local
First is Rob Gregory of Redbones BBQ on Chester Street in Davis Square
(and the best catering around). The award is granted to local
entrepreneurs who show a commitment to the "sustainability and success
of Somerville." Gregory lives up fully to that ideal.

***************

Our
own Bob Publicover is home and feeling better now that he's gone
through all that recent treatment, we hear he's doing great ….he has
nine lives, he's the coolest cat around!

***************

An
intersection in Somerville will be named after a decorated WWII Navy
veteran. Joseph R. Duffy was a great guy as well as a dedicated
Somervillian. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. on
Saturday, 11/7 at the intersection of Powderhouse Blvd and Dow Street.

***************

Norton, editor of The Somerville News and
co-owner of real estate company ERA The Norton Group, had served in the
position since 2007 after winning a sticker race against incumbent
Charlene Harris. Harris was also forced to run a write-in campaign
after failing to turn in election paperwork. He previously served in
the position from 1994-95 after an unsuccessful run in 1989.

Rafal,
a curriculum writer active in the Somerville Public Schools community,
defeated Norton by 135 votes out of the 1,115 votes cast for the
position.

The
five-mile extension, scheduled to be in place by 2014, will begin with
the relocation of Lechmere Station to the east side of Monsignor
O'Brien Highway, continuing on to the final stop at Mystic Valley
Parkway. Along this new stretch of railway, at least five new stations
will appear in Somerville.

Coordinators of the CCP, a
partnership of four local non-profit organizations including Groundwork
Somerville, the Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP),
the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC), and the Somerville
Community Health Agenda, arranged the open hall for smaller groups to
sit together; represented by the T stop expected to affect them most.

The
evening began with an hour long open house where attendees took part in
informal discussions, creative activities including "Timeline Tracks" –
a record of personal, historical, and 'T' related experiences from 1950
to the present day, a short film about the Green Line, and even an
opportunity to catch a live performance by Ramblin' Dan, singing his
campaign song, "Charlie on the MBTA."

The objective of the
meeting, which was translated into Spanish, Haitian Creole, and
Portuguese by the Lips Program, was to examine a list of pre-determined
principles and decide on their order of importance.

Calling
the meeting to order, Groundwork Somerville Executive Director Jennifer
Lawrence exclaimed, "Green Line is coming! What is Somerville going to
do?"

In a second round of discussion attendees voted to narrow
down their choices from a list of thirteen. Among the top priorities
eventually included were increased social and economic development, the
creation of community gathering spaces and keeping the city affordable.

SCC
member Mary Regan pointed out the importance of community involvement
in transit related development, using Fruitvale Village in Oakland,
Calif. as an example.

Regan said Oakland's diverse community
came together to make a positive impact in the development of the area
surrounding BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations.

"They've created a transit village," Regan said while displaying colorful and thriving images Fruitvale Village.

Regan added she hopes Somerville will soon also share the label.

A
modest two-room office in Ball Square is home to a media company with a
global reach. Working in 20 countries around the world, Spectrum Media
has designed successful campaigns to promote democracy in Mali,
nonviolent conflict resolution in Jordan, environmental conservation in
Madagascar, family planning in Tunisia, and sustainable agriculture in
Senegal and Malawi.

The Tunisian government hired Spectrum to
encourage water conservation. Its territories bordering the Sahara are
sparsely dotted with troughs, fed by wells. Often the nomadic peoples
who used them carelessly left the spigot open when they moved on,
wasting precious water. Spectrum designed inexpensive and durable
ceramic tiles, embedded in the troughs, with quotes from the Quran
admonishing Muslims to conserve water. The impact was dramatic.

Investors
in the Jakarta stock exchange were putting only 15 percent of their
funds into local companies that would build the Indonesian economy.
Five years after Spectrum's media campaign, the proportion was 85
percent.

Spectrum's principal, Jamil Simon, lives on Willow
Street, a half block from his office. His parents were Iraqi Jews who
fled Baghdad in the 1930s, first to Lebanon and then to Egypt. When
Rommel's Afrika Corps was bearing down on Cairo in 1941, they took
seaplanes, flying from lake, to river, to lake, to Capetown, South
Africa. From there they sailed across the South Atlantic, which was
free of the Nazi wolf pack, to Recife, Brazil, took a boat to Miami and
a train to New York City, where Jamil was born and his father opened a
branch of his bank.

Jamil fell in love with film in college and
began making documentaries upon graduation. In 1969, after working in
Baltimore with only three days off over eleven months of filming, he
came to Cambridge to visit his girl friend. A hitchhiker asked him if
he was interested in a Boston-area job, and at the age of 24, he became
director of Apt Associates' film department in Cambridge. He's been
here ever since.

Whenever possible, Spectrum works with
indigenous people to develop their capacity to continue media work. In
Malawi, Spectrum set up a media center that produces radio and TV
programs to promote sustainable agriculture.

The Malawi
project offers insight into how multimedia campaigns can be effective.
The company produced a package to train poor farmers in new
income-generating practices such as beekeeping and fish farming

Each
medium has its particular strengths. Print is best for conveying
factual information, but many farmers are illiterate. Video is better
suited for communicating motivational themes. Radio can reach a broad
audience inexpensively, but many farmers do not have radios.
Face-to-face communication delivers information most effectively, but
is costly.

Spectrum produced booklets that, through pictures,
taught farmers how to undertake beekeeping and aquaculture. Trainers'
manuals explained more technical details and the reasons for conducting
specific practices. Videos demonstrated them and included successful
beekeepers talking about how beekeeping had improved their impoverished
circumstances. Flyers, calendars, and posters promoted training and
reminded farmers of important practices. The newly created media center
produced 150 radio programs containing motivational and educational
information.

Jamil says that taking on a new assignment is like
being parachuted into a completely unfamiliar world, with its own
rules, culture, language, and issues. You have to decode it all to get
information out to the people who need and can use it.

You can't arrive with solutions. You have to constantly listen.

Too
often, development organizations do not provide the information needed
for indigenous people to become self-sufficient. In so doing, they
encourage dependency.

Spectrum's current project tackles a
complex and fascinating challenge. Warlords in Sierra Leone, Liberia,
Angola, the Congo, and the Ivory Coast enslave the locals to mine
diamonds, which they use to finance mass murder, rape, and child
armies. Legitimate diamond traders throughout the world have joined in
a compact called the Kimberly Process. They hope to ensure a secure
chain of custody from diamond miners to markets so they may exclude
"blood diamonds."

In the Central African Republic, miners
excavate legitimate diamonds from riverbeds. They think of themselves
as agriculturalists, but have had to give up farming in order to make a
living. In turn, the mining process destroys the land's capacity to
sustain agriculture.

Miners hold their individual plots by
traditional rights, agreed upon by their communities. The state has it
own statutory ownership definitions. Claim jumpers take advantage of
this difference by registering plots as their own.

A
Vermont-based organization is working with mining communities to map
out and attach GPS coordinates to individual plots and register them
with the government. The more miners that become legitimate, the more
their diamonds can be traded internationally, increasing the
government's tax revenue.

Spectrum is developing a campaign to
encourage diamond miners to register and government officials to make
this easier, teach miners diamond evaluation so that predatory traders
do not take advantage of them, and ultimately train them in
environmental restoration and more lucrative agricultural practices.
Once developed, the campaign can serve as a template in other
diamond-producing countries.

Spectrum is but one of many Somerville-based concerns that are quietly producing innovations with global impacts.

The Macellan Building is the first completely green
building to grace the state of Massachusetts, and many hope that it
inspires many more to follow in their footsteps. The film documented
the process of the actual planning and execution of this new
development in South Boston. The owner of the estate, Tim Pappas, is a
relatively new face in the real estate world, but made the decision
himself to make this project a green one.

The term green is
derived from the amenities and actual materials of the building. A
group called The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED),
whom follows a strict point system while assessing buildings, gives out
the green certification. The goal of this project was to get a Gold by
LEED's standards. To do so, The Macellan buildings amenities included
no fiberglass installations, close to the T, local vendors, double
flush toilets, and used local vendors. The building ultimately did
receive the Gold.

In the film Pappas discussed how when it was
time to get developers in on the action, it was hard at first to find
ones that were willing to participate in the green process, probably
because of the foreign nature of the procedure, being far from the
traditional means. For example, almost the entire frame of the building
was made from recycled materials from the old structure, the wheat
board cabinets from Minnesota, and the bamboo floors from China. All of
these materials proved to be tricky because of how new to the market
they were.

Pappas found that all the leaders who wanted to get
involved were around his age (late 20's). Of them, Jason Burrell was
the Project Manager. In the film he described the mixed reaction from
the community, it being a traditional, working class, Irish-Catholic
neighborhood, and the project itself being very out of the ordinary.
Still, all those who cared enough to see how the building was made
seemed to agree that it was great for the community, and a good step in
the right direction.

The film also discussed how an estimated
43% of all green house emissions come from the development and
sustaining of buildings. On top of this, according to the film,
buildings consume around 70% of energy in America. The Macellan
building aims to be a pioneer in righting these wrongs that
developments cause to the planet, while still building a structure that
serves its purpose.

The only drawbacks to the system that some
found were the LEED's negligence in assessing the energy used to ship
all of the materials to the site itself, from places like China,
Bolivia and Minnesota. The project itself proved as a success, the
ending of the film stated how the Mayor announced in 2007, after a
visit to the Macellan Building, that all new buildings must be green.

Alderman-at-Large candidate
Luis Morales and Ward 6 candidate Jim Campano both lost by wide
margins, with Ward 6 incumbent Rebekah Gewirtz winning 1,081 out of
1,476 votes cast for the seat and Morales trailing fourth place Bruce
Desmond by 1,446 votes.

In total, 7,682 ballots were cast in the
election, which included aldermen from every other ward running
unopposed and two contested seats on the School Committee.

Alderman-at-Large Dennis Sullivan took the top place, earning 4,861 votes.

"The voters think we're doing a good job, and they showed it today," Sullivan said at the Dante Club.

Morales,
who spent much of the day with supporters in Davis Square, said before
the vote count he hoped his first political campaign would show that
much of Somerville's population is without a voice on the Board.

"I'm glad to be new at this," Morales said. "I think when you've been in power so long, you kind of miss the point."

Curtatone, who ran unopposed, received 6,156 votes – with 1,251 ballots cast blank.