These
are just a few brainstorms generated Sunday night to see how we can
"radically" organize our community in areas that sorely need
addressing. The venue: the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS)
office at 66-70 Union Square. The event: The first of three workshops
entitled "Radical Organizing Methods."

Led by Steve Meacham,
the director of housing organizing at City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU) in
Jamaica Plain, the workshops are part of the "ROC (Radical Organizing
Methods) Summer Institute," which teaches people how to influence
policy. CLVU is a grassroots community organization that promotes
racial, social, and economic justice and gender equality through direct
action, coalition building, education and advocacy.

The next two
workshops will be held Sunday, July 26 and Sunday August 2 at the CAAS
center. (Call CAAS community organizer Rachel Bedick at 617-623-1392
Ext.141 for more information).

"We need to think how the system
works and where do you want to go with your struggles," Meacham said.
"Our ideal of radical organization is to approach it by taking lots of
viewpoints and how to link them, which stops problems from happening
again."

For example, City Life organized a Bank Tenant
Association two summers ago to organize against foreclosure evictions.
Since then CLVU has stopped 95% of the evictions that have come to
them, according to Meacham.

"Radical organization is about how
to help a person here and now, rather than sticking a finger in the
dike or waiting for some legislation to pass in a few years," Meacham
added.

About 25 people from Somerville and the Boston area
attended Sunday's workshop, most of who claimed that they wanted to
learn more about how to be an organizer. There was a pot potpourri of
activists from non-profits, volunteers, public health advocates to
interested residents.

The first order of business entailed
defining "radical organizing" and what makes it difficult to talk
about. People were asked to identify the barriers associated with
radical organizing.

"Our definition is vague; there are lots of interpretations," Meacham said.

In
a nutshell, people agreed that radical organizing is a psychological
transformation. Typically people default to what they know, especially
when they have their own idea of society. But radical organization is
about taking many viewpoints to make change.

People broke into
workshops to talk about particular issues, including health care and
education. They were asked to compile responses covering services,
advocacy, community development, electoral/legislative and organizing.
In addition to throwing out proposals for more political accountability
and eviction, people tossed out rent control, the need for community
clinics and charter schools. Upcoming workshops will cover world view
and leadership development and the dilemmas and tensions we face.

"Forums
like this are great to get lots of community responses," said Jon
Phoenix, 20, of Boston, a City Life volunteer who was active with the
foreclosure effort. "No one person has the answers. And working on
efforts like this makes me think that when the world goes crazy, at
least I can tell my grandchildren that I tried to make a difference."

What
struck Liz Manlin, 26, of Cambridge, a synagogue organizer, is the
spirit of peer education. "We all have experience to contribute to a
vibrant conversation about people, organizations, and communities
building power," she said. "There are lots of creative ways to do that.
Tonight has been really inspirational."

You can visit
http://citylifevidaurbana.blogspot.com for more information on the ROC
Summer Institute, which will also offer programs covering the greening
of our economy, cutting the military budget and funding communities and
spirituality and social justice, to name a few.

"Usually, a lot of it happens
behind closed doors and the community doesn't see it until it is 80 or
90 percent done," said co-facilitator Lisa Brukilacchio, who directs
the Somerville Community Health Agenda, one of four partners that
comprise CCP. The other co-facilitator was Lisa Gimbel of the
Somerville Community Corporation, who led the group through a series of
exercises aimed at bringing out the group's collective knowledge of
Somerville. It was an knowledgeable group indeed, each attendee having
spent an average of about to about 15 to 20 years in Somerville,
ranging from 2 to 50 years.

As they worked through the
exercises, the attendees struck a tensely ambivalent tone at times,
expressing both their optimism regarding the project's potential
benefit to the community, and their fears of the kinds of negative
change that a T stop might engender.

As for their hopes for the
project, the group expressed univocal support for the implementation of
green infrastructure surrounding the stop, including increased access
for bikers and pedestrians. Current plans include a bike and pedestrian
path leading behind the Visiting Nurses Association, where the meeting
was held, and attendees hoped that its residents would have safe access
to the pedestrian route.

They also wanted a minimal impact on
the community, which perhaps comes as no surprise given the lengthy
Somerville tenures of those in attendance. Fears of resident
displacement, particularly the elderly living off of fixed incomes,
were pervasive. Other worries included disruptive noise and light
caused by the trains, more cars vying for limited parking spots, the
bulldozing of residences, and higher property taxes.

"Will there
be a plan for resident issues to be addressed?" asked one attendee,
indicating the larger concern that local residents will lose their
voice in the project after this initial phase, and have to stew in
their grievances.

Attendees agreed that they wanted to keep
the character of the community intact, but had a hard time identifying
what their ideal growth model looked like. "Smart and sensible growth"
was proposed by the group, but Lisa Gimbel pointed out the subjectivity
of such statements, saying "what might be sensible to me may not be
sensible to you".

"If there is a greater commercial tax base,
then there is less pressure on raising housing taxes," said one
resident, Dave, in favor of developing more commercial property. He
wondered what effect more condo development would have on the area,
especially considering that the plan to turn the nearby MaxPak site
into more than 100 condos was just approved last month. "Is there room
in our schools? Enough Parking? Will more residents strain our
resources?" he wondered.

Other residents weren't as fond of the
idea of zoning more property for commercial purposes, and one resident
said he hoped to keep commercial properties contained to the area's two
main business areas in Magoun Square and Highland Ave. Ultimately, the
group seemed a bit unsure of how the balance of commercial versus
residential development nearby would grow or diminish the tax base, and
how it would be possible to keep the area affordable for longtime
residents who might not be able to afford increased rents or property
taxes. When asked by a facilitator how they could do this, the group
grew quiet. With no solutions yet on the table, one crowd member yelled
facetiously, "restrain the natural economic forces!"

Wig Zamore,
founder of the partnering Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership
(STEP), suggested that people look at models other cities have used
when moving toward increased access to public transportation. He cited
the example of Arlington, Virginia, that was in a similar situation
with the extension of the D.C. Metro in the 1970's. Ultimately,
Arlington rezoned a corridor surrounding the station stops for
mixed-use development, allowing property taxes to remain among the
lowest in the nation.

June
was one of the most challenging months that anybody around here can
remember. Between, on the one hand, the state's fiscal crisis and some
very hard local budget choices and, on the other hand, taking
Somerville home to victory in the All America City competition down in
Tampa, you might think that the City was ready for a little down time.
But while the weather may be cooler than normal, this has been a hot
summer for governmental news and action.

On July 20th, Governor
Patrick, Senator Kerry, Congressman Capuano and state Economic
Development Secretary Gregory Bialecki all came to Somerville to
announce that Assembly Square will be receiving a total of $65 million
in state and federal money to underwrite fast-track construction of the
public roadway, water and sewer infrastructure that must precede the
next phase of privately-funded construction. $50 million of that amount
will come from the state's Infrastructure Investment Incentive
(I-Cubed) program, with the other $15 million coming direct from the
federal government's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
Highway Transportation Fund.

Assembly Square has been moving
along steadily despite the economic downturn, but this timely infusion
of public dollars will accelerate activity at the site and allow the
private developers to put their private dollars to work on the actual
retail, housing and office development that will transform the Mystic
waterfront into Somerville's newest neighborhood.

In the short
term, that means hundreds, and even thousands, of construction jobs and
a boost for local property values. In the long run, it means thousands
of permanent jobs and an increased commercial tax base to help ease the
squeeze on Somerville's hard-pressed residential property taxpayers.

The
news didn't come as a complete surprise. The Governor has been saying
for some time that he wants to support Smart Growth, transit-oriented,
sustainable projects like Assembly Square – and a when he visited
Assembly Square back in February, Senator Kerry pointed out that this
project is more than "shovel-ready;" it's shovel-active. Besides, with
Congressman Capuano working effectively to secure $25 million in
federal funding for a new Assembly Square Orange Line Station, all the
moving parts of this project were falling into place, making it the
perfect location to get the most bang for the stimulus buck.

Until
yesterday, however, we had no idea how generous the state and federal
support would be. This level of backing at this crucial time is
incredibly valuable to our city and our entire region, and we have
every reason to be thankful – and hopeful – as Assembly Square moves
forward.

When it comes to keeping this project on track to
realize its full potential for our city and region, it's impossible to
overstate the roles played by Governor Patrick, Senator Kerry and
Congressman Capuano. Not only have they grasped the value of what we're
doing along the Mystic riverfront, but they have invested their vision,
clout and political capital in helping make it happen. In this, as in
so many other ways, they have earned our thanks and our support – as
have the members of our statehouse delegation and our energetic Board
of Aldermen.

The news on Assembly Square isn't the only reminder
that Somerville enjoys the strong support of effective allies at every
level of government: A story in the July 21st issue of the Boston Globe
raises questions about the state's ability to finance the next
generation of regional transit improvements – including the Green Line
Extension. But if you look past the misleading headline ("Green Line
extension funding in question"), what you learn is that the Green Line
from Lechmere to Tufts at College Ave may be the only major new transit
project that the state remains firmly committed to building on
schedule. True, there are rumblings that the state might be slow in
finishing the final leg of the project – from Tufts to Route 16. But
nobody is talking about curtailing Somerville's stretch of the Green
Line – even at a time when, according to the Globe, "the Urban Ring,
the Silver Line bus tunnel, and the Blue Line extension to Lynn [may
all be] excluded from the group of projects eligible for federal
funding."

Somerville has earned a reputation as a dynamic,
forward-looking and creative city that knows how to plan and is worth
investing in. As we continue our efforts to emerge even stronger and
better from a down economy, we're going to depend on that reputation,
and we're going to need all the support we can muster – but the signs
are good that we have the key backing we need on Beacon Hill and
Capitol Hill.

And, speaking of Beacon Hill, there's a
legislative hearing this week on the latest bill to help Verizon
undermine local cable franchising and gain an unfair advantage over its
competitors. A statewide coalition of local governments, cable access
groups and just plain folks beat down the first version of this
legislation back in 2007, but it's back again for another go.

We
have said publicly that the City would be happy to work with Verizon to
bring its FiOS cable and data service to Somerville residents. But it's
wrong to create an unequal playing field in which Verizon gets to enter
new markets under terms that are very different than those applied to
the current cable providers. It's also wrong to take away the authority
of local communities to enforce basic license requirements, such as
mandating that cable providers serve the whole community or help pay
the cost of public access and educational programming. That's why, as
chairman of the Massachusetts Mayors Association's Telecommunications
Task Force, I have led my colleagues in opposing this type of
legislation in the past – and why I continue to oppose it now.

Will
the pace ever wind down at city hall this summer? The answer is
"Probably not." But that's part of the fun of living and working in a
truly exciting community like Somerville. I wouldn't want it any other
way.

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

We
heard about a well-known family wedding down in Falmouth this past
weekend, everyone that was anyone (so to speak) was invited. Another
wedding coming up soon we hear on October 4th is Alderman at Large
Dennis Sullivan and Melissa Hurley. We didn't hear where, but we know
its not in Falmouth or up in Northern NH at the 'Ville with trees.

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

Matt
Buckley is back at the City of Somerville in the Personnel Department
we hear – as the Temporary Director. This was a job he did well back in
the Mayor Gay days. We heard through the grapevine that the recent past
Director left in a hurry. Matt is well known in City Hall and is one of
the many good guys up there, always smiling and never saying a bad word
about anyone, we wish him luck in his new old job.

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

Speaking
of replacements and the Buckley's – is it true we hear that Mike might
be coming back to the city to once again work up at city hall? A few
months back, Mike took a job over in Everett working for the Mayor
there.

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

Don't miss out on enjoying our
friend Marco Soares and his band "Sex Magic" who will be shaking up the
Holiday Inn this Friday night, as the rock band helps celebrate
Somerville's newest bragging rights as "All America City" – the
homegrown rock band will begin playing at 9 pm in the nightclub on the
24th, no cover charge – for people from the 'Ville to enjoy a local
band. Plenty of parking, mention you saw it here to Marco for us.

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

We
heard that Mayor Joe and a few Aldermen recently went to California
last week to check out IKEA's operations and to get a feel of what it
will be like when the giant store opens its doors here in the 'Ville.
We heard that IKEA got a big thumbs up by the inspection team and that
according to sources the IKEA project will revolutionize the entire
area at Assembly Square.

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

This past
weekend was the annual ArtBeat – which was very well attended and
getting bigger and bigger every year. What a difference between now and
when it first started not to long ago. It's a great annual event that
gives Somerville a good name, congratulations to all the hard work and
effort put into this event.

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

The
Somerville Rock & Roll Yard Sale is the next signature event in the
awesome ArtsUnion lineup, and is presented by Somerville Arts Council
and Chris & Jennifer Daltry of What Cheer Records in Providence
(www.myspace.com/providencerockandrollyardsale). Get your groove on at
the Somerville Rock & Roll Yard Sale, coming up Saturday, August
1st from 3-7pm in Union Square.

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

The 2009
Somerville Sunsetters will be performing across Somerville throughout
July and August, at the following locations. Performances that are
canceled due to inclement weather will NOT be made up. For more
information regarding performances, please call 311. Over the next
week, they will be performing on: Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:00 pm at
107 Shore Drive ; Thursday, July 23rd at 7:00 pm at 6 Spring Hill
Terrace; Monday, July 27th at 7:00 pm at Palmacci Park and Tuesday,
July 28th at 7:00 pm at 21 Hall Avenue.

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

There
will be a community meeting to discuss the Community Park and Off Leash
Recreation Area at 0 New Washington Street on Thursday, July 23rd from
6:30-8:00 pm in the Ralph and Jenny Center (Community Room) located at
9 New Washington Street. For further information, please contact
Carlene Campbell at ccampbell@somervillema.us or call her at (617)
625-6600 x3303.

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

For the sixth consecutive
year, Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP) will partner with the
City of Somerville and the Somerville Police Department to host the
local celebration of the National Night Out Against Crime and Drugs.
The event is scheduled for Tuesday, August 4th starting at 5 pm at Foss
Park – activities will begin at 5 pm with youth activity tables and an
obstacle course sponsored by the Somerville Recreation Department.
Also, the Somerville Police Department will be on site with Child ID
kits to engage youth and families. At 6:30 pm, the State Police K-9
Unit will conduct a presentation followed by a performance by the 2009
Somerville Sunsetters at 7:30 pm.

For those of us who have
lived their entire lives within a mile of the Assembly Square area of
the city, we have seen many ups and downs over the years with changes
and lawsuits and all sorts of craziness there. It was easy to dream a
bigger dream when it came to the whole area, but it seemed like it
would never happen.

So now there are all sorts of public and
private partnerships involved and federal and state monies being added
to the till to get this thing off the ground. IKEA, two hotels, plenty
of residential and commercial space – and a shiny new Orange Line stop.
Great.

In these fiscally difficult times it really is hard to
complain, but in case nobody has noticed, there is a movement afoot to
make sure the Urban Ring – which would tie Assembly on the Mystic
directly to vital businesses, important commercial/industrial areas and
Logan International Airport – be cut short of reaching to Somerville.

My
good friend Alan Nissenbaum of the re-cycled auto parts dynasty thinks
I have run out of topics to write about. The name of this column is "On
The Silly Side" so that gives me a lot of free territory to explore –
there is a lot of "silly" stuff just fermenting in my head. All I have
to do is censor/tone it down a bit and I have an article. Running out
of ideas, indeed! I can talk about the fact that Alan gave me an
unbelievable deal on a re-cycled air conditioner condenser for my gas
guzzling un-earth-friendly, yet very practical because I tote a lot of
musical and camping equipment and kids around on a daily basis, SUV.
Seems that the truck was "acting a lot like it's owner and blowing a
lot of hot air!"

Running out of stuff to write about? Are you kidding? Never, my friends, never.

How
about that ArtBeat? The annual gathering of all things artsy, creative,
musical, tasty, odd and interesting. This year I actually got to spend
some time in a shady spot. Doesn't it seem that ArtBeat is always the
most humid and sticky hot day of the summer? But it is always well
worth it. People came from all over to bask in Villicity. A friend came
from Arlington and just happened to catch the performance by my awesome
Sunsetters. Talk about a fashion show? Tie-dyed, dreadlocks, piercings,
tattoos, great hats, lots of kids, piercings, sandals, flip flops, more
tattoos, more piercings and an ample smattering of underarm shrubbery.
ArtBeat is a tradition that Somerville always pulls off successfully
and it gets better every year.

And on the serious side, it is
an honor for me to talk about SC Second Class Carl J. Lorenzo Square at
the corner of Morrison Ave and College Ave. Carl served bravely and was
decorated while in the Navy during World War II. Frank Senesi did a
great job as usual in putting together and emceeing the ceremony, which
included two color guards and a lot of Mr. Lorenzo's proud family
members. Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz was very helpful in making the
dedication a reality. Rebekah and Alderman at Large Dennis Sullivan
said some very nice words at the ceremony. I knew Carl, who left us way
too soon, as his son Phil put it so eloquently. Phil made the
dedication his heart's work and you can bet that his dad is proud of
his son. I sure am proud of Phil and I am glad I got to know his dad .
He was like my dad – the father of an aspiring rock musician. They put
up with a lot of crap from us Hall Ave rockers! Add Jake O'Neil – Pat's
dad into that mix also. Our dads should get also get a gold record for
being rock pops. Here's to you Carl!

This just in! Young
up-starts displaying careless and moronic behavior have moved onto my
street! Two creeps almost ran me and my dog over as they bombed into
their driveway. I was walking my small dog and he was sniffing around
the front yard close to the driveway. Then…heart attack time! Are you
kidding me? When I said rather calmly, considering I was still shaking,
"do you know you almost ran me and my dog over?" they laughed and said
I should have gotten out of the way. They jetted into the driveway
going about 25 mph. out of nowhere, obviously speeding at 9:30 pm. Good
thing the dog didn't use the plastic bag I was carrying because I
almost needed it for myself. One of the dopes laughingly says "at least
your dog had the sense to get out of the way." Well, I went all Jimmy
on them and went home. I forgot that I am a 55 year old adult and
responded like a 25 year old kid from Somerville and I will leave it at
that. No. One more thing. I AM from Somerville, born and bred, and this
means I was brought up the hard way – the street way. I have trouble
ignoring situations like the reckless, rude stoops in the junk box who
almost took me and the dog out. What if a senior citizen had been in
front of the driveway? Oh I forgot, I am one! But I did pretty good
considering. I pulled my nutty on them and they went in their house,
probably to drink more beers and hit the bong some more. I had had a
long hot satisfying day doing the right thing with Somerville's
talented kids and I guess I just wasn't expecting to be killed on my
own street at 9:30 pm walking my pooch. Silly me. That's not how I want
to go out. Serenity Now! Serenity Now! (quote from Seinfeld).

How
am I doing? Want some more? I have been having a great summer since
resurrecting Project Star. The Recreation Commission, in conjunction
with the Mayor's office, gave me the honor of bringing back this
program – which started in 1967 and went until the 80's I believe (I
may be wrong and probably am). At any rate, it's back. We will be
presenting an original mini-musical that I wrote called "Back in The
'Ville" on Wednesday, August 12th at the Somerville High School
Auditorium. The show starts at 7:00 pm and we are adding some very
special surprises! We urge all former Project Star members to attend
and take the stage and tell us briefly about their shows. It will be a
blast from the past and thrill for the present. Admission is free. The
lovely and talented Sophia Carafotes is my assistant director. Any time
you can get a multi-talented member of the Carafotes family involved in
a show, you know it's going to be special.

See, I haven't run
out of material, unless you stopped reading already and there's a fresh
flounder or haddock wrapped in my page in the freezer. I could have
told you all the story of how my dad used to wear Bermuda shorts with
black socks, and black shoes, but I didn't. And about that dog almost
being run over by the idiots thing – I have already let that go – until
tomorrow.

So Alan Nissenbaum, my dear pal, if I ever really do
run out of ideas, I can always tell the story of our mutual friend, the
popular and successful comedian from Somerville who use to hop your
fence and steal tires! I'll run out of material the day you run out of
1967 Dodge Dart 225 slant-6-cylinder water pumps!

The meeting began Tuesday at
6:30pm and took place at the Capuano School. In attendance were about
25 concerned neighbors and representatives from the city, including
Alderman Bill Roche, as well as representatives from the Somerville
Police Department Traffic Enforcement Division.

The proposed
traffic restriction is designed to decrease the copious, daily traffic
Myrtle Street and Tufts Street have experienced for years during rush
hour. Many commuters use the small side streets as a cut-through to
Route 93, Mystic Avenue, and Medford. Consequently, residents in the
neighborhood have trouble with noise, parallel parking, and even
pulling out of their own driveways.

Alderman Bill Roche
mediated the meeting. "I don't have to tell anyone in this room about
the traffic at Myrtle Street," he said. "I have received 40 to 50
messages from people saying they were in favor of this change."

The
proposal, which will go into effect in the coming weeks, will station
traffic patrol officers on both Myrtle and Tuft Street during the hours
of 7am-9am and 4pm-6pm. Drivers will be required to show their licenses
to prove they live in the neighborhood and are not just cutting
through. For those who violate the new restrictions, there will be a
two-week educational period where officers will let them off with a
warning. After the initial two weeks, violators will be ticketed and
there will be a monetary penalty.

The Somerville Police seem
confident this new restriction will reduce traffic on the streets.
"Once you start writing tickets around Myrtle Street you will be amazed
how fast the word gets around," explained Officer Nick Stiles.

"There's
no doubt there will be arrests coming out of this," said Police Captain
Devereaux. "We won't be searching for them, but people will have
expired licenses, unregistered vehicles, and this will have a fast
effect on the area."

Roche also humorously added that with all
the tickets from potential violators "the city will probably be getting
rich the first month or so."

To prepare Somerville for the
change in traffic laws, the new restriction was advertised in the
Somerville Journal for three weeks as is required by city law. Signs
have also been made to notify drivers that only residents of Somerville
can pass through Myrtle Street and Tuft Street at those hours.

To
further reduce traffic, Roche promises there will soon be new signs
saying "Abutters Only." The belief is that changing the words from
"Residents Only" to "Abutters Only" will make it absolutely clear that
no one but those living in the neighborhood can use the streets at
those hours.

This ultimately caused some concern for residents
at the meeting. One young man explained his girlfriend liked to come
over to his house after work. He wanted to know if she would be
ticketed for driving down his street during the restricted hours.

"Yes,
she could be. There's no way to prove if what she's saying is true,"
answered one traffic officer. "But if the person was to give the name
and address of who she was visiting, being very specific, it would help
the officer in making his decision."

The new traffic
restrictions will be in effect for 90 days and then be evaluated for
efficiency in traffic reduction. At the 90 day mark Roche promises a
thorough assessment will be given: "We'll be looking at how many
citations have been given, see how many cars are passing through, find
out what the neighbors are seeing."

Six years ago a traffic
study was done on Myrtle Street. It found that around 3200 cars were
going down Myrtle Street every day. "What's being proposed tonight has
to help," said Roche. "The city, all the way up to the Mayor is
committed to making this work."

Towards the end of the meeting
one resident seemed to speak for everybody present saying, "This will
be a huge step to calm our neighborhood down. It's going to make all
our lives better and I just want to say thank you."

The funding request, totaling $185,969, sparked
criticism from Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz for excluding other
departments which faced cuts as other Board members and Mayor Joseph
Curtatone defended the move.

Curtatone faced heavy criticism
from when two recreational department positions were cut from the
Fiscal Year 2010 budget, prompting a protest march to City Hall and
both Gewirtz and Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane to vote against the budget.

Both
Curtatone and DPW Commissioner Stan Koty said keeping the four
positions would be necessary to maintain the department's level of
service.

"It's not about the people in these positions, it's
about the services," Curtatone said . "We're going to continue to
streamline and become more efficient."

"You would be costing people money if you did not bring them back in the long run," Koty added.

Gewirtz
challenged the administration's reasoning behind the restoration,
noting much of the justification for layoffs in the rec and library
departments revolved around providing high service with fewer
employees.

"I find it interesting that in these other
departments we've been talking about, the library and recreation
departments, we don't need more positions to maintain a high level of
service," Gewirtz said. "It just seems like a non-consistent argument."

"We're putting $185,000 back into a department when we're not sure it's actually needed," she added.

"Every department has a different employment structure," Curtatone responded. "I think we are taking the most prudent approach."

Alderman-at-Large Bill White stressed that it wouldn't be possible to leverage one department against another.

"I don't want to make a vote tonight that will result in laying people off."