On Monday,
the suspect was described by police as a young white male, who entered
the bank shortly after 9:00am Monday morning and passed a note to a
teller in which he demanded cash and claimed to have a bomb. The
suspect produced neither bomb nor weapon, and fled the bank on foot
after being handed an undisclosed amount of cash. Although clothing
worn by the suspect was later recovered near Wheatland Street, police
said, a search of the area using a police dog did not produce any clues.

The
Century Bank and Trust is no stranger to armed robbery. The bank has
been robbed around three or four times in the past decade, Deputy Chief
Paul Upton told the Somerville News. Monday's robbery was unusual,
however, in that the suspect claimed to have a bomb. "This is very
unusual," Upton said, explaining that normally bank robbers claim to
have some kind of weapon.

Although the suspect in Monday's
robbery never produced a bomb, or any kind of weapon, Upton explained
that the suspect's threat is taken seriously. "This was an armed
robbery based on the threat made. We assume that he is armed until we
know that he is not."

"It's an awful thing," Barry Sloane,
Co-President and Co-CEO of Century Bank and Trust, said of the robbery.
"The rate of robberies nationally has gone up quite a bit in these
difficult economic times, and it's a sad and dangerous thing."

In
reviewing a surveillance camera photo taken during the robbery,
Somerville Detective Mario Oliveira identified the suspect as Michael
Noe. Working with the FBI Violent Crime Task Force, Somerville
Detectives began an aggressive search for Noe in the pre-dawn hours of
Tuesday morning. Their investigation led to Washington D.C. where Noe
was arrested. Noe subsequently made incriminating statements regarding
the robbery. Most of the money believed to have been stolen has already
been recovered.

Somerville Detective John Oliveira, who is
assigned to the Violent Crime Task Force, obtained an arrest warrant
charging Noe with Armed Robbery and Making a False Threat of the
Location of an Explosive Device. He will be arraigned in Somerville
District Court following rendition proceedings.

The exhibit, which hung in
City Hall from mid-November through last week, was a unique expression
of the East Somerville community and all its facets. Only through the
generosity of forty photographers, could everyone who came through City
Hall in the last two months have a new window on East Somerville. As a
volunteer driven organization, we would also like to thank the
exhibit's tireless volunteer curator, Christopher Poteet, for the time
and vision put in to create this for the Somerville community.

And for their support of the exhibit, we would like to thank CameraOne, the Christmas Tree Shop and Stanhope Framers.

Above
all, we are appreciative of the support of our generous host, Mayor
Curtatone, and his staff for so warmly welcoming the exhibit to City
Hall, as well as the Somerville Arts Council for their help in hanging
the show.

It is our hope that the Interpreting East Somerville
exhibition is the first step of many in continuing to discover the
depth of East Somerville. With this, East Somerville Main Streets
continues to invite interpretations and ideas for this amazing
neighborhood:

info@eastsomervillemainstreets.org.

With Appreciation,

Carrie Dancy

Executive Director, East Somerville Main Streets

East Somerville Main Streets

114 Broadway – Suite 112

Somerville, MA 02145

617.623.3869

Support ESMS – Buy an East Somerville Tshirt!

www.eastsomervillemainstreets.org/tshirts.htm

Blog: eastsomervillemainstreets.blogspot.com

"The world will
succeed by mutual respect and solidarity, or it will fail. I believe
that our destiny is shared, but also in peril. Together, can we find
that common purpose?"

Blair spent his forty-five minute address
suggesting, to a rapt audience of more than 1,500 Tufts students and
community members, ways in which world leaders might foster a common
purpose, using his political background and recent experience as a
Middle East envoy to offer both anecdotes and insights.

The
conflict between Israel and Palestine took center stage in Blair's
remarks. A resolution to that conflict, he offered, would set a
powerful precedent for future conflicts in the 21st century.

"If
we were able, in that conflict, to provide the basis for peace, if in
that small strip of land, people actually learnt to live with each
other after all the bitterness and conflict that has gone before, that
would be the single most powerful expression of coexistence there could
be."

But, he explained, that the conflict, like many facing the
world – climate change, the economic crisis, and rampant preventable
diseases like malaria – cannot be resolved according to the traditional
principle of "narrow self-interest."

"Each problem is global,
each requires a global response; in no case is any one country able to
handle them on its own. And this is part of the challenge to us.
Because we have to realize that if indeed we are in an interdependent
and interconnected world, and if it is the case that no one country can
deal with these challenges on its own, then the implications are clear:
to deal with those challenges, we need global alliances."

In order to form such alliances, Blair suggested, new and deeper understandings need to be created.

"A
narrow view of foreign policy conducted according to immediate national
self-interest no longer works effectively. If it is true that we need
global alliances, alliances between different countries with different
cultures, then those alliances cannot come about upon the basis of
imposing one world view on another."

Addressing global problems
requires a more "enlightened" conception of national self-interests,
based upon a recognition of interdependence and of the possibility that
"those countries that are going backwards are not merely harming
themselves, but areas of conflict are spreading."

With these new ways of thinking, a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is within reach, Blair said.

"Take
any reasonable group of Israelis and Palestinians," Blair explained,
"who basically believe in peace, put them in two separate rooms, tell
them to come up with a peace agreement, and the two wouldn't be that
far apart. If we are determined-and Obama has signaled he is – to take
this issue and drive it, guide it, then I believe that peace is
possible."

Referencing the recent military operations in the
Gaza strip, Blair stressed the need for urgency. "In the past few
weeks, I've felt the tension rising in the region, felt the fault lines
in the politics of that region go deep. We cannot afford to let another
year pass without substantial progress."

Blair also cited a need
to focus on secular education, asking, "when there are young people
taught in religious madrasahs, from the early hours of the morning into
the evening, religious instruction and nothing but, why are we
surprised when there are some who drift into extremism?"

The
solution, Blair offered, is to "make sure that people of different
faiths find the means to understand each other better, to respect each
other better – not merely to tolerate each other – but to understand
that we have a common destiny and purpose."

Delayed nearly an
hour and a half by an intense and rare snowstorm in London earlier
Monday, the former Prime Minister took only a handful of pre-screened
audience questions after his address.

Asked whether, given
subsequent developments, he could still publicly say that the US
invasion of Iraq was justified, Blair said only that "you face
decisions and you make them. I still don't think that the region would
be more peaceful if Saddam were running Iraq."

"…The new round of anticipated cuts
in local aid means that we have to find a way to close an additional $3
million gap in the current fiscal year," stated Mayor Curtatone. The
fiscal year of 2009 closes on June 30th, making it an all out sprint to
find ways of saving the City of Somerville's budget to lessen the blow
to local government and thereby the various companies and organizations
take on.

According to a press release from Mayor Curtatone's
office, The Financial Advisory Committee will consist of five members:
Samuel Tyler, President of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau;
Jonathan G. Sloane, President and Co-CEO of Century Bancorp; Geoffrey
Hargadon, Sr. Vice President for Investments, UBS Financial Services;
Ronald Bonney, Jr., President of Bonney Automotive and Executive
Committee Member of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce; and Professor
Daniel Richards of the Tufts University Economics Department.

Samuel
Tyler stated "Somerville is a regional leader in adopting municipal
best practices to improve service efficiency, however, the size of the
state aid cuts this year and next will require creative but hard
choices and I am happy to join the Advisory Committee members in
bringing outside thinking to address this challenge."

Thus far,
the most creative decision made by Mayor Curtatone and his
administration has been to bring in this committee of financial
advisors. Although these seasoned financial advisors have a hard task
on their plate, it appears as though Somerville is in good hands.

Mayor
Curtatone states that "Somerville may be in better fiscal shape than
many other cities and towns in Massachusetts, but we're still faced
with some painful choices – and we don't expect much, if any,
improvement in 2010. We could complete this process internally, but why
shouldn't we draw on the wisdom and expertise that's available all
around us? We've never been shy about turning to outside experts for
advice about municipal best practices, and I welcome the fresh
perspective this distinguished outside group will bring."

Mayor
Curtatone also added that the options that Governor Deval Patrick and
the State Government are giving to local cities and towns like
Somerville are not substantial enough to make any large difference.
These include the local meals and hotel taxes, as well as the ousting
of the Telecommunications tax loopholes. "We won't see any new revenue
from these changes until next year," Mayor Curtatone stated, "We need
to act now to make up for these cuts – and we will."

Maryann
Heuston, an Alderman who is also the chair of the Board's Finance
Committee, cited how this Financial Advisory Committee won't be able to
make the decisions for the city, but more so act as an outside source
of guidance for the City of Somerville. "I also think that having an
outside group involved adds an extra measure of transparency to what is
going to be a challenging process," she states, "and that's important
if the public is going to have confidence in the final plan that the
Mayor and the Aldermen develop." Mayor Curtatone expects the Financial
Advisory Committee, who will be convening later this week, to come back
with recommendations by mid-March at the latest.

In addition,
Mayor Curtatone will be in close contact with the leaders of the
various Unions represented in City Government on every level. He stated
that, "We want to partner with organized labor on developing realistic
approaches to keeping costs under control, while maintaining core
services. I anticipate their willing cooperation."

Since the end
of the fiscal year is right on the horizon, this new committee, as well
as city government, must make haste to secure the financial stability
of Somerville. The people of Somerville, as well as the people across
the Commonwealth, must also realize that the responsibility of this
plight doesn't only rest on the shoulders of the elected officials they
voted for, but firmly on themselves as well.

But while major foundations victimized by
Madoff start to plan for an uncertain future, one thing is certain:
this scheme might ruin countless smaller organizations that rely on
funding and grants from the bigger foundations Madoff has jeopardized.

Two such smaller organizations that may face future troubles from the Madoff scandal reside in Somerville.

Youthbuild
U.S.A. is a national non-profit organization dedicated to bettering
low-income communities by employing local youth in rebuilding and
renovating properties in their community. There are more than 225
Youthbuild centers and programs in the United States, including one
located in Somerville.

Founded in Harlem in 1978, Youthbuild
U.S.A., then called the Youth Action Program, began its mission by
using local youth to renovate East Harlem tenements. By the early
1990's, the program had been replicated in 14 cities and in 1994,
Youthbuild received their first federal grant of $40 million from the
US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The continued
success and growth of Youthbuild U.S.A. relies on grants and donations
from major organizations, including JEHT – a major private funder of
Youthbuild, who has recently suspended all grants due to the Madoff
scandal.

JEHT, an acronym for Justice, Equality, Human Dignity
and Tolerance, was a philanthropic foundation established in 2000.
According to its website, JEHT's mission was to "support programs that
promoted reform of criminal and juvenile justice systems, ensured U.S.
adherence to international law, and work to improve the voting process."

This
mission statement has since been eclipsed by the Madoff Scandal. As of
January 2009, JEHT's loss of heavy investments entrusted to Bernard L.
Madoff investment securities, has forced JEHT to close its doors and
suspend all grant making.

In October of 2004 and December of
2006, JEHT made two-year grants to Youthbuild U.S.A. totaling $625,000.
How the suspension of any future grants towards Youthbuild U.S.A. will
affect the organization have yet to be announced.

Another
Somerville based organization that may soon feel the consequence of the
Madoff scandal is the Somerville Arts Council. Serving as the local
cultural council for the city of Somerville, the Somerville Arts
Council relies on the contributions of local businesses, corporation
and foundations to fund its various art programs.

Approximately 45% of the Arts Council's budget is derived from such sponsored donations.

One
such sponsor of the Somerville Arts Council is The Carl and Ruth
Shapiro Family Foundation, another philanthropic organization that has
fallen victim to the Madoff scandal.

With assets over $320
million, it is projected that the Shapiro Family Foundation may have
lost $145 million to Madoff. Carl and Ruth Shapiro have declined to
comment about their investments and close ties to Madoff. It has been
reported Carl Shapiro considered Madoff to be a friend.

The
foundation did release a statement explaining that the organization
would not be awarding any new grants or capitol pledges in 2009. But
the statement did say that the foundation will honor its current grant
commitments and that it remains "deeply committed to playing a
continued role as a philanthropic supporter of important programs in
Greater Boston."

The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation
sponsor a Somerville Arts Council program – "Books of Hope," a creative
writing workshop for Somerville teens in which they write, edit and
publish original works.

The Shapiro Family Foundation has
promised to help sponsor "Books of Hope" from July 2008 to June 2009.
After that timeframe, the foundation will likely be unable to continue
its sponsorship.

How the small, Somerville-based organizations
like Youthbuild U.S.A. and the Somerville Arts Council will ultimately
be affected by the rippling consequences of Madoff's ponzi scheme is
unknown. Although their continuation is not directly threatened, if
future funding becomes scarce there may be an exodus of non-profit
Somerville organizations.

With a shaky economy causing most Americans to pinch pennies, the Madoff scandal could not have come to light at a worse time.

Madoff
was arrested on December 11th 2008, after admitting to his sons that
the asset management arm of his firm was "one big lie," based on
investment fraud. He is now living under house arrest awaiting his
indictment, which is expected to occur sometime this month.

The
caucuses are open to all registered Democrats that reside in each
respective Ward. Additional details will be explained at the location
and day/time indicated below or you can contact the Ward Chair through
the Democratic City Committee online at www.somdems.org.

Wards 1, 2, 3 and 7 will meet on Thursday, February 5th at 7pm at the Argenziano School on Washington Street.

Ward 5 will meet on Thursday, February 5th at 8pm at the Argenziano School on Washington Street.

Ward
4 will meet on Saturday, February 7th at 10am at the Winter Hill
Community School (115 Sycamore Street). Ward Chair is Jim McCallum
(617) 776-3154.

Dear Mayor Curtatone, Alderman Gewirtz, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals:

We
lend our voices to the unanimous opposition to the proposed Dakota
Partners (formerly Emerald) 14-unit building project at 343-349 Summer
Street. We ask that the Zoning Board of Appeals DENY the request for a
hardship extension of the 2002 special permit for 343-349 Summer Street
(scheduled for discussion at the ZBA meeting on February 4).

We have read the request for a hardship extension of the special permit. The petition is entirely without merit.

The
petition focuses on the issue of relocating of a public shade tree in
the path of one of multiple fire lane access routes proposed over the
past 7 years. The second paragraph states that the ZBA implicitly
acknowledged the necessity to relocate said tree during the 2002 review
for the special permit. One of the ZBA's conditional items on the
original special permit is that the fire lane access issues be resolved
(Condition #7 on SPSR #2002-23).

Dakota Partners followed the
legal process for requesting removal of a public shade tree for the
fire lane proposed across the Dilboy Post property. The neighborhood
opposition to the tree removal and the proposed 14-unit building is
unanimous (see petition filed by Tom Bok of 335 Summer St, which was
signed by over 100 Somerville residents and over 60 neighboring
residents). Dakota Partners received full due process in their request
for removal of the tree and were denied. The denial of the tree
relocation request means that this proposed fire lane access is
impossible. Hence, condition #7 of the special permit is still not met.

Dakota
Partners mentions exploration of an alternate fire lane access through
Dilboy Post and Winter Hill Bank, which was not accepted by Winter Hill
Bank. Dakota Partners has also approached the owner of an adjacent
residential building on Hawthorne Street about an fire lane through his
property.

In 2002, Dakota Partners proposed a 14-unit building
without fire lane access on their own property. Over the past 7 years,
they have explored multiple fire lane options via easements on adjacent
properties without any success. The bottom line is that condition #7
cannot be met with the proposed 14-unit building design and the
existing adjacent properties.

Dakota Partners has had more
than sufficient time to explore and try to resolve fire lane access to
their proposed building. There is no exceptional hardship stated in
their application. The expiration of a special permit is designed
precisely for cases like this one: the original building concept is
flawed and the conditions placed upon it by the ZBA cannot be met.

The
petition also mentions other items that are irrelevant. Dakota Partners
has already received extensions related to the suit filed by Dr. Butt.
Alderman Gewirtz has properly represented the wishes of the residents
in her ward in her opposition to removal of the public shade tree.
Alderman Gewirtz is under no obligation to respond the latest building
plans (with the obstructed fire lane) until condition #7 has been met.

Dakota
Partners has simply proposed a building that does not fit on their
property. The 14-unit building is much larger than the surrounding
residential buildings as recognized by the ZBA in their rezoning of the
lot to Residential A. Dakota Partners has not responded to any of the
many requests by the neighbors to adjust their original design to be a
better fit with the neighborhood. Dakota Partners has a history of
poorly designed and built projects and flagrant non-payment of taxes
and deserves no special consideration by the City of Somerville. This
particular proposal for a 14-unit building has run its due course; it
is time to let the special permit expire and for Dakota Partners to
propose a building that fits on their property.

Sincerely,

Sarah Stewart-Mukhopadhyay, Sujoy Mukhopadhyay

Also 300 employees will be laid off and the addiction and
pediatric units at Somerville Hospital will be closing as well. Ninety
beds will be moved from Somerville to the Cambridge Hospital.

Doug
Bailey, CHA Spokesman said,"Some of these decisions are painful and we
know it's a tough time for many people. From our perspective we've been
able to preserve a lot more than we've had to cut."

Cathy Levin
of M-Power, a consumer run advocacy group for the mentally ill is
worried about the effects the budget cuts are going to have on the
mentally ill segment of the community. Cuts also include a large amount
of beds in the mental health wards of Whidden Hospital in Everett.

"If
you don't have community services, there's a good chance the person in
a psychiatric crisis is going to go through the ER. Sixty percent of
them (that go through the ER) are sent to a mental hospital. This slows
things down in the ER looking for a mental health bed for them, and
this slows it down for everybody in the emergency room. So my deepest
concerns are the beds being cut in Whidden," she said.

Levin
continued, "The mental health beds get cut because they aren't money
makers. Mental health beds are not profitable. In a sense you're
robbing Peter to pay Paul, because if the people can't get help in
outside resources, they come faster to the ER."

Mr. Bailey was
very aware of the suffering involved. "It's really difficult to convey
how much painstaking research and deep thought goes into these
decisions. We're keeping the ER open and the Cambridge Hospital is less
than a mile away."

Levin continued , "The Cambridge-Somerville
Social Club was just cut. It was a fantastic day program for people who
are too disabled to work. There were a lot of interesting people.
Artists and writers and some of the intellectual community who have
college degrees but at some point in their lives just lost it. As these
programs are cut, it's just going to cause homelessness. Where are
people supposed to go and what are they supposed to do?!"

Whether the pain is moderate or severe depends on what
happens at the state level for the time being. Regardless of whether
the Governor "generously" spared Chapter 70 money (school aid), the
reality is that in a city like Somerville, where the single largest
section of the total municipal budget goes directly to the school
department, the pain of financial cutbacks needs to be shared across
the board in an equitable fashion. That's only right.

This
economic downturn is affecting so many different areas all at once, to
the point where it's next to impossible to determine if any one
financial segment of public or private industry will be spared. If that
sounds gloomy and doomy, that's because it is meant to be exactly that.

The
property owners and business owners in the city are already at the
breaking point, carrying the brunt of the responsibility for city tax
revenue. And when you are waved at from Beacon Hill and given the
"you're on your own" wink, then this Mayor is going to need certain
tools at his disposal to avoid cutting back on public safety and
educational services.

Nobody wants to see police, firefighters
or school teachers laid off. We as a community do so much with very
little as it is, and it will take a lot of creativity to get through
this downturn locally.

The tools that are designed to spread out
the pain so that it doesn't hurt one particular group more than others
will certainly be unpopular for the Mayor and the rest of the elected
officials. It will take raising fees and costs for services, it will
take a meals tax add-on, it will probably take more parking tickets –
but in the end, it is essentially what is needed to ensure an equitable
distribution of fiscal restraint.

It isn't even as simple as
saying "fiscal restraint" actually. That would imply that there is
money to spend, and based on the numbers being talked about, the money
just isn't there. So yes, along with hikes in fees and fines, there
will be cutbacks on hiring personnel, a slow down in operational
spending for the different city departments (including police, fire and
schools) and some serious measures taken to reduce ongoing costs such
as retirement, medical, etc.

Will Davis Square look like the
wasteland it was in the middle to late 70's again? Probably not. We are
hurting here, but it's much worse elsewhere. Someone who just lost
their job or their house won't agree with that statement, but overall,
as a community, it is true – we don't have dozens of homes being
foreclosed on every week, we don't have entire city blocks of empty
storefronts, we don't have hundreds of people begging for food and
money at the T station.