Winter Hill barber celebrates 60 years of business

By George P. Hassett

Outside on Broadway the year is 2008. But inside Tony Matarazzo’s barbershop ‚Äútime is frozen,‚Äù says his colleague Phil Vozella, as Matarazzo sharpens straightedge razors on a worn leather strop to the sounds of big band music under black and white pictures of Frank Sinatra and Rocky Marciano.

The scene is a throwback to the time when Matarazzo first started cutting hair in Somerville 61 years ago.

A man was struck and killed by a commuter rail train on the tracks near Conway Park last night around 11:45 p.m., according to an MBTA spokesman.

Joe Pesaturo of the MBTA said it is not known why the man was trespassing on the railroad tracks. The man has not been identified. Transit Police, Somerville police, fire and EMS units responded to the scene. The incident is under investigation by Transit Police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Gangster image leads to violent lifestyle

By Matthew McLaughlin

It was before high school when Kathia Blaise, 15, from Winter Hill, saw a change in her male friends. The athletic and popular football crowd began trading their jerseys in for blue and red bandanas and practice was replaced with hanging on stoops and playgrounds. Although she didn’t like the new change, she didn’t believe her friends were actual gang members. But fantasy mixed with reality on March 26 when a 15-year-old friend was shot in the rib on Sewall Street.

“He was just a boy in the wrong place, chilling with his friends who thought they were Bloods,” Blaise, a Haitian-American, said of her friend, who eventually recovered.

Mystic Learning Center picnic pulls community together

By Jack Nicas

On a beautiful summer day, The Mystic Learning Center held its 18th annual Mystic Avenue community picnic Wednesday, August 20. The picnic featured games, raffles, face painting, a DJ and a talent show, where youths from the community showcased their skills.

The Learning Center’s summer basketball league also officially wrapped up its season at the picnic. League Director Hugh Coleman announced league MVPs and handed out certificates and bags inscribed with players’ team names.

For the 18th consecutive year, many individuals and organizations from the community helped make the picnic happen. The Somerville Housing Authority, Century Bank and Middlesex Savings Bank contributed funds on top of individual donations from Learning Center Executive Director Florence “Fluffy” Bergmann, Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero, and housing authority members James McCallum and Paul Mackey.

Students lobbied for improved conditions

By Jack Nicas

After months of protests, petitions and political involvement, Tufts students and janitors’ hard work has paid off. On Aug. 11, the janitors received a new contract from ABM (formerly OneSource), the cleaning company through which Tufts contracts its janitors.

The contract’s ratification marked the end of summer-long negotiations between ABM; a bargaining committee made up of janitors; the Jumbo Janitor Alliance, a university-recognized student group; and SEIU 615, the local union representing the janitors. Tufts Vice President of Operations John Roberto said in an email that the contract goes into effect immediately.

By George P. Hassett

A 23-year-old Everett man who was shot in the face Friday night has refused to give police any information on who shot him.

The victim, whose name police are not releasing, was shot after an argument on Glen and Brooks streets Friday night, police said. When officers arrived there was no one in the area, police said.

Looks like Alderman Sean O‚ÄôDonovan is making huge leaps toward getting himself on the ballot for the Sept. 16 register of probate primary – he hosted a different kind of kickoff party last week at the Dante Club on Craigie Street ‚Äì an  ‚ÄúUnenrolled Registration Rally‚Äù, converting registered Democrats and registered Republicans into Independents for him to get on the ballot. Over 300 showed up and signed on to the campaign according to several sources at the event. Already bumper stickers and signs are out as well. With less than three weeks to the election, he‚Äôs moved very fast to position himself on the ballot for the position of Registrar of Probate, hoping to unseat current Register John Buonomo in November, who was recently arrested for allegedly taking money from courthouse vending machines.                                                

AG: Carey stole $2M

By George P. Hassett

A former Somerville real estate attorney was indicted Friday for allegedly stealing $2 million in what authorities are calling a “mortgage stacking” scheme.

Kevin Carey, 48, of Middleboro, continually refinanced the loans on four properties he or his family members owned without paying off the existing loans, authorities said. He was the agent for a New England title insurance company, which allegedly allowed him to issue title insurance policies on the mortgage transactions he processed and hide the existing loans.

Photos by Scott Liberatore

A drab stretch of land underneath McGrath Highway became a futuristic dance floor Saturday night when Project MUM: Somerville’s Final Frontier moved into orbit. The intergalactic dance odyssey, part of the Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion series, featured four hours of music spun by a team of DJs led by DJs Flack, Yamin, Axel Foley & Pace. Dancers grooved all night under lighting by illuminist Todd Sargent and special visual effects by by VJ Dziga. 

By William C. Shelton

(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.)

Over the last decade, studies and surveys continually report a decline in American civic engagement. By civic engagement, they mean “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.”

Last month, I wrote a column suggesting that the watchdogs that historically guarded the interests of Somerville’s citizens-aldermen, the press, and citizens groups-had all been domesticated. It’s equally true that this could not have happened if their citizen masters had not been snoozing. Well, ‚Äúsnoozing‚Äù may be the wrong word, since they’re often working too hard to pay attention.