The Magoun Square Neighborhood Association and the Mass Executive Office of Transportation will conduct a neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposed Lowell Street MBTA Green Line Station. The meeting is tonight (August 6) at 6 p.m. at the VNA – 259 Lowell Street, third floor community room. All residents and business owners are invited. For more information call Joe Lynch at 617-623-0891 or email him at jplcorp2004@yahoo.com

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

We hear that Torpedo Lady recently filed a “restraining order” against co-worker CW, and at the hearing on Monday the court/judge was dismayed that the Union wasn’t involved for either side – we heard that the judge dismissed the case, saying the basis of complaint was unfounded. Has CW been out of work without pay (unjustifiably) going on a few weeks now? What’s going on down there at the DPW and with the Union?

Interactive garden attempts to change lives

By Jack Nicas

For close to a month now, pedestrians wandering down Elm Street have noticed a mysterious garden beckoning them to enter. It is a daring task to walk into a stranger’s yard, but that’s exactly what the owner wants. It is a challenge to participants in hopes of inspiring change in their lives.

After following the tiki torch-lined stone path and crossing the spiral marbled ‚Äúabyss,‚Äù risk-takers come to what appears to be a colorful punching bag. Upon further inspection, it is revealed the color comes from countless multi-colored notes marked with part participants‚Äô deepest questions.  As the hanging cards twirl in the wind, one can see each question is thoughtfully answered on the back. To one‚Äôs left a sign reads: ‚ÄúConfess a fear, a secret, a question. Leave it in the box. Return in two days and the back will speak.‚Äù Completing this task is the first step to ‚Äúcrossing into the abyss.‚Äù 

By Joseph A. Curtatone

(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.)

The reorganization, expansion and modernization of the Somerville Police Department has been a long, drawn-out process – and we still have plenty to do. Still, the Board of Aldermen’s vote on July 17 to take two Deputy Chief of Police positions out of civil service has to be seen as the finishing touch on a long series of interlocking changes that has fundamentally transformed the department and prepared it for the 21st Century.

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

Being a small press publisher I have always been impressed with the Books of Hope project. I interviewed the former director Anika Nailah and her young charges on my Somerville Community Access TV “Poet to Poet: Writer to Writer.”

I was impressed by how Nailah instilled a love for the “word” in these kids, many from the Mystic Avenue housing project in our city. For nine years the program has trained kids from the projects and elsewhere in four key areas: writing, publishing, performing, marketing and outreach. The youth are involved in many aspects of producing a book, and their development is advanced through a writer-in-residence, guest artists and mentors, as well as field trips.

By Jack Nicas

The future of Somerville’s music scene came together on Friday for the Somerville Band Camp’s final concert at the Kennedy School. Students, ranging from a 5-year-old violinist to a 77-year-old cellist, showcased their talents to teachers, friends and family in a packed cafeteria. The concert followed two weeks of intensive training for almost every instrument imaginable, including a sousaphone.

By Matthew McLaughlin

When commuters ride the rails of Boston, they may make references to ‚ÄúCharlie of the MTA‚Äù and ‚Äúriding the T.‚Äù But most don’t realize one Portuguese American snuck a piece of his heritage onto every train in the country.

Fatima Soares said Portuguese immigrants first came to America as far back as the 1800’s, when whaling and fishing jobs attracted people from the nation famous for sailing. Several periods of unrest and a volcano eruption in the Azores increased immigration to places such as Massachusetts and California, where one anonymous Portuguese American working on trains contributed to the American vernacular, she said.

On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(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.)

Another birthday – yippee! – I guess. Birthdays used to mean presents, a cake and a party. Today a birthday is mostly just another year that I survived. I turned the speed limit this year – 55 – and I can’t believe I’m this old, but I am glad to be still here.

I actually have an AARP card – and if I retired today, I would get a whopping $1,100 a month (or something like that‚Ķnot even half my mortgage payment). Hey, my youngest kids are 10 and 12, so I have a long way to go. My nerves are what I am most concerned about, because they are shot – I pray for patience. I have all the other stuff down pretty well, like the picking up and dropping off and all that junk and because I married at a later age, I am an ‚Äúolder‚Äù dad (I’m grandpa material) – that just means that I get cranky easily and require more naps. I sometimes go to bed before my kids do.

An 18 inch sinkhole opened on Medford Street yesterday, possibly as a result of last week’s severe rainstorms.

Congratulations to Peter Ungar and the Foss Park Neighborhood Association for their ability to do what so many elected officials in the city could not: get the state to recognize and respond to Somerville’s needs.

The $2 million slated for Foss Park improvements by the House is a welcome change from the city’s long history of being overlooked and neglected by state agencies. Inadequate public transit, closed bridges and decayed state-run facilities became the norm in Somerville. Any inferiority complex that already existed here has only been exaggerated by the state’s very real failures to take care of their property.

Sixty percent of the city’s open space is run by DCR – often poorly. Train tracks cover our city yet we have only one stop. We don’t need to remind readers about the Lowell Street Bridge. And we have pools and hockey rinks that consistently open late and when they are finally open they contain the same major structural damages as the year before.

By George P. Hassett

The challenger and only candidate on the ballot for the State Rep. seat that covers parts of West Somerville and Winter Hill, blasted House Speaker Sal DiMasi and said at the July 25th Somerville News contributor’s meeting that he would support casino gambling if elected.

Ward 7 Alderman Bob Trane is challenging incumbent State Rep. Carl Sciortino for his seat Sept. 16. Sciortino is running a sticker campaign after, he said, his nomination papers were stolen from his State house office.

At Friday’s meeting, Trane criticized Sciortino for aligning himself with DiMasi.

“I would never be associated with someone like that,” Trane said. “His unethical behavior has embarrassed the entire House.” Trane said that if elected, he would support new leadership.