By George P. Hassett

With the roar of passing trains in the background, officials from the city and Tufts University came together inside the Davis Square T station on Tuesday morning to celebrate the unveiling of nine original works of art on the train platform.

The previously displayed art pieces were generic and gloomy with no connection to the community surrounding the station, said Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz who led the replacement efforts.

“In my view this is a historic day for Davis Square and Somerville,” she said in between the rumbling sounds of arriving and departing trains. “We now have a new gateway to our city that 10,00 people will see everyday.”

By George P. Hassett

Brian Joyce was at a comedy show in Dublin but he was thinking of Davis Square. Joyce, who grew up on Pearson Avenue and went to St. Clement’s elementary school in the city, said the ‚Äúindependent, boutique-style comedy festivals‚Äù he performed at and attended in Ireland inspired him to put on this weekend’s Alternative Comedy Festival at the Somerville Theater.

‚ÄúThe festivals overseas are in small towns and villages and I always thought a Davis Square venue would fit perfectly [for such a festival]. It’s a more intimate setting, there is less to separate the performer from the audience,‚Äù he said.

By George P. Hassett

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is “taking a harder look at the contract” of a sewer and water company that has been working with the city for more than 70 years, according to a city spokeswoman.

Lesley Delaney Hawkins said PT Kelly was the only bidder to handle Somerville’s water and sewer work but Curtatone has not yet agreed to hire them for another year.

By George P. Hassett

A hip hop concert promoting unity, justice and peace was cancelled twice last week – once in Somerville and, after organizers had secured a new venue, once in Cambridge.

Centro Presente, a youth and immigrants rights group, had organized the concert as a way to unite black and Latino youth in the area, promote positive hip-hop and call attention to a new campaign supporting immigrant rights, said Wil Renderos a Centro Presente organizer. But that goal was thwarted by city officials who cancelled Friday’s event and then pressured Cambridge officials, who had agreed to host the event on short notice, to cancel again, he said.

By George P. Hassett

The Green Line is coming to Somerville but it may bring with it a 10-acre maintenance facility that could strangle commercial development in a part of the city with great potential for commercial development.

At a Monday meeting, state officials unveiled a plan to run seven Green Line stations through Somerville – with stops by the Brickbottom artist studios, in Gilman Square at Medford Street, on Lowell Street on the eastern side of the MaxPak property — and in Medford by Ball Square, on Boston Avenue and on Medford Hillside.

A lot of construction around the city lately Рin particular we find what’s going on over on Rogers and Kidder avenues…seems the contractor had the streets torn up Friday and on Monday when they returned to work, they found that about 20 of the new sewer rings and manhole covers along with all new water covers missing. The economy must really be in the tank for someone to actually steal those things – and there must have been more then one person to lift them out and into a truck Рall those heavy covers and no one saw anything?

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

The PT Kelley contract last week – seems to be a lot of speculation around the city about what happened, and we heard a lot of different stories. It‚Äôs hard to believe that so many different angles were being spread around through the Somerville rumor mill but we think the one about the city simply deciding to see what or who else is out there is probably the right one. PT Kelley has been doing the city contracts for way over 50 years now.                                                             

By George P. Hassett

Someone stole 475 pounds of cast iron metal off the new pavement of Josephine Avenue Sunday night, according to police, and no one saw a thing.

The suspect traveled along Josephine Avenue, from Kidder to Broadway, and stole 20 manhole and 15 water gate covers, police said.

The manhole covers weigh at least 20 pounds and the water gate covers weigh five pounds, said Somerville Police Captain Paul Upton. They had been taken from the street and stacked on top of one another as work crews repaved the road and replaced sewer infrastructure, according to city spokeswoman Lesley Delaney Hawkins.

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

For a year or so Ajume H. Wingo and I sat across from each other at the Sherman Café in Union Square. We would nod politely to each other and then resume our respective reading. We never really talked. Of course I wondered about this tall, and distinguished African man who seemed to have a scholarly bent. But as fate had it, on a rainy April evening we found ourselves walking together just outside Harvard Yard and started to chew the fat.

A few days later we met at Sherman’s to converse some more. Wingo is an associate professor of Philosophy at UMass-Boston, a senior fellow at the McCormack Graduate School of Public Policy for Democracy and Development, and also a fellow at Harvard’s Du Bois Institute.

By George P. Hassett

A Hyde Park man died today after he struck a Beacon Street building early this morning, according to police.
Marc Filsaime, 59, was the driver and only occupant of a Boston taxi that struck the building at 260 Beacon Street shortly after 2 a.m., police said. He was the owner of the cab. He was rushed to Somerville Hospital where he later died.
The crash is being investigated by the Somerville Police Crash Reconstruction Unit and the Massachusetts State Police.