By Andrea Gregory

The plan to bring a T station to Assembly Square is not moving on the fast-track officials and area residents had hoped.

Bringing the Orange Line to Assembly Square is an intricate part of the revitalizing the region. Large retailers, a movie theater, a hotel and several other establishments are making plans to move to the area. Having a subway stop there is not only attractive to businesses, but is being considered a must to support the area’s future.

Over the past several decades, Somerville has become fairly infamous for the “aggressive” style of politics that rears its ugly head every couple of years. The stories are legendary – and some of us have been lucky to witness some of them first hand.

Today the only thing really different from the 60’s, 70’s or the 80’s is that more and more people are participating in on line discussions, especially on community-based web logs (more specifically our weblogs, thank you very much). The majority of what goes on around here is still face to face and incidental, which means that by the time you hear what happened, 88 people have put their own little twist on it and it almost never remains true to what actually happened – for example, something as benign as “how could anyone not get the signatures to get put on the ballot for re-election?” changed into “I’m going to run as a sticker/write in candidate for the open seat in Ward 4”. See what we mean?

Regarding last week – we mentioned that we supported the renaming of the Concourse ‚ÄúFedele Way‚Äù after the late popular SHS Headmaster Tony Fedele. The Board of Aldermen recently voted to support changing the name and made a recommendation to do that to the Veterans Commission, which has the final say. Apparently the Board of Aldermen voted back in 2006 for an ordinance which absolutely forbids, in particular, the renaming of City Hall, the High School and the Concourse – Sec. 2-309.5 of the Veterans Commission on monuments, memorials and dedications – which was passed on Jan. 26, 2006. We hope the aldermen and the commission can find a suitable solution in memory of Tony.   

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The Somerville Fire Department responded to a call at Osgood Park recently that a picnic table was on fire.  Police arrested three teenagers for the alleged crime, as they were caught fleeing the scene. Maybe the kids had too much time on their hands or maybe they were having a cookout in this hot weather.

By George P. Hassett

Federal immigration authorities raided a Medford Street auto body shop today, Aug. 28, and arrested one alleged MS-13 gang member while checking the immigration status of the shop’s other employees.

By Andrea Gregory

Even though the day to pass in papers has come and gone, it is not too late to throw your hat in the ring for any of the elected seats in the city.

The fall election is already expecting one write-in candidate. And people have “up until the very end” to decide if they want to give a word-of-mouth or a sticker campaign a shot, said Nick Salerno, election commissioner.

The Ward 4 ballot will be without a candidate’s name for the local School Committee seat. Charlene Harris, who has held the seat for almost seven years, failed to deliver the necessary 100 signatures needed to run by the June 27 deadline. Harris is expected to launch a sticker campaign, hoping at least 100 people put her down on the ballot to fulfill the minimum requirement for a write-in candidate to make it into office.

From Bluntly Speaking by Robert J.L. Publicover

(Editor‚Äôs note:  I asked Bob to give me a ‚Äútimeless‚Äù column of his from a decade or so ago ‚Äì he gave me several to choose from and I liked this one ‚Äì I hope you do too ‚Äì JN)

(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.)

What exactly is a neighborhood? We hear talk that “Sanctuary City” is destroying our neighborhoods. Yet, can it really do that? I doubt it. Sanctuary City is illegal. We cannot disobey federal laws regarding illegal aliens. I would love to repeal Sanctuary City if it was on the ballot, but that really is not an issue of neighborhood.

The dictionary says: “Neigh-bor-hood – n. Nearness; proximity; the region near or about some place or thing; the vicinity; a district of locality, often with reference to its character or inhabitants; as a rundown or fashionable neighborhood; a number of persons living near one another in a particular locality…”

By Andrea Gregory

The city plans to run a little differently from here on out. City officials made the call to turn to green energy. The biggest call to date was to turn the city onto wind energy.

City officials have been making inroads toward turning Somerville a more environmentally friendly city. The city bought 481,928 kilowatt hours of renewable energy from Sterling Planet. The new agreement means City Hall will run on wind-generated electricity and is expected to take care of providing electricity to City Hall for the next year. The reduction in harmful toxins released into the environment is expected to decrease about what it would if 66 less vehicles were on city roads, according to government officials.

Reality Bites By James Norton

(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.)

(Editor’s note: three weeks in a row I wrote about my personal life in detail, so I figured I would look at some old columns of mine and I liked the manic qualities of this one – I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it – JN)

Maybe I’m getting older, who knows. I seem to be evolving into a very opinionated person, while at the same time, trying to stay open minded about an array of important issues. An interesting conundrum. I want to be informed, but I don’t want to know too much, nor do I want to hear about it all the time.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now Рthere’s overexposure all around us – in professional sports, the entertainment industry, politics – even not-so-newsworthy stories can transform themselves into something bigger than they need to be. Perfect example of overexposure transforming a nobody into a somebody: Paris Hilton.

By Doug Holder

A poet who has touched the lives of many in Somerville and the entire Greater Boston community will be honored on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. at the International Community Church in Allston. Poet Jack Powers will celebrate his 70th birthday with a potluck dinner and a reading.

Powers is the founder of Boston’s legendary Stone Soup Poets. Founded in 1971 at the Charles Meeting House on Beacon Hill in Boston, he has lead this venue of readings, activism and publishing for well over 30 years. He was also influential in establishing the Beacon Hill Free School in the 1970s, which encouraged people to teach and participate in educational courses for no charge.

By George P. Hassett

A gritty stretch of concrete typically home to traffic jams and highway noise became the site of a funky retro dance party last Saturday night. Project MUM (Meet Under McGrath) brought two turntables, a microphone and a disco ball to the rugged underpass of McGrath Highway on Washington Street and turned the neglected stretch of land into a 1970s-themed party for one evening.

More than 200 revelers danced the night away to sounds of the 70s as a giant screen flashed vintage pictures from the era, complete with peace signs, polyester and sideburns. Tom Walsh and Marna Eckels said the occasion was a perfect opportunity to wear their bellbottoms.