Police are looking for a Somerville man in connection with a bank robbery last week in East Somerville.

On Thursday, Feb. 28, shortly before noon, the Sovereign Bank at 125 Broadway in East Somerville was robbed.  The lone suspect entered the bank and presented a note demanding cash and stating that he had a gun.  Police said no gun was shown.  The suspect then fled the bank on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. 

Somerville Police detectives, working with the FBI Bank Robbery Task force, say that suspect is James J. Walker, 27. With the cooperation of citizens, police said they developed information pointing towards Walker as the bank robber.

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.)

In every city, residents request city services and information through multiple channels, both formal and informal. Here in Somerville, people communicate directly with city government through their aldermen, through 311, through public hearings, through regular meetings of our boards and commissions, through neighborhood office hours scheduled by our mayor and aldermen, via our website and in many other ways.

There’s nothing wrong with having lots of different channels: residents should be able to interact with local government in the ways and at the times that are most comfortable for them. But the focus has usually been on one issue at a time: a particular regulation, a particular program, a particular development proposal or community concern.  It can be difficult for city officials to engage residents in a more general discussion.

Off The Shelf by Doug Holder

Recently I was invited to a reception for the Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish at the Parkman House in Boston. It was a nice affair with many of the poets and players from the Boston area poetry scene in attendance.

I got to eat a lot of fancy hors d’oeurves, drink a slightly diluted pomegranate punch, and admire the genteel trappings of this celebrated house. If I remember correctly Mayor James Michael Curley’s desk was stolen from the premises some years back.

By Mia Lamar

Sometimes Lucy Holstedt dreams of living in the country. Leaving the city behind for good, and taking a one-way trip up north. All rustic mountains and lazy days by the pond.

Holstedt, a 15-year resident of Somerville, even wrote a song about it. However, when writing the song, she found that while ‚Äúliving‚Äù in the country, she dreamed of life back in the city, where ‚Äúthe basement bars down the block/laundrys open ’til 12 o’clock.‚Äù

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.)

Kids today can wear just about anything they want to at school – when I was at Somerville High School in the late 60’s and early 70’s, we had a ‚Äúdress code.‚Äù No jeans, or dungarees, as we called them back then. We were at the height of the ‚Äúhippie‚Äù era – all the boys had long hair and all the girls wore mini-skirts. Some of us even wore beads‚Ķreally! Those that could grow sideburns grew them.

We also had many things to be angry about – and at the top of the list was the war in Vietnam. There was always the underlying threat of ‚Äúif you flunk out of high school, you will be drafted.‚Äù Today’s school kids have the threat of not graduating because of MCAS hanging over them.

By George P. Hassett

A 14-year-old boy was stabbed walking home from class at the Winter Hill Community School on Tuesday, the knife missing his lung by inches, according to the boy’s father.

Two weeks before the incident the boy found a threatening note on his desk at school that said, "I’ll kill you" and was signed "MS-13," the father said. School officials and a police officer assigned to the building were alerted to the threat but, according to the father, did little to prevent it.

By George P. Hassett

You may not know him but if you live in Somerville he has probably called your home as early as 6:45 a.m. to warn you of snow emergencies, street closings or busted sewer pipes under Somerville Avenue.

His voice has become part of the Somerville way of life and now a tribute to Tom Champion, director of communications for the city and the voice of 90 percent of the 268 mass notification calls known as Connect-CTY, has found its way into cyberspace.

By Walter Smelt

American punk was born in a dive bar and music club whose name stood for Country, Bluegrass and Blues, which is the kind of music the owner expected to book there. Instead, the Ramones started playing at CBGB’s and turned the music world upside down. So in an upside-down kind of way, it seems appropriate that Somerville’s own dive bar and music club should book bands whose members grew up on punk but found their way back to punk’s roots in older American music: music like rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and country. Of course it’s the Abbey Lounge we’re talking about, which last Saturday night hosted a sold-out show in which all these traditions were represented-and not just represented, but resuscitated.

By George P. Hassett

Three Somerville aldermen will serve on a national policy committee for the Washington-based National League of Cities.

Ward 7 Alderman Robert C. Trane will serve on the Steering Committee on Energy, Environment and National Resources, Ward 2 Alderman Maryann Heuston will become a member of  the Steering Committee on Community and Economic Development and Alderman-at-Large  John M. Connolly was appointed to the Policy Committee on Transportation Infrastructure and Service. 

Whether you use it as a noun or an adjective, the word “progressive” means pretty much the same thing Рmovement forward with new ideas and in different directions than the “status quo.” We find the Progressive Democrats of Somerville, especially those behind it, lacking when it comes to truly progressive ideas in the community Рin fact, the PDS should not go by the moniker “progressive” at all.

Maybe it would be different if they as a group didn’t turn into the very people they originally set out to unseat politically – but they did. Too bad. Youth and liberal ideas do not a progressive group make, period.