The city’s Parking Office will be the first to go through a decarbonization process to lower costs and help meet climate goals. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

The aging gas-fired boilers and cooling system at the City of Somerville Parking Office building will soon make way for new, green solutions, including solar and heat pumps, making it the first city-owned building to essentially decarbonize. The project will not only deliver energy cost savings and advance the community’s climate goals but will also give city staff experience operating and maintaining the kind of electrified building systems envisioned for all of the city’s buildings in time.

Somerville residents show ‘coraje’ for tenant facing eviction. — Photos by Mina Rose Morales

By Mina Rose Morales

On a cold, windy St. Patrick’s Day, Somerville residents rallied in Union Square on Tuesday to support Gary Rogers, a week before his eviction trial begins on Monday, March 30.

City Councilor At Large and Finance Committee Chair Ben Wheeler.

By The Times Staff

City Councilor Ben Wheeler reported at the City Council meeting on March 12 about the seven-item agenda from a March 10 Finance Committee meeting.

The committee recommended approval of a $31,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for upgrades to the Franey Road hazardous household waste drop-off site.

Somerville is celebrating Women’s History Month with an evening of storytelling. Somerville residents are invited to a storytelling evening on March 31, celebrating women’s stories at “Her Stories, Our Somerville.” Hosted by the Somerville Commission for Women (SCW) and the City’s Department of Racial and Social Justice, the event will elevate women’s voices and experiences through short, spoken word narratives. Women-identifying community members interested in sharing their story can register to do so via the event RSVP form. No prior storytelling experience is required to participate. The themes for Her Stories, Our Somerville include: A moment that changed me, Finding my voice, and A woman who has shaped my life. Stories must be submitted in advance. If you are selected to speak at the event, the Commission for Women will contact you within one week of the event to coordinate storytelling logistics. Tuesday, March 31, 7 p.m. CultureHouse HQ,16 Union Sq. Due to a maximum capacity of 50 persons, RSVPs are strongly encouraged. For more information about the event, please contact the Somerville Commission for Women at somervillecommission-forwomen@gmail.com.

Food For Free distributes food to several local organizations, alleviating food insecurity throughout the region.

By Christa Lee

Food insecurity has a formidable opponent in Food for Free, a Boston-based nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting food pantries through logistical operations. On March 17, Food for Free partnered with The Greater Boston Food Bank and Salem Pantry to gather unused seafood at the Seafood Expo North America 2026 (SENA) at the Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center.

— Photos by Claudia Ferro

The Somerville Council on Aging held its St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon on Tuesday, March 17, at the Dilboy Post located at 351 Summer Street.  Seniors enjoyed an afternoon of music, a lunch of corned beef and cabbage, and a performance by the Rebecca McGowan School of Irish Dance.

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Charoset symbolizes one of at least five traditional items found on the Seder Plate during Passover. Charoset is a sweet relish of fruits, nuts, honey, spices, and wine. It represents the clay that was used to make bricks when the Israelites were enslaved in Ancient Egypt.

Spring has finally arrived, and with it comes the inevitable regular street-sweeping activities throughout the city.

As inconvenient and annoying it may be to comply with schedule, it is an inescapable fact of life for us all and we must make the adjustment accordingly.

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This is an article I wrote in 2008 about the late, first Boston Poet Laureate, Sam Cornish.

Sam Cornish, the Boston Poet Laureate, invited me to his office to chat before participating in another meeting we were involved with later in the day with Boston-area poetry activists. On the subway, on the way to the meeting, I read through a collection of Cornish’s that I picked up at the Grolier Poetry Book Shop some time ago: Cross A Parted Sea. Cornish writes about everything from Pullman Porters, sharecroppers, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, his father, etc. He does it with just the right amount of raw energy and the Blues, and his choice of words packs a wallop, or at times a well-appointed sucker punch: Case in point: