News Talk for the week of March 15

We received an interesting piece of mail this week at the office. It was an anonymous letter inside a little white envelope (they seem to be everywhere in Somerville these days‚Ķor are they?) with no return address containing a juicy piece of info.  In the letter, it said a list of suspects for the Traffic and Parking theft had been given to the acting police chief, but when it moved on from the chief to the mayor one name had been removed.   The removed suspect is being protected because of her close relationship with a powerful individual in the city, said the letter. We hope this isn‚Äôt the case and we can soon hear the city announce that they caught the person.
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Remember when the Mayor used to have the Board of Alderman under his thumb? Well, his grip seems to be loosening. A month ago, the mayor asked the board to quickly approve a measure that would allow the city to accept banners to hang for beautification purposes – the board still has yet to approve it and seems more worried about doing a thorough job reviewing the policy then pleasing Mayor Joe.

Assembly Square strip mall deemed invalid by court, city will appeal
By George P. Hassett

The zoning changes that allowed the new mall at Assembly Square to be built have been ruled as a violation of state law by a Land Court judge.
Judge Alexander H. Sands III ruled, in a decision dated March 7, that permits granted to developers Federal Realty are invalid because the city’s zoning laws do not comply with state uniformity requirements.
The lawsuit was brought against the city by members of the Mystic View Task Force, a grassroots group of local activists.

Court: Assembly Square mall illegal

By George P. Hassett

   The zoning changes that has allowed a new Assembly Square mall to be built has been deemed illegal by a Massachusetts judge, said Lawrence Paolella of the Mystic View Task Force (MVTF) today.

    Developing…

Mayoral opponents go at it again
By George P. Hassett

   Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is targeting an old political foe by exorbitantly increasing the tax assessment on his home, said Tony Lafuente in a March 6 letter to City Hall.
   Lafuente, who lost to Curtatone by 700 votes in the 2003 mayoral election, said in the letter that the tax assessment on his home has doubled since the election and the increase is due to political revenge.

News Talk for the week of March 8

Ok, we‚Äôre not going to get into a pissing contest about who scooped who, but (wink, wink) lets recap here. The Somerville Journal (alias, the Farm Team), owned by the faceless, evil empire of local journalism — the Community Newspaper Company (CNC) — is mocking our homegrown, Somerville-oriented operation. Whatever, they‚Äôre bigger just not necessarily better then the alternative. We think they‚Äôre a pretty good paper considering the fountain of resources they have, after all their budget must be 5 times what ours is, isn‚Äôt it? They print ‚Äì according to a source inside CNC who wishes to remain anonymous — around 6,200 copies per week and mail 3,000 to residents and businesses free of charge. Then there‚Äôs us — the independent, locally owned paper. We print 7,000 papers a week, our Web Site is visited by an estimated 6,000 people a week and we (do you see us grinning proudly?) were praised by the Boston Globe for our ‚Äúterrific‚Äù web site. And yes we‚Äôre free to read (if you want to pay please send .25 cents) not FREE to print or distribute. Sometimes we scoop the Farm Team and sometimes they scoop us, or do they—?  (Says us with a smile and a wink). So when we‚Äôre being called out by the Editor of the Farm Team on the blog they imitate us on ‚Äì it makes us feel like we just may be matching  the fine work they do everyday over there. Thanks for the encouragement!

The View From Prospect Hill for the week of March 8

   The Somerville Truth was first published January 1, 1883 by D.E.W. Stone. The paper went on to become a scourge to both the city it served and the name it held. It attacked the innocent, misrepresented the earnest, and maligned city officials. Nearly as much space was devoted to Cambridge and Charlestown news as to Somerville interests.
   Luckily, The Truth is an unfortunate footnote to Somerville‚Äôs splendid media history. Many of our other publications, such as The Gem, The Citizen, The Chronicle, The News and The Journal have contributed to a rich legacy of clean, progressive and helpful local papers.
   But that legacy is a tenuous one as the media can often be manipulated by the bad guys for personal and political gain. This week a man who made big news on the front page of last week‚Äôs  Journal by slinging accusations of corruption at a city department head has claimed he was misquoted and his words twisted.

Administration disputes News story

By George P. Hassett

  Thomas P. Champion, director of communications for the city, said today that this week’s issue of The Somerville News contains a factual error in the story, "Journal gets it wrong."

  In the last paragraph of the story, City Solicitor John Gannon is indirectly quoted as saying an investigation into improper fundraising by the head of the Department of Public Works was over. Champion said the quote is incorrect and false.

The Journal gets the story wrong

By George P. Hassett

    The Somerville Journal twisted the words of an outgoing Department of Public Works (DPW) superintendent, changing the meaning of his statement, said Joseph Voutour to investigators this week.

Mayor goes to hospital for nasal emergency
By George P. Hassett

   Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone spent Tuesday night at Cambridge City Hospital recovering from emergency nasal surgery, according to a city spokesperson.
   Thomas P. Champion, executive director of communications for the city, said Curtatone went directly from City Hall to the hospital Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. when his nose, which had recently underwent minor surgery, began to bleed profusely.

Special Board of Aldermen meeting Wednesday

By George P. Hassett

The president of the Board of Aldermen (BOA) has organized a special meeting to address recent allegations of improper fundraising activity.

Joe Voutour, who resigned from his position as highway superintendant at the Department of Public Works (DPW) this month, last week accused DPW Commissioner Stan Koty of ordering him to secretly collect campaign cash for Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, a crime punishable by up to a year in prison.

Curtatone has notified the state ethics commission and has called for an internal investigation.

Heuston requested that Curtatone, City Solicitor John Gannon, Koty and Police Lieutenant Bernard Cotter appear at Wednesday’s meeting.

The public is invited to attend.