Taylor wins ward 3

The 18 year incumbent retained his seat against a political newcomer Tuesday night. Thomas F. Taylor defeated Lawrence Paolella 984 votes to 744.

Foster loses by 52 votes

The Ward 5 school committee incumbent was defeated by 52 votes. Mark Niedergang garnered 1097 votes to Megan Foster’s 1045.

Gewirtz wins ward 6!

The Ward 6 alderman for the past 22 years lost his seat tonight. Rebekah Gewirtz defeated John M. Connolly 1109 votes to 952. Gewirtz is the co-founder of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville.

Salerno, Roche clear the path for voters
By Ravi Prasad

   If voters see red at the polls today, they can thank Election Commissioner Nicholas Salerno. Salerno worked with the Department of Public Works and the Department of Traffic and Parking to make more parking available in congested polling areas. As a result, parking meters bagged in red cloth, barrels on the street, and saw horses on the sidewalk demarcate new 10-minute voter parking spaces.

Docudramas chronicle life in Somerville

By George P. Hassett

    For many, public meetings are long, tedious tests of patience. But for two city residents, Somerville’s public discussion of civic life is high human drama.
    Jesse Buckley and Sarah Fishman are local documentary filmmakers who wanted to capture the intense energy they saw in Somerville politics and politicians onto celluloid. Buckley is in the midst of “MaxPak” (the film’s working title), a feature length documentary about the development of the old MaxPak factory in Ward 5. Fishman directed “See Mike Run,” a documentary about Michael E. Capuano, D-Somerville, and his 1999 run for United States Congress.
    “I went to a meeting to discuss the development of the old MaxPak site. There was an outcry of criticism against the developers from the people who attended the meeting. I became inspired by my neighbors. They were of different backgrounds, but they all came together as a community to seriously discuss and debate what was happening in their neighborhood. It was a real human drama,” he said.

Trick or treat, it’s a bank robbery
By Andrea Gregory

   A 30-year-old looking man committed a Halloween bank robbery. Though he did not dress up in anything special for the occasion, he did manage to play the part of a bank robber to a T. 
  Wearing a black coat, jeans and a baseball cap, the man entered Wainwright Bank, at 250 Elm St., in Davis Square.
   He slipped a note to one of the tellers, according to police. The note demanded cash. Just after noon, the man fled Wainwright Bank on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Anyone with information should call the Somerville Police at (617) 625-1600 and ask to speak with the detectives.

Hypodermic needles in her purse led to arrest in the park
By Andrea Gregory

  She said she was clean, but that did not stop police from giving Marissa Roy a set of handcuff bracelets to match the drug paraphernalia found in her purse and her car.
  A pain-clothes officer spotted Roy, 18, of Medford, with a group of other girls at Trum Field late Sunday night. The girls were headed toward a car. And at 9:30 p.m., there was some concern about just what the girls were up to.
  The office called dispatch. Shortly after that, two marked cars arrived on the scene. Police made their way across Trum field from Broadway. Roy, the driver of the car, was asked to hand over her license and registration. Then she was asked if there were any drugs in the car.