22 purple flags will be placed in remembrance of those in Somerville who have lost their lives to overdose in 2022. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

City memorializing community members lost to opioid overdoses on August 31. Awareness and Narcan distribution events will take place in September 

Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the City of Somerville’s Health and Human Services Department (HHS) invite the community to join in recognizing International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31. Somerville Prevention is also hosting several awareness events throughout the month of September, which has been designated National Recovery Month to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and addiction recovery practices.   

In today’s competitive youth sports landscape, injuries are common, and when they do occur, young athletes are often pressured to play through the pain.

The Somerville Media Center (SMC) announced today that it has secured a temporary site in Somerville effective September 1, 2023. With assistance from Rafi Properties, owner, and operator of Somernova (aka Somerville’s Innovation Hub), a 7.4 acre innovation campus and community located just outside Union Square. SMC will begin their move from the old firehouse in Union Square next week and expects to begin limited operation at Somernova in a currently vacant space located in the heart of the campus at 12 Tyler Street on September 15, 2023.

You are invited! Sunday, August 27, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Lou Ann David Park, 1060 Broadway, Somerville. Your friendly HONK! Festival founder and host, Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, is celebrating 20 years as a band by changing its name! They cordially invite you to celebrate with them. Enjoy a special public performance including band members past and present, a name-change ceremony and reveal, and cake for everyone!

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

This article originally appeared in the February 5, 2014 edition of The Somerville Times.

Remember that bright orange roof? I think they made it bright orange so you could see it when you were coming home early in the morning from a bar…in a fog. Howard Johnson’s at Wellington Circle was a very popular spot for after-hours meeting and eating.

One of the reasons that the city is establishing new outdoor dining fees for restaurants is to account for the revenue lost by blocked parking meters. — Photos by Maile Blume

By Maile Blume

After three years of encouraging outdoor dining in response to the pandemic, the city is establishing new fees for businesses with outdoor seating areas.

A public meeting was held last week by the Arts at the Armory to provide information and to receive comments by the public concerning the city’s “Armory Master Plan Process.”

By Jim Clark

On Tuesday, August 15, the Center for Arts at the Armory (CAA) hosted a community meeting where they shared their perspective on the City of Somerville’s “Armory Master Plan Process,” educating their audience about their non-profit arts organization and provided opportunities for attendees to speak, ask questions, have the meeting recorded and a petition delivered to city government.

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

By Will Mbah
Candidate for Somerville City Councilor at Large

At the end of July the City Council approved a series of amendments to the Condominium Conversion Ordinance, which are designed both to conform to a recent court decision and strengthen the protections for tenants, facing displacement.