Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Now that Somerville has a new high school, I asked our friends to share their funniest stories about the old high school.

“Class of ’71, The wooden floor on the basement level was warped from a flood. One day Ted Kennedy was touring the school and as I walked by I overheard him tell some Somerville official ‘Get these GD floors fixed!’”

By Ryan DiLello

Somerville’s Human Rights Commission is recruiting. On Saturday, April 23, at 11:00 a.m., members of Somerville’s Human Rights Commission held a meet-and-greet at the Somerville Public Library’s East Branch.

The organization, headed by and comprised of two city residents, Christopher Spicer Hankle and Lara Versari, focuses on promoting the wellbeing of the city. Spicer Hankle is a stay-at-home father and trained theologian. Versari is a community youth and family resources navigator.

Volunteers tidy up in the pollinator garden at Groundwork Somerville’s South Street Farm. —Photos by Molly Rains

By Molly Rains

Last Saturday at Groundwork Somerville’s South Street Farm, over 40 volunteers gathered to get their hands dirty in celebration of Earth Day. Volunteers weeded, raked, clipped invasive species, and picked up trash, helping to prepare the property for what the Groundwork team expects to be a busy and productive growing season.

By Mayor Emeritus Eugene C. Brune

I was always pleased that as the Ward 6 Alderman I helped in the fight to have the Red Line in Davis Square. I was equally as pleased in 1984 as your mayor to join Governor Dukakis, Alderman Jack Connolly, and others in cutting the ribbon for the new Red Line.

By Kyle Dante

Housing is not easy to come by in any location. Several external factors make housing hard to access. The most prominent reason is income. Other factors include family size and background information. Among the demographics besides income assessed are race and ethnicity, age, and disability.

Somerville’s Board of Health unanimously approved the city’s proposed extension of the eviction moratorium. The moratorium now has a 60-day sunset period and will end on June 30. The city urges tenants and homeowners to use this period to seek assistance if they are facing housing instability. The Office of Housing Stability (OHS) is ready to help and can be reached at 617-625-6600 ext. 2581. Landlords are encouraged to contact OHS on a tenant’s behalf rather than pursuing eviction. For more information, visit somervillema.gov/ohs

Eagle Feathers #252 – The North Coast

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

The City of Medford makes up most of the northern border of Somerville and is one of the oldest settlements in the United States. She was originally known as Mistick or Meadford on ancient maps. Her founding in 1630 was the same year as our capital City of Boston and was two years after the 1628 settlement of Charlestown/Somerville.

Many have been complaining for some time now about the lack of adequate parking spaces in the city. And it seems for some that the number of available spaces continues to dwindle as time marches on.

It used to be only the motor vehicle operators who raised their voices in dismay, but lately even bicycle riders have noticed that it’s getting increasingly harder to find a place to lock up while stopping in the city for some shopping, café haunting, or just hanging around.

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Many a Somerville poet has visited and been nurtured by the Grolier Poetry Book Shop. I decided to rerun this article because the former owner of the shop, Louisa Solano passed on April 20, 2022. This is an interview I conducted with Louisa Solano shortly after she sold the Grolier. It appeared in Circle Magazine.

The acclaimed poet Donald Hall said of The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, “It is the greatest poetry place in the universe.” And this may not be hyperbole. Founded in 1927 by Gordon Cairnie, and Adrian Gambet, it was the first bookstore in the Cambridge area to sell James Joyce’s Ulysses.