The multi-family zoning demand for MBTA Communities requires communities served by the MBTA to update their zoning to allow at least one district of multi-family housing. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Molly Rains

The Somerville Land Use Committee met on May 5 to continue their discussion of proposed amendments and future updates to the city’s zoning laws.

One area of discussion was the new multi-family zoning requirement for MBTA Communities, part of the Economic Development Bill signed by Governor Baker in 2021. The requirement mandates that communities served by the MBTA update their zoning to allow at least one district of multi-family housing.

(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 State Representative Erika Uyterhoeven

In threatening to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court has become an illegitimate institution. Overturning a seminal, settled constitutional right is a flagrant violation of the intended duties of the judicial branch. This is a violent attack on health care access, abortion rights, and reproductive justice that will disproportionately harm queer, transgender, Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, young people, and working-class people.

A COVID-Conscious Market with a $15 SNAP Match

Union Square Main Streets kicks off the 18th season of the Union Square Farmers Market in Somerville this Saturday, May 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This season the Market returns to its longtime location on the Union Square Plaza, and will be open rain or shine each Saturday through October 29. 

The 2022 edition of Porchfest takes place this coming Saturday, May 14.

By Ryan DiLello

Somerville’s PorchFest returns this year on Saturday, May 14, 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. The event is “not a festival per se,” but an open invitation for artists to perform on local porches across the city. Artists also raise money for local charities. Each year, PorchFest raises thousands of dollars for local and global charities.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised the COVID-19 Community Level for all of Middlesex County including Somerville to HIGH on Thursday evening, May 5. The city is strongly encouraging that high-quality masks be worn indoors in public while the CDC COVID-19 Community Level remains high and that all persons ensure they are up to date on vaccination. Free KN95 masks provided to Somerville by the Commonwealth are being offered to residents at all city libraries and at City Hall. For more information visit https://www.somervillema.gov/departments/programs/coronavirus-covid-19-information-and-resources

Eagle Feathers #253 – Menotomy

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Until 1842, Charlestown Beyond the Neck, as Somerville was then called, consisted of present-day Somerville and a northwest extended area called Charlestown End. This area that stretched beyond Alewife Brook Parkway included part of today’s East Arlington and its Morningside section.

Well, sometimes it seems like we take one step forward, just to be pushed back two steps again and again. After an invigorating period of relaxed guidelines for unmasked gatherings indoors, it looks like we’ll have to raise our guards once more as we deal with another unwanted surge in COVID cases in our area.

News that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised the COVID-19 Community Level for all of Middlesex County including Somerville to HIGH last week has thrown us a nasty curve for the time being.

July 12, 1935 – April 29, 2022

Philip Henry Vokrot, 86, resident of Cobble Hill in Somerville, MA, died peacefully at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on April 29, surrounded by his beloved wife and three children. Born in Pennsylvania to parents who emigrated from Latvia, Philip and his two sisters worked on the family’s Bucks County farm growing up. Philip graduated from Quakertown High School and Ursinus College. His college years were interrupted by service in the United States Army. Philip began his working life in marketing at the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in Lancaster, PA. In 1975, Philip joined Cornell Dubilier Electronics (CDE), a New Bedford, MA corporation as Materials Manager for CDE’s manufacturing plant in Taiwan. In 1979, he was promoted to General Manager and resided in Taiwan until 1982. Upon his return to the US, Philip held subsequent positions for several electronics companies in both Massachusetts and Florida before his retirement.

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Well, with all the closing and mergers of community newspapers, I decided to contact Jason Pramas to get his take on it, and what he offers community newspapers through his advocacy and projects.

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Long ago, Denise Provost attended Bennington College to study poetry. She then became a lawyer, worked in local government, and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for fifteen years She has published in such journals as Ibbetson Street, Muddy River Poetry Review, qarrtsiluni, Quadrille, Poetry Porch’s Sonnet Scroll, Sanctuary, and Light Quarterly. Provost received the Best Love Sonnet award from the Maria C. Faust Sonnet Competition in 2012, and the New England Poetry Club’s Samuel Washington Allen Prize in 2021. Her chapbook Curious Peach was published by Ibbetson Street Press in 2019. Her collection City of Stories was published by Cervena Barva Press in 2021.