Congratulations to Engine 7’s Senior Man Rudy Revilla retired after 26 years of service to the Citizens of Somerville. Rudy spent his entire career at the Highland Ave Station in groups 1 and 2. Rudy was also a long time Highland Ave Union Steward.

Look out for Rudy helping out at various Ball Square Business’ and Vacationing in Florida and Maine. Good Luck Rudy!!!

The winners of The Somerville Times Reader’s Choice results for

THE BEST OF SOMERVILLE 2021

Congratulations to the winners.
Please support their businesses and let them know you saw them in The Somerville Times.

To view a shareable map of the winners click here

Readers choices for 2021

Best Idea in 2021: Extending the city’s residential eviction moratorium

Worst Idea in 2021: Powderhouse Circle new traffic route

A Zoom event to express gratitude to outgoing Somerville City Councilors Will Mbah, Mark Niedergang, Mary Jo Rossetti and Bill White will be held on Wednesday, January 26 at 6:30 p.m.

By Jim Clark

Somerville Police officers were dispatched to a Union Square location last Wednesday on reports of a motor vehicle accident.

Upon arrival, the officers took notice of one of the involved vehicle operators, later identified as Melih Ciftci, becoming irate and beginning to yell.

Here is the COVID update for Wednesday, January 19. Please also check somervillema.gov/covid19 for more information and resources.  

First, the numbers and a brief message: Somerville saw 2,357 positive COVID-19 tests in December, more than double the previous monthly record of 1,138 in December 2020. This is part of a national surge in cases fueled mainly by the Omicron variant. Hospitals across the region are hitting capacity and canceling surgeries, including some that are not considered elective. While Omicron can result in milder infection, especially for those who are both vaccinated and boosted, please remember that this variant spreads so easily that it finds its way to the people it can hurt the most, such as the elderly, the immunocompromised, and the unvaccinated.

The Somerville City Council is once again looking into establishing review and accountability agencies for the city’s Police Department.

By Jim Clark

At the newly seated Somerville City Council’s first regular meeting of the year, a resolution first put forward by Ward 6 City Councilor Lance L. Davis last year calling for the creation of a police commission and a community police review agency was taken up again for consideration.

The intersection of School St. and Avon St. in Somerville. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

On Thursday, Somerville’s Traffic Commission Meeting held its monthly commission meeting. The meeting, held virtually, was attended by both members of the public and the commission.

For this month there were a few items on the agenda, most importantly requests for handicapped parking and moving parking spaces in various locations.