Somerville Board of Health to review proposed extension at September 9 meeting

The City of Somerville is seeking to extend its eviction moratorium through November 30, announced Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone today. With the current moratorium otherwise set to expire on September 15, the Somerville Board of Health will consider the city’s extension proposal at its September 9 meeting. The administration’s request comes as COVID-19 cases rise and amid President Joseph R. Biden’s call for states and cities to enact local eviction moratoria after a Supreme Court ruling ended the federal moratorium.

As the Labor Day weekend and cooler temperatures approach, residents should continue to take precautions to protect themselves against mosquito bites and mosquito-borne diseases, including West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, three positive human cases of WNV have been confirmed in the state so far this year. Somerville and surrounding communities are considered to be at moderate risk for WNV. 

If you would like to vote by mail in the September 14 preliminary election, your completed ballot application must be received (not postmarked) by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 8.

Voters can download an application at somervillema.gov/VoteByMail or pick one up at the Elections Department in City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue. You can fill out and submit your application on the spot. Please remember that face coverings are required in all indoor public spaces in Somerville.

It’s time! Join in on September 12 for the fall sale of house plants, perennials, annuals, dried flowers, and white elephant gardening items, donated and locally grown by Somerville Garden Club members. Meet experienced and novice gardeners, find out more about the Garden Club and get some great plants at very reasonable prices.

By Jim Clark

A Somerville Police officer was dispatched to the Target store on Somerville Ave. last Thursday on reports of a shoplifter.

Upon arrival, the officer was met by a Target Loss Prevention representative who said that an individual, later identified as Mark Rankin, of Boston, came into the store, grabbed a prepaid cell phone and a backpack, and exited the store without paying. The officer took the reported and left the store.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

This article was first published on September 2, 2009.

It’s that time of year again. Reading and writing and ‘arithmetic. This time of year used to make me sick. When I heard those commercials like “before you go back to school, go to Zayres,” my stomach cringed. It also seemed that we always discovered something really cool right at the end of the summer that was now cut short by school. One year it was extending the forks on our bikes, another year it was hanging out with a new group of girls on the next street. Sometimes it was playing football or Frisbee, but school always goofed it up. I spoke to a few of my friends who, like me, still get a nervous ache in their stomach whenever the beginning of the school year starts.

While Advesa MA was granted a marijuana retailer license by the Licensing Commission, a number of provisional conditions are yet to be met before their doors can open.

By Joe Creason

In an August 2 special meeting, the Licensing Commission granted the owners of Advesa MA a major step on their way to establishing a recreational cannabis dispensary in Somerville. The Commission awarded the Economic Empowerment priority applicants a marijuana retailer license, with several conditions, including that they must first receive a long list of approvals from other Somerville entities before the license is issued.

The Healthy Soil chapter of Mothers Out Front will host a movie night on September 14 spotlighting climate change issues. — Photo courtesy of Mothers Out Front

By Bella Levavi

Chapters of the national organization, Mothers Out Front, are working in Somerville, devoting their time and expertise to fighting climate change at the local level.

The organization started in Somerville and Cambridge in 2012 when one mother had the idea to include mothers in the climate change conversation. Now there are 20 local chapters in Massachusetts, and the organization has mothers fighting in 20 states across the country.