All city buildings will reopen to the public on Monday, July 12 with limited staffing. Both visitors to city buildings as well as staff will be required to wear face coverings while inside the buildings. Staff will be available on a walk-in basis in all departments for quick transactions like paying a bill or picking up a document. For matters that will take longer, residents will need to schedule an appointment with city staff. Many city services are also available online and, whenever possible, residents are encouraged to continue to use online services.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone, Ward 7 City Councilor Katjana Ballantyne, and City of Somerville staff invite you to a virtual community meeting about proposed schoolyard renovations at the West Somerville Neighborhood School. At this meeting, the project’s landscape architects will present three schematic designs that were developed with community input.

— Photos by Bobbie Toner

On Sunday, June 13, the Somerville Fire Department celebrated Firefighter Memorial Sunday. Firefighter Memorial Sunday is held every year to honor the Somerville Firefighters who made the ultimate sacrifice, and to recognize all active and retired members who have passed away during the past year. It has been a tradition for over 100 years and is a very special day for us.
There was a brief ceremony with a wreath laying at the Lowell Street Fire Station located at 651 Somerville Ave.

Friday evening, June 11 at approximately 11:30 p.m., there were shots fired on Pennsylvania Ave. in Somerville. Multiple witnesses heard at least three shots. Investigators have recovered four shell casings and have discovered damage to one vehicle.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Somerville Police Department at 617.625.1600 ext. 7226.

Locals will cycle with the goal of raising $52 million for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

On August 7 and 8, more than 6,000 riders, including 45 participants from Somerville, will take part in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), a two-day 211-mile bike-a-thon across Massachusetts, with the goal of raising $52 million for cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dana-Farber).

Mayor Curtatone and the Somerville High School Gender and Sexuality Awareness Alliance (GSA) raises the Pride flag in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride Month and LGBTQ+ Youth Pride on the City Hall concourse.

Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone will submit a request to the Board of Health (BOH) this month that would revise and extend the city’s current residential eviction moratorium for 90 days, until September 15. The proposal would, as of the date of its passage, end the commercial eviction moratorium and allow landlords and their agents to enter residential units for non-emergency reasons, with 48 hours advance written notice to tenants, an opportunity to reschedule where necessary, and provided that COVID protocols are followed . The city’s emergency declaration will remain in effect throughout this 90-day period. The BOH will consider the proposal at its June 17 meeting.

The City of Somerville is partnering with community groups again this year to raise awareness about black swallow-wort (BSW), a very aggressive and invasive, non-native weed that can be found throughout Somerville. BSW displaces native plants and habitats, threatens butterflies and songbirds, and is toxic to deer and livestock. It is especially harmful to the monarch butterfly population because it resembles milkweed, where monarchs lay their eggs, and once the monarch larvae hatch, they die from eating the toxic BSW leaves.

The Cambridge and Somerville Chambers of Commerce today announced that each community’s respective annual “Taste of” events will be reimagined this summer as a summertime “Dining Passport” program. The initiative, which takes place between July 1 and August 15, will direct 100 percent of passport proceeds to local restaurant workers and non-profit organizations.