By Jordan Pagkalinawan

On September 4, the Somerville Land Use Committee heard from Land Use Analyst Samantha Carr on an upzoning proposal from the Gilman Square Neighborhood Council.

Gilman Square zoning proposal

The proposed changes include incrementally upzoning parcels along Medford and Pearl Street from Mid-Rise 4 to Mid-Rise 6, converting the Homan’s site designation from civic space to Mid-Rise 6, and expanding the pedestrian street designation beyond the current Medford and Pearl Street corridor.

(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 Jack Connolly
Jackconnolly422@gmail.com

Since 1918, Massachusetts voters have enjoyed the constitutional rights of initiative and referendum.  Because of this, voters have been able to propose new state laws they deem necessary and appropriate and challenge those laws they believe to be unworthy of their support.

To mark the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the City of Somerville Department of Veterans’ Services invite all community members to a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony on Thursday, September 11, at 6 p.m. in Davis Square. The observance will honor all victims of 9/11 as well as first responders, workers, and volunteers who rushed to the scene to save lives or to later help carry out the dangerous cleanup. It will include a moment of silence and feature an invocation and benediction by Father Paul Coughlin as well as remarks by Mayor Ballantyne and Veterans Director Jerome Thomas. For more information, please email veterans@somervillema.gov or contact 311 at 617-666-3311.

(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)

Recently, Somerville for Palestine has been on a curious crusade. Not for justice. Not for the community. But for the remarkable project of convincing people that a meme I shared lampooning Islamophobia is somehow Islamophobic. You almost have to admire the audacity.

Eagle Feathers #337 – Anderson’s Train

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

Charlestown, established in 1628, is older than Boston. It originally covered ten towns before it split and annexed itself to the capital city, taking 200 years to accomplish.

Somerville was the last to separate in 1842, and Woburn was the first to leave in 1642. Through the forthcoming years, one of the only things that would slowly reconnect them were new transportation routes. The Middlesex Canal was built in 1803, followed by the Medford Turnpike in 1804, the Middlesex Turnpike in 1823, the Boston and Lowell Railroad in 1835, and eventually Interstate Route 128 in 1951 and Route 93 in 1963.

Although 24 years will have passed since the terrible and tragic events of September 11, 2001, took place, for many of us, the shock and horror remain fresh in our memories. And since we, as New Englanders, were relatively close to the sites of destruction and loss of life, we can perhaps feel those sensations of sadness and even anger a little deeper than some others might, especially since our own Logan Airport played a role in the perpetrators’ deadly scheme.

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Recently, I caught up with Somerville Poet Mollie O’Leary. She generously agreed to answer my questions. From her website:

“Mollie O’Leary (b. 1995) is a poet from Massachusetts. She holds a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Kenyon College and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Washington. Mollie’s chapbook The Forgetting Curve was published in 2023 through Poetry Online’s chapbook contest. Her work has appeared in McNeese Review, Chestnut Review, wildness and elsewhere. Mollie has participated in workshops through Tin House and Inprint; she has also attended artist residencies in Mexico, Italy, and Norway.”

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Peter F. Crowley is a prolific writer from the Boston area whose work spans short fiction, op-eds, poetry, and academic essays. His writing has appeared in publications such as Pif Magazine, New Verse News, Counterpunch, Common Dreams, The Galway Review, Digging Through the Fat, and The Opiate. He was a finalist in both the short story and poetry categories of Adelaide’s Award Anthologies. He is the author of two poetry collections, Those Who Hold Up the Earth and Empire’s End, as well as a short fiction collection, That Night and Other Stories.

Design by Somervillain Heather Hodgkins

One of city’s quirkiest annual traditions back for it’s 20th year on Sept. 20  

Somerville’s Fluff Fest is turning 20, and all are invited to  celebrate the famous treat in Union Square on Saturday, September 20, 2025, from 2 to 6 p.m. (rain date: Sunday, September 21). This year’s milestone theme, Forever Fluff: 20 Years of Sticky, Sweet Somerville, marks two decades of celebrating the invention of Marshmallow Fluff in Union Square with zany games, music, fluff-filled snacks, and more.