Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Originally published on November 19, 2011

Remember how we used to roll our eyes when our parents told us how they could see five movies, buy candy, soda and popcorn, ride the trolleys all day and still come home with change of a quarter? Well, let’s congratulate ourselves because we have officially become our parents.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”7″ display=”basic_slideshow” gallery_height=”300″ interval=”2000″ transition_speed=”100″]~Photos by Bobbie Toner and Doug Holder

The ArtBeat festival, presented by Somerville Arts Council, is normally scheduled as a one-day event that attracts some 10,000 people, runs this year from Friday, July 10 to Saturday, July 18 and features a mix of virtual performances and real life installations around Somerville.

Further cuts to the Somerville Police Department’s budgetary allocation for Fiscal Year 2021 were among the items discussed by the city’s Legislative Matters Committee at their latest meeting last week.

By Alberto Gilman

The Somerville City Council’s Finance Committee met virtually on Thursday, July 9 to continue discussions over the proposed budget for FY21.

This was a Committee of the Whole meeting with all 11 councilors present. After Finance Committee Chair and Ward 2 Councilor J.T. Scott called the roll he recognized Ward 5 Councilor Mark Niedergang, who again wanted to address some of the line items from the police budget.

Somerville Bike Safety is working with the city, members of the community and other cycling advocacy groups to help improve cycling safety in and throughout Somerville.

By Elizabeth Long

“All ages, all abilities, and all neighborhoods” is the motto of Somerville Bike Safety  or SBS. With so many people active in many new ways as a result of Covid-19, being safe is the number one concern.

The city is continuing its reopening plan with Phase 3 kicking in next Monday – if all goes well. Remember to get out there and support our local businesses as they open their doors for the first time in months. Let them know you care about keeping them going and how much you appreciate what the contribute to our community. Of course, stay safe by wearing your masks whenever appropriate and keep practicing that social distancing. We can make this work if we all work together!

JJ Gonson spoke before the ONCE Virtual Venue “ArtBeat Takeover: Kick-Off Dance Party.”

By Rachel Berets

Last Friday night, music venue ONCE Somerville hosted a dance party. There were spinning records, good tunes, and flashing lights, but no crowded dance floor because ONCE has taken things virtual.

Somerville came together in support of Sue Barry, a 15-year employee at the Department of Public Works, who is battling cancer. Last Sunday, friends and family provided moral support to Sue in her recovery efforts. All of her friends were wearing T-shirts with her picture on it.

Cycling has grown in popularity and practice in recent years, and the numbers of those who commute to and from work or school, go shopping, or simply take leisurely rides on their bikes has grown considerably. It is a trend that has taken hold nationwide.

Foss Park in Somerville will be undergoing major renovations over the course of the next few weeks and months. The state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) plans to invest $1.2 million in a new, multi-sport turf field, field drainage improvements, field lighting, and pathway upgrades.

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Pamela Annas wrote a review of Holder’s The Man in the Booth in the Midtown Tunnel. Many of the poems from that collection are included in this new book. To order go to Amazon, http://bigtablepublishing.com, or directly from the author at dougholder@post.harvard.edu.

Doug Holder is above all an urban poet, an observer chronicling the everyday sights and absurdities of Somerville, Boston and New York City in plain talk flavored with cool irony and sudden startling bursts of imagery. His settings include hospital rooms, bars, coffee shops, Harvard Yard, the post office, buses and subway trains, the Boston Public Library, Shea Stadium, housing projects, city streets, and the Midtown Tunnel from Queens to Manhattan which is the location of the book’s title poem. His characters are bizarre and ordinary like all of us. Several of the poems are inspired by newspaper stories – about a woman who sat on a toilet for two years in her boyfriend’s apartment, about an old man who murdered his equally aged wife, about a middle aged man who died on a subway train: “the Daily dropped/ From his hands … The trains backed up/ From Cambridge to Dorchester.”