New Daytime Detour Begins Late June  

Somerville Ave. will reopen to eastbound traffic through Union Square starting Monday, June 10. A detour has been in place between Dane St. and the Somerville Ave./Washington St. intersection since February. Over the next few weeks, Barletta, the city’s contractor for the Somerville Ave. Utility and Streetscape Improvements Project, will gradually transition out of their current work zone and into the next phase of construction. They’ll move to Bow St. just west of Stone Ave. for approximately one month. Northbound traffic on Webster Ave. will still be required to turn either left or right at the Washington St./Somerville Ave. intersection. Westbound traffic will be maintained. MBTA bus routes 85 Inbound/Outbound and 87 Inbound will continue operating on their existing Dane St. detour routes.

(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 Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone

Taking a closer look at notable city data—and interesting numbers.  Fiscal year 2020 begins on July 1 and throughout June the City Council will be reviewing the budget we have submitted. Visit www.somervillema.gov to find meeting dates and times.

2.5%: Even if you don’t spend much time talking about municipal finance, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Proposition 2 ½. Passed by voters in 1980, Proposition 2 ½ sets rules around tax assessments and levies. The part you’ve likely heard about the most is the section that caps property tax increases at 2.5%. Any increase beyond that would require an override vote, which Somerville has never done. (In 2016 voters did approve a debt exclusion to pay for the new Somerville High School, which is different from an override.) Here’s where things can get a little confusing: Although the tax rate can’t be raised more than 2.5%, sometimes property owners see an increase larger than 2.5%. That’s because property tax bills are based both on the tax rate and the value of the property. From fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2019 Somerville’s residential tax rate decreased by nearly 5% (the FY2020 tax rate will be set by the City Council later this year), but if a property’s value increased taxpayers may end up with a larger bill than the year before.

— Photos by Kelsey Marie Kent

The WSNS Spring Concert 2018-2019 “The Power of Nature” took place on Thursday, May 30, at West Somerville Neighborhood School. The students delivered performances about the power of nature and included SMILE-6th Grade Classrooms; 4th, 5th, and 6th Grade Strings & Band Ensembles; and 7th & 8th Grade Chorus, World Percussion, and Orchestra.

— Photos by Claudia  Ferro

SomerStreets: Carnaval returned for the 10th year of shaking up East Somerville, kicking off the 2019 season on Sunday.

Attendees enjoyed the best of the East Broadway Business District and community including food, music, and activities from around the world.

By Jim Clark

On Wednesday of last week, Somerville Police received a telephone call from a Home Depot loss prevention officer saying that he observed two known shoplifters place several rolls of wire in a shopping cart and walk towards the exit.

The loss prevention officer described one of the suspects as wearing a reflective jacket and a hard hat, while the other one wore blue jeans and an orange jacket.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Disclaimer: at no time would I ever take lightly the importance of support groups.

There’s lots of support and service groups available. I go to AA for my sobriety, I joined AAA for my cars, but I think we need one more. AAAA. Avid Amazon Abusers of America. I’m appointing myself as the Grand Exalted Mystic Poobah of AAAA.

~Photos by Bobbie Toner

The Somerville High School Class of 2019 graduation ceremony took place on Monday, June 3. The ceremony took place at Dilboy Stadium. Mayor Curtatone, Superintendent Skipper and other city officials were in attendance.

(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.)

To the Editor:

I write to correct the errors made in the May 22nd front-page article, “Short term rental ordinance set for recommendation to the City Council.”

Your May 22nd article on the short-term rental (STR) ordinance was based on a rather old version of the ordinance, which went through many changes and versions.  The City Council passed the STR ordinance on May 23rd, and it will take effect on January 1, 2020.

SPD is one of 86 accredited departments across the state.

On June 4, 2019, the Somerville Police Department received state accreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission.

Accreditation is a self-initiated evaluation process by which police departments strive to meet and maintain standards that have been established for the profession, by the profession. These carefully selected standards reflect critical areas of police management, operations, and technical support activities. They cover areas such as policy development, emergency response planning, training, communications, property and evidence handling, use of force, vehicular pursuit, prisoner transportation and holding facilities. The program not only sets standards for the law enforcement profession, but also for the delivery of police services to citizens of the commonwealth. The Assessment Team found the Somerville Police Department to be in compliance with all applicable standards for Accreditation.

The Somerville City Council passed a resolution expressing support for the 1973 Supreme Court protections for a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

By Jim Clark

At the latest regular meeting of the Somerville City Council, a resolution was put forward reaffirming support for the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision which affirmed that access to safe and legal abortion is a constitutional right.