The Medford St. bridge, in Gilman Square behind Somerville High School (SHS), will close for construction starting Friday, May 17. The bridge is expected to remain closed through the spring of 2020. For the duration of this closure, all traffic will be detoured around the work zone via Pearl St. and McGrath Highway. Detour maps and directions for vehicular and pedestrian/bicycle traffic are available on www.mass.gov/GLX in the Bridge Closures section. To stay informed about construction, sign up to receive a weekly email outlining upcoming construction citywide at www.somervillema.gov/construction. Residents are also encouraged to enroll in the city’s alert system at www.somervillema.gov/alerts to receive notifications prior to major detours or disruptive construction activity in their neighborhood. Anyone seeking assistance for an urgent Green Line construction-related matter should call the 24/7 GLX hotline at 1-855-GLX-INFO (459-4636) or email info@glxinfo.com. For additional information about the Green Line Extension project, including construction schedules, fact sheets, and the latest station designs, visit www.mass.gov/GLX.

Project will employ hundreds of union workers 

Union Square Station Associates (“US2”) announced today that it has selected Cranshaw Construction of Newton, MA for early phase construction for the first phase of its $1.5 billion mixed-use transit-oriented development in Union Square known as USQ.  Under terms of the contract, Cranshaw will begin providing constructability and estimating services for a significant portion of the D2 parcel consisting of a 450-unit residential building with ground floor retail, and new public open space adjacent the Union Square T Station.

Some things just take some getting used to. And we are such creatures of habit, aren’t we? These two principles sometimes combine to create real dilemmas for many of us. Such is the case when it comes to accepting the ban on plastic straws which was recently passed by the City Council.

Arrests:
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Namron Holder, of 81 Woods Ave., May 6, 8:53 a.m., arrested at home on warrant charges of armed robbery, kidnapping, armed assault in dwelling, and carrying a firearm without a license.

Mario Medeiros, of 35 Marshall St., May 7, 4:00 p.m., arrested at Mystic Ave. on a charge of shoplifting by concealing merchandise and on warrant charges of operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended registration, operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license, no inspection sticker, and tire tread depth violation.

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Review by Off the Shelf correspondent Dennis Daly

Never underestimate the power of exuberance. Never, never underestimate the creative power of love’s exuberance. Local poet Kevin Cutrer’s new book Mudança sings a melody of love like nothing I’ve heard in years. Can this be the return of courtly love? The poet’s words radiate authenticity as they reel through an emotional cross-cultural ether. Art, metrics, all of it fade into the distant background as Cutrer pulses out his evanescent, barely containable, joy.

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Ann Murphy Fletcher started writing and publishing in 1994. During that time, she has published many poems in such journals as Yankee, The Christian Science Monitor, Georgia Journal, Providence Magazine, Psychopoetica, The Lucid Stone, Ibbetson St. Press, Parnassus, Pegasus, Negative Capability and many more. She has published articles in the on-line magazine Better After Fifty and several in local newspapers especially the Waltham/Newton Tribune. She also has published six short stories and is getting ready to launch a blog about weight loss and maintaining it.

Photo courtesy of SSEP NCESSE

Schools in Somerville can now apply for a JFK Space Lab presented by Raytheon. The Space Labs support experiments that utilize direct connections with and data from the International Space Station covering areas of Earth science, biology and computer science for middle and high school students.

A section of the Somerville Community Path, from Buena Vista Rd. to Cameron Ave. behind the Davis Square T station, is expected to close on or around Monday, May 13, for the final phase of the Community Path Drainage & Retaining Wall Upgrades project. It’s anticipated to reopen around mid-June.