By Friends of Cobble Hill

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville/Medford News Weekly belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville/Medford News Weekly, its staff or publishers)

While the much-valued quality-of-life at Cobble Hill Apartments hangs in the balance, representatives of the City of Somerville continue to ignore and avoid important questions asked by Cobble Hill residents. The most glaring common complaint is that city planners, including members of city council, have not explained to anyone’s satisfaction why they intend to build a public safety building contiguous to their residence at 90 Washington Street. Even worse, at no time did the City consult the community before choosing this location. Quite the contrary, the Planning Department leveraged, for the first time, a heavy handed urban renewal tactic known as a Demonstration Plan that legally allows the city to exclude from its decision making any form of public review and comment. Continue reading What Is The future of Cobble Hill Apartments? Present Day Cobble Hill →

By Bob Katzen

The Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee held a virtual hearing on a measure that would ban the sale and release of any balloon filled with helium or any type of lighter than air gas and impose up to a $100 fine on violators. Continue reading BAN SALE AND USE OF HELIUM BALLOONS →

By Bob Katzen

The Transportation Committee held a virtual hearing on a measure that would allow cities and towns to lower their speed limits by five mph. Continue reading ALLOW CITIES AND TOWNS TO LOWER SPEED LIMITS →

By Bob Katzen

The Judiciary Committee held a virtual hearing on a proposal that would outlaw the use of tear gas by police officers and other law enforcement personnel. Continue reading BAN TEAR GAS →

By Bob Katzen

The Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee held a virtual hearing on a bill that would prohibit “spoofing,” a practice used by telemarketing companies to have a phony telephone number show up on a consumer’s Caller ID. The company’s intent is to deceive, defraud or obtain anything of value, including financial resources or personal identifying information, from the consumer. Current law only prohibits the telemarketers from preventing their phone number from appearing on Caller ID but doesn’t address the legitimacy of the phone number that appears on Caller ID. Continue reading TELEMARKETERS MUST SHOW REAL PHONE NUMBER →

By Bob Katzen

The House gave initial approval to a bill that would allow cities and towns to create a water bank or sewer bank to offset the cost of new and upgraded water infrastructure projects. Communities would also be allowed to assess a fee on the project developer to offset the cost of the projects. Continue reading ALLOW CITIES AND TOWNS TO ESTABLISH A WATER BANK OR SEWER BANK →

By Bob Katzen

The House gave initial approval to a bill that would allow cities and towns to quickly set a new date for a hearing of any city or town board without being required to give the usual minimum of two weeks notice before the rescheduled meeting. Continue reading GIVE MUNICIPAL BOARDS THE OPTION OF RESCHEDULING ANOTHER MEETING QUICKLY →

By Bob Katzen

The House gave initial approval to legislation that would require cities and towns to enter into an inter-municipal agreement when a bridge is being built or rebuilt on land owned by two or more cities or towns. Continue reading BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AFFECTING MORE THAN ONE CITY OR TOWN →

By Bob Katzen

Governor Charlie Baker, after vetoing several items, signed into law a $4 billion package which spends the $2.55 billion in federal money the state received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the $1.45 billion surplus left over from the state’s fiscal year 2021 budget on relief and recovery from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 18 months. The plan includes one-time investments in health and human services, education, housing, the environment including climate mitigation, economic development and jobs. Continue reading STATE’S $4 BILLION FOR COVID RELIEF AND RECOVERY →

Take a Survey to Inform Parking and Curb-Use Policies in Somerville

The City of Somerville invites Somerville residents, workers, and visitors to complete a survey to inform citywide parking policies. Continue reading Help Shape Parking & Curb-Use Policies in Somerville →

The following is a brief summary pertaining to incident #21064365:

On Tuesday, December 14th, 2021, I, Officer Thomas Lambert was in full uniform while assigned to marked cruiser East-1 during the 8am-4pm shift. At approximately 10:22PM, I was dispatched to 460 Assembly Row (Polo) for a Larceny. Continue reading Real Life Somerville Police Stories: Jasard HARDMOND (Larceny, Removal of Theft Detection Device, Posess Burglarious Instrument) →

I, Officer Roger Desrochers, report the following summary of events based on direct interview with the persons named.

On Saturday, December 18, 2021, I, Officer Desrochers, was in full-uniform and assigned to marked cruiser 182(E2), and patrolling the East district, for the Somerville Police Department when at about 17:00 I was dispatched along with Officer Pavao(E3) to Target located at 180 Somerville Ave for a reported larceny. Continue reading Real Life Somerville Police Stories: George PIRPIRIS (Larceny) (Boston Warrants) →

SOMERVILLE – Over the past three days, members of the Kiwanis Club of Somerville have taken on the role as Santa’s elves, delivering wrapped toys to 150 children in Somerville and Cambridge who are part of the CAAS Head Start Program. The names, ages and gender of each child were sent to the Somerville Kiwanis Club where program chairman and head elf Jim Bowdring, and co-chair, Jillian Bowdring, divided the list amount amongst the member elves, who purchased and wrapped toys for the children. Continue reading SOMERVILLE KIWANIS CLUB DELIVERS TOYS TO 150 HEAD START CHILDREN →