Somerville Voices

Sent by Adam Rich to Somerville-4-Schools yahoo group:

If families continue to leave Somerville, our public schools will suffer. Please join the Affordable Housing Organizing Committee (AHOC) and Save Our Somerville (SOS) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. for the hearing of the Union Square Zoning Ordinance at City Hall.

We are very concerned that the proposed Union…

“Klass Klownz” auditions are open to any Somerville resident in Grades 7 through 9, and will be held Wednesday, December 10th at 6:00 p.m. in West Somerville Neighborhood School at 177 Powderhouse Boulevard. Performers should prepare a one-minute skit that can take the form of a funny song, an impression, or a parody of a TV ad or character. A CD player will be provided for those auditioners that have their own music.

The tree is gone. Several of us confronted the arborist. Ellie and Kirsten went to court in Woburn where Joe Benoit mysteriously turned up and successfully challenged their request for a temporary restraining order. (with video)

This winter, the Somerville Homeless Coalition will serve hundreds of men, women, and children who would otherwise have no place to call home or enough food to feed their families. Jump to their website to learn how to donate, or read on.

Here is an opportunity to view the work of local artisans, purchase some
holiday decorations and gifts, and help support many student athletes at
SHS!

Each year Somerville attracts over 120 artisan and crafters from
throughout New England to this Holiday Crafts Fair at a very central
location, Somerville High School-Brune Field House at 81 Highland Ave.
This free event is…

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Historic Preservation Commission Director Brandon Wilson announced that the Commission is now accepting nominations for the 2009 Preservation Awards. During the Commission’s annual award program, Somerville residents will be recognized for significant restoration or maintenance efforts on designated historic buildings, or on non-designated buildings erected before 1955. Nominations for the…

A new exhibition, cosponsored by the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and the Chinese Historical Society of New England features material from the Chinese American Women Oral History Project. Exhibited are transcripts, audio, and video clips, artifacts, correspondence, and books that document the experiences of several women who…

And now, a meeting announcement from the Chair of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville…
HEY PDSers…

Come to our November meeting at the VNA at 259 Lowell Street on Tuesday, November 25th from 6:30 to 8:30.

Topics include:

• Celebrating the election of BARACK OBAMA!!!!
• Union Square Zoning Update
• Condo Conversion Endorsement Discussion
• Charter Committee Recommendation Update
• Election of Vacant Positions on the Steering Committee
• and

How do we in Somerville know that the Obama administration will be under pressure to cave to corporations? I couldn’t say it any better than Derrick Jackson did in the Globe…

A few significant things to report from today: (1) At 3 today, Deborah Henson-Conant and 70 of her friends from the Arlington HS choir sang to the Belinda-Bertha-Tim tree. It was fantastic. Picture attached. A video is promised on YouTube soon. Check out the Bertha song in the link below. It would fit right in at Honk!:

Spread Christmas cheer and support alternative education by buying a Christmas tree or wreath from Next Wave and Full Circle Alternative Schools, which provide high quality instruction in a therapeutic setting for up to 104 Somerville youth in Grades 6-12.

You’re invited to a Legislative Workshop I’ll be holding on Thursday, November 20 from 7PM to 8:30PM at the Somerville Public Library, at 79 Highland Ave, Somerville.

Progressives in Somerville, as elsewhere, have invested a lot of hope in an Obama presidency. After the Bush administration’s systematic attack on rights, liberties, and the common good, Obama can hardly help doing better! Yet on some of the most basic issues, Obama has been silent.

Two days ago, the City of Somerville announced it would start enforcing regulations prohibiting the use of bicycles on sidewalks with fines between $20 and $50… Given the city’s budget problems, I wonder whether this policy change is motivated more by a need to find new sources of revenue rather than by public safety concerns.

The Mystic View Task Force is holding its annual meeting on Wednesday, November 19, 2008. The focus of this year’s meeting will be reports on air pollution research. Taeko Minegishi, a scientist at Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc., will report on the results of measurements of

[Posted on behalf of Alisa Wind]

Dear friends at Somerville Voices,

We would like you to join us at a special “What’s Next?” event with Noam Chomsky next Wednesday, Nov 19th. We would also like to encourage your organization to advertise in our program book to share your work with hundreds of viewers (please see below).

Although this…

The Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP) and the Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance (MGNA) are jointly hosting a community meeting to discuss the proposed extension of the Green Line service to the Medford/Somerville line at Mystic Valley Parkway.

The meeting, will be at 7 p.m. on Monday

When I play, I feel concentrated and sometimes nervous. I get motivated by my team mates. When I step on the field, I feel like everything around me is like a perfect dream. I can hear my heart beat.…

Somerville went heavily for Obama in the last election. Now we have to push him to make good on some of his promises; where he doesn’t go far enough, to go further; where he is silent, to speak up and act; and where he is wrong, to change.

This past Monday, the Charter Advisory Committee held a public hearing … Perhaps the most frequent themes of testimony were · Opposition to the appointment (instead of election) of School Committee members · Filling Vacancies on the BOA / Instant Runoff Voting as the means of

Nearly a third of Somerville residents were born outside of the United States. Who are we in this immigrant city? What dreams and aspirations brought us here? How did we cope in a new community and in a new country? What brings us together - what pulls us apart - across generations of immigrants?

Saturday, November 22 at the Cambridge Senior Center in Central Square, United for Justice with Peace is holding a post-election conference to discuss how best to move the agenda for peace and justice forward in the Greater Boston area

This announcement appeared on the smujp(at)yahoogroups.com list on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 11:28 AM

Wednesday, November 19, 7:30-9:30 PM

at the Middle School

FROM WALL STREET TO MAIN STREET - Watertown: A Community Speak-Out on the Economic Meltdown

Wednesday, November 19, from 7:30

The following message was sent by Jackie Rossetti to the ResiStatYoungSomerville Google group on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Hi All,

If you live in the Grimmons Park area, you may be interested in the
following community meeting, to be held on Thursday, Nov. 20th:

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero…

I just received this invitation in the mail from the Somerville Community Corporation:

The Somerville Community Corporation

Cordially invites you to attend our

39th Annual Dinner and Meeting

“PATHWAYS TO PROGRESS”

Wed, Dec 3, 2008, 6-8:30pm

Holiday Inn Boston - Somerville

30 Washington St., Somerville

Please join us for dinner, program, and entertainment.

Please RSVP by: Wed, Nov 26th

617-776-5931 or AnnualMeetingRSVP(at)SomervilleCDC.org

Suggested Donation $25

We welcome…

In April 2008, Mayor Curtatone convened a Charter Advisory Committee “to examine the City of Somerville’s current municipal charter and make recommendations aimed at modernizing city government.” (snip) After a series of meetings between June and early November, the Committee held a public hearing on Monday, November 10 to present and receive comments about its preliminary recommendations…

On Martin Luther King day, January 15, 2006, during his introduction to invited speaker (then-candidate) MA Governor Deval Patrick in front of a full house at the East Somerville Community School, Mayor Joe Curtatone pledged to search far and wide in order to hire the very best possible staff leadership to implement the civil rights of constituents with disAbilities in Somerville… But meaningful change and independent choice still seems out of reach for some voters here in the ‘Ville.

On key issues, Obama either doesn’t go far enough, or he hasn’t said anything at all… I could go on and on, but you probably have an example of your own. What issues are most important to you, and how does Obama address them but fall short? Along with pressing the new administration to keep its promises, we have to make them exceed them. WE have to. They won’t do it on their own.

Friends, neighbors, tenants, and people passing by were aghast to see four massive trucks from Cambridge Landscape setting up to take down one of Somerville’s grandest trees. Tenants complained that the landlords representative had told them only that “tree work” would be done, not that a tree which affects the entire neighborhood would come down.

One week ago, Somerville went overwhelmingly for Obama-Biden. To keep the promises made by the Obama campaign, the Obama Administration will need all the help it can get. We in Somerville should do our part to help–and to keep the politicians honest.

Here is a very partial and incomplete list of campaign promises that I think Obama should keep:

On November 1st, I submitted a grant proposal for $390,000 on behalf of the Somerville Voices team to the 2009 Knight News Challenge titled Transforming the News and Each Other. Please take a look. Your comments would be appreciated. We should find out if we make it past the first round on Nov 15th, so stay tuned for more details.

School Committee chair Paul Bockelman invites you to join the Charter Advisory Committee on this issue meeting tomorrow night at 7PM.

Dear Friends,

I have been representing the School Committee on the Charter Advisory Committee. The Committee has solicited public comments in writing - and we have received several written submissions. We are now holding a public…

Do you want to learn more about schools in Somerville? Did you miss the last forum, or want another opportunity to ask questions? Many of us have babies or toddlers and haven’t had time to investigate our options yet. Some wonder whether we should stay in

I like to play video games that have to do with music or creating music. Like DDR (Dance Dance Revolution): you play with a mat that has 4 arrows, one pointing up, down, left and right. On the screen, you press the arrows with your feet by dancing along with the music that you’re hearing on the game. That is one music game that I love to play. …

In anticipation of next week’s public hearing on Charter Reform, Fred Berman and Bill Bumpus interviewed local activist Bill Shelton, who favors a City Manager form of government, as compared with our current “Strong Mayor” form of government…..

The results of last night’s election are about as good as I could have wished. Obama-Biden won by a large enough margin that no amount of cheating could affect the outcome. Democrats widened their lead in Congress, and progressives held onto their seats. There’s still a chance that Al Franken could become the next Senator from Minnesota. Most important to me personally, Massachusetts voted 2-1 against eliminating the state income tax.

As promised here is the latest and greatest from Somerville Community Access Television. Check out the footage from the Community Arts Festival and from a Nepali Community Event. See a separate posting for the interview with Bill Shelton about Charter Reform on Fred Berman and Bill Bumpus’ Monday evening show, Progressive Voices.

November 6th Event to Include Guest Speakers, Networking and Refreshments

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Acting Director of Commissions Sonja Darai invite residents to attend the Somerville Commission for Women’s 20th Anniversary celebration on Thursday, November 6th at 6pm at the VNA (259 Lowell St). The event will include founding and current members of…

No school on November 4th; Vocational Fair on November 8th; School Improvement Council Training on November 10th; Parent/Guardian Focus Group on Middle Grades Learning on November 13th; District-wide open house and information session on November 18th

Rev. Molly Baskette, Senior Minister of First Church Somerville UCC, asked us to post this for her:

On November 4, you will be making one of the most important political decisions of your life. It’s not McCain vs. Obama. It’s the decision about whether or not to repeal the state income tax in Massachusetts.…

I just read the article in the Somerville Journal in which the aldermen discussed various ideas for trimming the city’s budget. That motivated me to write the following Letter to the Editor in favor of replacing the preliminary elections with a single election with Instant Runoff Voting.

The following is quoted from the City of Somerville Website PR of October 27, 2008:

The City of Somerville’s Charter Advisory Committee (CAC) will hold a public hearing to discuss the City’s municipal charter and the work of the CAC over the last…