With summer just around the corner and tens of thousands of young people entering the workforce in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick has proclaimed May “Safe Jobs for Youth Month” to focus attention on preventing workplace injuries and deaths.
The proclamation was announced at a youth leadership conference organized by youth leaders from the Jovenes Latinos program [...]

Based on the success of our first attempt at this, DARBI will be hosting another Networking Lunch… The goal of these events is for freelancers, consultants, artists, and others who work from home to expand their personal and professional network…..in other words: to meet people!

Somerville Public Schools wants to hear from you!
Please join community advisory groups on Strategic Communications or After-school programming
Call 617-625-6600 x6013 or Email gkinder(at)k12.somerville.ma.us.
Opportunities for virtual feedback provided for Advisory Group members who cannot attend meetings.
Everyone welcome!
Strategic Communication Community Advisory Group meetings
Every other month on Fridays at 1:00 PM
May 29th
July 30th
September 25th
November 20th
All meetings are at [...]

[ April 28, 2009; 7:00 pm; ] The following was posted by Ward 5 School Committee member Mark Niedergang to the list of the Progressive Democrats of Somerville (PDS) on Apr 24th.

How do you think Somerville should respond to the budget cuts?

-Barry

————————————–

Dear friends at PDS,

The Board of Aldermen and School Committee together will be holding a public forum on the FY 2010 [...]

From Mark Niedergang… The Board of Aldermen and School Committee together will be holding a public forum on the FY 2010 budget this Tuesday, April 28th, at 7 PM in the Aldermen’s Chambers in City Hall. This is an opportunity to get an update from the Mayor and the Superintendent of Schools on the City and School budgets for next year and to share your concerns, ideas, and suggestions about priorities and ways to make the FY 2010 budget stretch further.

[ April 28, 2009; 7:00 pm; ] from Mark Niedergang

Dear friends,

The Board of Aldermen and School Committee together will be holding a public forum on the FY 2010 budget this Tuesday, April 28th, at 7 PM in the Aldermen’s Chambers in City Hall.

This is an opportunity to get an update from the Mayor and the Superintendent of Schools on the City and [...]

[ April 30, 2009; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] ‘Villens, as one of the culminating events of our church’s “Sacred Conversations on Race” justice project, we are hosting a panel discussion on Thursday, April 30. The presenters are all fantastic, and should stimulate excellent, truth-telling conversation about racism as its persists in Somerville and surrounding communities. We hope you can come!

First Church Somerville UCC [...]

‘Villens, as one of the culminating events of our church’s “Sacred Conversations on Race” justice project, we are hosting a panel discussion on Thursday, April 30. The presenters are all fantastic, and should stimulate excellent, truth-telling conversation about racism as its persists in Somerville and surrounding communities. We hope you can come!
First Church Somerville UCC [...]

Bill Bumpus and regular Somerville Voices contributor Fred Berman are the co-hosts of a live, (roughly) biweekly show on Somerville Cable Access Television (SCAT, Channel 3) titled “Progressive Voices”.
If you or your organization are working to make a difference on a local, state, national or world level, we’d like to interview you!  Our show airs [...]

Last night, I attended a presentation about Transition Towns, a grassroots movement to catalyze community visioning processes with an aim towards local, sustainable, and environmentally friendly economies.  The presenters admitted this was not meant as a panacea for the impending triangle emergency of peak oil, global climate change, and our economic crisis, but it was [...]

The Board of Directors of the Somerville Teachers Association (STA) voted to endorse HR 676 at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 7.
“Health care reform is finally on the national agenda,” said Linda Vitiello, President of the Somerville Teachers Association. “We are excited to be part of a national grassroots movement for Medicare for [...]

[ April 29, 2009 to May 1, 2009. ] The Somerville High School Art Fair starts on Wednesday, April 29th and runs through Friday, May 1st. Special opening reception will be start at 6:30 PM on the 29th. Student work is on display throughout the Atrium of the High School.

[ April 27, 2009; 7:00 pm to 8:31 pm. ] Autism and Special Education Law is the title of the Monday night workshop being hosted by the Somerville Special Education Parent Advisory Council and Massachusetts Advocates for Children. This event, hosted at the Kennedy School (5 Cherry Street), begins at 7:00 and is free and open to the public.

Somerville Open Studios will get a boost on May 2 and 3 with the addition of participants from of Somerville High School students in the PAL Program who will be displaying and selling hand-crafted jewelry and note cards from their booth at the Center for Arts at the Armory. Proceeds from the sale of [...]

There are new bloggers on the block and they’ve joined me at a 21st Century Club after school program at the Kennedy School.   Students are writing about things that they find interesting, including the MCAS, sports, and Haiti.  You can link to it here under Somerville Blogs in the right-hand column, or go to SomervilleKidsVoices.org.  [...]

On March 19, 2009, the City of Somerville was one of the 118 recipients of an “e-government Award,” from Common Cause. This citation is given for providing online access to Board of Alderman agenda and minutes, budget information, and general by-laws. But, on closer inspection, Somerville came in “number one” for the most inaccessible website, [...]

Following up on my 4/10 article “Ald. Roche wants to keep public business “privileged and confidential”” is my email exchange with him below from last weekend. Since he intended this to be a public conversation (“I do this openly and not behind closed doors.”), I felt it was appropriate to share it with the community [...]

[ April 21, 2009; 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. ] DARBI (Davis Area Resident/Business Initiative) will host a wine and cheese reception open to the public at Dave’s Fresh Pasta from 7:30-9:00 PM on Tuesday, April 21st.  Local residents, both new and old, can take this opportunity to meet and mingle in an informal setting with great food and drink.  Admission is $10 for DARBI [...]

My school, Lynn Classical High School, is not so good right now. The people who built the school built it on a swamp. So the school was sinking for a while. But last year, construction workers came to the school and started to fix it. They’re still not done, but hopefully they will be soon. Other [...]

[ April 16, 2009; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] Public meeting of the Somerville Human Rights Commission
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
6:30pm-8:30pm
2nd Floor social hall, Tufts Administration Bldg, 167 Holland St., Somerville

Agenda:

Introductions (10 min)
Director’s Report (10 min)
Update on the hiring process for Human Rights investigators (20 min)
Immigrant-Police Dialogs (10 min)
Immigrant Support Network (5 min)
Police Surveillance Cameras (30 min)
Advisory Committee (25 min)
Snow Removal Committee (5 min)
HRC [...]

The Community Corridor Planning Project invites you to attend a meeting on April 29th to learn about and talk with your neighbors about changes that will come about in Somerville and in your neighborhood with the Green Line extensions.
The Green Line is coming!
Come talk with your neighbors!
Share what you value in your community
Your ideas are [...]

Somerville’s future – what’s in the works? Come find out.

[ April 25, 2009; 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. ] SomerVision City Planning Open House

Saturday, April 25th from 11 am to 2 pm

Argenziano School, 290 Washington Street

The intent of the open house is to provide information to people interested in learning more about what Somerville is doing in terms of planning for the future and ongoing development.  There will be 16 tables of information [...]

As Executive Director of Somerville Community Access Television, I am concerned that the community may lose resources and benefits from changes to the cable TV franchise rules.  After failing in 2007, Verizon is trying again to modify the rules to their benefit with a new bill put forward in the MA House and Senate.  Although [...]

[ April 26, 2009; 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] Walk to raise funds for emergency assistance to individuals and families teetering on the brink of homelessness.

[ April 25, 2009; 2:00 pm; ] Rock out and chow down to keep our neighbors off the streets!

[ April 20, 2009; 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. ] Celebrate Patriots’ Day the Colonial way! Period dress encouraged.

The newly expanded Dave’s Fresh Pasta will be holding a Grand Opening Celebration on Thursday from 5 to 9 – and 10% of the day’s revenue will be donated to Local First and the Somerville Homeless Coalition.  It’s so nice to see a local business doing well in these tough economic time – and giving [...]

[ April 16, 2009; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] April 16th is the date of the Somerville High School Spring Concert, hosted beginning at 7:00 PM at Somerville High School (81 Highland Avenue). Student musicians will be showing off their accomplishments in ensemble performances led by the high school Music staff including Richard Saunders, Rick Romanoff, Rosemary Sears and Donna Daley.

UPCOMING EVENTS
April 16th is the date of the Somerville High School Spring Concert, hosted beginning at 7:00 PM at Somerville High School (81 Highland Avenue). Student musicians will be showing off their accomplishments in ensemble performances led by the high school Music staff including Richard Saunders, Rick Romanoff, Rosemary Sears and Donna Daley.
Don’t [...]

[ April 23, 2009; 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm. ] From the Somerville Journal web-announcement Capuano staffer visits Somerville April 23
A member of Eighth District Rep. Mike Capuano’s staff will hold office hours Thursday, April 23, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Aldermen’s Chambers at City Hall, 93 Highland Ave. Constituents are encouraged to stop by with questions or concerns.

“If you have an issue [...]

As the following pie chart shows, nearly 60% of Rep. Capuano’s 2010 earmark requests (totaling almost $80 million of tax-payer money) are for military research programs out of a total of close to $136 million in pet projects. He claims he didn’t know about the political contributions he received from the PMA Group lobbying firm, but he should have checked into it before earmarking millions of dollars for its members! We need to send Capuano a strong signal that we’re watching him and we won’t tolerate his earmarks!

I’m inviting you to please either become involved, or send a pledge to me, to support the 6th annual Walk to Save Our Homes.  This is an effort to raise money that will be used to keep Somerville families and individuals from homelessness.  This 5K walk is on Sunday April 26, registration at 1:30 in front [...]

Apropos of Barry’s belief that Somerville needs more and better investigative reporting, you can learn to do it yourself!  Northeastern University School of Journalism and the New England First Amendment Center are offering a May 1 workshop on investigative reporting and freedom of information.   http://www.neu.edu/firstamendment/news_and_announcements/workshop_registration

It sounds like the reason he was upset was not that his email was leaked early, but that there was organized opposition to his idea. The only rational conclusion is that he hoped his motion would come to a vote without much public scrutiny. When a legislator wants to keep the public out of the legislative process, that should be grounds for impeachment!

[ April 12, 2009; 6:00 am; ] Why on earth would you get up pre-dawn on a Sunday and stand outside in the elements, when the high for the day is only predicted to be a chill 40 degrees?

Because it’s Easter sunrise service, one of the most mystical and touching Christian worship services of the year.

Six Davis Square-area churches are coming together [...]

[ April 23, 2009; 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING CONCERNING
CAMBRIDGE HEALTH ALLIANCE – SOMERVILLE HOSPITAL
INPATIENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES

On March 18, 2009, the Department of Public Health received
notification from Marlborough Hospital of their intent to discontinue
providing Inpatient Substance Abuse Services provided at 230 Highland
Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143.

Pursuant to 105 CMR 130.122(E), notice is hereby given that the
Massachusetts [...]

Thanks to the interdependence of everything, Barry Rafkind’s post Keep Big Brother ouf of Somerville has morphed into a discussion about whether or not traffic cameras can induce more folks to obey traffic laws (see comments starting from # 7). I’m saying that, with regards to the specific pedestrian safety issues that Steve Roix has [...]

[ April 14, 2009; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] Home Energy Savings for Renters to learn hands-on ways you can reduce home energy use and expenses. Refreshments provided.

April 14, 2009
6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.
Alderman’s Chambers, Somerville City Hall
93 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02143
Cost: FREE

For more information, contact: David Lutes, 617-625-6600 ext. 2106, dlutes(at)somervillema.gov , Office of Sustainability and Environment

Link to city’s press release

Notes:

Venue is wheel-chair [...]

Our community is not being served adequately by the level of investigative reporting provided by our two local newspapers: The Somerville Journal and The Somerville News. There is a plethora of local blogs offering opinions and media filtering, but there remains a poverty of the kind of quality in-depth journalism that can only be obtained [...]

[ April 21, 2009; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] Come out to the Progressive Democrats of Somerville (PDS) Annual Meeting. See what exciting things are happening with PDS as it celebrates the start of its 6th year.

When: Tuesday, April 21 – 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Where: Independent Restaurant – Union Square
The short program will include elections for new officers, a review of where PDS has been and [...]

What if the energy supplies, food systems and other foundations of our modern economy and lifestyle suddenly changed? How would Somerville cope? We invite you to join us in exploring how Somerville can respond to theses challenges and move toward a healthy future for all, including how we can seize the coming changes as an opportunity to transform racial and class inequities rather than deepen them.

[ April 22, 2009; 7:00 pm; ] What if the energy supplies, food systems and other foundations of our modern economy and lifestyle suddenly changed?  How would Somerville cope?  It’s a notion more of us have been thinking about during the past year. We saw gasoline spike to $4 a gallon last summer, then watched our consumption-driven economy slide into a deep [...]

Dear Chairperson Bill White and distinguished aldermen, I strongly object to the installation of surveillance cameras in public spaces around our city and urge you to request their immediate removal. I believe this surveillance program, which was roundly rejected in Cambridge, MA, violates American ideals of freedom and liberty and the Constitutional right to privacy…

A small group of union members converged on the Rite Aid drugstore in Davis Sq. on Friday, April 3 to condemn the company’s abuse of workers’ rights and urge Congress to pass the “Employee Free Choice Act” — a law backed by President Barack Obama that would better protect employees who want to form unions [...]

If you could change Somerville High, what would you do? Craig Leach’s SHS media class opens a debate this week:
“The kid” hates the lunches but loves the wide variety of teachers. “AB1334” loves SHS but not the “busy work” and says there should be more useful courses. Jeff Wairi wants school to start later in [...]

How would I change the school? Like many things in life there are two sides to every question, and this is no different. I feel as though the Somerville High School has many flaws that could be patched up in the future. I also think the school has also got some things down right. A number [...]

Being as student at Somerville High School and seeing how things are run and the curriculum that is followed makes me think about how I would change if I had the chance.  Although I love Somerville High, there are without a doubt many things that i would change.  One of my pet peeves about school [...]

The absolute first thing I would change about school would be the time. I would push back the time by a few hours. I think if students weren’t half asleep for the first few classes of the day, the teachers would get a better performance from each student.
A more dramatic decision I would make to [...]

Day by day, our schools narrow our mind of being wide and free. “I’m bored”, that is what teenagers say the most and me myself being a teenager think it is true. Things are getting boring  nowadays. School was considered to be a second home once. There is a difference between a house and a [...]

Education is great and I believe every person needs it. If I could change the way school is taught then I would. Most academic classes (english,history, math, etc…) are all basically alike and it just feels like every class is repeating. You take notes, you watch the teacher do something on the board, you go home and do [...]

If I was in charge of my school, there would be a few things that I would change. One thing that I would change would be to make school more interactive and fun. I would want to make each class different almost, since most classes usually involve taking notes and then doing work. I would [...]

Currently i dont think anyone can say they like school. People think school is too boring because its all work and academics and what not. School can be more interesting if it has something to look forward to and thats what we should make. For one its the teachers that make school what it is, [...]

          my dream school is the best. a place where kids aren’t criticized about what they read, their smartness, or even color. all classes are fun, meaning activities are played and planned, students have opportunities given to take the classes they choose. students can create the clubs they want, all of this is great but [...]

“School is boring,” and “I hate school”  is what I often hear from friends. Honestly, I agree! Change the way we learn! Change the fact that what we study today will be forgotten after the test and that the three days of MCAS begins to fry our brains after the first session! We want to [...]

Some kids do well in school all their life, others are late bloomers, and some are strange as in they do well, then badly, then well again. I am one of those strange ones. Here’s my story.
~ Enjoy ~

My grades were good all my life, up until my freshmen year in high school. In elementary [...]

[ April 3, 2009; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. ] In the community room of the Visiting Nurses Association assisted living facility, 259 Lowell St.

Come share your ideas for making our blog better!

Rite Aid has been abusing the rights of employees – and provides a “textbook example” of why Congress should pass the “Employee Free Choice Act,” reform legislation that would better protect employees who want to form unions by limiting employer interference in the process.

This Sunday at 9a the West Somerville area churches invite y’all to our olde, olde tradition of recalling Jesus’ paradoxically humble entry into Roman-occupied Jerusalem amidst the poor and disenfranchised, the People! The original grassroots act of guerilla theatre against the forces of economic and political oppression.
Which is all to say: bring your kids or [...]

[ April 20, 2009; 8:30 am to 6:00 pm. ] Save Our Somerville is running a soccer tournament on Patriots’ Day Monday, April 20th (pending permit approval, rain date of Tuesday, April 21st). The tournament will be held at Glen Park (Glen St. next to the Capuano School). Sign-ins for Middle School Teams will be at 8:30 AM. Sign-ins for High School and Adult Teams will be at 11:00 [...]

[ April 23, 2009; 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. April 24, 2009; 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. April 25, 2009; 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm. April 26, 2009; 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. April 27, 2009; 8:00 pm; April 28, 2009; 8:00 pm; April 29, 2009; 8:00 pm; April 30, 2009; 8:00 pm; ] Eight performances, right in Davis Square!

[ April 4, 2009; 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. ] Vaccination $10 for cat or dog. Dog license $16 for intact, $10 for spayed/neutered.

[ April 1, 2009; 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] No Fooling: Budget Forum April 1

Every day we learn of more cuts in services and proposed tax increases. Why are we in this situation? What can we do to protect the basics we expect in a commonwealth?

On April 1, 7 – 9 pm, you can learn about the state’s fiscal crisis, its causes and consequences, [...]