This hearing will receive public input on the use of union labor at the MaxPac site.

Cases include a special permit for Medium Retail and Service uses at 130 Broadway.

The recently released departmental review of the City’s Inspectional Services Division lists many problems and suggested solutions, but strangely neglects to mention that the department head, George Landers, was unqualified to hold that position.…

I read in SomervillePatch that parents spoke out against classroom “data walls” at a recent school committee meeting, including one who said her daughter concluded from the chart in her classroom that she was stupid.…

MA DOT holding a Public hearing on Broadway Streetscape improvement Project on January 26, 2011 at the Cross Street Senior Center, 7 pm. Public Comments are also accepted via mail.

This is the meeting to get to! The group will begin a city-wide land use map showing the proposed development areas and their categorizations.

At this meeting STEP is likely to discuss the current status of the Green Line Extension, the Community Path, and the Assembly Square Orange Line T-Stop.

Community art project at the Nave Gallery.

Happy snow emergency! Do you know where your towing dollars go?

On this week’s episode of Greater Somerville, Joe Lynch asked Mayor Joe Curtatone the question that’s on a lot of minds these days.…

Come share your ideas for our community blog. We’ll meet this Sunday, Jan. 23, 6 to 8 pm at the Visiting Nurses assisted living community, 259 Lowell Street…

The ball has dropped, 2011 is upon us, and we’ve shoveled more snow than most Alaskans will all year. We here at DARBI feel your back pain and have the perfect fix for those winter blahs: January Cocktail Hour!

How are our tax dollars, fines, and fees being spent by City Hall?

The Benjamin Brown School, 201 Willow Ave, invites interested parents and guardians of preschoolers and school-age children to its Open House this week,Wednesday through Friday, 8:30 am to 1:30 pm. In addition, prospective families are…

This meeting will discuss a petition for a public hearing on the use of union labor at the MaxPac site, along with a home-rule petition to streamline administration.

This meeting will discuss a five-story residential building at 378-390 Somerville Avenue, among other business.

Read more in the Boston Globe’s article The timely return of Bob Massie and check out his new campaign website Bobmassie.org

Kevin was 11 when he arrived in the United States. Dimas was 13. Both are candidates for the DREAM Act, and told their stories at an event organized by Centro Presente and the Welcome Project. …

Come hear about the Healey School – and see if it is good fit for your child and family. Teachers, students, the principal and parents will speak about the Healey School, how we teach and learn and how the redesign process is going.

As part of Tom Nash’s investigation into the campaign finance reports of Somerville’s mayor and Aldermen, he has discovered that the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance referred Ward 7 Ald. Bob Trane to the Attorney General for failing to file a year-end 2009 report.…

In the first week of 2011, City of Somerville Mayor Joseph E. Curtatone and Somerville School District Superintendent Pierantozzi signed a Final Resolution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), to voluntarily come into compliance regarding inaccessible public school facilities and programs. In addition, Somerville will redraft its policies regarding relocation and other accessibility accommodations.

Somerville Family & Community Connections

Location: Argenziano School

For more information please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/families or call 617-625-6600 extention 6966…

Presented by RCS Behavioral Educational Consulting, Special Education SPED PAC

Register by 1/27/11

Location: Kennedy School

For more information please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/families or call 617-625-6600 extention 6966…

Presented by Margie Daniels, Director, Middlesex Partnerships for Youth

Location: Somerville High School Auditorium

For more information please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/families or call 617-625-6600 extention 6966…

Presented by Susan Senator, author of The Autism Mom’s Survival Guide, Special Education SPED PAC.

Register by 2/21/11

Location: Kennedy School

For more information please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/families or call 617-625-6600 extention 6966…

Presented by Honey Schnapp and Nomi Davidson, from Somerville Family & Community connections.

March 14, 6:30 to 8 pm. Register by 3/9/11

Location: Argenziano School

For more information please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/families or…

Presented by Honey Schnapp from Somerville Family Community Connections.

Register by 3/21/11

Location: Argenziano School

For more information please visit www.somerville.k12.ma.us/families or call 617-625-6600 extention 6966…

All Somerville families are welcome to sign up for playgroups. Enrollment is limited to one playgroup per family throughout the city so that we may provide playgroups to as many Somerville children as possible. Registration from Monday, February 7 – Tuesday, February 8.…

After obtaining copies of the most recent campaign finance reports for Somerville’s mayor and Board of Aldermen, Post Somerville has begun analyzing the data by putting it into spreadsheets.

Please join us in our efforts to extend the Community Path to the Charles River!

On December 22nd, our web-hosting company performed server maintenance that briefly took this blog off-line. When it came back later that day, all of our Wordpress plug-ins were disabled, including the ones for the calendar, spam-filtering, and automatic moderator notifications for pending posts. We appreciate your patience as I work on gradually restoring these features in my spare time.

Tonight the Planning Board voted approval for the MaxPak apt/condo project to go ahead. The unions plan to picket Lowell St. near the VNA.

At this meeting, the committee will work toward a consensus on the Goals and Actions and begin work on land use mapping.

Every development in Somerville should contribute to meeting our environmental goals. Assembly Square should not be exempted.

Come share your ideas for improving our blog in 2011!

Sunday, January 9, 6 to 8 at the Visiting Nurses assisted living community, 259 Lowell Street…

Union members and community activists concerned about jobs at the future MaxPac development on Clyde Street held a meeting on Jan 4th.

When Watertown, MA resident Mark Pickering received a parking citation during a visit to a friend in nearby Somerville, he figured a simple letter to the Office of the Parking Clerk would result in a scheduled hearing or a ticket dismissal. Instead, he received an anonymous note of rejection with an extra $5 fine.

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As promised, here’s the lineup of family films that we’ll be showing at the Central Library one Saturday afternoon per month at 2:00 p.m.

January 15th:
Muppets from Space

February 12th:

A few weeks ago I posted a question: what would draw you to a free film at the Library?  I got a small amount of feedback through the Library’s blog, Facebook, and by talking with…