Posted by Jonathan Rich at 2:00 pm on March 20, 2009
Senator Jehlen's state budget forums have been terrific in the past. On a local level, the Progressive Democrats are apparently planning a community forum on budget issues in May. I haven't heard a specific date yet, or in fact anything beyond what was published in
a recent Somerville Journal op-edRead More..>>
Posted in Economy & Poverty | No Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 1:13 pm on February 17, 2009
This was just sent to me by a Garden Club member: A Tree Preservation Ordinance has been proposed in the Board of Aldermen to protect healthy street trees throughout Somerville. The Tree Preservation Ordinance will be taken up before the Board of Aldermen's Legislative Matters Committee on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at…
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Posted in Environment and Open Space, Events | No Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 11:53 am on February 12, 2009
Last night at a meeting of the Somerville Garden Club, an audience of about forty club members got a progress report from Brad Arndt, the Coordinator for the Somerville Urban Forest Initiative.
Following up on the Mayor's pledge in his last inaugural address to increase the number of trees in Somerville by twenty percent over four…
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Posted in Environment and Open Space, Neighborhoods and Squares | 2 Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 10:34 am on January 19, 2009
A couple weeks shy of a year since I first heard it, I checked in to Dipdive.com to listen to will i. am’s “Yes We Can Song,” and must report with mild embarrassment that it still chokes me up.
Will tomorrow’s inauguration speech be more than a reworking of the stump speeches we’ve all…
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Posted in Events | No Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 2:18 pm on December 16, 2008
Registration has opened for the 2009 Somerville Open Studios. This year the event will be on May 2 and 3 from noon to 6:00pm. Registration for participating artists is only open until January 30. You can register here:
http://2009.somervilleopenstudios.org/membership/Read More..>>
Posted in Arts and Culture | No Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 12:12 pm on December 7, 2008
If you buy your electrical power from NStar and can afford an additional 1.389 cents per kilowatt hour, you can sign up for the "NStar Green" program, which promotes the development of wind energy as an alternative power source.…
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Posted in Environment and Open Space | 5 Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 1:03 pm on October 31, 2008
I just got a robo-call from the "Small Property Owners Association" telling me that I should email my alderman and demand that all condo conversion controls be eliminated. It also urged me to attend the BOA meeting on November 18. We've had some discussion on this site about gentrification. Well, I can't think of a better way to promote gentrification than to wipe out large numbers of rental units via condo conversion.
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Posted in Development and Zoning, Housing | 6 Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 12:26 am on September 17, 2008
At 7:30 this evening I was out knocking on doors in Medford, although at that point I had to stop under street lights to read the list of Sciortino supporters that I was supposed to be encouraging to get to the polls. At one of my last doors, I was grateful to hear a woman…
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Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 10:45 pm on July 22, 2008
At a fundraiser for his reelection campaign at Sabur Restaurant this evening, Representative Carl Sciortino got some strongly worded support from Governor Deval Patrick, and announced that an upcoming environmental bond bill would include two million dollars for improvements to Somerville’s largest open space, Foss Park.…
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Posted in Environment and Open Space, Neighborhoods and Squares, Politics, Transportation | 1 Comment »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 5:16 pm on June 20, 2008
Just a heads up: the Somerville Garden Club is presenting a self guided garden tour "Urban Gardens Revealed," TOMORROW June 21, from noon to five. Be aware that tickets ($12) have been selling out, indicating more interest than the Garden Club may have anticipated. As I write this they are still available at Pemberton and…
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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 10:52 am on May 15, 2008
You can’t walk down the street nowadays without someone measuring your carbon footprint. But Somerville residents (who don’t drive much anyway) may be thinking that there isn’t much they’ll be able to do about it, assuming they’ve already screwed in all those compact fluorescents.…
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Posted in Environment and Open Space | 3 Comments »
Posted by Jonathan Rich at 1:18 pm on April 4, 2008
I’m frequently seeing the word “gentrification” employed to describe the demographic change taking place in Somerville since the late 1990s. We’re certainly seeing changes, but I question how much of it is gentrification.
When the term came into general use it described a revival of old and run-down neighborhoods by well-to-do…
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Posted in Housing | 6 Comments »
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