The Somerville News

Ballot question calls for end to dog racing

Davis Square group pushes for a yes vote

By Patrick Connolly

Starz Voice, a 61-pound greyhound, sprinted out of the gates and into third place at the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park in Raynham. At the first turn, a dog bumped her, sending her and another dog flipping to the side of the track in a cloud of dust. Starz Voice fractured her elbow and was later euthanized at the trainer's request.

Christine Dorchak, of the Davis Square-based Committee to Protect Dogs, would like to end such injuries with help from voters in November. Question 3 on the ballot will ask voters to phase out greyhound racing in Massachusetts, making it illegal by 2010. Greyhound racing is cruel for several reasons, Dorchak said, from poor food quality to bad living conditions.

Up in the air! It's the city's development future

City to sell air rights over proposed maintenance facility

By George P. Hassett

City officials would rather not have a Green Line maintenance facility in Somerville but if they must, they are prepared. Monica Lamboy, the city's director of development, last week presented the Board of Aldermen with scenarios of how to develop the Inner Belt area if it is forced to host a 12-acre maintenance facility for Green Line trains.

New police substation opens in East Somerville

By Miriam Valverde

East Somerville celebrated the opening of a new police substation at 81 Broadway on Monday; a move that city officials say will increase the reporting of neighborhood crime and make the area safer for residents and businesses.

Community residents stood outside the substation and listened to city leaders, including the mayor and police chief, detail the new policing methods they plan to bring to one of the city's busiest neighborhoods.

“Today you have given our department a home in East Somerville,” said Police Chief Anthony Holloway. “And to a police officer, there is nothing more important than having a home in the community. This substation, and the one soon to open in West Somerville, will allow us to be even more effective at policing on a neighborhood level.”

Capuano: Bailout vote my toughest yet

By George P. Hassett

US Rep. Michael E. Capuano, D-Somerville, said his office got nearly 1,000 phone calls last week from constituents concerned about Congress' estimated $700 billion economic bailout package.

Sentiment was mixed, he said: roughly 60 percent of callers “flat out said no,” while 40 percent “accepted the notion that something had to be done.”

Opinion was mixed on the street in Somerville too. Most people asked about the bailout by The Somerville News this week said they didn't like it.

“The fat cats played the game. Let them cover their losses,” said one man, who would not give his name, on Broadway Monday.

Cross Street fire leaves 9 homeless

By George P. Hassett

A five-unit Cross Street home suffered $400,000 in damages from a fire Tuesday morning that left nine adults homeless, according to fire officials.

The fire started on the second floor of 23-25 Cross St. at approximately 1:04 a.m., said Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher. He said investigators believe it was an accident but the probe is ongoing.

Firefighters were on the scene until 3:32 a.m. and entered the building to knock the flames down, he said. The fire reached the third floor. The building is currently uninhabitable – its residents cannot return, Kelleher said.

The week in crime

Keep your mouth shut

Cops: Armed robbery suspect bragged of crimes to friends

A 20-year-old Bow St. man robbed four local stores and then bragged to his friends about the crimes, police said this week.

Matthew Simoes was charged with armed and masked robbery after police allegedly used his own words to connect him with the four local heists that took place between Sept. 22 and Oct. 1. He allegedly robbed Friendly Market, Lil’ Peach, Extra Mart and Trans Liquor Store. At Friendly Market and Trans Liquor, Simoes was masked and armed, police said. At Extra Mart and Lil’ Peach he was unarmed, they said.

“Change,” you say?

Part 2: Financial meltdown

By William C. Shelton

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Responsibility for the financial meltdown is so pervasive that it's hard to identify a blameless economic sector, consumer population, or political institution. Eight years ago, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought Congressional approval to securitize subprime loans. Congress subsequently declined to reform their irresponsible, and Federal-Reserve-Bank-blessed lending practices, even after they were caught cooking their books. Fanny and Freddy executives grew wealthier and more powerful.

Fireworks begin new era for Assembly

By George P. Hassett

As families looked to the sky yesterday, a fireworks display ushered in an era of new opportunities on the banks of the Mystic River.

The first annual Fireworks on the Mystic, paid for entirely by Assembly Square developers Federal realty, celebrated the many changes new development is expected to bring to the area. 

Are you Fluff enough?

Fluff festival sweetens Union Square

By Jack Nicas

Archibald Query's 1917 creation in his Union Square kitchen has passed the test of time.

Somervillians and Fluff enthusiasts from across the country gathered to celebrate his white fluffy concoction Sunday, 91 years later, in the place where it all started.

Despite the gloomy weather, hundreds turned out for the third annual “What the Fluff?” Festival, a Union Square Main Streets and ArtsUnion collaboration. Some festival goers showed their love by dressing up as dollops of Fluff, eating unlikely Fluff concoctions and styling Fluff hairdos. But one Fluff-lover topped them all.

Queen, rabbi and lama discuss leadership at Tufts panel

By Patrick Connolly

“Nowadays…it becomes more obvious to me that we need leaders. We need an individual that has a certain binding connection and vision,” said the Sakyong, a member of a panel of world leaders who spoke in Somerville Thursday.

The panel included Queen Noor of Jordan, Rabbi Irwin Kula and the Sakyong, Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche, an incarnate lama and leader in Shambhala Buddhism.

Real estate group disavows condo law

By George P. Hassett

When a proposal to regulate the condo conversion process returned to aldermen this summer after being roundly rejected by an outraged public in 2006, supporters stressed that the Greater Boston Real Estate Board participated in drafting the new version.

However, earlier this month the board clearly expressed that it “does not support [the ordinance] and made it clear to all parties involved in the creation of the ordinance that as an organization, GBREB can not support it.”

 

The week in crime

By George P. Hassett

Arrest made in Mystic Ave. shooting

Somerville police arrested two Somerville males, 19 and 15 years old, today in connection with last week's shooting on Mystic Avenue. Jose Lizama, 19, of 40 River Rd., and a 15-year-old juvenile, were arrested in connection with the shooting of a 23-year-old Malden man at the corner of Mystic Avenue and Wheatland Street on Sept. 24, police said.

The man was hit with one bullet and suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said. Police found the gun used in the bushes on Grant Street, Deputy Chief Paul Upton said.

From gangsters to God

Pentecostal Church will replace notorious gang’s headquarters

By George P. Hassett

It was once the home of a brutal band of gangsters and thugs. But within months, if one preacher has his way, the building on Marshall Street will be filled with believers praising God.

The building at 12-14 Marshall Street, a landmark in the history of 20th Century organized crime as the headquarters for the Winter Hill Gang, will be reborn in January as a Pentecostal Church devoted to “uplifting and winning the lost at any cost,” said new owner Collin Greene.

Buonomo indicted

The former Middlesex County Register of Probate was indicted today for allegedly stealing from government copy machines.

John R. Buonomo, 56, of Newton, was indicted on charges of breaking and entering into a depository with intent to commit a larceny, theft of public property by a county officer, and larceny under $250. An arraignment date has not yet been set.

On August 6, Buonomo was arrested by State Police for allegedly stealing cash and coins from copy and money machines at the Office of the Register of Deeds.

Guilty verdicts in gold chain murder trial

By George P. Hassett

Two men were convicted of first degree murder today for their role in the shooting of a Worcester man who had proposed to his girlfriend just hours earlier.

Valentino Facey, 22, of Cambridge, and Walter Norris, 23, of Dorchester, will be sentenced tomorrow morning. They face life in prison.

Letter: Davis Square Task Force replaced by Gewirtz Task Force

Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz has made the Davis Square Task Force her own personal fiefdom. She runs the meetings, sets the agenda, cancels meetings and reschedules them according to her availability and personal convenience. She brings development plans to the task force that she has already approved and only puts items on the agenda that fit her political philosophy.

In the past, the task force was a citizen's forum. The Ward 6 alderman only had one section of the agenda, the alderman's report. Non-elected people created the agenda, chaired the meetings and, in general, ran things.

Mayor appoints two new deputy chiefs

Positions had been unfilled since 1980s

By George P. Hassett

Captains Paul Upton and Michael Cabral were promoted to two new leadership positions within the Somerville Police Department this week.

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone immediately approved Police Chief Anthony Holloway's picks for the acting deputy chief jobs, a department post that has been left unfilled since the 1980s. The promotions are effective beginning Sunday, Sept. 28.

George McLean: From police chief to chief of the Kiwanis Club

By Doug Holder

Most people in Somerville remember George McLean as the city's police chief - a job that forced him into the middle of many local disputes and controversies.

But folks should also know that McLean, an affable, prosperous looking man in his late middle age, is a longtime member of the Kiwanis Club in Somerville, and is finishing up his term as president.

Dapper Dan's

On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

As the ground breaking for the new IKEA store ushers in the new Assembly Square area and Somerville into a new and exciting era, let's reflect back to great times gone by. 

The Assembly Square Mall opened in 1980 - the next thing you knew, things were in full swing. One of the hot spots in the mall was a trendy restaurant called Dapper Dan's. On the site of the old Ford Motor plant, diners and revelers from the greater Boston area were gunning their engines at DD's, in their Tello's best.

Skateboarders search for park ideas following aldermen's approval

By Tom Nash

Somerville skateboarders spent last Saturday scouting Boston for design ideas for their long-awaited skate park-- a project that a recent appearance before the Board of Aldermen may have finally put in motion.

A mostly teen-aged group showed up to the Sept. 9 Aldermen meeting with a petition containing 450 signatures asking for a skate park in Somerville, capping an awareness campaign conducted by skateboarders and the community organization Save Our Somerville.