Somerville Named 'All American City'

A little late on this..

From The City of Somerville:

June 19, 2009

The National Civic League announced tonight that the City of Somerville is one of ten winners of the 2009 All America City (AAC) Awards. Somerville was one of the 30 cities selected from thousands of entrants across the nation to vie for the title in Tampa. The award, which this year celebrates its 60th anniversary, is the best known and most competitive civic awards program in the United States, and this is the second win for Somerville, which received its first title in 1972. A 40-member delegation including representatives of the business community, local non-profit organizations, youth groups , city government and residents presented Somerville’s qualifications for the award to a jury of national experts in a series of three-day events that culminated in a 10-minute skit on the city’s efforts to support and prepare for the Green Line Extension Project.

Read more...



Image from Chris Devers' photostream.

Somerville is Getting Old

From The Somerville News:

6/3/2009 6:01:00 AM
Number crunching: New studies flesh out Somerville's true composition By James Reddick

"Once a group of nearly 30,000, the number of individuals under the age of 18 was 11,495 in 2000 and shows little indication that it will rebound. "

Read the whole article...

Parking meter rates and hours to increase, permit parking to expand citywide

Major upcoming changes in citywide parking are getting a lot of attention:

Start saving: Parking meter rates and hours to increase, permit parking to expand citywide

By Auditi Guha

Wicked Local Somerville

Posted May 28, 2009 @ 05:51 PM

"The plan is to create new parking meter zones in Davis and Magoun squares’ municipal parking lots in the spaces reserved for business permit parking, and have the meters run 5-8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturday.

Loading zones in Davis Square will also be metered Monday to Friday, 5-10 p.m. and Saturday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

In addition, the city plans to implement citywide residential parking including the currently 162 permit-free streets."

Read the entire article, plus Q&A with City spokesperson Tom Champion.


Davis Square Meters

Photo from Walsh's flickr photostream.

Bread & Co. rises on Winter Hill, serving up French toast in a recession

Nice piece about the still-newish Winter Hill breakfast and coffee joint, Bread & Co. By Erin Smith for Wicked Local Somerville:

Bread & Co. rises on Winter Hill, serving up French toast in a recession

By Erin Smith
Wicked Local Somerville
Posted May 08, 2009 @ 03:17 PM
Somerville —

An Italian, an Irishman and a Brazilian opened a restaurant in Somerville.

No, it’s not the start of a politically incorrect joke. It’s the origin of the best new hidden gem restaurant to hit Winter Hill.

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Wicked Local photo by Mark Thomson
The banana French toast at the recently opened restaurant Bread & Co. on Broadway in Somerville.

Memories of the Winter Hill Star Market (not good ones)

Most people seem to miss the old Star Market, but not Rona Fischman, for good reason it seems:

From boston.com

Living well at the grocery store

Posted by Rona Fischman May 22, 2009 03:06 PM

"Some chains are individually owned and operated; some just price differently depending on demand. I knew this. I used to live in Winter Hill, Somerville. The nearest grocery store was the Star Market there. The prices were outrageous. Once we figured this out, we only shopped there for fill-in items. It sort of became our extended convenience store. We grocery shopped elsewhere; it was worth the gas."

Read more...


Photo from:

rnolan1087's photostream.