Thursday, May 9, 2013
The custom of allowing resigning aldermen to handpick their replacements could be coming to an end.
The Somerville Board of Aldermen is drafting new methods for filling vacancies on the Board in the event a member resigns. The issue has been in the public's eye with the recent resignations of two aldermen: William Roche (Ward 1) and Sean O'Donovan (Ward 5). In both cases, the women those aldermen handpicked to replace them, Maureen Bastardi and Courtney O'Keefe, had their nominations quickly approved by the Board. Bastardi was voted onto the Board of Aldermen the same night Roche resigned, and O'Keefe was voted onto the Board of Alderman at the Board's subsequent meeting. If an alderman resigns with more than a year before the next election, the city holds a special election to fill the vacancy. When an alderman resigns with less than a …
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Friday, April 12, 2013
Courtney O'Keefe was nominated to replace the Ward 5 alderman, the process for appointing her led to a long debate.
Sean O'Donovan, who served as alderman in Somerville's Ward 5 since 2000 and, before that, was the ward's School Committee representative between 1995 and 1999, resigned from the Somerville Board of Aldermen Thursday night. Citing the time commitment it takes to be an alderman, O'Donavan said he was stepping down due to family obligations and because his law practice—in Ball Square—needs more of his attention. "It's a huge sacrifice on your family … it takes a lot of time," he said about the commitment it takes to serve on the Board of Aldermen. In stepping down, O'Donavan said, "I've truly treasured representing Ward 5," and he pointed to a number of local accomplishments, including building new schools, fighting to keep the Brown School …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Courtney O'Keefe, who runs Ward5Online, is expected to be nominated as O'Donovan's replacement on the Board of Aldermen.
Ward 5 Alderman Sean O'Donovan is expected to step down from the Somerville Board of Aldermen at the Board's Thursday night meeting, according to a meeting agenda. O'Donovan will move to appoint Courtney O'Keefe as his replacement, the agenda says. Many know O'Keefe from her work with Ward5Online. As of this posting, O'Donavan had not responded to a voicemail and email seeking comments about his decision. O'Donovan steps down in an election year in which he would have faced a potentially tough challenger: Mark Niedergang, who serves as Ward 5's representative on the Somerville School Committee, announced in 2012 he would seek the Ward 5 seat on the Board of Aldermen. O'Donavan has served on the Board of Aldermen since 2000, and before then…
Monday, December 17, 2012
John Connolly will serve as the Board's vice president.
The Somerville Board of Aldermen Thursday selected Alderman At-Large William White to serve as its president in 2013. Alderman At-Large John Connolly will serve as the Board's vice president. The Board voted unanimously in both cases. White, after being selected, said he was "honored" that members of the Board "expressed their confidence in me." He said the Somerville Board of Aldermen has a custom of selecting a new president each year on a rotating basis, which avoids bitter in-house political fights among those seeking the office. Generally speaking, White said, the previous year's vice president is selected as the new president of the legislative body. White served as the Board's vice president in 2012. The Board of Aldermen president'…
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The Somerville Board of Aldermen were planning a special meeting Tuesday night to debate the Union Square Revitalization Plan, which was presented by the mayor's office in August. Tuesday's meeting comes less than a week after a previous Board of Aldermen meeting in which three members of the legislative body indicated they would vote against the plan. One of those members, Board of Alderman President Thomas Taylor, ended debate by declaring a "Section 15," which allows any alderman to immediately end discussion of a matter until the next meeting. Tuesday's meeting is scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. at Somerville City Hall. Aldermen Debate Over Union Square Plan Leads to Parliamentary Drama Union Square Gym Members Rally Against …
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93 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA
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Monday, October 1, 2012
"This cannot happen again," said Alderman At-Large Dennis Sullivan.
Note: An earlier version of this article said there was a "breakdown in the communication process" with the planning board. The alleged commnication breakdown referred to by the aldermen was with the Somerville Licensing Commission. The mistake was inadvertent and is corrected below. Aldermen said a Brazilian Day event held at the Holiday Inn in East Somerville on Sept. 23, an event that attracted thousands of people, was loud and disruptive. What's more, they say had they known about the event ahead of time, they would have opposed it because it has a bad history. Ward 1 Aldermen William Roche, speaking at the Somerville Board of Aldermen meeting on Sept. 27, said the event "created quite a disruption in the quality of life." It was "…
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Holiday Inn Boston-Somerville
30 Washington St, Somerville, MA
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Friday, July 13, 2012
Approval of the bond nearly failed when one aldermen voted against it.
A $2 million bond request, intended mostly to fund repairs at school buildings, also contained line items for a few non-school-related things, including $200,000 for a covered walkway at the city's new ice rink and another $200,000 for a police shooting range. The bond request frustrated some aldermen, who felt it came at the last minute from the mayor's office. When the matter came to a vote at the Board of Aldermen's meeting Thursday night, Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz voted against it. Because three aldermen were absent from the meeting, her lone dissenting vote meant the bond didn't receive the two-thirds approval necessary to pass. After a recess, the Board of Aldermen voted on the matter again. This time around, Gewirtz changed …
Monday, May 14, 2012
The state allows cities to recoup unpaid taxes, fees and fines, but the technology to do this isn't in place, according to the Somerville Board of Aldermen.
The Somerville Board of Aldermen ran into a snag at the state level over a proposed idea that would have helped the city recoup money owed to it, according to proceedings from the May 9 Board of Aldermen meeting. The idea, proposed by Ward 4 Alderman Tony Lafuente in April, was for the city to place liens on individuals' state income taxes for unpaid taxes, fines and fees owed to the city. "We have a fairly transient population in the city," Lafuente said at an April 26 meeting. "Whether it be parking tickets, the excise tax, if there's any kinds of fines or fees, people leave the city [and] they don't really care about making payment to the city on some of these liabilities. This would allow us to collect that money." The Board's …
Thursday, April 26, 2012
The Somerville Board of Aldermen is expected to consider Jay Weaver as the next director of Veterans Services Thursday night.
Somerville resident Jay Weaver has served as a real-life JAG—an Army lawyer—in Afghanistan and Germany, according to his resume. He's a graduate of Harvard University and Suffolk University Law School and a former paramedic, police union representative, and adjunct member of faculty at Northeastern University, his resume says. Now, he could be the next director of Veterans Services in Somerville. The mayor's office has nominated Weaver for the position, and the Somerville Board of Aldermen are expected to take up the matter at their meeting Thursday night. According to Weaver's resume, the Winter Hill resident recently served nearly two years in Afghanistan. He was an administrative law attorney and then chief of legal assistance with the…
Monday, April 16, 2012
Anyone practicing the arts of "clairvoyance," "augury," "crystal gazing" or "necromancy," to name a few things, must now be approved by the Somerville Board of Aldermen.
If you're in the profession of looking into crystal balls, talking with the dead, reading tea leaves or predicting the future using cards, you now need a special license from the city. The Somerville Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance April 12 requiring fortune tellers in Somerville obtain a license. The ordinance reads a bit like a course catalog from Hogwarts. It states at the beginning: "Fortunetelling shall mean the telling of fortunes, forecasting of futures, or reading the past, by means of any occult, psychic power, faculty, force, clairvoyance, cartomancy, psychometry, phrenology, spirits, tea leaves, tarot cards, scrying, coins, sticks, dice, sand, coffee grounds, crystal gazing or other such reading, or through mediumship, …
Joe
7:42 pm on Thursday, May 9, 2013
It doesn't need to be handed to anyone. Have the Aldermen at Large step in until the next election. The runner up is ludicrous. If an Alderman knows in advance he/she will resign, they get a straw to run against them. That way, no matter how few votes they get or why they ran, they are the 'runner up'. more ›