The Alewife

Tails out of school

The North Cambridge Stabilization Committee meets Dec. 12 and on top of the agenda will be the proposed 50-room hotel to be built at the site of Porter Square’s Kaya Restaurant. The meeting will be held at 2050 Massachusetts Ave. at the North Cambridge Senior Center at 7 p.m. Architect Michael McKee and Kaya proprietor Meehn Su Gim will answer questions about the project, which would include a 210-seat restaurant/nightclub, two-levels of underground parking for up to 50 vehicles, and a landscaped pocket park.

The city’s Arts Council will host the exhibit “Contructions by Nancy Selvage” at their CAC Gallery at 344 Broadway. Selvage is the artist who created the piece “Water Wall” for the new park at Trolley Square through Feb. 8.

If your neighbors have not told you yet, DPW’s yard waste collection ends Dec. 14. But, don’t let that get you down. DPW will collect Christmas trees between Dec. 26 and Jan. 18. Perhaps, if you are clever, you could slip your leaves in with the evergreens.

Finally, congratulations to Peter Payack, the new Poet Populist.

Tails out of School

After the Oct. 11 turmoil at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, a City Hall source told us that for the first time in his term, City Councillor Craig A. Kelley called on City Manager Robert W. Healy without an appointment. We were told Kelley made the visit to express his concern some of our teenagers were formenting a spiral of violence. Two weeks later, city police swept into Jefferson Park and arrested six young men understood by police to be troublemakers. All six were released by the next day and on that day another young man was shot in the leg in front of the Brickworks condominums at 318 Rindge Ave. entrance next to Jefferson Park and across the street from the abandoned trailer of the North Cambridge Crime Task Force. This is not going well, but hopefully the new city council will take the public safety as seriously as they take banning lawnblowers and preserving sanctuary for the servants and nannies on Brattle Street.

Three of his predecessors, Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves, State Rep. Alice K. Wolf, D, North Cambridge and Clerk of Courts Michael A. Sullivan watched Oct. 23 as former mayor Anthony D. Galluccio was sworn into the State Senate.  Governor’s Councilor Michael J. Callahan told one of us it was the biggest crowd for a swearing in he had seen in years. Certainly with Galluccio aide Jim Henry working the door with a list of the chosen to the State Senate Chamber the ceremony had the feel of a world premiere, which of course, it was.   

Speaking of premieres, congratulations to Erin K. Gray, who was named the editor of The Powderhouse newspaper, which debuted Oct. 17. Gray was a contributor here and will lead the new paper in its coverage of West Somerville. 
Good Luck, Erin!

Tails out of School

If you did not hear already, the paper is sponsoring a forum for School Committee candidates Oct. 17 at 18 Edmund St., which is kind of across the street from the closed Marino’s restaurant. The forum will be hosted by Progressive Democrats of Cambridge-Democracy for America. Afterwards, members of PDC-DFA will decide on their group’s endorsement for the Nov. 6 election. Doors open at 7 p.m.

We also want to congratulate our columnist Roger Nicholson for his interview with James W. Lewis on his CCTV program “The Cambridge Rag.”  Lewis, who is known as the “Tylenol Man” was convicted on federal extortion charges for his letters demanding blackmail. But he was never charged for the poisonings of eight Chicago victims in 1982 from cyanice-laced Tylenol capsules. Watch Roger’s show is on every Monday at 7:30 p.m., then check him out at Central Square’s Middle East restaurant where he hosts an Open Mike Mondays at 10 p.m.

Finally, remember to vote Oct. 9 in the special election for the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex seat in the State Senate. City Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio is unopposed in the race to succeed Jarret T. Barrios. If Galluccio resigns from the council before January, Robert Winters tells us Sam Seidel will fill the vacancy.

Tails out of School

First, we have to congratulate Jeffrey Keefe for his two perfect innings on the mound at the Abbott Financial Old Time Baseball Game. Keefe was named the game’s MVP. Bravo Zulu.

Have you heard of the Cambridge School Volunteers? It is a non-profit agency that recruits, trains, places and supports about 900 volunteers in the Cambridge Public Schools each academic year. About a third of the volunteers work in various Cambridge corporations and participate as Reading Buddies who read to young students or NetPals who through weekly emails tutor students in science or writing. We will be featuring CSV in a future issue, but wait to volunteer? Call Martha Olsen at (617) 349-6794.

The deadline nominations for the city’s Poet Populist position is Sept. 14. the tournament is being ran by the Cambridge Arts Council and send in your paperwork and supporting materials to:

The Cambridge Arts Council
Cambridge Poet Populist
344 Broadway, 2nd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02139.

As we noted on the Web site, David P. Maher was re-elected to the city council. Maher was the designated recipient of Michael A. Sullivan’s votes in the 2005 election. With Sullivan’s Aug. 17 resignation, Maher is in. Maher would have replaced Anthony D. Galluccio, if Galluccio left the city council. With Maher filling the Sullivan seat, the next in line is Alewife columnist Sam Seidel.

Tails out of School

At last the municipal election season is upon us. Last November, our “Alewife Slate,” sparked a mutiny amongst the contributors. We have all learned the dangers of dismissing nubile insurgencies, so rather challenge them to “Bring it on,” we have invited our contributors to participate in the endorsement process. This does not mean we are bringing participatory democracy to Suite 15. Yes, the opportunity is there, but in case someone gets the wrong idea, we intend to enforce the deadline, which is the moral equivalent of a gag order.

Coming up July 19 our comrades at the Chamber of Commerce will host the Taste of Cambridge at Technology Square a brisk walk from the Kendall Square T-stop. At deadline, there are 40 vendors proffering food and drink from all over the city. For more information call Kristen Kuliga at (617) 861-4102 you can e-mail her at Kristen@tasteofcambridge.com or check out the Web site: tasteofcambridge.com.

Have you been to our Web site: thealewife.com lately? We have started posting videos of our contributors meetings along with other short videos from around the neighborhood. As ever, readers are encouraged to send in videos, cellphone photos and other pics.

Tails out of School

Last December, we suggested that State Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios, D, North Cambridge would leave the state senate setting in motion a chain of events involving City Councillors Anthony D. Galluccio and Marjorie C. Decker, as well as Decker’s former Beacon Hill boss State Rep. Alice K. Wolf, D, North Cambridge. After months of no-such-thing, we retracted the rumor just in time for Barrios to resign from the senate to become the president of the state’s Blue Cross Foundation. Let it begin!

Have you been to the new Verna’s? Not only are there now more cookies and pastries, but the shop is now open on Sundays until 1 p.m. One of us overheard a customer at the counter recall how her family would always go to Verna’s after church and now she can revive the tradition with her own children. Save as it ever was. Save as it ever was. Save as it ever was.

We thought the big news on Dudley Street was about curbcuts. Now there has been another shooting and neighbors are sharing with each other stories about vandalism and break-ins. A quick check of the calendar tells us there is more to come.

Usually for the first weeks after school gets out, the neighborhood can look forward to unruly teenagers jumping on cars and making mischief. Of course, throughout the summer we can relish the afterhours use of the McCrehan Memorial Pool at the end of Rindge Avenue and the all the excihttp://www.theaimcompanies.com/downloads/hi-res/ad_BLX_sportsdrink.tiftement that brings to our otherwise quiet nights.  Oh, goodness.

Tails out of School

City Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio is hosting his annual salute to coaches and volunteers in the city's youth sports programs.  The breakfast fundraiser will be June 2 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. For more information call (617) 354-3787.

we were very excited to the reaction to the new film "On Broadway," featuring North Cambridge native and Matignon graduate Lance Greene. We were even more excited to see the scene in the film where a sexy actor, who looks just like Real Estate broker Chris Griffin,  trading smooching with actress Eliza Dushku. Nice work if you can get it.

Not long ago, this paper spelled out with detail and certitude that the team behind Central Square's Central Kitchen restaurant would be leasing the former Marino's restaurant. Well, if you did not yet guess from the "Restaurant for Lease" signs in the window, those plans are off. Parking, seating, permits, neighbors, renovations and stuff like that.

Congratulations to our friend Marc Levy, the creator of the legendary, if short-lived, "Cambridge Day" newspaper. Levy has accepted a leadership at the Journal Register newspaper group. He will be supervising a cluster of six papers, including the New Britain Hearld. Offers closer to home came in after he had taken the Conneticut position, so Levy will be moving. Good Luck, Marc.

In other news, just before deadline, we got word that Bally Total Fitness, whose gym is in basement of the old Sears building at 1815  Massachusetts Ave., will be de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange based on the company's falling stock price and its upside-down finances. Bally's owes $800 million and has $45 million cash. Ouch. We know they did not blow the money on customer service training. A year ago, the stock was   trading at $10, now it is resting comfortably between $1 and 50 cents. Got a Bally's horror story? Send it to news@thealewife.com.

Tails from out of school

This month marks the debut of our contributing editor David Taber’s column in the Real Estate section “Civic Geography.”

For the last 11 months, Taber has plied his trade in the deep grass and murky waters of North Cambridge’s development, real estate and zoning controversies. It was only he got the chance to explain in print all the stuff he would explain to us in the office.

Fans of Roger Nicholson will be relieved to learn his column has returned to our pages. We should also mention that Nicholson was not punished for his attacks on the paper’s endorsements in November’s General Election. Rather, his performance, television and work committments overtook his writing duties. By the way, his BeLive program on Cambridge Community Television “The Cambridge Rag,” has a new time slot. Check it out Mondays at 7 p.m.

The city’s Democrats will caucus Feb. 3 at Rindge and Latin ostensibly to chose delegates to the state convention. The real story will be how the Progressive Democrats will fare. Many party hands resent the Progressives for their dual sins of simultaneously holding elected Democrats to the strict orthodoxy of the party’s platform and reserving for themselves the right to freelance for fringe parties more in synch with their hearts. Progressive Jesse Gordon, a 2005 candidate for city council, is gearing up to make a show of strenght at the caucus for his reform slate of city council candidates. To join the slate, all Gordon asks is that the candidate pledges to fire the city manager, Robert Healy and his leadership team.

Unlike the another paper in the city, our Freedom of Information Act request for documentation related to the travels, but not the travails, of Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves has been successfully received. As we say on the Web site, the story is Developing...

Speaking of the mayor, it will be exquisite to watch how he explains his brand of loyalty when his good friend David Scondras beats the moral charges against him and resumes public life. Reeves was all smiles at the barbeque, let’s see him smile then.