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YourArlington staff
Category: Health
Hits: 2

Advocates logo

Advocates, a nonprofit human-services provider, has been designated by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services to operate community behavioral-health sites serving Arlington residents.

The effort is part of a state initiative designed to provide accessible and equitable mental health care, including to people in crisis who otherwise would seek care in a hospital emergency department.

The service sites in Waltham and Framingham plan to open in January and to serve 31 communities in eastern and central Massachusetts. They will operate among a statewide network of 25 centers whose mission is to help meet the growing demand for behavioral health care caused, in part, by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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YourArlington staff
Category: Town news
Hits: 22

DPW topping-off with town officials and partners. / Jim Badershall, Commodore, photoDPW topping-off with town officials and partners. / Jim Badershall, Commodore, photo

A topping-off ceremony for the new, $44 million public-works facility on Grove Street was held on Tuesday, Aug. 9, celebrating construction to date. The completion is scheduled for fall 2023.

Hosted by the town’s project partners, Commodore Builders and Sydney Project Management, the owner’s project manager, the ceremony commemorated the project’s continued progress with the placement of the last steel beam, marking a major milestone of the project.

“It is wonderful to see the new public-works facility take shape,” said Town Manager Sandy Pooler, in a town news release.

“It is appropriate to have a modern facility befitting of the vital services public works provides the Arlington community all year long. From managing major infrastructure -- like water and sewer and our roadways to maintaining our trees, parks and cemeteries -- their work is instrumental to the quality of life in Arlington.” 

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Bob Sprague
Category: Local history
Hits: 10

Cooper Tavern marker at Broadway Plaza. / Town of Arlington photoCooper Tavern marker at Broadway Plaza. / Town of Arlington photo

UPDATED Aug. 10: In 1775, no Starbucks stood at what is today Mass. Ave. and Medford Street. At that site was Cooper's Tavern.

A historic marker at the renovated Broadway Plaza outlines the tale:

Here stood Cooper’s Tavern,
in which
Jabez Wyman
and
Jason Winship
were killed by the British
April 19, 1775. 

Richard A. Duffy, town historian, provides some backstories.

“There are images of a building constructed in 1826 that replaced Cooper’s Tavern, known variously over time as the West Cambridge Hotel and the Arlington House hotel.

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YourArlington staff
Category: People
Hits: 7

Susan Papanek McHughMcHugh

UPDATED Aug. 4: Susan Rachel McHugh, a cofounder of the Arlington Human Rights Commission in 1993 and its first chairwoman, died in June after a brief illness at age 66.

Those who worked with her remembered her immediately after her June 20 passing. The Boston Globe published her obituary July 31.

Sheri Baron, a Precinct 7 Town Meeting member, first reported the news in June. She wrote that her friend "devoted countless hours to forming the commission and providing leadership in its infancy. She was a woman of great strength, commitment to justice and true compassion."

Miriam Stein of Arlington responded in June: "This is very sad news. Sue exemplified all the wonderful qualities Sheri mentioned.

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Boston.com, Washington Post, Bob Sprague
Category: Police
Hits: 5

Diane Welch informs youngsters about an owl she holds.

Officials defend town in statement

UPDATED Aug. 5: Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Donovan Johnson, 20, of Somerville, who was allegedly racially profiled by Arlington police in February 2021.

LCR filed the lawsuit Wednesday, Aug. 3, with pro bono counsel Stephen Hall of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, naming the department as well as three individual police officers in the complaint, according to a statement reported by Boston.com. The suit alleges that Johnson was racially profiled, illegally stopped and arrested within view of his Somerville home.

In a statement Aug. 5, Town Manager Sandy Pooler and Police Chief Julie Flaherty responding to the federal lawsuit.

“The Town of Arlington Police Department is committed to providing equal and fair justice to all its residents and visitors. It trains its staff to administer justice without regard to race and conducts ongoing training in diversity, equity and inclusion,” the statement provided by John Guilfoil Public Relations said. The statment continues below.

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YourArlington staff
Category: Court
Hits: 6

Middlesex District Court

An Arlington man has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for possession of child pornography.

Mason Lister, 27, was sentenced on July 28 by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release. On Dec. 16, 2021, Lister pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

“My office has a responsibility to ensure the safety of our communities, especially that of our most vulnerable – children," U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins said in a news release. "Mr. Lister is a recidivist offender, a three-time convicted felon, who will now thankfully remain out of our communities and away from our children for the next decade.

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YourArlington staff
Category: Transportation
Hits: 2

Transportation logoTwo Arlington projects are being funded through its Shared Streets and Spaces Program -- the Chestnut Street project and the Mass. Ave. outbound bus lane in East Arlington.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has announced that the town is to receive $143,910 in construction funding for the Chestnut Street project, where resident Ann B. Desrosiers was struck and fatally injured on Dec. 31, 2019.

The town has partnered with the MBTA on the Mass. Ave. bus lane, which is to receive $133,640 in construction funding.

Read more here >>

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YourArlington staff
Category: Minuteman
Hits: 2

Minuteman High School logo

Twenty-three adult students from greater Boston, including four from Arlington, recently completed evening courses in automotive technology, carpentry, cosmetology and electricity at Minuteman Technical Institute in Lexington. These students have gained critical knowledge in trades with high demand for skilled workers and that provide long-lasting, economically sustainable careers.

Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI) – the adult evening division of the Minuteman Regional Technical School District – offers 10-month and 15-week career technical education programs throughout the year. The 15-week programs are tuition-free for most applicants because of support from the Massachusetts Workforce Skills Cabinet.

MTI is accepting registration for five tuition-free, 15-week programs that begin in September: CNC machine operator, carpentry preapprentice, facilities manager, robotic technician and welding.

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YourArlington staff
Category: Redevelopment Board summaries
Hits: 6

Arlington via Google Earth: Your Town, Your Future

The Arlington Redevelopment Board on Monday, July 25, approved a permit for a new sign for the Cyrus Dallin Museum, at 611 Mass. Ave., also the location of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. The vote was 5-0.

After lengthy discussion in a second hearing about the issue, the board also approved a special permit for 18-20 Belknap St., to renovate and expand a nonconforming four-family house in the R2 district. The vote was 4-1, with Gene Benson voting no. The board came to a consensus around a series of conditions.

Read the details about these cases and other agenda items in a summary by Steve Revilak, a board member who provides meeting notes as a public service >> 

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YourArlington staff
Category: Health
Hits: 2

West Nile mosquito

Mosquito samples in Boston and Somerville have tested positive for West Nile Virus, but it has not been detected in the Town of Arlington, town Public Health Director Natasha Waden said in a July 29 news release.

Still, she shared safety tips to prevent mosquito bites and avoid mosquito-borne diseases.

Although there have been no human cases of West Nile detected this year in Massachusetts, she asked residents to be aware and take precautions to prevent mosquito bites.

  1. Fatal Chestnut Manor fire ruled 'accidental'
  2. 'Tiger Wizard,' an AHS grad, drums up a future
  3. Board OKs updated AHS-DPW environmental report
  4. Local delegation helps pass state budget with benefits for Arlington

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YOUR VIEW: Opinions: Roe, Alewife, racism, film, Ukraine, letters, poetry
No. 127: Red Letter Poems 3.0: Performer, audience

No. 127: Red Letter Poems 3.0: Performer, audience

Poetry

UPDATED Sept. 9: Steven Ratiner, Arlington’s poet laureate, sought submissions in February 2020 from Arlington residents to contribute to "a rather unconventional, utterly delightful way to inject poetry into the everyday." It was to remain secret until its debut during April’s National Poetry Month. Then the coronavirus hit. In June 2021, he offers Red Letters 3.0.

PUBLISHED:  I was asked to write an essay for Askold Melnyczuk’s Arrowsmith Journal about what I learned from the first year of the Red Letter Project.  It also became a meditation about the relationship between poet and reader.  If you’d like to take a look, here is a link – arrowsmithpress.com/community-of-voices -- and you’ll also be able to check out the variety of marvelous literary projects that appear under Askold’s Arrowsmith imprint.  Enjoy!

Steven RatinerSteven Ratiner / David Andrews photo 

The Red Letter Poem Project

The Red Letters 3.0: A New Beginning (Perhaps)   

At the outset of the Covid pandemic, when fear was at its highest, the Red Letter Project was intended to remind us of community: that, even isolated in our separate homes, we could still face this challenge together.  As Arlington’s Poet Laureate, I began sending out a poem of comfort each Friday, featuring the fine talents from our town and its neighbors.  Because I enlisted the partnership of seven local arts and community organizations, distribution of the poems spread quickly – and, with subscribers sharing and re-posting the installments, soon we had readers, not only throughout the Commonwealth, but across the country.  And I delighted in the weekly e-mails I’d receive with praise for the poets; as one reader recently commented: “You give me the gift of a quiet, contemplative break—with something to take away and reflect on.” 

Then our circumstance changed dramatically again: following the murder of George Floyd, the massive social and political unrest, and the national economic catastrophe, the distress of the pandemic was magnified.  Red Letter 2.0 announced that I would seek out as diverse a set of voices as I could find – from Massachusetts and beyond – so that their poems might inspire, challenge, deepen the conversation we were, by necessity, engaged in.

Now, with widespread vaccination, an economic rebound, and a shift in the political landscape, I intend to help this forum continue to evolve – Red Letter 3.0.  For the last 15 months, I’ve heard one question again and again: when will we get back our old lives?  It may pain us to admit it, but that is little more than a fantasy.  Our lives have been altered irrevocably – not only our understanding of how thoroughly interdependent we are, both locally and globally, but how fragile and utterly precious is all that we love.  Weren’t you bowled over recently by how good it felt just to hug a friend or family member?  Or to walk unmasked through a grocery, noticing all the faces?

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Letters: Emailing Advocate & Star? Copy it here; it'll be published first

Letters: Emailing Advocate & Star? Copy it here; it'll be published first

Letters to the editor

YourArlington's policy about letters to the editor

UPDATED Aug. 13: YourArlington welcomes opinions of all kinds from local residents, including national issues so long as you can draw a local connection. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in June on Roe v Wade must have echoes here, too. Letters are reviewed for fairness, factualness and taste.

letters

This site welcomes letters about any issue that stirs the public mind. Longer opinion pieces are also welcome.

NOTE: When emailing a letter to The Advocate & Star, consider copying YourArlington at the same time. Your opinions will be published sooner.

Please support your view with facts and arguments that attempt to adhere to reason.

You may write on any subject, so long as you try to make a connection to Arlington. If you can't do that, then your residence in town will be a sufficient connection.

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Alewife Brook sewage campaign: Dredgery, Globe notices

Alewife Brook sewage campaign: Dredgery, Globe notices

Environment

Caption: Worst Offender: Somerville’s SOM01A Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO)Worst Offender: Somerville’s SOM01A combined sewer overflow.

UPDATED Aug. 11: Precinct 13 Town Meeting member Kristin Anderson, who is monitoring the combined sewer overflows into the Alewife Brook, provided this update via her blog, Save the Alewife Brook.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s mention of dredging the Alewife Brook in its response to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s April 2022 draft scope for the new CSO control plan has revived the discussion about the role removing sediment from the Alewife Brook can play in restoration and flood prevention efforts.

Boston Globe takes note in kayak piece >>

The EPA recommends MWRA include dredging the Alewife Brook as part of the alternatives analysis for the new Control Plan.

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