These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Demolitions toward development
Historic Preservation Commission, 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. The Carroll family start a demolition process at 60-64 Medford St., Ward 2, seeking to tear down a single-story brick structure put up in 1900 that once housed Carrol Sons Roofing and the triple-decker home next door built in 1895, turning two lots into four. Owner and developer Kevin Emery looks to demolish a two-story home built in 1900 at 9 Norwood Ave., near Magoun Square, where the most distinguishing factor is the giant side yard. It’s step two in the demolition process at 282-284 McGrath Highway, Ward 2, where owner Walter Tauro seeks to split the lot and create six homes. The current one-story building from around 1910 is sometimes called The Florentine Gardens Building and claimed to be “Somerville’s First Pizzeria” (established in 1934 by Italian immigrants Raymondo and Rosa Cangiano). After a stint as a music club called Lucie’s, in 1969 the building was sold and became the home of Lucia’s Restaurant until approximately 1990. Its final burst of life was as the Núcleo Sportinguista da Área de Boston, a club for Portuguese and Brazilian communities, from 1998 to 2019. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Swapping in a cannabis seller
Community meeting, 6 p.m. July 27. A cannabis seller called Licensed Original LLC seeks to take over the 67 Broadway, East Somerville, retail location where Revolutionary Clinics sold cannabis until its shutdown July 7. The Fitchburg pioneer in Massachusetts pot, founded in 2017, is in receivership amid industrywide struggles and damage to its grow business from a microbial contamination in 2023. Its Somerville license sold for $350,000, according to the Dabbin’ Dad site. In-person at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., Central Hill.
Body-worn cameras on police
City Council hearing, 6:30 p.m. July 27. There’s a summer deadline on whether to equip Somerville police officers with body-worn cameras, an issue bouncing around City Council and committee meetings for several months. (We wrote about it here.) After the council’s Finance Committee voted 4–1 on July 7 against accepting a $231,635 purchase grant, citing the half-million-dollar annual operating cost the city would have to pay as a result, the full council debated the issue July 9 and sent the grant back to committee. A Surveillance Technology Impact Report detailing how camera data will be collected and stored was also sent to committee in anticipation of a hearing, called for in a June petition signed by 89 residents. Mayor Jake Wilson, who supports accepting the grant, said he called this special meeting and hearing “not to preempt but in addition to the requested hearing.” Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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