Environment

Moderator urges care in private channels, apologizes for confusion

In a letter to Town Meeting members May 27 Moderator Greg Christiana addresses "communication and managing confusing motions." The letter refers to a private message "published out of context without your permission by someone else." YourArlington has received that message and is choosing not to publish it for reasons of privacy. I want to address two issues as we head into this Memorial Day weekend: communication among Town Meeting members via private messaging platforms like Slack, and the ine...

No. 112: Red Letter Poems 3.0: The Book of Sorrows

Poetry

UPDATED May 27: 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 ye...

Police keep watch over schools, express sorrow

Police

Chief Flaherty Police Chief Julie Flaherty and the men and women of the Arlington Police Department join in the collective sorrow felt by the nation in the wake of the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas. “The loss of life, especially innocent young children, represents an unimaginable loss that reverberates in all corners of the nation,” Flaherty said in a May 25 statement. The Arlington Police Department is in constant communication with the Arlington Public Schools. The department will have an increased...

Alewife Brook sewage campaign: Support from EPA

Environment

Worst Offender: Somerville’s SOM01A combined sewer overflow. UPDATED May 24: Precinct 13 Town Meeting member Kristin Anderson, who is monitoring the combined sewer overflows into the Alewife Brook, provided this update. In response the new CSO control plan “draft scopes,” the Environmental Protection Agency has sent letters to Mass. Water Resources Authority, Somerville and Cambridge, addressing all concerns from Save the Alewife Brook, which are described in its “Alewife Brook Path to Zero...

What do we do about Arlington's news desert?

Media

Dave Levy, a Precinct 18 Town Meeting provided this opinion about local news and Town Meeting: Click image to access >> During the time overlapping with Town Meeting, I learned that The Arlington Advocate had merged with the Winchester paper, effectively eliminating the Town of Arlington having a true local paper that has material financial support to cover local issues en masse. Later, it was reported over the Arlington Email List that the new Advocate & Star would not have a local re...

Retirement parade surprises Minuteman super

Schools

Bouquillon It was an occasion filled with high spirits, expressions of sincere gratitude and fond farewells at Minuteman High School as students, teachers and administrators showed their appreciation to the district’s longtime superintendent, Dr. Edward A. Bouquillon, and Minuteman freelance writer Judy Bass captures the mood of the May 12 event. He plans to retire in June after 15 achievement-filled years. Under summery blue skies with a balmy feel in the air, hundreds of s...

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 May 24: YourArlington welcomes opinions of all kinds from local residents, including those about the U.S. Supreme Court's view of Roe v Wade. Letters are reviewed for fairness, factualness and taste. 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 ...

T plan sharply cuts town's transit-route options

Transportation

Adam Auster, in "Word on the Street," his long-running transportation blog, reports unsettling news for Arlington bus riders. Under the headline "Arlington largely cut off from Alewife T under MBTA proposal," he writes: "The 350 bus, running once per hour from Alewife to Burlington via Arlington Center, and the 62, would be the only connections to Alewife from Arlington if a new bus plan for the T goes into effect. "The plan, part of a system-wide revamp of bus networks, also includes some...

Friedman on Roe: 'We won't be silent'

Politics

Sen. Cindy Friedman has spoken out against a draft Supreme Court decision that lays out a legal case to overturn two key abortion decisions: Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. YourArlington partner Patch reported May 5 that the draft, which was published by Politico Monday night, shows that the court is on the path toward rescinding abortion access, which would lead to it being outlawed in many states. Photos of Arlington protest >> However, Massachusetts is one of...

Support Ukraine, oppose bias: Town groups seek action; watch ACMi videos

world

UPDATED April 22: The Arlington Human Rights Commission, the Disability Commission, the LGBTQIA+ Rainbow Commission and the Diversity Task Group of Envision Arlington on Friday, March 18, issued the following statement on the war in Ukraine: We support Ukraine and everyone affected by the Russian invasion. As of this writing, more than 3.2 million people have fled Ukraine to neighboring Poland, which has taken in 1.9 million refugees, as well as Romania, Slovakia, Hungary an...

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