The Somerville Public Library is excited to announce the title of its tenth annual Somerville Reads campaign, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Copies will be available at all three Somerville Public Library locations as of September 3, 2019.  Somerville Reads is a citywide reading initiative that encourages all Somerville residents to read and discuss the same book to promote literacy and community engagement.

Join Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Ward 1 City Councilor Matthew McLaughlin on Tuesday, August 27, at 11 a.m. for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the East Somerville School Field, located at 50 Cross St. The ceremony will celebrate the refurbishment of the existing synthetic turf field.
 

The Somerville Arts Council is partnering with Oompa, a nationally-acclaimed, Boston- born, poet, rapper, and educator,  to present a Black, Brown & Queer, a QTPOC (Queer and Trans, person of color) multi-disciplinary arts festival. This will be a free, outdoor, community festival, with all of the artists coming from the QTPOC community. The festival will take place on Saturday, August 24 (rain date Aug 25) from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the Union Square Plaza.

The City of Somerville Elections Department is seeking polling place workers for the Tuesday, March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election. To be eligible to work in a polling place you must be a registered Massachusetts voter. Inspectors are paid $165 for the day and work from 6:30 a.m. until shortly after the polls close at 8 p.m. with a two-hour break. For more information, please contact Maria Pierotti at 617-625-6600 ext. 4200 or mpierotti@somervillema.gov.

Please join the Somerville Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development and Ward 3 Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen on Monday evening, September 23, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. for a community meeting to discuss the plan for the Central Hill Campus (Phase I). The meeting will be held in the Somerville High School cafeteria, 81 Highland Ave.

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The City of Somerville Open Space Creation Task Force recently released a strategy memo with recommendations on new and innovative approaches for the creation of more open space in Somerville, the most densely populated city in New England. The 4.1 square mile city has been working to achieve its goal to create an additional 125 new acres of open space by 2030, with 105.1 acres left to go.

On June 27, 2019, the Somerville City Council passed a Tree Preservation Ordinance (Ord. #2019-15) with new requirements for the removal of trees on private property. The ordinance went into effect on August 1, 2019, and incorporates and updates the prior City of Somerville Tree Ordinance, which set requirements only for the removal of public trees.
 

The Somerville City Council Finance Committee of the Whole invites all interested community members to attend and speak at a Public Hearing on the Transfer of City-Owned Parcel, 82-D-1 in the North Prospect Block to the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (City Council Agenda Item #204755).