Medford pays off $36 million in mortgage debt from schools
At a ceremony last week, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn celebrated state reimbursement for the Columbus, Roberts and Brooks public schools.
The schools, which have been open for just more than a year, were paid for by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). The initiative was created by State Treasurer Timothy Cahill and approved by the State Legislature last year. Without the MSBA, the city would have potentially waited 20 years for state reimbursement. Cahill also attended the reception.
"We're very proud to make this a guarantee: to pay these schools off," Cahill told the Medford Transcript. "We basically rebuilt the Medford Public Schools system."
At the ceremony, McGlynn burned effigies of mortgage papers that would have existed if the cost of the schools had been reimbursed traditionally.
Street sweeping begins in Somerville
Students parking off campus should pay attention to signs announcing dates of city street sweeping, as it begins this week.
"We're going to have dump trucks out there the first week because there's just so much debris out there," Department of Public Works heavy equipment operator Ed Halloran told the Somerville Journal.
Somerville has also replaced two of its street sweepers at a cost of $115,000 each. The sweepers are painted in the new black color scheme of the DPW. Older sweepers are between eight and 12 years old.
E-mail reminders for street sweeping are available online for city residents.
Car crashes into Somerville fire station
A car crashed into the Somerville Fire Department headquarters on Saturday, March 26, injuring two and damaging the station and a fire vehicle.
According to the Somerville Journal, a driver at Broadway and Walnut Street drove through a stop sign and struck a sedan. The operator of the sedan, a Somerville resident, lost control of the car and crashed it into one of the large bay doors of the fire station headquarters.
"He clocked it pretty hard," Somerville Fire Chief Kevin Kelleher told the Journal. "They said it was an unbelievably loud noise ... With the amount of foot traffic at that time of night, he was extremely lucky a pedestrian wasn't hit or a firefighter wasn't hit."
Firefighters estimated that the car struck the door at approximately 30 miles per hour, and it damaged both the door and a fire department SUV that was parked inside.
Both drivers were taken to the hospital, and the driver of the sedan that hit the station was found to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.
According to the Journal, he may have sustained a compound leg fracture and internal injuries.
