These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City of Somerville website.
Special council budget meeting
City Council, 7 p.m. Thursday. Members gather to fund the 2026 fiscal year, which starts July 1, with votes around a $362.5 million general fund operating budget; $1.1 million for the Kennedy School pool; $237,000 for Dilboy Field; $2.1 million to reduce debt service costs for the new Assembly Square fire station; and other expenses. The council meets at 93 Highland Ave., Winter Hill, Somerville, and the meeting is televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Climate change ambassadors
Office of Sustainability and Environment, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Celebrate the sixth cohort of climate ambassadors. Started in 2019, the program teaches about and empowers residents to take climate change action in the city. Presenters share climate action projects at a meet-and-greet event with food provided (bring your own dishes and cutlery to reduce waste) to celebrate their work. At Somerville High School, 81 Highland Ave., Central Hill.
Teen Empowerment access
City Council Public Utilities and Public Works Committee, 6 p.m. Monday. This committee run by city councilor Jesse Clingan look at ensure the city’s Center for Teen Empowerment at 165 Broadway, East Somerville, is compliant with access laws “to ensure full use of youth-related activities in the building.” Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Bagel bakery for empty retail
Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. Wednesday. A long-empty storefront at 54 Elm St., Spring Hill, would become a Kupel’s Bagels bakery, café and coffee shop in a largely (and officially) neighborhood residential district – it’s within a Small Business Overlay District but still needs a special permit. Kupel’s is a Brookline business that opened in 1978; the expansion would activate a first-floor retail location in Somerville that hasn’t been filled since a renovation starting in 2017. The former Lucky Market convenience store store site was proposed to be a coffee shop in 2018, but when that didn’t happen the space sat again until 2022 and a prospective tenancy from Jakingrass, a Thai concept from the team that started Dakzen down the street near Somerville’s Davis Square. (A Thai restaurant by another Dakzen founder, called Ricen, got further in Porter Square, but has never opened.) Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
LGBTQ+ pride flag raising
Office of Health and Human Services, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. June 5. City officials raise the flag at an annual ceremony marking the start to Pride Month to bring awareness to services. City LGBTQ+ coordinator Izzy Starr, who organizes resources, information, referrals to local organizations and guidance speaks alongside mayor Katjana Ballantyne and community youth with ASL interpretation available. On the concourse at Somerville City Hall, 93 Highland Ave., Central Hill.
A new Woody’s Liquors
Planning Board, 6 p.m. June 5. The plan is to turn a ramshackle, one-story building once housing a laundromat at 483 Broadway, Magoun Square – and crossing over into Medford – into a modern, two-story for a relocated Woody’s Liquors. This meeting is watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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