Town suffering outbreak of 'red flu'?

April 20, 2008

The Fire Department is facing a nearly $100,000 deficit from a jump in overtime costs, mostly pegged to firefighters' use of sick days. According to Assistant Town Administrator Melissa Goff, the number of sick days used this fiscal year through March is almost 41 percent higher than in the same period in 2007. As in other periods she has analyzed, the most common days to call in sick are Saturday and Sunday. Firefighters work 24-hour tours, followed by as many as six days off, according to Chief Peter Skerry, so a sick day can translate to more than a week at home. Some firefighters are dealing with long-term illness or off-duty injuries, said Skerry, who added he's "trying to identify whether abuse is going on." One firefighter has been suspended, and doctor's notes are required after the fourth absence, Skerry said.

Facing the possibility of more than $300 million in future fiscal headaches, the Board of Selectmen has announced the creation of another group of number-crunchers to deal with the issue of retiree health benefits. The issue has become more pressing as health benefits take more and more of the budget pie and as new federal rules require governments to calculate and report future costs. Short of breaking the promise of health insurance, the town would have to fund or reduce the amount paid for other postemployment benefits. Options may include putting funds into a trust account that grows faster than health-insurance inflation, or cutting either the benefits or their costs, according to the selectmen's resolution adopted April 8.

Two Override Study Committee members - one who supported the majority's proposal that offers tax-raising options of $5.4 million and $6.2 million, and another who wanted only a $3.2 million option - will be joined by those actively working for and against an override in a moderated forum on April 28. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Brookline, which has not taken sides on the issue, the event is to begin at 7 p.m. in Hunneman Hall at the Main Library at 361 Washington St. The townwide override vote will take place May 6. For details, call 617-566-3238 or visit lwvbrookline.org.

Got a news item for Brookline? E-mail Andreae Downs at andreaedowns@yahoo.com.

If hard work can get you to Carnegie Hall, then it should come as no surprise that local teenager Jonah Ellsworth performed there last month. Ellsworth, 13, is a student at both the Maria L. Baldwin School in Cambridge and at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston, where he studies cello and masters virtuosic pieces such as Paganini's "Variations on One String on a Theme by Rossini." You can hear his performance of that composition at 6 this evening on WGBH-FM (89.7 FM), and see his Carnegie Hall appearance when it airs on WGBH-TV (Channel 2) and is streamed online sometime this spring.

You may think of taxi drivers as experts in navigating congested and convoluted Cambridge streets, but they may also be spontaneous tour guides or local historians. If you've met an exceptional taxi driver, notable for familiarity with Cantabrigian lore or simply for exceptional courtesy or reliability, nominate her or him for the annual City of Cambridge Taxi Driver of the year 2008 award. Nominations must be postmarked by Friday and may be sent to Arthur J. Santoro Cambridge Taxi School, PO Box 382551, Cambridge 02238-2551. The winner will be announced on May 8 at a City Hall ceremony.

Winthrop Street, formerly a one-way vehicular shortcut between John F. Kennedy and Eliot streets in Harvard Square, has received a red-brick upgrade and is now reserved exclusively for pedestrian use between 11 a.m. and 2 a.m. As a result, the street will be home to multiple, open-air dining establishments through the spring and summer months. Street-construction projects continue in the square, the most obvious being the massive retooling of the Massachusetts Avenue, and JFK, and Brattle streets intersection that has reduced traffic to a congested one lane. The "super-crosswalk" that the city's Department of Public Works has designated for that area is expected to be completed this fall.

Got a news item for Cambridge? E-mail Victoria Cheng at vcheng@globe.com.

The city has begun accepting credit cards for paying property tax bills. All major credit cards will be accepted for fourth quarter real estate and personal property bills, due May 1. Credit card payments will not be accepted at City Hall, only by somervillema.gov. For more information, contact the city collector's office at 617-625-6600, ext. 3500.

The city has asked residents to complete the annual city census and return the forms to the Somerville Election Department at 93 Highland Ave. or to any of 15 designated collection boxes. State law requires residents to update and return census forms to establish proof of residency, and doing so allows them to register children for public school, apply for affordable or subsidized housing, register to vote in town, and qualify for in-state college tuition. Instructions for filling out the forms are available in Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish. To learn more, call the Election Department at 617-625-6600, ext. 4200.

In cooperation with the Union Square and East Somerville Main Streets organizations, the city will offer monthly workshops to provide support and encouragement to small and medium-size businesses. The first series, designed for existing businesses, will kick off May 7 with a program on commercial lending. The workshops will be held at 8 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at the Somerville Community Access Television building at 90 Union Square. The second series, on opening your own business, will begin June 10. The workshops are designed to cover such topics as business law, marketing, and inventory management. Registration is requested. The courses are free for Main Street members, and nonmembers will be charged $10 per course. For more information or to register for a workshop, visit the city website at somervillema.gov; call 617-615-6600, ext. 2546; or e-mail dguzman@somervillema.gov.

Got a news item from Somerville? E-mail Kristen Green at kgreen@globe.com.