Six months after acquiring the assets of Somerville-based car-sharing company iCar, Mint Cars On-Demand is ready to begin service in Davis Square.

Founded in New York in 2008, Mint allows members to rent cars for as little as one hour up to several days from locations in neighborhoods. The new location and vehicles will add to the company’s current Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville footprint (where they have a location at 90 Elm St.).

Mint CEO Richard Ull, who studied at Tufts University, said in a press release the new Davis Square location at 53 Day St. is part of Mint’s plan to position itself to compete with the cost of owning a car and other car sharing options.

“The addition of a Davis Square location not only provides Mint a great opportunity to serve this neighborhood,” Ull said, “It also gives area residents an economical and convenient alternative to owning their own cars and the freedom to go where they want, when they want.”

More information is available at www.drivemint.com.

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Artists rendition of Assembly Row office building. Courtesy of Federal Realty.

More than 20 years in the making, preparations for construction finally began this month upon the banks of the Mystic River on Assembly Row.

“Bigger than the North End, more river frontage than Beacon Hill, more green space than South Boston,” is how the hucksters pitch Assembly Square Mall on their official website.

Styled as the “largest new neighborhood since the Back Bay was created,” Assembly Row is intended as an addition upon the already existing Assembly Square Mall. The row, when completed, is projected to provide more than 40 acres of residential, commercial and recreational space to the citizens of Somerville.

The biggest new construction for the Row will be the addition of an Ikea furniture store, a luxury hotel and a block of office buildings.

Another big selling point is the development of the land beside Mystic River. Originally an old salt marsh, developers intend to turn the land into a park and pavilion for surrounding residential districts.

The MBTA plans to get in on the project as well. Recently the government bureau shoveled in funds for the construction of utilities and services intended for a new Orange Line station, which will provide Assembly Row with connection to the rest of the greater Boston area. The station would be the first built on the Orange Line since 1987.

Construction will not officially begin, according to Federal Realty Investment Trust, until this summer. No projections of how long the project will take have been released at this time.

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Matthew Reineck, owner of 2ndsuit, a Somerville-based maker of bike caps, exhibits his inventory on Day 1 of the New England Bicycle Expo at Arts at the Armory.

On May 6, the League of American Bicyclists honored Somerville as a “bronze-level” Bicycle Friendly Community.

One day later the New England Bicycle Expo (NEBE) arrived at Arts at the Armory (191 Highland Ave). Exhibitors included bike-related businesses and organizations from all over the United States.

Of course, Scout immediately took an interest in the only Somerville-based business we saw: 2ndsuit, a maker of bicycle caps run from the Davis Sq home of proprietor Matthew Reineck.

Last summer, Reineck started the business when he got sick and tired of seeing his friend — a man named Derek Enos — wearing “the same nasty cap every day.” An industrial designer by trade who moved to the Boston area from Seattle six years ago to work for Boston-based musical instrument manufacturer First Act, Reineck already knew how to design and sew. It was just a matter of applying his skills to a new product.

Reineck sources almost all his material from the Goodwill Store in Davis Sq (230 Elm St). His caps sell for $20 or $25. Reineck sold 15 of them last weekend at Somerville Open Studios and estimates he’s sold 30 all told, including several to Cambridge bike shop Ata Cycle.

Exhibitors like Reineck are just the tip of the NEBE iceberg. The Expo runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both today at tomorrow. Throughout both days there will be presentations on subjects such as “Organized Bike Rides in the Boston Region” and “Cycling in Somerville: Practical Strategies to Implement Infrastructure Improvements.”

There are also several organized bike rides departing from the Armory on both Saturday and Sunday, including a ride to Taza Chocolate (561 Windsor St), a Tour of Somerville Bicycle Companies and a Tour of the Community Bike Path Extension.

On top of all this, there will be live music at the Armory on both days during the event. Be sure to check it out.

And stay tuned for the next Scout — due out in early July — when we’ll bring you a road map of outstanding Somerville rides and a primer on how to make sure you’re ready for a summer of cycling.

front page thumbnail photo courtesy of Danielle Baskin and bellehelmets.com.

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Plaid Friday (Nov. 26) is just the first of many local-first shopping events in Somerville this holiday season.

Winter doesn’t officially begin until December 21, but the snow will be here any second now and the halls were decked weeks ago. Before most of us even have a chance to finish off turkey leftovers, the next wave of holiday cheer will be knocking down our doors. Will you or your wallet be ready for the retail rush?

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa or Festivus, your to buy list is undoubtedly piling high. Before racing to the nearest chain store to load up on gift cards and all gifts impersonal to shell out to your loved ones, consider the breadth of businesses lining the streets of our humble city.

Many in Somerville proudly participated in a rejection of the retail powerhouse Black Friday, instead joining other communities in highlighting local artisans and businesses by celebrating Plaid Friday (November 26). This shopping trend is one that Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone hopes will continue throughout the shopping season. (Just check out the promotional ad published on the SomervilleCityTV YouTube page.)

Starring Mayor Curtatone and his friend Blanche, the two-and-a-half minute video is a shopping montage and skit promoting the benefits of local commerce. Shops featured in the commercial include Hub Comics (19 Bow St), Rockin Bob’s Guitars (31 Holland St) and vintage clothing retailer Artifaktori (22A College Ave).

According to Curtatone’s ad, Somerville residents will spend $700 on average this holiday season. If this money is spent locally, each dollar has the potential to incite three times its usual economic activity.

Events like Davis Square’s Midnight Madness (Dec. 2) and Shop-A-Palooza (Dec. 4-5) aim to promote this hyper-local shopping with discounts, craft fairs and extended hours throughout the month. For information on these and other upcoming events this holiday season, visit our online events calendar.

graphic courtesy Somerville Local First and Truly Good Design

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Above: a 3D printer known as the RepRap. At the nonprofit Sprout, which the city believes is a prospective Fab Lab, local inventors and tinkerers work with 3D printers called CupCakes.

The term Fab Lab stands for Fabrication Laboratory, and Somerville’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD) believes a Fab Lab could parlay the city’s human resources – artists and academics, techies and nerds – into an entrepreneurial community.

In the Boston area, there’s a Fab Lab at the South End Technology Center (SETC). Ed Baafi, founder of ModKit, credits this Fab Lab with both inspiring and helping to launch his software startup. “With a firsthand look at the ideas and skills people came through the door with, it was clear that more intuitive programming tools were necessary,” Baafi said in an email.

All the parties involved in bringing a Fab Lab to Somerville remain cautious. “We’re talking and seeing what options lie before us. It’s still in discussion and it’s still sensitive,” says Gui Cavalcanti, who cofounded Artisan’s Asylum (561 Windsor St, 13 Joy St) with his fiancée, Jenn Martinez.

A nonprofit, Artisan’s Asylum houses equipment for precision metal machining, electrical fabrication, welding, woodworking and more. It offers membership plans and classes for do-it-yourselfers, aspirants and other interested parties.

Another nonprofit the city has tabbed as a prospective Fab Lab is Sprout (339R Summer St). Cofounder Alec Resnick used to volunteer at the SETC Fab Lab.

On a Thursday night at Sprout several weeks ago, the activities were wide-ranging. On the ground floor, a group worked on a gigantic “walking machine” that was part of the Honk! Festival assemblage.

Upstairs, four men were toying with CupCake 3D printers from MakerBot they had each brought from home. Chris Connors, a 45-year-old high school teacher in Pembroke, made the trip from Duxbury. Aaron Double, 35, an industrial designer from Charlestown, told me that he had recently made a product for the boxing brand Everlast.

Watching the four men with their CupCakes, you got a sense of what Sprout and Artisan’s Asylum have to offer beyond equipment and instruction. They are also proverbial “third places,” to use the term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. Indeed: Why work on your CupCake at home alone when you could collaborate with other fans of 3D printing? If you subscribe to the notion that secular communities are the product of a bygone era, a night at Sprout just might change your mind.

This is the third of an ongoing online Scout series about the state of small business in Somerville.

photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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When co-owner Linda Harrison became vegan five years ago, she says, “I couldn’t understand why there were no upscale vegan restaurants in the Boston area. It seems like every other major city has good vegan restaurants with beer and wine and quality food, but there wasn’t anything in Boston. Michael and I finally said, ‘Ok, nobody’s doing it, so, why don’t we?’” The Harrisons’ search for a place to create their restaurant took them through Brookline, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, and Somerville, until they came across an ad for the Teele Square space on New Year’s Day, 2010. They will open their 29-seat restaurant later this month.

Though animal products are off the menu, the Harrisons and Chef Stuart Reiter are hoping to attract vegans and omnivores alike. Reiter, a vegetarian, recognizes this may be a challenge: “Frequently, people who aren’t vegan find it to be very bland food, and I often agree with that.” But he hopes his creations and the overall experience of the restaurant will overcome the skepticism: “Yes, vegan is an aspect of our character, but we should first and foremost be a great place to eat with wonderful food and great service. That’s the basis on which a restaurant should stand, not on ideology.”

Reiter wants to give True Bistro’s diners a full dining experience that is about what is in the meal, not what it is missing: “I just want to remove the concept that because there are certain elements not on the menu that you’re going to have an experience that’s lacking.” The restaurant will offer creative dishes like warm spinach salad with smoked tofu and winter squash ravioli with caramelized onions and cashew sherry cream. All the food, with the exception of soy products like tofu and tempeh, will be made from scratch. True Bistro will also serve beer and wine, with pairing suggestions on their menu.

True Bistro will not be the only vegan restaurant in Somerville. In fact, it has a fairly close neighbor in Pulse Cafe (195 Elm St). Pulse Cafe’s owner, Bob Bouley, welcomes the addition of another vegan restaurant in the area: “I think the restaurants will complement each other. It will be a good addition to the community, and I do hope it will bring more non-vegans in.” Both Bouley and the Harrisons agree that the two restaurants take different approaches to their cuisine, with True Bistro being more upscale and Pulse Cafe offering “vegan comfort food.”

True Bistro will serve lunch and dinner until 10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, with brunch offered Saturdays and Sundays. The menu will change seasonally. An official opening date has not been set, but the owners hope to open their doors sometime in October. For more information, visit their website.

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Sathi Convenience (151 Highland Ave) is selling Newports and Marlboros at prices that are below state-mandated minimums.

Residents of Highland Ave – at least the ones who smoke or play scratch tickets – never had it so convenient.

Earlier this year, a second convenience store opened across the street from the Somerville Quick Stop (219 Highland Ave) on the corner of Highland and Lowell. It’s called Bedley’s Mini Mart (217 Highland Ave). To be sure, there are differences. Bedley’s carries videos and caters to the Haitian, Jamaican and Caribbean communities.

Still, it was one convenience store opening across the street from another.

In August, it happened again: Across the street from Qmart F Grocery and Coffee (152 Highland Ave) on the corner of Highland and Central, there opened yet another convenience store: Sathi Convenience (151 Highland Ave). Again, there were differences. Sathi specializes in Nepali and Indian products. It carries basmati rice, coconut powder, bottles of mint and tamarind chutney, and imported yellow raisins from a company called Ramdev.

Again, it was one convenience store opening across the street from another.

All told, there are 23 convenience stores in the city. Highland Avenue now boasts six of them on the ten-minute walk from Cedar St to City Hall.

You need not cross the street anymore to buy a pack of gum.

Somerville officials say there is little they can do to prevent these redundancies. “The zoning says what uses are allowed and what uses are not allowed. It doesn’t dictate how many are allowed in the district,” says Monica Lamboy, Executive Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD).

“It’s not in our zoning purview,” concurs City Planner George Proakis. Asked why the city shouldn’t make it part of its zoning purview, he elaborated. “There’s some concern about what occurs when you have too many stores in a given area, but also concern about our regulating things that should be driven on a market basis.”

In other words: If a landlord has a space to fill, and the only prospective tenant is a convenience store, well – who is the city to meddle with a private matter like that?

Understood. The thing is, zoning laws are not the only ones a city can use to encourage landlords to make community-oriented decisions — or to put the heat on redundant tenants. In the case of convenience stores, there are a whole bunch of Massachusetts regulations.

For example: Cigarette prices. State laws mandate that retailers cannot go below particular prices when selling packs or cases of cigarettes. You can find this price list here.

According to the list, the minimum price for a pack of Newports at a non-chain store is $7.61. The minimum price for a pack of Marlboros at a non-chain store is $7.71. As I type this blog on September 24, the window signs at Sathi Convenience advertised Newport packs for $7.52 and Marlboro packs for $7.63. I refer you to the photo at the top of this blog.

In the weeks to come, Scout will check in with the owners of Sathi Convenience and see if or when they change their prices to comply with state-mandated minimums.

This is the first in an ongoing Scout series on the State of Small Business in Somerville.

Thumbnail photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Professional soccer may be coming soon to Somerville's Inner Belt.

In case you missed the Somerville soccer stadium article by Eric Moskowitz in yesterday’s Globe, here’s a recap:

The Kraft Group — which owns the New England Revolution soccer team (and the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium) — is once again focusing on the Inner Belt area as the location for a 20,000-seat soccer stadium. In fact, Revolution COO Brian Bilello discussed this at length in his June 28 blog post.

Some other tidbits from Moskowitz’s story:

• The Revolution rank 13th among the 16 Major League Soccer teams in attendance.
• The team currently averages 12,000 fans per game at 69,000-seat Gillette.
• The Krafts have already invested more than $1 million to explore the Inner Belt site and three others around Boston.
• Bilello called building the stadium “a top priority.”

In short: the prospect of a soccer stadium is regaining steam, now that the state and Somerville have agreed precisely where in the Inner Belt to locate the 11-acre maintenance facility needed for the Green Line extension. When it comes to the Inner Belt’s redevelopment, the stadium may be the next significant puzzle piece to fall into place.

photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

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"We're not going to do this in a vacuum."

On Wednesday evening, April 28, the Somerville Chamber of Commerce hosted the Business Town Meeting at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, attracting scores of small business owners, local officials and developers to hear Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone speak about the economic future of the city.

Generally, the mayor pushed the idea that all of the variables in the social and economic life of the city are interconnected, and that to improve on one area, we have to give attention to all of the others if we want Somerville to be a vibrant city as the country emerges from its economic troubles.

One major variable is transportation. With the opening of the Assembly Square Orange Line station scheduled for 2013 and the start of construction on a Green Line Extension in the foreseeable future, parts of the city could open up to business and further residential development.

Another advantage of improving accessibility is the reduction of the number of cars on the road. One attendee asked the mayor what plans the city had regarding parking, citing short meter times and large swaths of permit-only, residential parking.

Mayor Curtatone disagreed with the idea of putting two-hour signs up in lieu of meters, noting that, years ago, when there was a two-hour window for parking in most places, it was bad for the city. “Turnover’s important,” he said, but also noted that there was some thought going into picking up the kind of electronic, credit card-ready parking kiosks one might find in parts of Boston and Cambridge.

To bring in more transit, Somerville will have to improve its infrastructure, which calls for improvements in zoning regulations, which are currently under development, and the promotion of sustainable living spaces. Part of this, according to the director of Somerville’s Office of Sustainability and Environment, David Lutes, means trying out single stream recycling (in which residents wouldn’t have to sort the items out), which has the potential of saving businesses time and money. Another part of this infrastructure change, according to Lutes, is improvement upon the city’s energy code, in large part by higher efficiency materials (LED lighting, thicker insulation, etc).

The response to all of this, including the promotion of the Shape Up Somerville health campaign, was resoundingly positive, with the exception of the health insurance issue. Larry Slotnick, cofounder of Taza Chocolate, noted that he was in dire straits as far as getting health insurance for his staff, and wondered if there was a way the city could assist small businesses.

Susan Miller, who tutors out of Teele Square, told me after the meeting that the cost “is putting me out of business, literally.” Health insurance is still “a big budget buster” for the city, said Curtatone, and for the most part, the issue is a state-controlled one, out of the hands of the city. But he said he is always looking for creative solutions.

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ResiStat sent out a plea for support for the City’s application:

HELP SOMERVILLE WIN THE OPPORTUNITY TO PILOT GOOGLE’S HIGH-SPEED NETWORK!  The City of Somerville is seeking the opportunity to be included as a trial area for Google’s ultra-high speed network and we need your help!  The network, said by Google to “deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today,” will be offered at a competitive price to a small number of trial locations across the country.  Along with the City submitting a Request For Information (RFI), Google is asking local residents to express their interest in a trial in their community. Your support will strengthen Somerville’s case to be included in the pilot.  Please help make a case for Somerville by submitting a nomination online here: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

Can we help Somerville be a contender? I think we have the right stuff. Help us out!

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