Week in Review: July 25 - July 31

Last week the Department of Public Works began its annual road improvement project by surveying 10 roads that will get repaved this week at a cost of $417,000 – all of which came from state funds designated for road construction.

On Monday, Westwood children enjoyed Mike the Music Man as he wrapped up the Summer Concert Series in town with a storytelling and music act directed at children. From songs about frogs and bugs, and changing from goofy hat to goofy hat, Mike Slattery kept kids laughing for the finale show.

Meanwhile, the town will move forward this fall with revising its town charter to update it with how the current department operates. A committee will make recommendations that the public will have an opportunity to address and discuss. Town officials say many of the departments handle different, new and more complex operations than they did when Westwood last altered the charter in the 1980s.

Also at Town Hall, Westwood received notice on how much in Unrestricted Government Aid, or Lottery Aid, it would receive. Despite ranking 308 out of 351 towns in Massachusetts on the amount of aid received, Pam Dukeman, Westwood's finance director, welcomes the $617,080 to help pay for the town's budget.

Next door at the police station, officers handled a report of a minors drinking alcohol and gave out summonses; received good news that a man who had reported six firearms lost or stolen found them inside his home; and summoned three men for damage to property and disturbing the peace when they allegedly burned rubber all over a Westwood parking lot, leaving severe tire marks. Police and fire crews responded Thursday to a two-vehicle accident at the East Street rotary that sent two people with possible non-life threatening injuries to Norwood Hospital.

Christina Wallace profiled Victoria's Cucina Italiana in the ongoing Meet the Chefs series happening all summer long. Uziel DeSouza discussed how working in his father's pizza shop in Brazil made him become obsessed with the restaurant business and drove him to run a restaurant of his own.

With summer reaching its halfway point, there are things Westwood residents should take advantage of before the weather turns cold. One of those things is to take a ride or a hike through Lowell Woods and enjoy the outdoors, scenery – and stay out of the hot sun.

In sports, all of the little league teams in Westwood were in a ton of action all week long. The Williamsport 11-12-year-old team fell to Newton West in the Section 3 final 5-4 on Monday night. The 9-year-old team wrapped up its regular season earlier in the week, and then readied for its playoff opener Saturday.