Cambridge Civic Journal Forum

February 17, 2026

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 661-662: February 17, 2026

Filed under: Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,City Council,Deaths,Harvard Square,history — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 10:24 pm

Episode 661 – Cambridge InsideOut: Feb 17, 2026 (Part 1)

This episode was broadcast on Feb 17, 2026 at 6:00pm. Topics: Reflections on Valentine’s Day 1978 arrival, 48 years in Cambridge; how things have changed – affordability and simplicity replaced by high cost and complication, high-stakes existence; the vanished street musicians of Harvard Square; replacing City responsiveness with bureaucracy; significant passings; triple-deckers and human-scale housing, some realities of being the landlord; Inclusionary Zoning history and updates; demanding too much risks losing it all. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 662 – Cambridge InsideOut: Feb 17, 2026 (Part 2)

This episode was broadcast on Feb 17, 2026 at 6:30pm. Topics: New City Council settling in; Feb 9 City Council meeting – responses to ICE and federal actions, job discrimination in police hiring vs. civil service, cooperation with federal agencies or not; City Manager getting out ahead of the politics; Budget and taxation previews; Community Safety Department function; unifying City housing functions, decommodification as policy vs. homeownership, appropriate level of subsidized housing; jacking up the fee for Residential Parking Permit, eliminating the elderly exemption; report on Rise Up Cambridge; expanded universal pre-K – at what cost?; choosing a City Clerk; home rule petition for real estate transfer fee on top of existing fees; security at City Hall. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

January 20, 2026

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 659-660: January 20, 2026

Filed under: Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,City Council,elections,history — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 11:55 pm

Episode 659 – Cambridge InsideOut: Jan 20, 2026 (Part 1)

This episode was broadcast on Jan 20, 2026 at 6:00pm. Topics: Reflections on one year of the Trump Presidency – Cabinet appointments, immigration enforcement, funding revocations, tariffs, Greenland, harm to USA reputation; Cambridge League of Women Voters – History and Revival; Local Press – Venture Cafe event, past, present, and future of local journalism – especially the need for a true “paper of record”. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 660 – Cambridge InsideOut: Jan 20, 2026 (Part 2)

This episode was broadcast on Jan 20, 2026 at 6:30pm. Topics: City Council 2026-2027 Committee Assignments – especially Public Safety Committee, Finance, Government Operations; expectation of international resolutions – what will Burhan do?; rumblings of 2026 State Representative and State Senate elections – courting the DSA; Jan 12 City Council meeting – federal updates, MCNCDC appointments, new councillors seeking attention, safety and security at City Hall, status/future of City-owned properties, no stickers for transit-oriented development, Cambridge St. rezoning, committee report on DEI shredding of Women’s Commission, passing of Bob Hurlbut; what’s coming next. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

January 6, 2026

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 657-658: January 6, 2026

Filed under: 2025 election,Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,campaign finance,Central Square,Charter,City Council,cycling,elections,School Committee,schools — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 11:38 pm

Episode 657 – Cambridge InsideOut: Jan 6, 2026 (Part 1)

This episode was broadcast on Jan 6, 2026 at 6:00pm. Topics: 2026 City Council and School Committee Inaugurations; Election of Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Azeem, School Committee Chair David Weinstein and Vice Chair Caitlin Dube; Intrigue with the School Committee votes, adoption of the Rules, and the role of the Cambridge Education Association (CEA); personal note on the passing of friends – Robert Devaney and Andy Engelward; a few words on the local press, Cambridge Day, and Marc Levy. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 658 – Cambridge InsideOut: Jan 6, 2026 (Part 2)

This episode was broadcast on Jan 6, 2026 at 6:30pm. Topics: Inclusionary Zoning – 1998 vs. today, legal challenge, nexus study, the politics, ramifications of the multi-family zoning changes to the Zoning Ordinance; public – Inclusionary – subsidized -government – affordable housing and now “social housing” – it’s really all the same except for eligibility; what is the “sweet spot” for percentage of subsidized housing that is fiscally sustainable? (currently at 15.3%); changes in voter turnout by age from 2023 to 2025; campaign finance facts and figures for the 2025 municipal election; upzoning along N. Mass. Ave., Cambridge Street, and what may be coming next for Central Square and elsewhere. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

November 19, 2025

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 655-656: November 18, 2025

Filed under: 2025 election,Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,Charter,City Council,elections,School Committee — Tags: , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 1:04 am

Episode 655 – Cambridge InsideOut: Nov 18, 2025 (Part 1)

This episode was broadcast on Nov 18, 2025 at 6:00pm. Topics: 2025 Municipal Election – error, test ballots, controversy, preliminary, unofficial, official results; alphabetical bias in Ranked Choice Voting; Round-by-Round City Council results; School Committee, Teachers Union (CEA) slate and disinterested voters; Factions and Slates; Mamdani Effect. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 656 – Cambridge InsideOut: Nov 18, 2025 (Part 2)

This episode was broadcast on Nov 18, 2025 at 6:30pm. Topics: 2025 Municipal Election – Round-by-Round School Committee results; ballot data, configuration files, ChoicePlusPro tabulation; new City Charter approved – Election Commission flexibility, School Committee to choose their own Chair; Replacements in the event of a vacancy; Instant Runoff Mayoral and School Committee Chair simulations; #1 votes distributions by ward/precinct; #2 votes distributions behind each candidates #1 votes; What might we expect in the new year? Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

September 17, 2025

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 653-654: September 16, 2025

Filed under: 2025 election,Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,campaign finance,Charter,City Council,elections,Harvard Square,School Committee,schools — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 1:48 pm

Episode 653 – Cambridge InsideOut: Sept 16, 2025 (Part 1)

This episode was broadcast on Sept 16, 2025 at 6:00pm. Topics: Candidates, Candidate Pages, campaign finance facts and figures, PACs and slates; importance of non-hostility; voting histories; pros and cons of candidacy; School Committee candidate forums, Cambridge Education Association (CEA) hostility; general impressions of School Committee candidates; respectful Cambridge Advanced Learners Association (CALA) candidate forum. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 654 – Cambridge InsideOut: Sept 16, 2025 (Part 2)

This episode was broadcast on Sept 16, 2025 at 6:30pm. Topics: Hunter ballot challenge, illegitimacy of The Black Response; adopted Cantabrigian; Public Safety meeting on Aug 2 incident, extraordinary offerts of CPD to protect everyone, activist idiocy and HEART, police as social workers; CPA funds, voters have no say in their own taxation; City Charter updates; dissing Broadway residents; Bow St. pedestrianization; Harvard tunnel concept and fiscal constraints; proposed Mass. Ave. upzoning to 12 stories from Cambridge Common to the Arlington line, potential ABC political fallout, Inclusionary connection; Office of Tourism and the business associations; Radical Centrist. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

August 19, 2025

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 651-652: August 19, 2025

Filed under: 2025 election,Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,campaign finance,City Council,Deaths,East Cambridge,elections,history,planning — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 10:35 pm

Episode 651 – Cambridge InsideOut: August 19, 2025 (Part 1)

This episode was broadcast on August 19, 2025 at 6:00pm. Topics: A Teacher’s Life – Harvard Summer School and Harvard Extension School; 31st Annual Oldtime Baseball Game; Significant Passings; 2025 Municipal Election – nomination papers, signatures, getting on the ballot (or not), political action committees, City Council and School Committee candidates; Cambridge Candidate Pages; campaign finance – receipts, expenditures, unions and incumbents. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 652 – Cambridge InsideOut: August 19, 2025 (Part 2)

This episode was broadcast on August 19, 2025 at 6:30pm. Topics: Slates, factions, history, endorsements; candidate questionnaires; the self-anointed, self-appointed; housing vs. densification; alarm stemming from “multi-family housing” upzoning, loss of setbacks, loss of standing to object; even greater heights coming; radicals coalescing; East End House, contract zoning, community benefits, and Solomonic wisdom; Welcoming City vs. The Feds; Resolving the Vail Court eminent domain taking; Riverview condo expenditure/demolition. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

July 3, 2025

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 649-650: July 1, 2025

Filed under: 2025 election,Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,City Council,cycling,East Cambridge,transportation — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 12:56 pm

Episode 649 – Cambridge InsideOut: July 1, 2025 (Part 1)

This episode was recorded on July 1, 2025 at 6:00pm. Topics: Comings, Goings, and Recognition – Ducky Down, Joe Grassi, Charlie Sullivan, Owen O’Riordan; 2025 Municipal Election Updates, nomination papers; current political “parties” in our nonpartisan municipal election; focus on the candidates and not the organizations; tales from NYC and Ranked Choice Voting; Alewife – stormwater, sewers, bridges, tunnels; revisions to the Welcoming City Ordinance; federal cutbacks, purging DEI, capitulation; Electronic Records Archiving Policy; Board & Commission kerfuffle, City Council overreach; preservation vs. bulldozers. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 650 – Cambridge InsideOut: July 1, 2025 (Part 2)

This episode was recorded on July 1, 2025 at 6:30pm. Topics: Broadway, bikes, parking, ageism, gentrification, and betrayal; freedom of choice; misinterpretation of election results, lack of referenda, “Proportional to what?”, representativeness; contract zoning, community benefits, proximity vs. citywide – East End House, Cambridge Community Center, Community Arts Center, Dance Complex, nonprofits – some Foundry history, ARPA windfall; elected officials sometimes have to take hard votes; Inclusionary Zoning – history, concept, missteps, current status, 20% of nothing is still nothing, is 10% the “sweet spot”? Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

June 4, 2025

Cambridge InsideOut Episodes 647-648: June 3, 2025

Filed under: 2025 election,Cambridge,Cambridge InsideOut,City Council,cycling,elections,history — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Robert Winters @ 11:03 pm

Episode 647 – Cambridge InsideOut: June 3, 2025 (Part 1)

This episode was recorded on June 3, 2025 at 6:00pm. Topics: 2025 Municipal Election Updates, nomination papers available July 1; Random Observations and Alphabet Soup – some history of Cambridge political dichotomies and more; “defining the issues” in the most self-serving ways; Cambridge Reasonable People Organization?; Taking a long, hard look at City Boards & Commissions. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

Episode 648 – Cambridge InsideOut: June 3, 2025 (Part 2)

This episode was recorded on June 3, 2025 at 6:30pm. Topics: Review of City Boards & Commissions, sunset provisions for all non-regulatory boards; Technical Working Committee for the Computerization of Cambridge Elections (TWCC); Adoption of the Amended FY2026 City Budget and Loan Authorizations; anticipating fallout from reckless federal policies; candidates readying their campaigns; the problem of City-funded campaign aides for incumbents; addressing vacant storefronts; carrots vs. sticks; turning dysfunctional properties into functional properties; Dover Amendment and City Council miscues – break it and maybe fix it later; Broadway bike lane controversy – dirty, mean tactics of Cambridge Bike Safety. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]

[Materials used in these episodes]

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