Cambridge Civic Journal Forum

Coming Up at the April 13, 2020 Cambridge City Council meeting

While we all strive to "level the curve" and hope for the best, City Council business continues even as most other businesses do not (at least for now). Springtime is usually the season of hope and renewal and that’s rarely been more relevant than this year – at least for those of us who have not lived through World Wars or civil wars (which always struck me as a oxymoron).

Here are the items on this week’s agenda that I found most noteworthy:

Manager’s Agenda #1. A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to an update on COVID-19.

Manager’s Agenda #4. Transmitting Communication from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $215,450 from Free Cash to the General Fund Human Service Programs Other Ordinary Maintenance account to support the Homeless Shelter / Local Restaurant Community Meals Program.

While people can debate whether every action has been the right choice, there is no question that the City Manager and City departments have really been responsive in dealing with this horrible crisis. I’m looking forward to how we go about the transition from crisis to manageable threat. In any case, a lot of practices adopted during this crisis will persist for a very long time. Don’t go expecting a handshake from anyone any time soon, and I expect that masks and gloves may become a regular practice on all public transportation for the foreseeable future.

Charter Right #1. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to confer with the relevant City departments to give the Council a financial impact summary on how the local Covid-19 response will be impacting the City’s free cash and ability to budget looking into July 1, 2021, and to report back to the City Council in a timely manner. [CHARTER RIGHT EXERCISED BY COUNCILLOR SIMMONS ON APR 6, 2020]

Communications & Reports #5. A communication was received from Anthony Ivan Wilson, City Clerk, responding to a question regarding parliamentary procedure.

Pointless kerfuffle. The issue is whether the latter (Apr 6 Order #1 which asks about the effect on next year’s budget and free cash) duplicates the former (Mar 30 Order #5 which asks about current year’s/next year’s budget and free cash). The City Clerk is correct, but the City Council has filed repeated orders on various topics in the past regardless of what the rules may say.

Order #1. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to appoint and convene a Small Business Recovery Advisory Committee.   Councillor Simmons, Vice Mayor Mallon

Order #2. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to appoint and convene a COVID-19 Advisory Committee to review the impact of the pandemic on local communities of color, to propose ways to better disseminate information on Impact to Communities of Color.   Councillor Simmons

I think the real distinction here has more to do with income levels and job categories than anything else. Some people can avoid public transportation and work from home and maybe have a good health plan and enough savings to ride things out. Others don’t have such luxuries.

Order #3. That in absence of revised City Council goals for the new term, the most recent approved goals are used in all Council business, particularly the budgetary process.   Councillor Carlone, Councillor Simmons, Mayor Siddiqui

One would hope that they would at least pencil in the one additional goal of providing sufficient resources to continue to deal with the Covid-19 crisis and its effects on residents and businesses. I really don’t want to see a lot of resources dedicated to things that are fundamentally optional when there are necessities that have to be addressed right now.

Order #4. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to confer with the Public Health Department to develop and implement stricter public health regulations to protect our grocery store workers.   Vice Mayor Mallon, Mayor Siddiqui

Absolutely, but not just because of an anecdote or two. Sometimes I think Twitter and neighborhood listservs are the primary source of Cambridge public policy.

Order #5. That the City Council go on record in full support of this petition and of Harvard graduate students as they courageously stand up for their needs in a time of crisis.   Councillor McGovern, Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Zondervan

Order #7. That the City Manager examine expanding the City’s jobs programs for those unemployed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councillor Carlone

Order #8. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to repurpose the War Memorial facility into only a COVID-19 testing and temporary quarantine site for unhoused individuals awaiting their test results.   Councillor Zondervan, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler

One week the War Memorial facility is set aside as an emergency shelter primarily to prevent infection, and now this Order calls for it to be used only as a COVID-19 testing and temporary quarantine site. It will be interesting to hear from City Management on this, but it sure seems like a couple of city councillors are making a career out of second-guessing city management and those in charge of public health and public safety.

Communications & Reports #1. A communication was received from the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, transmitting the 2019 Annual Report.

Communications & Reports #6. A communication was received from Councillor Quinton Zondervan, transmitting thoughts on planning for the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I won’t comment on the particulars, but I do appreciate that we are at least beginning to think of next phases to this thing. Unlike some of the foolishness I hear from Washington, D.C. about "reopening the country" as though it was some kind of on-off switch, any rational person needs to understand that this will have to be an extended transition during which some aspects of normalcy will take longer than others and some things will likely change permanently. – Robert Winters