Cambridge Civic Journal Forum

Playing the Wild Card – October 4, 2021 Cambridge City Council meeting

With one month to go before the municipal election (and less if you consider Early Voting and Mail-In Voting), there is usually some expectation of political theater or credit-grabbing at this and the next few City Council meetings. In this game of musical chairs, the music is still playing.

The main agenda item for this week is the Tax Rate Hearing at 6:30pm followed by the ritual of 11 roll call votes that will likely all be unanimous (unless one or two councillors want to play the tune of not using $22.5 million in Free Cash to reduce the FY22 tax rate because, you know, everyone would just love to pay higher taxes). I will also remind everyone, as Bob Healy would do every year at this time, that the City Council does not actually set the residential and commercial tax rates. That responsibility rests with the MA Dept. of Revenue even though (unless somebody miscalculated) the City has already done the calculations and knows the inevitable outcome, i.e. a residential tax rate of $5.92 per thousand and a commercial tax rate of $11.23 per thousand. The rates for last year were, respectively $5.85 and $11.85.

Here’s the full list what struck me as interesting this week:

Manager’s Agenda #1. A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to votes necessary to seek approval from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue of the tax rate for FY2022.
Referred to Special Meeting at 6:30pm on Tax Classification; 11 Orders Adopted
Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zondervan voted against using Free Cash and overlay surplus/reserves to reduce tax rate.
$22,500,000 in Free Cash to reduce FY22 tax rate – Adopted 7-2 (JSW,QZ – NO);
$2,500,000 in overlay surplus/reserves to reduce FY22 tax rate – Adopted 7-2 (JSW,QZ – NO);
$9,500,000 from City Debt Stabilization Fund as revenue source to General Fund Budget – Adopted 8-1 (QZ – NO)

Late Order #9. That the Housing Committee and Finance Committee hold a joint public meeting to discuss the property tax rate and progressive revenue.   Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler
Order Adopted as Amended 9-0

There are so many statistics you could look at when comparing things over the years, but here are a few:

Note: Condominium owners continue to get the sweetest deal of all.

The trained (and maybe even the not-so-trained) eye will notice that the skewing of the tax rates is declining for a combination of reasons. Also embedded in the City Manager’s letter is the warning that, “a major concern going forward is that if residential value increases outpaced commercial/industrial/personal property increases, the City could hit the ceiling for the property tax classification shift. Once the classification ceiling is reached, the residential class will bear the majority of any tax levy increase.”

Cambridge residents, and especially condominium owners, have for some years enjoyed the luxury of relatively tame residential real estate taxes thanks to the policy of shifting most of the tax burden onto commercial properties.

Manager’s Agenda #3. A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 21-22, regarding updating neighborhood organization lists.
Placed on File 9-0

Order #4. That the City Manager is requested to re-establish the Community School Neighborhood Councils.   Councillor Simmons, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Toomey
Order Adopted 9-0

“The Community Development Department (CDD) maintains a list of neighborhood organizations on its website. CDD recently reached out to known neighborhood organizations listed on the website to ensure information is current and accurate. Neighborhood planners are tasked with reaching out to neighborhood organizations annually to keep the information updated. Moreover, the webpage now includes clear information on how leaders of new or existing neighborhood organizations can report changes to neighborhood planners. CDD is currently working to further improve user friendliness of its neighborhood organizations webpage.”

Meanwhile, the “A Better Cambridge” group is doing all that they can to challenge the legitimacy of any and all neighborhood organizations.

Perhaps the best model for resident and neighborhood involvement would be a hybrid between neighborhood organizations (which are free to advocate as they see fit) and a revised and enhanced array of Community School Neighborhood Councils that can tap into City services and resources. That model has worked well in the past in my Mid-Cambridge neighborhood and in some other neighborhoods.

Manager’s Agenda #4. A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 21-33, regarding Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment standards in the review of development projects.
Placed on File 9-0

I have nothing in particular to say about this other than the general observation that just as horse stables gradually vanished giving way to garages and service stations, so too will a more comprehensive system for charging electric vehicles have to develop as gasoline-powered vehicles gradually give way to electric vehicle and perhaps even autonomous vehicles (for which we will be subscribers and not actual owners).

Order #1. That the City Manager is requested to make available the appropriate staff and information pertaining to past efforts to establish a Green Jobs program.   Councillor Simmons, Councillor McGovern, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Zondervan
Order Adopted 9-0

I doubt many people these days will dispute the value of job training for “green jobs.” Where I part company with these councillors is in their belief that this should best be done as a City program. It seems pretty clear that “Green Jobs” companies will do a far better job of this training and that it would be far more appropriate to simply connect our residents with these employers and make it as advantageous as possible for such companies to set up shop hear and in our surrounding communities.

Order #2. That the City Manager is requested to establish a written plan designed to ensure that Black people, LatinX, Indigenous people, and people of color will be recruited by the City, trained, and placed in leadership positions throughout the municipal government.   Councillor Simmons
Order Adopted as Amended 9-0

I agree completely in the value of acting affirmatively in recruitment, training, and advancement, but I have never agreed with the notion that anyone should be “placed in leadership positions” based solely or primarily on their race or ethnicity – or any other fact, for that matter, other than who is the best person for the job.

Order #3. That the City Manager is requested to direct appropriate staff to design a Language Access Plan in conjunction with the Cambridge Public Schools.   Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler
Order Adopted 9-0

Order #5. That the City Council go on record requesting that the Neighborhood & Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts and Celebrations Committee hold a hearing to discuss the ways the city might support residents interested in having pickle and paddle ball opportunities available.   Councillor Nolan, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Toomey
Order Adopted 9-0

When I first moved to Cambridge from New York City in 1978 I brought my paddleball racket with me. I soon discovered that nobody in the area played either handball or paddleball – which were played everywhere in NYC.

Order #6. City Council support of the MIT Graduate Student Union.   Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councillor Zondervan, Councillor McGovern, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Simmons
Order Adopted as Amended 9-0

I understand that unionization of graduate student is “a thing” these days, but I remain perplexed at the notion that the United Auto Workers are organizing graduate students at Harvard, and apparently now the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America is organizing graduate students at MIT. I agree that graduate students should not be exploited as cheap labor with minimal benefits, but I also understand that the primary goal of a graduate student is to get a degree and no longer be a graduate student. It’s not like we want to be awarding gold watches to graduate students for their many years of service.

Order #7. That the City Manager is requested to present a plan, which includes funding, and the findings of any feasibility study of any DHSP and any other City department providing children and/or city youth programs, for rapidly expanding out of school time in the city to create enough slots for all families who need it.   Councillor Zondervan, Councillor McGovern, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Carlone
Order Adopted 9-0

Order #8. That the City Manager is requested to convene a Caregiver Advisory Council that is overly represented by high priority families will be convened in partnership with DHSP that engages key stakeholders that includes, but is not limited to, the Agenda for Children, current and former out of school time staff and leadership, and out of school time community benefit organizations. Such a council will receive reports as ordered by Policy Order 2021 #201 that describe who applied and were enrolled, capacity, staffing, and outreach efforts.   Councillor Zondervan, Councillor McGovern, Mayor Siddiqui
Order Adopted 9-0

I read an article in the Boston Globe yesterday (Human services agencies face staffing crisis, delaying services for those in need) explaining that “A steady stream of workers have left community-based human services jobs during the pandemic, and many jobs are going unfilled, leading to a staffing shortage that has reached emergency levels, providers say. Some programs are facing vacancy rates as high as 60 percent.” I also recall that our own Ellen Semonoff (DHSP) said recently that the limitation in providing slots in programs had more to do with lack of staff than lack of funding. City councillors may want to expand access to such programs, but you still need the content and the staff to provide anything of value.

Committee Report #1. The Health and Environment Committee met on Apr 14, 2021 to conduct a public hearing regarding the City’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Charter Right – Zondervan

Let the record show that City staff did an extraordinary job in helping us to navigate this pandemic even though nobody had a guidebook that laid out all that needed to be done. Let’s also remember some of the Big Ideas that were proposed in the political arena that fell flat and were based on a combination of misunderstanding about the transmission of the virus as well as separate agendas about hostility toward motor vehicles. Remember those streets that were supposed to be pedestrian-priority but where almost all pedestrians still preferred the sidewalks, and where drivers used the barriers for slalom driving? Perhaps the most successful reconfiguration was the expansion of outdoor patios (street and sidewalk) that helped some businesses survive and which will likely continue, though perhaps in a more limited way, beyond this pandemic. – Robert Winters