Summer Simmer – What’s Cookin’ on the Aug 1, 2022 City Council Agenda?
Summertime and the livin’s easy, but the boys and girls of summer are back for their annual Midsummer meeting this Monday. Here are a few notable votables:
Manager’s Agenda #1. Transmitting communication from Owen C. O’Riordan, Acting City Manager, relative to a COVID-19 and Monkeypox update.
Placed on File 9-0
Order #13. That the City Manager report back on ways in which we can prepare for a Monkeypox outbreak in the City of Cambridge. Councillor Azeem, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Simmons, Mayor Siddiqui
pulled early by Azeem; Order Adopted 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #18. A communication transmitted from Owen C. O’Riordan, Acting City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 22-31, regarding funding received through the housing linkage program.
pulled by Zondervan; Placed on File 9-0
Order #10. Incentive Zoning Program Data. Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Azeem
Order Adopted 9-0
Order #15. That the City Manager work with the City Solicitor to ask for a legal opinion on whether a tiered linkage fee system by square footage and/or a marginal rate system would be permitted under the current petition parameters and what was previously advertised. Councillor Azeem, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor McGovern
Order Adopted 9-0
The Incentive Zoning Program has been in existence now for decades and the only changes have been the relatively recent increases in the linkage fees. If commercial development was the great concern back in the late 1980s that justified Incentive Zoning, it’s pretty clear that a lot has changed since then and that a deeper dive than just uniformly jacking up the rates is overdue.
Manager’s Agenda #19. A communication transmitted from Owen C. O’Riordan, Acting City Manager, relative to the submission of the Affordable Housing Overlay Annual Report.
pulled by Mallon; most AHO projects (as many of us predicted) are on existing properties of CHA, Just-A-Start, etc.; McGovern celebrates the lack of any process; Referred to Housing Committee 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #20. A communication transmitted from Owen C. O’Riordan, Acting City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 21-35 regarding options to update the HomeBridge and Homeownership Programs.
pulled by Mallon; notable that CDD shows at best lukewarm support of increasing homeownership opportunities and building of wealth; Referred to Housing Committee 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #21. A communication transmitted from Owen C. O’Riordan, Acting City Manager, relative to a request that the City Council extend its prior authorization for the City Manager to grant street obstruction approvals, which are required for restaurants to operate outdoor dining on the sidewalk or street until June 30, 2023.
pulled by Toner; Order Adopted 9-0
As much as I would like to see Covid retreat into obscurity by next season, it’s pretty clear that some of the accommodations made in the state of emergency have worked out pretty well in some places (like Central Square) and should continue.
Charter Right #1. Transmitting Communication from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of appropriation and authorization to borrow $4,500,000 to provide funds for the design and construction of building renovations to the vacant City owned property at 105 Windsor Street. [Charter Right – Zondervan, June 27, 2022]
taken w/Order #11 and Comm. & Reports #8 by Zondervan; debate primarily about nature of community process; allocation is primarily for design, much more money expected later for construction; Azeem suggests expanding building; Tabled (Mallon) 9-0
Order #11. 105 Windsor Community Process. Councillor Zondervan, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Carlone
pulled early by Zondervan; Tabled (Zondervan) 9-0
Communications & Reports #7. A communication was received from Councillor Zondervan, transmitting historical information about the city-owned property at 105 Windsor Street.
pulled early by Zondervan; Placed on File 9-0
This definitely reminds me of what Bob Healy was reported to have said when informed that The Foundry building was being donated to the City: “This is going to be a problem.” As soon as the asset became available political people and activists alike all began competing for it. I hope things are more rational (and quick) with 105 Windsor.
Applications & Petitions #5. An application was received from Andy Layman representing Tasty Burger, requesting permission for three (3) projecting signs at the premises numbered 21 Prospect Street. approval has been received from Inspectional Services, Department of Public Works, Community Development Department and abutter. [Note: The agenda brief gives the address as 353 Prospect Street (near the intersection with Cambridge Street), and one of the included maps suggests this, yet all of the photos indicate the address as 21 Prospect, in the large building at the corner of Mass. Ave.]
Address Corrected, Tabled 9-0 to allow for proper notification of abutters
Lotsa Communications opposing the planned Brattle Street Separated Bike Lanes.
Resolution #36. Resolution on the death of Rosemary Dorothy O’Neill. Councillor Toner
Resolution #39. Congratulations on the Retirement of Maryellen Carvello from The City Manager’s Office. Councillor Toner
I will simply say that for people like me who have been in and out of City Hall for over 3 decades you make a lot of friends, and retirements always bring a touch of sadness and a sense of the relentless passage of time.
Order #1. That the Ordinance Committee of the City Council meet to amend the Cambridge Municipal Code by adding a chapter numbered 6.24, titled Sale of Fur Apparel Products. Councillor McGovern
Order Adopted 9-0
Memories are dancing in my head of a past Order calling for the banning of large sugary drinks. I really wish city councillors would spend as much time winning people over to their point of view rather than enacting bans to force people to do as they’re told.
Order #5. City Council support of additional MBTA bus service in Alewife and East Cambridge. Councillor Azeem, Councillor Carlone, Councillor Nolan, Councillor Zondervan
pulled by Nolan; Order Adopted 9-0 as Amended (details to follow)
I met some of the MBTA staff involved in planning these changes. Fresh out of “planning school” with little grasp of how people actually use public transportation or how they’ll be using it in the future.
Order #6. Policy Order re ID Badges For City Employees. Councillor Simmons, Councillor Azeem
Order Adopted 9-0
Badges? We don’t have to show you no stinking badges!
Order #7. Policy Order re Establishing a Task Force on Cambridge’s African American/Black Residents. Councillor Simmons
pulled by Simmons; Order Adopted and Referred to Civic Unity Committee 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Order #8. Black Men and Boys Commission. Councillor Zondervan, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Azeem, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Simmons
pulled by Simmons; Order Adopted and Referred to Civic Unity Committee as Amended 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Order #9. Cannabis Industry Information PO. Councillor Zondervan, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Azeem
Order Adopted 9-0
Order #14. Water Drought Emergency. Councillor Nolan, Councillor Azeem, Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Mallon
pulled by Nolan; Order Adopted 9-0
Order #16. Policy Order to investigate shared free bus service and E bike delivery program. Councillor Toner, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Carlone, Councillor Azeem, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Nolan, Councillor Simmons, Mayor Siddiqui
pulled by Zondervan; Order Adopted as Amended 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Order #18 (separated from Order #16). That the City Manager be and is hereby requested to develop a pilot program in which the city would purchase E Bikes and hire city residents to create a city-based delivery service for our restaurants and local businesses to reduce the costs paid by businesses and customers of current home delivery services. Vice Mayor Mallon, Mayor Siddiqui
Order Adopted 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Order #17. That the City Council goes on record in support of the alternative route (S11C) instead of the preferred route (S1A) for Eversource’s plans to connect the proposed substation to existing substations. Councillor Azeem, Councillor Carlone, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Nolan, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Toner, Councillor Zondervan, Mayor Siddiqui
pulled by Azeem; Order Adopted as Amended 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Committee Report #1. The Neighborhood & Long-Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts & Celebration Committee met on Mar 17, 2022 to conduct a public hearing to discuss the appropriateness of laboratories in neighborhood retail districts. [Text of Committee Report]
Report Accepted, Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Committee Report #2. The Human Services and Veterans Committee met on Mar 23, 2022 to hold a public hearing on Wed, Mar 23, 2022 at 5:00pm to discuss the final report from the Ad Hoc Working Group on Homelessness released on Jan 31, 2022. [Text of Committee Report]
Report Accepted as Amended, Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Committee Report #3. The Ordinance Committee met on June 22, 2022 to continue a public hearing on proposed amendments to the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (Ordinance #2021-26). [Text of Committee Report]
Report Accepted as Amended, Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Communications & Reports #2. A communication was received from Councillor Nolan, transmitting updated version of the final CCWG report, amended per the last Health & Environment Committee meeting.
Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Communications & Reports #3. A communication was received from Mayor Siddiqui and Councillor Azeem, transmitting information regarding the Fare Free Working Group. [Ridership Information] [Cost-Estimate] [Bus Routes and NRS Areas] [Fare-Free Bus Report]
Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Communications & Reports #4. A communication was received from Mayor Siddiqui, transmitting information regarding the Charter Review Committee.
Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
There is apparently a first meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 16 at 5:00pm (remote meeting – how very disappointing). Time will tell if this group turns out to be objective, rational, and reasonable.
Communications & Reports #6. A communication was received from Mayor Siddiqui, transmitting updates from the UPK Ad-Hoc meetings.
Placed on File 8-0-1 (Nolan ABSENT)
Additional comments may follow as the spirit moves. – Robert Winters
It’s no secret that statistics and the term ‘misinformation’ get heavily skewed for political convenience… there will be crickets responding to Hanratty’s article. If cyclists are truly concerned about safety they should consider what puts them at risk the most: is it other people’s behavior, or is it their own? It’s becoming pretty clear that bike lanes keep our politicians a lot safer than our cyclists.
Comment by george stylianopoulos — August 1, 2022 @ 9:55 am