Episode 631 – Cambridge InsideOut: Oct 15, 2024 (Part 1)
This episode was recorded on Oct 15, 2024 at 6:00pm. Topics: Cambridge Mosaic; Joan Pickett memorial; Cathie Zusy elected; Bow Tie Ride and Brattle Street crash; Memorial Drive fatality, short-term and long-term redesigns, Beacon Yards and Mass Pike realignment; Ballot Questions 1 and 2. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 632 – Cambridge InsideOut: Oct 15, 2024 (Part 2)
This episode was recorded on Oct 15, 2024 at 6:30pm. Topics: Ballot Questions 3-5; Tax Rate Hearing and Vote, tax bills coming; A Bigger Cambridge upzoning proposals being sold as “ending exclusionary zoning”; disconnect between ideologues and residents; Central Square rezoning. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
This episode was recorded on Sept 17, 2024 at 6:00pm. Topics: Constitution Day; Open Archives Roadshow; Boomer Kennedy; Women in Trades; Bob LaTrémouille; Red McGrail; Joan Pickett memorial service; Cambridge Mosaic; Vacancy Recount; Decker/MacKay Recount; charter reconsideration and consensus. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
This episode was recorded on Sept 17, 2024 at 6:30pm. Topics: Boards & Commissions; “emergency” extension of Cannabis Permitting Ordinance; Vail Court, lost opportunities, letting the planners plan; Housing Committee super-size proposal and ABC hostility and arrogance; MBTA Communities Act w/Cambridge as poster child; soft targets will bear the burden; political fallout; perfect tax storm coming soon. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
This episode was recorded on Sept 3, 2024 at 6:00pm. Topics: Death of Cambridge City Councillor Joan Pickett; Vacancy Recount to be scheduled to elect Cathie Zusy – actual procedure, alternatives, history of Plan E vacancies 1941-present; brutality and disrespect of anonymous commenting; a clearer view of Joan Pickett. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
This episode was recorded on Sept 3, 2024 at 6:30pm. Topics: Shallowness of local press; Councillor Pickett’s actual views on bicycle and pedestrian safety and compromise; Sept 3 Primary; 77 supervoters; lack of candidates, choices; commentary on Decker-MacKay contest; Meet Your Neighbor Day; Boards and Commissions – Volunteer Opportunities – best education money can’t buy; Pre-K startup; $100 tickets for street cleaning; Oldtime Baseball; City Charter commentary; rejuvenation of local news; Central Square zoning. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 621 – Cambridge InsideOut: June 18, 2024 (Part 1)
This episode was recorded on June 18, 2024 at 6:00pm. Topics: Harvard Summer School; Recent (Riverfest) and upcoming festivals and events (Juneteenth, Spelling Bee, Fresh Pond Day, Citywide Dance Party, Starlight Lovefest); World Champion Celtics; Red Sox rising; Mayor Simmons mutual interests, solving the mystery of the shrinking annual reports; Municipal Facilities Improvement Plan and fiscal constraints; reviving local news, public funding, objectivity, right ways and wrong ways, the larger questions, future of Cambridge Chronicle, the purpose of a “paper of record”, democracy dies in darkness. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 622 – Cambridge InsideOut: June 18, 2024 (Part 2)
This episode was recorded on June 18, 2024 at 6:30pm. Topics: Best ways to augment democracy with healthy environment of objective information, community voices, marshalling existing resources – the overdue conversation that needs to happen, Cambridge once had 5 newspapers covering Cambridge; cyclist death at Mt Auburn/DeWolfe and aftermath; some City bicycle planning not consistent with bicycle safety at intersections, the limits of signalization, the importance of simplicity; consideration of possible charter changes – simple is best; Cambridge Public Schools and dismissal of Superintendent Victoria Greer; ongoing planning for Central Square – and reactions from abutters. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 619 – Cambridge InsideOut: June 4, 2024 (Part 1)
This episode was recorded on June 4, 2024 at 6:00pm. Topics: Recycling updates, zero waste plan 2.0, Hazardous Waste Day; FY2025 Budget Adopted – nearly a billion dollars, significant increases over time and especially this year; potential tax implications for fall; reorganization of some City departments – Executive and CDD; sizable 34.3% increase in Mayor’s Office budget; Charter Review status and Gov’t Operations Committee; Planning Board appointments and voracious appetite of some city councillors for behind-the-scenes control or public inquisition; Ronayne Petition v. Supersize proposals. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 620 – Cambridge InsideOut: June 4, 2024 (Part 2)
This episode was recorded on June 4, 2024 at 6:30pm. Topics: Ronayne Petition v. Supersize proposals for residential zoning, legalizing multi-family housing; preference for diversity of housing stock rather than supersize everywhere; turning Cambridge into Flushing and rents don’t go down; artificial affordability via subsidy; Central Square zoning discussions and Central Square Lots Study; lunacy of permitting only low-income housing; naive belief that Starlight Square 2.0 would be compatible with high-density housing; Central Square should be more than a social utility – should be a regional draw, need to involve people who currently don’t want to go to Central Square; the perils of onerous Inclusionary Housing requirements; Historical Commission award for our video, the many things we didn’t include in our video; disappearance of the historical role of the wards; need for a history of the Plan E era. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 601 – Cambridge InsideOut: Nov 21, 2023 (Part 1)
This episode was recorded on Nov 21, 2023 at 6:00pm. Topics: Notable Passings: Teresa Neighbor, Gregg Moree, Kevin Glynn; a personal tale of candidacy, the politics of personal destruction, the lack of a viable local press, and “taking one for the team”; Gaza takes center stage; municipal election results – City Council and School Committee; election mechanics, configuration files, ballot data files; the problem of ballot order dependence and how to fix it. Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]
Episode 602 – Cambridge InsideOut: Nov 21, 2023 (Part 2)
This episode was recorded on Nov 21, 2023 at 6:30pm. Topics: Replacements in the event of a vacancy; The Comedy of Voting Errors; Ward/Precinct #1 Vote distribution; neighborhood bases of support; great disparity in voter turnout among precincts and disproportional representation; #2 Vote Distribution from the ballot data; Cost per #1 Vote; some history of proportional representation historically and in the United States and in Massachusetts; Question: Proportional to what? Host: Robert Winters [On YouTube] [audio]