Cambridge Civic Journal Forum

In the Merry Month of May – Making Mischief at the May 15, 2023 Meeting

Today’s my birthday and we’ll be celebrating it with a hike in Concord (as well as the grading of Final Exams). This is also premier day on CCTV for the video “Cambridge City Charter: From Town Meeting to Plan E” that John Pitkin, Gregorio Leon, and I have been working on for the last several months. John and I do most of the narration with an assist from our good friend (and former city councillor) Jim Braude. You can watch it on CCTV Channel 9 at 5:30pm (just in case Public Comment gets either boring or annoying) and at several other times this week. Special thanks to the CCTV staff, Diane LeBlanc, Alyssa Pacy, Charlie Sullivan and all of the wonderful people at the Cambridge Historical Commission. We have more “Civic View” programs planned. [Watch on YouTube]

Tonight’s City Council meeting features these morsels:

Manager’s Agenda #1. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a recommendation from the Board of Election Commissioners for the City Council to vote to authorize in-person early voting for the Nov 7, 2023 Municipal Election, in accordance with “The VOTES Act”.
pulled by Nolan; Order Adopted 9-0

Early Voting and No-Excuse Absentee Voting may be here to stay, but a formal City Council vote is required. Vote Early and Vote Often! (well, not really)

DESIGNATED EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS, HOURS, AND DAYS

Cambridge Water Department – 250 Fresh Pond Parkway
Valente Library – 826 Cambridge Street, Side Entrance on Berkshire Street
Main Library – 449 Broadway

Charter Right #1. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a recommendation that the City Council approve an Order to take by “friendly” eminent domain proceeding parcels of land located at 319 Webster Avenue, Cambridge (as shown on Cambridge Assessors Map 81, Parcel 21), 333 Webster Avenue, Cambridge (as shown on Cambridge Assessors Map 81, Parcel 23), and 455 Columbia Street (as shown on Cambridge Assessors Map 81, Parcel 16) (collectively “Cambridge Parcels”), and approve an Order authorizing the purchase of a parcel of land located at 94 Webster Avenue, Somerville (as shown on Somerville Assessors Map 96, Parcel B-7) (“Somerville Parcel”) (collectively, the “Premises”), all of which are owned by Webster Avenue Ventures LLC (“WV”). [Charter Right – Mallon, May 8, 2023]
Nolan motion to Table Ch. Rt #1 Fails 1-8 (PN – Yes); Appropriation of $3,101,250 Adopted 8-1 (PN – No); Order of Taking Adopted 8-1 (PN – No); Appropriation of $10,276,750 Adopted 8-1 (PN – No); Order of Purchase Adopted 8-1 (PN – No); Appropriation of $1,022,000 Adopted 8-1 (PN – No); Appropriation of $1,000,000 Adopted 8-1 (PN – No); Rules Suspended for Reconsideration 8-1 (PN – No); Reconsideration Fails 1-8 (PN – Yes)

Order #3. That the City Manager is requested to initiate a planning process to determine the use of several parcels of land along Webster Avenue to accomplish Envision goals, including how to best ensure that the acquisition of these parcels results in additional affordable housing and open space.   Councillor Zondervan, Vice Mayor Mallon, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Carlone
Order Adopted 9-0 (early in meeting)

Manager’s Agenda #5. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to an update concerning the property at 333 Webster Avenue.
pulled by Mallon; Rules suspended to take up Charter Right #1 and Order #3; Placed on File 9-0

Often lost among competing priorities are the basic things that are necessary for a well-functioning city. This includes public works facilities. I’ll add that this also includes things like redemption centers, loading zones, parking, and sufficient road width for emergency vehicles. These are often forgotten by zealous planners and elected officials who rarely see beyond their own narrow single-issue agendas.

Order #1. City Council support of bill SD 487 and HD 825 which would require the use of Integrated Pest Management strategies and improve pesticide monitoring in Massachusetts to limit ecological damage due to rodenticides.   Councillor Nolan, Councillor McGovern, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Zondervan
Order Adopted 9-0

Order #2. That the City Manager is requested to work with the Community Development Department and other relevant departments to fund and implement the grant proposal submitted to DOE GTO to design and implement a community-scale geothermal heating and cooling system in Cambridge.   Councillor Nolan, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Zondervan, Councillor Azeem, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Carlone, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Simmons, Councillor Toner
pulled by Nolan; Order Adopted as Amended 9-0

Order #4. That the City Manager is requested to work with the appropriate departments to produce the petition(s) necessary to accomplish the goal of lowering the speed limit as much as possible on all state highways that fall within Cambridge’s geographic boundaries.   Councillor Zondervan, Mayor Siddiqui, Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Carlone
pulled by Zondervan; Order Adopted 9-0

Order #5. That the City Manager is requested to work with the relevant departments to establish a policy of releasing the names of officers involved in any use of force incident, up to and including those incidents resulting in injury or death.   Councillor Zondervan
pulled by Zondervan [“I submitted this order because I agree with the public’s observation that the decision around whether to release the name of the officer is not yet actually in the hands of the City Manager — because we haven’t yet asked him to do so. I believe that the public has a right to know where the Council stands on this issue. Of course, it is important to acknowledge that the asks contained in this order are wholly insufficient. As some members of the public have pointed out, this is just a first step. Knowing the identity of the officer isn’t going to change anything about what happened or make it any less likely to happen next time – because this isn’t about just weeding out a few bad apples. The institution of policing itself is fundamentally broken and we must move away from it as quickly as possible, towards true investment in our community. I’m aware that some of my colleagues have produced a substitute order whitewashing the original ask to release the name of the officers involved in the killing of Faisal. While I’m heartened to see the council finally engaging with this ask, and glad to see that my colleagues agree that most forward-thinking police departments release the names of officers involved with use of force even when awaiting the results of investigations, it is disappointing but not surprising to see the ask to release the officers’ names immediately be completely erased by this substitute. To give my colleagues an opportunity to reconsider, I exercise my Charter Right.”]; Charter Right – Zondervan (who objected to the proposed Substitute Order)

Besides catering to the young socialists, rallying his base, and encouraging harassment, I really don’t know what Councillor Zondervan expects to gain from this. I do expect a Charter Right, but if this does come up for a vote it will be VERY interesting to see which other councillors, if any, choose to sign on.

Committee Report #2. The Ordinance Committee held a public hearing on May 3, 2023, from 3:00pm to 5:00pm on Citizens Zoning Petition from Craig Kelley, et al. – Cambridge Transportation Emissions Reduction and Car Sharing Act (APP 2023 #9). [The Committee voted favorably to send the Craig Kelley, et al. – Cambridge Transportation Emissions Reduction and Car Sharing Act Petition to the Full City Council with a favorable recommendation to Pass to a Second Reading.] [text of report]
Passed to 2nd Reading 8-1 (QZ – No); Report Accepted, Placed on File 9-0

As I said last week, this seems like an interesting initiative, but I’m wary of potential unintended consequences.

The Kouncil Kids may need to retire early so that their eyes will be bright and their tails bushy for what should be the last of the FY2024 Budget Hearings Tuesday morning.

Tues, May 16
10:00am   The City Council’s Finance Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss the FY2024 City Budget.  (Sullivan Chamber and Zoom)
Community Maintenance and Development & Human Resources Development: