Charting Right Toward Chaos – May 18, 2026 Cambridge City Council meeting
Perhaps the funniest thing about the most recent City Council meeting was the suggestion that our current mayoral selection method breeds ill will among councillors. The flurry of Charter Right invocations at that meeting suggests that perhaps the backroom scheming associated with the mayoral selection isn’t really the greatest source of conflict among our otherwise peace-loving local representatives. Indeed, Councillor Flaherty called it “a very positive experience – politics at its finest, outstanding.” Compared to the conflict over things like ShotSpotter, segregated bike lanes, and densifying our way toward Flushing, maybe the mayoral wrangling for votes is a quiet, peaceful harbor in a sea of difference.
There is little doubt that the do-over of several items on the Charter Right list will bring out the usual suspects in need of repeatedly repeating their repetitive public commentary – especially those fiction-loving fans of ShotSpotter removal. In any case, here are the items I think may be most interesting in this next gathering in the Merry Month of May.
[It’s my birthday today, by the way, and as Elaine Stritch sang so sweetly, “I’m Still Here”.]
Manager’s Agenda #1. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a federal update including an update on relevant court cases. [text of report]
pulled by Siddiqui; comments by Siddiqui, City Solicitor Megan Bayer, Franz LaBianca (Law), Flaherty, Nolan; Placed on File 8-0-1 (Simmons Absent)
Manager’s Agenda #4. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $30,000 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Land Conservation Assistance Grant. [text of report]
Order Adopted 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #5. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $450,000 to support the purchase of four parcels of land located within the town of Lincoln, MA. [text of report]
pulled by Flaherty; comments by Flaherty, Mark Gallagher (Water), Dave Kaplan (Watershed Manager), Yi-An Huang, Kathy Watkins, Nolan, Zusy; Orders Adopted 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #6. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $350,000 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Drinking Water Supply Protection Grant. [text of report]
pulled by Nolan along w/Order #5; Order Adopted 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #7. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to appropriation of $251,320.90 from the Federal Fiscal Year 2024 Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) Community Connections Grant. [text of report]
Order Adopted 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #10. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a report on Social Housing. [text of report]
pulled by Siddiqui along w/Order #11; comments by Siddiqui, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Al-Zubi, Zusy, Nolan, Flaherty, Melissa Peters (CDD), Yi-An Huang; Placed on File 9-0
Manager’s Agenda #11. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to appointments to the Social Housing Task Force. [text of report]
pulled by Siddiqui along with Order #10; Appointments Confirmed 9-0
How many euphemisms for public housing are we up to now? I am quite certain that whatever the next scheme brings it will boil down to actual private property owners subsidizing even more housing units and their upkeep through higher and higher property taxes.
Order #1. City Council support of H.968, H.886/S.647, H.1023, and S.570 and S.571 to enact extended producer responsibility and product stewardship in recognition that these laws will relieve municipalities of rising costs, and incentivize producers to sell products that are less toxic and easier to reuse and recycle, by requiring such producers to bear the costs for the proper recycling and responsible disposal of their products. Councillor Nolan, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Al-Zubi
pulled by Nolan for comments; Order Adopted 9-0
Order #2. That the appointment of Interim City Clerk Paula M. Crane be extended for an additional period not to exceed six months. Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor McGovern, Councillor Zusy
pulled by Siddiqui along w/ Comm. & Reports #2 for comments; Order Adopted 9-0
Communications & Reports #2. A communication from Mayor Siddiqui transmitting a memorandum regarding the search process for a permanent City Clerk. [text of report]
Charter Right #1. That the City Manager is requested to confer with the relevant departments to immediately request Empower to resign from the Massachusetts High Technology Council and consider options for transitioning the City of Cambridge out of Empower and transferring its retirement accounts into one of the City’s other retirement programs should Empower continue to be a member of the MHTC. [Charter Right – Sobrinho-Wheeler, May 11, 2026]
Comments by Sobrinho-Wheeler, Simmons; Order Withdrawn by Unanimous Consent
This is yet another example of the intolerance of the current City Council. Simply because an entity espouses a different point of view, the knee-jerk response is to disaffiliate. By the way, I still use Twitter daily – and it’s nice to know that it’s like wearing a cloaking device where I can be invisible to city councillors who could never possibly admit that they will be seen anywhere but Bluesky or another approved social media. I also continue to happily bank at Citizens Bank.
Charter Right #2. That the City Manager is requested to work with relevant City departments including the Law Department to ensure that there is no new data collected by ShotSpotter devices and all existing data shall be kept, used, or deleted only as required by law under our Welcoming Community Ordinance and Surveillance Technology Ordinance. [Charter Right – Azeem, May 11, 2026]
Comments by Acting Police Commissioner Pauline Wells, Yi-An Huang, Azeem, Al-Zubi, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Simmons (proposes to Table), Flaherty (notes the false narratives during public comment), Zusy (clueless), Nolan, McGovern, Siddiqui; Motion to Table Fails 4-5 (BA,TF,DS,CZ – Yes; AAZ,MM,PN,JSW,SS – No); Order Adopted 5-2-0-2 (AAZ,MM,PN,JSW,SS – Yes; TF,DS – No; BA,CZ – Present)
This Order is an outgrowth of the comically inept Public Safety Committee meeting that I attended on April 29 at which virtually all of the public comment came from DSA members. They expressed their belief that their private conversations were being recorded. However, the presentation from the Cambridge Police clearly stated: “There has never been a conversation recorded in Cambridge.”
The Order asserts that “ShotSpotter … has a false positive rate of about 82 percent in Cambridge.” I know math is hard for some people, but I will simply point out that if ShotSpotter detected even a single car backfire or a firecracker and if there were zero gunshots in Cambridge, the false positive rate would be 100%. The fact that most detections are not caused by gunfire should perhaps best be understood as Cambridge having relatively few gunfire incidents – an unequivocally good thing.
Let’s be clear what Councillors Al-Zubi, Sobrinho-Wheeler, McGovern, and Nolan are calling for in this Order (as it speaks volumes about the low priority they apparently afford public safety): (1) That the City Manager … rescind prior approval of ShotSpotter, including ending any and all contracts with ShotSpotter; and (2) That the City Manager … direct the Police Department to stop using ShotSpotter, including turning off and physically removing the surveillance tools no later than 90 days. This is just crazy.
Charter Right #3. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the Mayor’s Office, Law Department, Election Commission, and other relevant City Departments to engage the Collins Center in assisting the City in reviewing policy options for allowing Cambridge voters to directly elect the City’s Mayor. [Charter Right – Simmons, May 11, 2026]
Comments by Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, McGovern, Nolan, Al-Zubi, Flaherty, Zusy, Megan Bayer, Yi-An Huang, Siddiqui; proposed amendments (Simmons, Flaherty) partially Adopted; Al-Zubi proposed amendment to change to a directly elected Executive (effectively eliminating our city manager form of government) Fails 2-7 (AAZ,JSW – Yes; all others No); Order Adopted as Amended 7-1-0-1 (Zusy – No; Al-Zubi – Present)
Though this Order calls only for “reviewing policy options”, let’s be clear that this is really about the desire of some councillors – and especially our current Mayor – to eat their cake and have it too. There was a recent Charter Review process – one in which Ms. Siddiqui placed her thumb on the scale in the appointment of the Charter Review Committee – which resulted in a new Charter that was adopted only a few months ago. Perhaps the greatest flaw in that entire flawed process was that it ultimately placed essentially all choice in what would be presented to voters into the hands of incumbent city councillors. Then again, simply going with what a slim majority of the Charter Review Committee recommended would have been even worse. It was a small miracle that most of the really crazy stuff received enough push-back that we managed to somehow get a proposed Charter that preserved most of the good aspects of the previous Plan E Charter.
As has been pointed out many times, the position of Mayor in Cambridge is really comparable to the position of President of the City Council in cities like Boston and elsewhere. The CEO of Cambridge is its City Manager who is hired by majority vote of the City Council. A directly elected mayor is more appropriate to a strong mayor system of local government – and that is not the form of government that voters approved last November.
Charter Right #4. That the City Manager is requested to report back to the City Council on the projected fiscal impact of maintaining the current exemption for seniors, along with any administrative steps necessary to do so. [Charter Right – Sobrinho-Wheeler, May 11, 2026]
comments by Sobrinho-Wheeler, McGovern (w/proposed amendment to make fee free w/voluntary check-off); Azeem, Huang, Zusy, Simmons, Flaherty, Al-Zubi, Nolan (w/proposed amendment to have $25 fee w/voluntary check-off); Nolan amendment Fails 2-7 (BA,PN – Yes, all others No); MM/JSW amendment Adopted 5-4 (AAZ,MM,JSW,CZ,SS – Yes; BA,TF,PN,DS – No); Azeem proposed amendment for a one-year review of check-off option Adopted 9-0; Order Adopted as Amended 7-2 (BA,TF – No)
This seemed to be the consensus at the April 28 meeting of the City Council’s Transportation (etc.) Committee. I really hope this Order prevails if for no other reason than that the permit fee is a nuisance. Meanwhile, in neighboring Arlington, there’s this: “COA Parking Sticker entitles the sticker-holder to park for FREE in Arlington at metered parking spots and in municipal parking lots, up to the maximum time posted on the meter (4 hours).”
Charter Right #5. That a special Committee of the City Council be formed to conduct a full and complete analysis of each of the proposed changes to the Rules of the City Council, with the goal of a transparent understanding of each of the proposed changes and the implications. [Charter Right – Sobrinho-Wheeler, May 11, 2026]
Taken up w/Charter Right #5; comments by Sobrinho-Wheeler, Siddiqui, Flaherty, Simmons, Azeem, Nolan, McGovern, Zusy; Order Fails 3-5-0-1 (TF,DS,CZ-Yes; BA,MM,PN,JSW,SS-No; AAZ-Present)
Perhaps the most interesting proposed Rules change is this:
Rule 17A. All regular meetings of the City Council shall be held that week starting on Monday and ending on Tuesday. The City Council meeting shall start on Monday at 5:30pm and shall continue until either the conclusion of all business on the agenda or until the meeting recesses at 9:00pm, whichever occurs sooner. If the meeting is recessed on Monday at 9:00pm, the City Council meeting will resume the following Tuesday at 1:00pm and shall continue until the conclusion of all business on the agenda or until 5:00pm, whichever occurs sooner.
I think this is a terrible idea. – RW
Charter Right #6. A communication from City Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler transmitting the proposed 2026-2027 Rules of the Cambridge City Council. [Charter Right – Flaherty, May 11, 2026]
Taken up w/Charter Right #5; four proposed amendments by Al-Zubi re: Public Comment time allotment, end time for meetings, restrictions on Council discussion; proposed amendment by Nolan; comments by Siddiqui; Al-Zubi Amendment #1, Part 1 adopted 8-1 (PN-No); comments by Nolan re: proposed Al-Zubi Amendment #1, Part 2, comments by City Solicitor Megan Bayer re: legal requirement for public comment at a public hearing; Al-Zubi Amendment #1, Part 2 Adopted 9-0; comments by Al-Zubi on proposed Al-Zubi Amendment #2 (to Rule 31B), comments by McGovern, Simmons, Megan Bayer, Azeem, Elliot Veloso, Zusy, Flaherty; Amendment #2 Adopted 9-0; Al-Zubi on proposed Amendment #3 (to Rule 17A, end mtgs. at 10pm), Siddiqui, City Manager Yi-An Huang, McGovern, Azeem, Zusy, Nolan, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler; Al-Zubi Amendment #3 Adopted 7-2 (TF,DS-No); Amendment #4 (AAZ and PN) re: Rule 23FG and limitations on Council discussion, comments by Al-Zubi, Simmons, Nolan, Azeem, McGovern, Siddiqui; Amendment #4 Fails 3-6 (AAZ,PN,JSW-Yes; BA,TF,MM,DS,CZ,SS-No); Flaherty motion to adjourn and refer to special committee ruled to be out of order by City Solicitor, add’l comments by Simmons; Azeem motion to Table remainder of proposed amendments, Tabled 6-3 (AAZ,JSW,SS – No).
Thus begins the last month of the current City Council term, and the open question is whether the new City Council will outdo the current City Council in sheer arrogance and unwillingness to actually listen to the residents of Cambridge. There’s also that whole Mayoral Election thing going on behind the scenes. In the meantime, here are a few notable items on this week’s agenda: