Burhan Azeem
2021 Candidate for Cambridge City Council
Home address:
35 Speridakis Terrace
Cambridge, MA 02139
Contact information:
Tel: 646-269-7213
website: voteburhan.com
Twitter: twitter.com/realBurhanAzeem
e-mail: burhan@burhanforcouncil.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurhanForCouncil/
Send contributions to:
Committee to Elect Burhan Azeem
35 Speridakis Terrace
Cambridge, MA 02139
“I’m committed to Cambridge and advocating for all our residents - ensuring no one is left behind.”
Most Recently I’ve,
- Founded the nonprofit Abundant Housing MA
- Grown a COVID care startup from six to hundreds as an early employee
About Burhan Azeem: I immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan when I was four years old. I grew up on food stamps & Medicaid. I was lucky enough to get a full scholarship to MIT, where I studied sustainable energy. I still support my parents and am a renter who bikes to work.
Background
Burhan Azeem is an MIT-graduated engineer who grew up with housing insecurity. A 2nd time Cambridge City Council candidate, he was on the board of A Better Cambridge, and founded a housing nonprofit called Abundant Housing. The only son of a Muslim family, he has had adversarial experiences with the police, but, as an EMT ambulance worker, Burhan has also worked hand-in-hand with them. He understands public safety both as a Pakistani person-of-color, but also as someone who has benefited from police protection when dealing with people in their direst moments. An engineer by day and a volunteer EMT at night, he has gotten to know Cambridge from inside an ambulance. He was an early employee at Daytoday, a start-up doing COVID work in India.
Born in Multan, Pakistan, Burhan immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. His memories of his childhood involve frequent housing insecurity, such as being afraid that the landlord would evict them because they were not officially on the lease. He knows crowded housing first hand. His English abilities were crucial to helping his family and his little sisters. At MIT, interested in developing more sustainable energy sources, he majored in Material Sciences.
I Support
- Affordable and multifamily housing
- Transforming public safety
- Municipal broadband
- A flourishing tree canopy
- Municipal broadband
- Free or reduced MBTA fares
- Better sidewalks, bike paths, and bus lanes
- Building back our favorite local stores
- Tenants' right to legal counsel
- Universal Day Care
- Gear for EMTs and Firefighters
Affordable Housing - Read More
For my first few years in America, I lived in a three-bedroom household with eleven people. It was awful. The bathroom was crowded. And I didn’t go to school for a long time because the landlord didn’t know we were there, and we were afraid of being evicted. I actually never went to Kindergarten.
I believe that people deserve housing security. During COVID, I started the nonprofit Abundant Housing MA to address our regional housing crisis. Cambridge must build more transit-oriented housing and pursue development without displacement through tenant protections, restrictions to prevent speculative investment, and a long-term vacancy tax.
We need to tackle the legacy of racist policies that led to our current zoning.
Housing policy is climate policy. We need to build more and greener housing without sacrificing the essence of Cambridge. Our city must remain walkable and transit-based—a model of sustainability.
I will not accept donations from any developers.
Climate & The Environment - Read More
At MIT, I was a material sciences major, and my main area of study was climate change. My research involved building solar panels and batteries. I’ve also become a biker and pescatarian.
We are far too optimistic when we talk about climate change. We aspire towards a 1.5°C temperature rise instead of 2°C, hoping that this might allow some island nations to survive. This is wishful thinking. We imagine our world is currently heading towards decarbonization; we think, with all this energy for change, we are taking strong action on climate change.
We can prevent this climate crisis if we act now and fight for transformative change. Here in Cambridge, we are the most progressive, prosperous, scientific, and resourceful community in the Commonwealth. Progress can and should start with us. And if we are to succeed, we will need to be bold.
Universal Pre-K & DayCare - Read More
Early education is a wonderful thing. It provides lifelong benefits to young kids in terms of language, literacy, and math skills. It’s a time for kids to play and form friendships from a young age and it helps parents get much-needed support in terms of daycare and friends. It’s time that Cambridge provides this for every child – it’s time that we enact universal pre-K and daycare.
At this moment, the city has a patchwork of options and a complex lottery system that leaves children behind. There are several issues.
- There are only enough spots for 50 percent of applicants, and so many children are left behind and can’t attend pre-K.
- The lottery is complex and leaves many parents confused as to when to apply and when they’ll hear the results.
- The results come back so late that parents have already felt compelled to enroll in a private option.
It’s time we fixed these issues and provided universal access to everyone. Now is the moment to muster that will. The pandemic has touched every one of our lives, but it has been especially hard on some, including the parents of young children.
These are the kids least likely to benefit from digital learning and the parents who’ve had to live without day care or support during the lockdown. These are the parents – and women in particular – who have made the difficult decision to step back from their careers to care for their children. We owe it to these kids and their parents to provide pre-K for every single child.
Public Safety - Read Below
My immigrant parents taught me early on to trust the police. But when I turned 16, I started getting pulled over every two weeks for reasons that never held up in court. Then Eric Garner was killed near my dad’s deli. It left a mark on me—I decided I would never wear a hoodie again.
As an EMT ambulance worker while at MIT, I’ve also worked hand-in-hand with the police. While we were the ones who were supposed to talk a person down from suicide, it was the police who were at our backs in case things turned dangerous. I got to know Cambridge from the inside of an ambulance. I understand public safety both as a person of color and as someone who has benefited from police protection when helping Cambridge residents in their direst moments.
Cambridge needs an alternative unarmed response to non-violent situations.
Transportation - Read More
I am a renter and I bike to work. I know that it’s hard to get where you need to go. Our cyclists don’t feel safe on our roads. Our mass transit is deteriorating, even while we keep pushing fare hikes. We need to rethink the way we invest in our infrastructure. We should be leading on these issues, not letting our neighbors, Somerville & Boston, leave us behind.
We should be investing in public transportation. We need a better T. It is critical to get people where they need to go. It will pay dividends. It will help us tackle climate change and our housing crisis.
We need to address transit deserts in Cambridgeport and West Cambridge. We should never be more than half a mile from a bus stop. This means adding bus lanes to speed up service and help people get to where they need to go.
I am a supporter of Cambridge Bike Safety and their pledge.
CCTV candidate video (2021) 2021 MCNA Candidate Forum (Azeem)
2019 Candidate Page CCTV candidate video (2019)