Catherine Zusy
2023 Candidate for Cambridge City Council

Home address:
202 Hamilton St.
Cambridge, MA 02139

Contact information:
email: cathie@votezusy.org
phone: 617-460-2716
website: www.VoteZusy.org

Send contributions to:
Zusy for Council
℅ Treasurer Mara Goldberg
172 Chestnut St.
Cambridge, MA 02139

New Candidate - 2023

For 25 years I have worked to foster community in Cambridge: by leading the revitalization of Magazine Beach Park, co-launching the restoration of the 1886 St. Augustine’s African-Orthodox Church, originating the community art event “If This House Could Talk…”; and advocating for open space, our native plants and the arts.

I am now eager to bring my energy and experience to the City Council. I want to help make Cambridge its best; which includes tackling the challenges of housing, transportation and climate change.

There are a couple things that distinguish me from the other candidates:

1. My existing relationships with stakeholders: I already have a track record of significant civic accomplishments. I’ve worked with City staff, state officials, neighborhood leaders, the DCR and Eversource, among others. These critical relationships will help me advance Cambridge interests.

2. My working collaborative approach. I listen and work with others to develop common goals and then see projects through.

I realize that we’re in a climate and housing emergency but I believe that quick fixes can have disastrous consequences. We should be able to build more housing—for people of all economic means—without destroying neighborhoods, demolishing historic buildings, or sacrificing our open space. We should be able to build safe bike lanes without hurting local retailers. We need to have rational, incremental solutions to get to where we want to go and we need seasoned, wise leadership to guide us there.

A little about me: I grew up in Kensington, MD, one of seven kids. I fell in love with the Smithsonian museums at an early age and interned there in high school and college. For twenty years I worked as a curator and writer, contributing to a blockbuster exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and developing new museums in Guthrie, Oklahoma and Concord, New Hampshire.

I’ve lived in Cambridge since 1995, where I co-founded Magazine Beach Partners, which has successfully advocated for major improvements to Magazine Beach Park, Cambridge’s second-largest park, and I currently serve as the organization’s president. I am a member of the Cambridge News Advisory Board, which seeks to expand local news coverage in our City. I co-founded the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Group, and I am past president and the current treasurer of the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association. I was also the treasurer of Afterworks, an after-school program mainly serving children of immigrants; a board member of the Cambridge Performance Project, a Community Schools arts program; served on the Morse School Improvement Council & Community School Advisory Committee. Over the past decades, I have organized hundreds—this is NOT an exaggeration!—of events for the community to build community.

I have been recognized for my community work by the Charles River Conservancy, Charles River Watershed Association, Cambridge Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

I’m married to Sam Kendall, a computer scientist. Our son Ben graduated from CRLS in 2016.

My Priorities

• Listening to Cantabrigians—the people who know the City well, but who haven’t always been heard.
• Thoughtful commercial and residential development, including well-designed housing of all types with the infrastructure to support it.
• Regional coordination of balanced transportation systems, including developing a safe network of separated bike lanes sensitive to all of our citizens’ needs, to support our increasing population.
• Preservation of green open spaces and historic structures that enhance the quality of life in a city both historic and modern.
• Preparing for climate change. Flooding and higher temperatures will impact green spaces, libraries, schools, playgrounds and utility infrastructure.
• Building a safe and resilient connected community that supports mental health.
• Providing opportunities for the next generation. Support for our schools and after-school enrichment programs.
• Supporting local businesses. Research innovative policies in other cities.
• Supporting the arts and artists. Out-of-the-box thinkers are often great problem solvers and inspire and enrich us by making us see things in different ways.
• Careful fiscal management to ensure that future generations will continue to thrive here.

For more information, see www.VoteZusy.org.

CCTV candidate video (2023)