These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City Calendar and in the city’s Open Meetings Portal.
Meeting a range of student need
School Committee Curriculum and Achievement Subcommittee, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday. This meeting co-chaired by members Caitlin Dube and Elizabeth Hudson looks at academic challenge, leveled courses, course labeling and methods for meeting a range of student needs – including a description of current course and staff configuration, and a look at what’s already been tried.
Divestment; multifamily zoning
City Council, 5:30 p.m. Monday. Officials are braced for a long meeting (a Part II is already scheduled for Tuesday if this meeting runs long) because there are orders exploring divestment from companies “complicit in the genocide, apartheid and occupation of Palestinians” and whether such a boycott-divestment-sanctions order is legally possible. When a similar motion was before the council in 2021, a second meeting was needed because public comment alone took 7.5 hours, with 486 people speaking from 5:30 p.m. to nearly 1 a.m. the next day. (Other, less controversial political stuff is on the agenda, including Medicare for All, support for a state AI bill and opposition to state ballot question 5, which would limit the amount of revenue the state could collect in a year and undos the “millionaire’s tax” that voters approved in 2022.)
Councillors join a call for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to reconsider its shock plan to take 2.3 acres of Magazine Beach above a 10.1-million-gallon water storage tank; and ask for better use of the iconic Harvard Square kiosk, starting with “the return and installation of the restored historic Out of Town News neon signage and to restore the official name Out of Town News Kiosk, preserving this landmark’s historic identity” that defined the structure from 1984 to 2019. Going fare-free on the No. 1 bus route, in partnership with Boston, is another policy order up for consideration.
The 2025 multifamily zoning adding development pressures citywide gets crisis treatment by city managers, including the creation of an official dashboard to keep track of projects; a Multifamily Housing Neighbor’s Guide; an email address for questions; and the role of community liaison for multifamily housing, filled at least temporarily by Marlees West Owayda, a community engagement manager in the Community Development Department.
City staff, meanwhile, bring forward requests to direct $3.4 million for work on the 80-year-old roof at the Cambridgeport School and $500,000 in support of court cases needing “outside counsel assistance and expert witnesses.” City manager Yi-An Huang talks about how to balance security at City Hall with having municipal buildings be “welcoming for all community members.”
The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
A just-in-case council session
City Council, 9 a.m. Tuesday. A continuation of Monday’s meeting if needed because it stretches too late into the night. The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Exploring a thermal energy grid
Health & Environment Committee, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillor Patty Nolan looks at thermal energy network planning, moving toward a shared underground loop of pipes that use the steady temperature of the earth to heat and cool aboveground. It could replace fossil fuel-burning equipment in Cambridge homes and businesses. The meeting includes results from a feasibility study. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Moving Amigos to East Cambridge
School Committee, 6 p.m. Tuesday. The superintendent recommends that the Amigos School be relocated as of the 2028-2029 school year to 158 Spring St., East Cambridge, a campus that once housed the Kennedy-Longfellow School, from its longtime home at 15 Upton St. not far from Central Square. Another presentation looks at math and science scores on standardized testing compared withs state averages. There’s a tweak to attendance policy (to excuse absences for reason of illness or quarantine) and a request to get district sports teams off social media – Instagram is called out, but it’s a blanket policy – and to explore a better-organized way “to share information, celebrate achievements and build community in a safe, accessible and age-appropriate digital environment.” The committee meets in the Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Water tank under Sherman Street
Community meeting, 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. An update and Q&A about plans for 135 Sherman St., in Neighborhood 9 by Danehy park, which involves developing an empty, Cambridge-owned acre for a giant, buried water storage tank that help avoid combined sewer overflows – the dumping of waste into Alewife Brook and other public waters when the city’s remaining 19th century infrastructure gets overwhelmed. The CSOs are a growing threat as climate change accelerates. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
A future with driverless cars
Transportation and Public Utilities Committee, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Thursday. This committee run by vice mayor Burhan Azeem and city councillor Tim Flaherty discusses the emergence of autonomous vehicles and robotaxis such as Waymos – which has blue vans already prowling Cambridge streets – and their potential impact on transportation, public safety, accessibility, labor unions and the community. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
