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.
Voting a mayor; foreign policy
City Council, 5:30 p.m. Monday. Letting Cambridge voters elect their mayor directly got left off November’s charter change options, and councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler and others are asking to get back to exploring the idea, even if the cost of the work comes from the council’s own budget. His policy order last week around U.S. policy toward Cuba got “charter righted” to this week by councillor Patty Nolan, who has her own new order about legislative work that got skipped: a referral on Feb. 12, 2024, that the Government Operations, Rules & Claims Committee talk about such foreign-policy orders to decide if, when and how they should be handled by a council more often focused on local issues.
Speaking of reconsiderations, councillor E. Denise Simmons hasn’t given up on keeping all seniors exempt from paying for their resident parking permits, which on March 30 the council voted 7-2 would go up to $75 for everyone unless the applicant checks a hardship box – no proof is needed – and pay $25 instead. Leaving a zero-dollar senior exemption in place would cost the city from $185,000 to $300,000, which she said is a “relatively modest fiscal impact in exchange for preserving meaningful relief for older residents.”
Sobrinho-Wheeler also wants to put pressure on Empower, which provides retirement and investment accounts to some municipal employees, to leave the Massachusetts High Technology Council or be dropped by the city for its tacit support of the MHTC’s attempt to give tax breaks to the state’s richest. Councillor Ayah Al-Zubi calls for the city to drop its use of ShotSpotter, the technology that listens for gunshot, “including turning off and physically removing the surveillance tools no later than 90 days” from passage. We wrote about the technology here.
The Northeast was downgraded to a mild drought April 10 from the more dire level of significant drought, but Nolan notes that reservoir water levels are still significantly lower than median levels for the past 15 years. To ensure Cambridge doesn’t run too low, staff should be communicating the issue more comprehensively, she said.
From staff come updates on the city’s digital equity work – providing tech support, Wi-Fi and devices to those who lack it – and on the demolition of 221 Mount Auburn St., the Riverview condos where owners had to evacuate in November 2024 because of the danger of collapse from decades-old construction flaws. There’s also a request for $65,000 to support World Cup watch parties (which we wrote about here).
The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Reconsidering school councils
School Committee Communications and Community Relations Subcommittee, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday. This meeting co-chaired by members Arjun Jaikumar and Luisa DePaula Santos seeks to decide the authority, scope of work and transparency and accountability measures for a working group to reconsider the role of school councils. During the past political season, candidates – including some who are now School Committee members – said they wanted the councils to be heard more in policy setting. Watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
General budget hearing
Finance Committee, 9 a.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillors Ayah Al-Zubi and Patty Nolan holds a general budget hearing for some department spending plans. The options today include topics such as the Cambridge Health Alliance, capital building projects, Historical Commission, Inspectional Services, the License Commission, Public Works, Transportation, Veterans Services, water, the Office of Sustainability, the Animal Commission, Community Safety, the fire and police departments and emergency communications, Community Events & Celebrations, libraries, the state-funding “cherry sheet” and other financial nitty-gritty. The expected date of budget adoption is June 1, and the next fiscal year starts July 1. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Project to add 71 homes
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Developer SGL returns with plans for a six-story, 71-home building (14 of which would be deeded affordable) at 1740 Massachusetts Ave., Neighborhood 9. The project would displace, at least temporarily, businesses in the ground floor and basement: Simon’s Coffee Shop, the secondhand and vintage clothing store and tailor shop Keezer’s and a Walgreens. At a meeting in November, residents were told demolition could come as soon as the this summer or fall, followed by 18 to 20 months of construction for the 64,330-square-foot structure. There would be 88 bike parking slots but no car parking. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Just-in-case budget hearing
Finance Committee, 9 a.m. Thursday. This committee run by city councillors Ayah Al-Zubi and Patty Nolan keep this fourth meeting date set aside as backup, in case three hearings aren’t enough to get through budget discussion. The expected date of adoption is June 1, and the next fiscal year starts July 1. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Free document shredding hours
Cambridge Consumers’ Council, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. A mobile shredding truck accepts documents to recycle until it’s at capacity – a service that’s first-come, first-served and limited to five paper-size boxes per household or the equivalent. Parking for this event is on Bigelow Street alongside City Hall; shredding is in front of the Citywide Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge.
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