School district budgeting
City Council and School Committee roundtable, 6 p.m. Monday. Elected officials discuss Cambridge Public Schools priorities for the 2027 fiscal year. The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing. (canceled)
Grants to enliven nightlife
Cambridge Nites information session, 6 to 7 p.m. Monday. Grants of up to $5,000 to help nightlife-focused businesses produce free, public events – called Cambridge Nightlife Industry and Thriving Entertainment Spaces – returns for its second year. Prospective applicants will get a brief overview of the program, requirements and application process, and can then ask questions. Applications close March 2. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Community library conversation
Public Library community chat, 6 to 7 p.m. Monday. Drop by to share ideas for the future of the Cambridge Public Library, speak with staff and learn about recent accomplishments. The feedback will help staff improve services and set priorities for the coming years in the system’s next strategic plan. In-person at the O’’Neill Branch library, 70 Rindge Ave., North Cambridge. (canceled)
Central Square plan open house
Central Square Demonstration Plan, 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Cambridge Redevelopment Authority seeks ideas for a “demonstration plan” toolkit to support Central Square cultural preservation and expansion, mixed-income housing and commercial vitality. At the Street Theory Collective, 541 Massachusetts Ave. (rescheduled to 5 to 7 p.m. March 3)
Freedmen Commission continues
American Freedmen Commission, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The group continues its work examining harms to residents descended from enslaved people and looking for a path toward reparations.
CambridgeSide and Healthpeak
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. New England Development asks for more time in its remaking of the CambridgeSide mall into its own little East Cambridge neighborhood “in light of ongoing market conditions with respect to leasing and financing and economic constraints.” The developer underlined that an extension wouldn’t affect the required building of homes and that a potential extension from March 8, 2024, had been anticipated in the special permit for 150 Cambridgeside Place and 80 First St. to this March 8; now that would go to March 8, 2028. The hopes were for planning and design from 2023-2025, with construction starting in 2026 and completion by mid-2028 and 2029, respectively; New England Development says its timeline is now unknown. Meanwhile, the life sciences developer Healthpeak checks in with the board ahead of its expected complete application next month for a massive project in the Cambridge Highlands, in an area known as the Alewife Quadrangle. Approval would allow it to take out permits for and break ground on a project described to investors as 36 acres accumulated with $616 million in land buys begun in 2021 – enough to spark a construction moratorium while staff and residents did a complete Alewife area rezoning. Action on the campus could be good for Cambridge’s economy and a good sign for the economy in general, and Healthpeak may install a pedestrian bridge in exchange for denser development. “They are struggling with the market, but they are continuing with the permitting process,” deputy city manager Kathy Watkins said Feb. 3. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
U.S. grants, budget priorities
Finance Committee, 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councillors Ayah Al-Zubi and Patty Nolan gets a staff update on federal grant status and a city stabilization fund established to make for the White House’s changing priorities under Donald Trump. It will also talk about setting budget priorities. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Bike lanes on part of Broadway
Broadway Working Group, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. A deep dive into aspects of the Broadway Safety Improvement Project such as the installation of separated bike lanes and reduction of on-street parking in the project’s Section B, which is between Columbia and Ellery streets in Mid-Cambridge and The Port. Design work is underway and draft designs are due soon for installation this year. On the second floor of City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge, or watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Refreshing retail space
Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. A 2025 annual report is accepted and members vote on $2.7 million in improvements to 1175 Cambridge St., in the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood near Inman Square. The authority bought the space once owned by the nonprofit developer Just A Start last year to provide cheap space to independently owned retail businesses. The public part of the meeting ends as members go into a closed-door session to discuss financial negotiations related to revitalizing the Dance Complex in Central Square. The agency meets at the The Foundry Workshop, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Relocating Corcoran residents
Cambridge Housing Authority, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Discussion is underway on how to relocate residents and assign them units during the redevelopment of Corcoran Park affordable housing in Strawberry Hill, with its 153 homes built in the early 1950s at 8-12 May St. and 3 Lawn St. Sixty-seven rental units would be fixed up in the first phase. The public part of the meeting ends as members go into a closed-door session to discuss the search for a executive director to replace Michael Johnston, who leaves Friday after working at the agency for 34 years. He announced his retirement Aug. 28. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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