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.
Bus Network Redesign proposals
MBTA community meeting, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The MBTA presents possible changes to Boston Avenue bus routes 67, 80, 94, 96 and 350 through Medford, Cambridge, Somerville and Arlington. There are three options, including versions that could see Route 80 extended to Arlington Heights or Route 96 shifted to Boston Avenue from George Street. Hear the plans and give feedback in person at Medford City Hall, 85 George P Hassett Drive, Medford.
Lengthening a narrow home
Board of Zoning Appeal, 6 to 11:30 p.m. Thursday. The owners of a two-story, two-family home at 162 Otis St., East Cambridge, seek a variance to rebuild as a three-story structure that will also be bigger, extending 9 feet farther back – but if this sounds like the project to add a story at 13 Roberts Road that got rejected July 6 in Mid-Cambridge, consider the circumstances: This house was built in 1855 (assessors consider it to be in “fair” condition) on a lot that’s only 20 feet wide. An evaluation since its purchase in 2020 found “the structure was in bad shape, suffering from age-related deterioration, structural insufficiencies and outdated construction methods … The existing building was found to be functionally obsolete and structurally deficient and replete with asbestos in the roofing, ceiling, walls and floors.” Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
ShotSpotter and crisis response
City Council special summer meeting, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 3. A full agenda isn’t posted, but we know three orders that will be discussed, because they were introduced at a special meeting Thursday and bumped by use of councillors’ “charter right.” The one that got the most debate was about the potential return of ShotSpotter – a nationally controversial technology that a five-councillor majority voted May 18 to shut down as ineffective and open for abuse as surveillance. Also returning are orders seeking more funding and responsibility for unarmed teams to respond to calls that are more in the realm of social workers and health experts than police; and one asking for a look at all of the city’s violence response and prevention strategies and supports offered to survivors of violence. All result from the fatal Fourth of July shooting of Xavier Bautista, 32, a city Public Works employee with a fiancée and young child. He was killed near his home in The Port neighborhood in the early morning by a group of masked men and lay undiscovered for around an hour until a passerby saw him and called 911. One suspect in the shooting was arrested July 13. The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
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