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.
Expanding the preschool program
City Council and School Committee roundtable, 4 to 6 p.m. Monday. A consideration of means testing and program expansion for the Cambridge Preschool Program, which launched in the 2024-2025 school year for all city 4-year-olds, who enter as junior kindergartners; and 3-year-olds who meet eligibility requirements. 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.
Serene Harvard Square tea shop
License Commission, 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday. Cambridge has enough boba tea; Kong Mountain Tea is something different, an Asian aesthetic-inspired café that “embodies serenity, beauty and a slow, natural way of living” with premium loose-leaf teas, thoughtfully paired snacks and desserts, and tea sets to appreciate like art in a gallery, according to Xi Ouyang, who seeks licensing to fill 1132 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. The shop is proposed with seating for 18 inside and 12 on a patio seats for seven-day hours of 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. This garden-level space was once the Follow the Honey specialty store, then Hourglass Tattoo. A new Asian food stand called Xian Cool Noodle is coming to enliven the food court in Lesley’s University Hall, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square. Commissioners formally strip licensing from Shanghai Fresh, 735 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, where the majority owner decided not to renew, minority owner and manager Mimy Wang told the commission June 10. (“The business received six messages on the record, six email messages and two phone calls,” chair Nicole Murati Ferrer said. “Could you have not informed us that rather than making us all go through this?”) Similarly, licensing is being revoked for Beyond Full, a burger joint and diner at 1105 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, that never paid for licensing in full and was operating unlicensed for a time, Ferrer said June 10. A settlement made with the landlord is approved by a court, and the business has vacated the premises, Ferrer said. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Affordable homes near Porter
Community meeting, 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. The nonprofit developer Just A Start and it architects, Rode, present plans for around 100 all-affordable apartments to go up at 1826 and 1840 Massachusetts Ave. near Porter Square, likely opening to tenants in 2029. Buildings of up to 15 stories are allowed here under Affordable Housing Overlay zoning, in this case replacing little-used parking lots with all-electric towers of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, active ground-floor uses such as retail and maybe even some underground parking. In-person in Room 3-094 at Lesley’s University Hall, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square.
Annual utility reports
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The board hears annual utility reports from the city’s Department of Public Works and Water Department as well as Vicinity Energy and Eversource Energy. Vicinity is building a river-source heat pump complex in Kendall Square – an “eSteam” energy system that won’t add to climate change because it relies on the thermal energy of the Charles River – and decarbonizing completely in the area by 2050. “Customers gain access to carbon-free thermal energy, citizens of Boston and Cambridge breathe significantly cleaner air, local laborers and unions gain access to quality jobs and the Charles River ecosystem benefits from reduced temperatures,” Vicinity said. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Tearing down a triple-decker
Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation District Commission, 6 to 8 p.m. July 6. The case of 13 Roberts Road is continued from May 4, when commissioners wanted more information about why demolition is called for in this 1917 triple-decker building – one of three in a row by architect Henry Slocum – to add one floor. The developers are using multifamily zoning to justify the height, though this project would stay the same number of homes, taking away greenery while adding size to the units and ground-floor, off-street parking. Though developers say demolition is needed for structural reasons to provide the open floor plans wanted by tenants, a neighbor in another Slocum building of the same vintage said it was renovated in 2005 to provide open floor plans and 9-foot ceilings without a full demolition. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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