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.
City finances and micromobility
City Council, 5:30 p.m. Monday. City manager Yi-An Huang leads off with updates on how the Trump presidency affects the city (including the tracking of nearly relevant 30 lawsuits nationwide) as it was learned that the parent of a Cambridge student died this month in ICE custody. Staff also presents on city finances for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025; and assures the council that is working to make it easier for housing and other construction to go up by streamlining the permitting process, including creating a one-stop shop for developers. (More assurances come on offering vegetarian options and generally taking into account plant-based solutions.)
A state micromobility commission has released its report with recommendations to regulate devices such as electric scooters and skateboards on paths, sidewalks and other public areas, and transportation commissioner Brooke McKenna shares it with the council with a suggestion that a committee talk through the findings, what Cambridge is doing and next steps. The night’s sole policy order is in support of state bills to keep “responsible pet owners’ from being displaced or denied housing because of their animals; and to ensure seniors in public housing can have pets.
Councillors could also return to considering raising the cost of most resident parking permits to $75 from $25 – but the topic wasn’t picked up off the table last week for discussion. Changing zoning for religious, educational or other institutional purposes is other unfinished business for the council. The zoning is eligible to be ordained March 23, the result of changing laws to encourage housing that had an unintended effect: the expansion of a Lubavitch religious center on Banks Street, lawsuit and $540,000 settlement.
The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Less schoolchildren screen time
School Committee, 6 p.m. Tuesday. A call is heard to suspend all nonessential screen use for children through Grade 2 from vice chair Caitlin Dube and member Luisa de Paula Santos, extending until a screen time audit is finished or the end of the 2025–2026 school year, whichever occurs first. “There is increasing evidence and concern from families, educators and health experts about the impact of excessive screen use on student attention, vision, sleep and social development, particularly for younger children,” they write. Also on the agenda are the presentation of several draft reports for member comment and a resolution to honor Henrietta S. Attles, who in 1979 became the first Black woman elected to serve on the Cambridge School Committee. The committee meets in a room named for her at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
City manager goals and review
Government Operations, Rules & Claims Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler holds a hearing to discuss the city manager’s annual goals and review process. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Next for busing and K-Lo campus
School Committee Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. This meeting chaired by member Arjun Jaikumar hears about district efforts to improve student busing; and gets an update on the former Kennedy-Longfellow School at 158 Spring St., East Cambridge. The 220-student school serving prekindergarteners through fifth graders was closed at the end of 2025 to resolve a systemic problem resulting in a disproportionate number of high-needs students and low test scores. The campus is expected to reopen this year with improvements and a new purpose. The committee meets in the Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.