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.
Bridge over rail; snow season
City Council, 5:30 p.m. Monday. A next step arrives in building a bridge over Fitchburg Line train tracks from the Rindge Avenue neighborhood in North Cambridge to Danehy Park in Neighborhood 9, as the city manager asks $900,000 to be freed for design work. It will be combined with $400,000 in federal money while erasing $2.4 million from the project (because Trump). Further in the future: A bridge over tracks in the Cambridge Highlands area, connecting people in the Alewife Quadrangle to mass transit at the MBTA red line Alewife station.
Though experience shows you can’t rule out snowfall even in April, the city is paying its winter-weather bills – $5.2 million for plowing, removal and road treatment and a related $700,000 – and John Nardone, commissioner of Public Works, gives a summary of the season: There were more student shovelers than ever at 117 (the program began in 2019 with eight) but the fewest number of participants (41) in a program helping low-income homeowners over the age of 60 who cannot shovel for themselves. This was by far the biggest year for complaints filed about icy or unshoveled sidewalks within the decade at 2,059, a 62 percent growth from last year’s 1,270. There were only 569 citations issued, though, which is fewer than last year. The average cost of removing snow per inch has soared since 2015, when five-year averages showed the expense at $50,102, to $89,490, and “costs are only projected to increase, given the challenging private contractor environment, the lack of snow farms and the evidence of more extreme weather.” The collection of data is considered a first step in exploring a Cambridge Snow Corps program that would marshal residents’ participation in clearing public ways after storms.
A Planning Board summation is offered of annual “Town Gown” presentations heard Feb. 3 from Harvard University, Lesley University and MIT, and the city manager reveals annual taxpayer water and sewer rate recommendations: an 8 percent increase in water billing rates and a 5.9 increase for sewer use, or a 6.3 percent averaged rise starting April 1.
Coordinating all the private shuttles running around the city into a cohesive transportation network is a longtime goal of the council, and Ayah Al-Zubi asks staff to talk with Harvard about ensuing resident access to its buses, including one to the Longwood Medical Area. Councillor Marc McGovern says it’s time to revisit a policy encouraging single-person restrooms to be designated as gender neutral, approved in Cambridge in 2012 but found to be clashing with a state law; the state law was changed in 2023. Because more people cutting the cords on cable television means less money going to public access channels (in Cambridge, that’s CCTV, CEA-TV and CityView 22), McGovern asks local support for bills that would change the formula to pay for public, educational and government access programming by making streaming platforms responsible too.
Awaiting action: Raising the cost of most resident parking permits to $75 from $25; and zoning for religious, educational or other institutional purposes that is eligible to be ordained Monday.
The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Shanghai Kitchen for Muku Ramen
License Commission, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The About Thyme Bakery & Café seeks to open in a 1,100-square-foot, ground-floor space at 1 Brattle Square, Harvard Square, with 13 seats and hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Shanghai Kitchen replaces Muku Ramen at 411 Massachusetts Ave., in the Market Central complex in Central Square with a 1,297-square-foot, ground-floor space that comes with a 392-square-foot patio – serving 36 inside and 24 outside. Proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
City manager goals and review
Government Operations, Rules & Claims Committee, 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler holds a hearing to discuss the city manager’s annual goals and review process. (Rescheduled from last week.) The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Central Square planning update
Housing Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by vice mayor Burhan Azeem and city councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler gets an update on Central Square planning. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Helping kids who’ve had trauma
School Committee School Climate Subcommittee, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday. This meeting co-chaired by member Caitlin Dube and mayor Sumbul Siddiqui talks about how schools can help students who have experienced trauma; an upcoming survey about how the Cambridge Public Schools community feels about its work; and ways to measure school culture that educators and leaders can use toward professional development. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing. (This meeting was canceled.)
Keeping up with tobacco sellers
Health & Environment Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councillor Patty Nolan could update laws last looked at in 2015 to get regulations more in line with state code and allow for nimbler responses to tobacco industry attempts to sell unhealthy stuff. Cambridge could set a “nicotine-free generation policy” that bans the sale of product by birthdate rather than by a set age; cap the number of tobacco sellers; rezone sale areas; and limit tobacco use further at restaurants and bars. These were submitted by staff Sept. 8 and referred to committee, but 2025 ended without action. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
Rindge homes and Dance Complex
Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. A mixed-income, affordable-housing project at 350 Rindge Ave., North Cambridge, could get a $625,000 redevelopment loan and The Dance Complex could get a $416,000 mortgage on its building at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. The agency meets at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Twin Cities affordable housing
Cambridge Housing Authority, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The board thanks Michael Johnston for his 34 years working at the agency – he announced his retirement Aug. 28 – and moves toward loaning an in-house LLC money to build affordable housing at 16-28 Porter St., Wellington-Harrington. The land is near the Twin City Plaza at the Somerville city line. The public part of the meeting ends as members go into a closed-door session to discuss buying property in Cambridge – presumably on Porter Street. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Cambridge Public Schools budget
School Committee special meeting, 6 p.m. Wednesday. A workshop to review the proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year starting July 1. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Changes to community benefits
Ordinance Committee, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday. This committee run by city councillors Marc McGovern and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler talk about potential updates to the Community Benefits Ordinance, which sees developers make up for the impact of their projects and construction by putting money into such things as workforce training, support for small businesses, construction of community resources and environmental benefits. The law would be widened with this change to support nonprofits through capital investments such as infrastructure, facilities or equipment. In August, BioMed Realty had a $20 million community benefits package for the East End House as part of its redevelopment of a building at 320 Charles St., East Cambridge. After protests from other nonprofits citywide, that package was amended to direct aid to other nonprofits too. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable online and by Zoom videoconferencing.
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