June 2019 - Neighbors - lists.buenavistasocialclub.org

Re: [Neighbors] [NorthCommons] Dangerous-Looking Eyesores: Communities Vent About Double Power Poles
by Ruth Ryals 29 Jun '19

29 Jun '19

I hate them! Ruth Thanks, Ruth Ryals > On Jun 29, 2019, at 3:46 PM, Helen Solorzano hsolorzano(a)comcast.net [NorthCommons] <NorthCommons-noreply(a)yahoogroups.com> wrote: > > I have always wondered about the double poles and why they are not repaired… > > From NECN: > Dangerous-Looking Eyesores: Communities Vent About Double Power Poles > > There are more than 16,000 of these dangerous-looking eyesores dotting the landscape across Massachusetts, some likely in your neighborhood. > Double power poles are the result of new construction, storm damage and car accidents, created when a new pole is installed next to the old, damaged one. > > State law says the double poles should be removed within 90 days and replaced with a new one. However, the NBC10 Boston Investigators found many are still languishing in neighborhoods years later, with no consequences for the utility and telecommunications companies responsible for maintaining them. > > Article/video: https://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Double-Poles-Massachusetts-Your-Neigh… > > There is also an online database where you can look up double poles by town.. There are quite a few in Cambridge, and some in our neighborhood, like the one on Avon St that was installed in Jan 2014. > > Helen > > __._,_.___ > Posted by: Helen Solorzano <hsolorzano(a)comcast.net> > Reply via web post • Reply to sender • Reply to group • Start a New Topic • Messages in this topic (1) > VISIT YOUR GROUP > • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use > > SPONSORED LINKS > > > > . > > > __,_._,___

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Consumer Alert: Door to Door Electricity sales
by Ruth Ryals 29 Jun '19

29 Jun '19

> From: "Meghan Shaw veggiegirl12(a)hotmail.com [NorthCommons]" <NorthCommons-noreply(a)yahoogroups.com> > Date: June 27, 2019 at 9:33:38 > Subject: [NorthCommons] Consumer Alert: Door to Door Electricity sales > Reply-To: Meghan Shaw <veggiegirl12(a)hotmail.com> > > I work for the City of Cambridge and run the City's Community Electricity Program. > > Please do not engage with any person that comes to your door asking for your electricity account information, unless you want to switch electricity suppliers. If you accidentally switch suppliers, call the supplier right away to cancel. You have 30 days to cancel under state law. > > Take photos of anything suppliers show you, including ID badges, anything that "claims" they work for the City or Eversource and send them to me and DPUConsumer.Complaints(a)state.ma.us. > > The City of Cambridge is not sending any one door-to-door and Eversource never sends people door-to-door. > > The City of Cambridge runs the Cambridge Community Electricity program with a 100% Renewable energy option. The prices are fixed until January 2021 and there are no contracts and you can opt-out anytime. > http://masspowerchoice.com/cambridge. > > The reason that companies are coming around right now is that Eversource Basic service rates will drop starting July 1 and the unscrupulous suppliers are most likely offering a rate higher than Eversource's June-December rate so they are trying to lock people into contracts at a rate that only looks lower than Eversource's January - June pricing, which is about to expire. > > Meghan Shaw > City of Cambridge > Cambridge Energy Alliance -Outreach Director > 344 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139 > 617-349-5323 > mshaw(a)cambridgema.gov > > __._,_._ > > > > > > . > > > __,_._,___

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Fwd: Kids on the Line: ‘I have never heard of this level of inhumanity’
by Ruth Ryals 27 Jun '19

27 Jun '19

Reveal is an excellent source of under- or mis- reported news. They also have a radio program weekends and a podcast. Look for them! > From: Reveal <lmorel(a)revealnews.org> > Date: June 27, 2019 at 4:00:58 PM EDT > To: <rryals(a)comcast.net> > Subject: Kids on the Line: ‘I have never heard of this level of inhumanity’ > Reply-To: <us1-d2587bd347-c46d28d247(a)inbound.mailchimpapp.net> > > > > > (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio) > > Two decades ago, a settlement known as the Flores agreement established court protections for immigrant children in U.S. custody. > > The agreement grants a small group of lawyers access to government facilities where children are held, at the border and across the country, that are otherwise shrouded in secrecy. > > The public usually learns about their observations weeks or months later, through court filings in the Flores case. That’s how we learned about children who were being medicated without proper consent at a Texas facility with a documented past of abuse. > > But after visiting a few Border Patrol facilities earlier this month, several lawyers and doctors spoke to the media directly about what they observed, drawing intense attention to the conditions children are experiencing at the border. > > This is what they saw: Older children taking care of toddlers. Flu quarantines and lice infestations. Children in soiled clothes with no regular access to showers. A premature baby wrapped in a dirty towel. > > Immigration attorney Hope Frye told Reveal that she got sick with the flu soon after visiting one of the facilities and was hospitalized for three days. > > “I could hardly talk,” Frye said. “I called 911 because I couldn’t breathe.” > > Under Flores, children cannot be held at Border Patrol facilities for more than 72 hours, but lawyers said they spoke to children who had been held for weeks. > > Here are some of the interviews with lawyers and advocates who visited the facilities: > WNYC Studios’ “The Takeaway” interviewed lawyer Elora Mukherjee: “When I interview children in detention, I try to sit close to them because we’re talking about such sensitive and traumatic subjects. But with some of the children, I had trouble sitting near them because of the stench.” > Warren Binford, a law professor at Willamette University, told The New Yorker: “(The children) told us that they were hungry. They told us that some of them had not showered or had not showered until the day or two days before we arrived. Many of them described that they only brushed their teeth once.” > Frye told HuffPost that she had spoken to a teenage mother being held in McAllen with her premature, one-month-old baby. The infant hadn’t received any medical attention, Frye said. “I looked at that baby and said ‘Who does this to babies?’ They were being sadistically ignored.” > The Washington Post reported this week that many of the children were moved to other facilities. > > In a statement to the media, U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not deny the team’s allegations. “Our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis,” the statement partially reads. “All allegations of civil rights abuses or mistreatment in CBP detention are taken seriously and investigated to the fullest extent possible.” > > ICE DETAINING FEWER IMMIGRANTS WITH SERIOUS CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS > > Since taking office, President Donald Trump has vowed to deport undocumented immigrants with criminal records. “Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country,” he recently tweeted. > > But a new analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonpartisan data research center, has found that the number of immigrants in custody with no prior criminal convictions increased by 39 percent between September 2016 and December 2018. During the same time period, the number of immigrants in ICE custody who had committed serious crimes dropped 17 percent. > > “Despite the increasing number of individuals ICE detained, fewer and fewer immigrants who had committed serious crimes were arrested and held in custody by the agency,” the report says. > > Find the report here. > > WHAT WE’RE READING > > Illinois’ child welfare agency has failed to place Latino, Spanish-speaking children in foster homes that speak their language. (ProPublica) > > Shortly before the boy turned 1, at a visit with his father at a library, his foster mother sitting nearby, he spoke what was, for Matias, his child’s first word. Not in Spanish. Or in English. But in Slovak. Mamka. Mommy. > > In that moment, Matias realized his son was being raised speaking a language he did not understand. He feared what would happen if it took longer to get him back. > > Matias sought out the Eastern European men he worked with on carpentry jobs and learned to use language apps on his phone for useful words and phrases. Slowly, he picked up a handful of Slovak words: Blanket. Bottle. Up. Down. Tomatoes. Chicken. > > But he couldn’t keep up. By the time the boy turned 2, in the summer of 2016, Matias told a therapist during a required session that he was worried about his growing inability to communicate with his son. > > Asylum-seeking families were still being separated at the border as recently as May. (Houston Chronicle) > > More than 700 children were taken from their parents or, in a few cases, from other relatives between June 2018 and May 2019, according to the most recent data the government provided to the American Civil Liberties Union in the ongoing federal court case overseeing family separations. They are placed in federal shelters or with foster parents until they can be reunified or resettled with relatives or sponsors. Sometimes they languish for months in federal care. > > “In the last few months these types of separations have risen drastically,” said Lee Gelernt, lead lawyer for the ACLU case. “The government is trying to drive a truck through what was supposed to be a very narrow exception.” > > He said many cases involve children as young as toddlers whose parents are accused of criminal history as minor as a traffic violation. > > “The government is unilaterally deciding parents are a danger and then separating them without informing the children’s facilities that the child has been separated, without telling the parent the basis of the separation, and without affording any due process to the family to contest the separation,” Gelernt said. > > A Honduran mother separated from her son at the border in 2015 sued the government, carving a legal path for other families to gain relief. (New Yorker) > > As the lawsuit moved through the court system, Rodríguez grew more confident. The government tried to get the case dismissed, arguing that it should have been filed in Texas (where courts are more conservative), rather than in New Jersey, but the request was denied. > > During discovery, (the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project’s) lawyers obtained tens of thousands of pages of government documents, including e-mails showing that top officials had approved Daniel’s placement in an unaccompanied-migrant shelter, even though he could have been released to his aunt. The lawyers were planning inspections of the facilities where Rodríguez had been held, and they fought to take depositions from high-ranking officials, including the former director of ice. Meanwhile, family separation was becoming a subject of widespread outcry. > > One day last summer, Rodríguez sat at her desk, in Rent the Runway’s warehouse, surrounded by designer gowns. She had just started her morning routine—shaking dresses to see if a rogue stiletto or tube of lipstick tumbled out, and bravely sniffing the garments to test for freshness—when she got a text from Tegeler, at asap, who asked, “Can you talk?” Rodríguez had become close to the lawyers and detected excitement in Tegeler’s greeting right away. “It’s good news, Suny,” Tegeler said. “We reached a settlement.” The government had agreed to pay a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars to Rodríguez and Daniel. (An ice official told me, “As a matter of policy, ice cannot comment on the specifics of the settlement agreement. > > However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement with or stipulation to any of the allegations.”) As clothes whirled by on mechanized racks, Rodríguez allowed herself, finally, to feel a sense of relief. > > Your tips have been vital to our immigration coverage. Keep them coming: border(a)revealnews.org. – Laura C. Morel > > > > > > > This email was sent to rryals(a)comcast.net > why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences > The Center for Investigative Reporting · 1400 65th St., Suite 200 · Emeryville, CA 94608 · USA >

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Great idea!
by Ruth Ryals 27 Jun '19

27 Jun '19

Leigh, We would be very interested, and I am with this email asking for a couple of volunteers to work on this with you. Ruth Ruth Ryals 617-547-6453 rryals(a)comcast.net On 6/26/19, 12:28 PM, "info(a)portersquare.net on behalf of leigh.meunier(a)gmail.com" <info(a)portersquare.net on behalf of leigh.meunier(a)gmail.com> wrote: Leigh Meunier (leigh.meunier(a)gmail.com) sent a message using the contact form at https://portersquare.net/contact. Hello, Porter Square Neighbors Association, I am reaching out to you today on behalf of Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW), a local group of residents working to build a Somerville/Cambridge community that’s resilient and prepared for the extreme weather events exacerbated or caused by climate change. We do this by: -educating people about these events (e.g. heat waves, extreme storms, and sea level rise) and the impacts they are likely to face (e.g. heatstroke, flooding, evacuations); -offering emergency planning support; and -organizing community service opportunities aimed at reducing vulnerabilities. Partnerships are key in ensuring our neighbors and community members are empowered and supported, especially those who are vulnerable. Currently, CREW seeks partners in this effort, including you, because of your knowledge, leadership, and deep relationships with and investment in the communities you serve. We are hoping you might be willing to work with us as we take on our first big project in Somerville/Cambridge: to recruit Climate Resilience Hubs across the city. Hubs are organizations—local businesses, nonprofits, libraries, churches, schools, and others—that provide assistance to the community before, during, and after extreme weather events. For example, a Hub could have information available about how to prepare your home for a flood, host an event for the community to learn what the risks in the neighborhood are, or provide phone charging during a power outage. If you would be open to this possibility, we’d love to set up a meeting sometime in the next week or so to talk about what that might involve. The best way to respond is through email. My email address is leigh.meunier(a)gmail.com and/or you can reach out to CREW's coordinator, Vernon Walker, at vernon(a)climatecrew.org. Thanks so much for your time here and all you do to support and build connection and community. Looking forward to speaking more soon! Warmly, Leigh Meunier

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FW: [Richdale Ave] Fwd: Opponents of the Overlay
by Ruth Ryals 27 Jun '19

27 Jun '19

FYI. Like Jeff, I have been trying to forward a range of position papers on this, so you can make up your own minds, and contact the Planning Board or City Council. Ruth From: <richdale-ave-community(a)googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jeffrey Lipshaw <jlipshaw(a)gmail.com> Date: Thursday, June 27, 2019 at 4:02 PM To: <richdale-ave-community(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [Richdale Ave] Fwd: Opponents of the Overlay While I think the debate should occur with the City Planning Board and not on this list, I am passing it along. Note: I am pretty sure I personally don’t like the proposed zoning plan, but I am certainly willing to pass along any similar materials from those who support it. Best, Jeff Jeffrey M. Lipshaw Begin forwarded message: From: Kate Canfield <kpc(a)canfielddesign.com> Subject: Fwd: Opponents of the Overlay Date: June 27, 2019 at 12:31:51 PM EDT To: Kate Canfield <kpc(a)canfielddesign.com> Dear Cambridge friends, I wonder if you are aware of this Overlay Petition coming up for a vote in the next few months (PDF attached). It appears to be a completely self-serving proposal by developers. I’ll be interested to hear what you think. If you agree, help spread the word and write letters! Thanks, Kate Forwarding Professor Blier’s plan of action: From: "Blier, Suzanne" <blier(a)fas.harvard.edu> Date: June 23, 2019 at 7:36:43 PM EDT Subject: Opponents of the Overlay - URGENT Mtg on Citywide zoning this Tues. PLZ attend and write letters Dear Friends, You have indicated concern about the Overlay before City Council. As this moves forward we are asking for your help. The city is looking for this massive up-zoning plan to come to a vote by City Council between August and November. Below is a brief overview of where we are. We need your urgent help now! This plan, which was written for the Cambridge Development Department by developers and is intended to up-zone the entire city will have long term negative impacts and will not do what it is said to do (seriously address the affordable housing crisis). No other progressive city in the country has put forward a plan as radical and far reaching as this one. HSNA has written a strong letter in opposition to it (see below) There are two critical upcoming meetings. And in both cases, we need as many people as possible to attend (and speak – even if only 2 sentences). Also we need you to write (even if you have written before). At this juncture everything is being counted. *June 25 6:30 PM. Planning Board. City Hall Annex 344 Broadway 2nd floor URGENT ACTION NEEDED *WRITE to City Planning Board: lpaden(a)cambridgema.gov By Monday Noon AND also send to: council(a)cambridgema.gov *PLEASE ATTEND the JUNE 25 Planning Board meeting at 344 Broadway 2nd Floor. Please sign up to speak ACTION NEEDED on or by July 2 *July 2, 5:30 PM. City Hall – 795 Mass Ave. Sullivan Room. *WRITE again to City Councillors at council(a)cambridgema.gov *ATTEND this 5:30 PM meeting at City Hall at 795 Mass Ave. The Cambridge Development Department has been having new meetings around the city. The first two in June had nearly 4 to 1 opposition to the up-zoning plan. We need this to continue. Please attend one or more of these: July 18 6:00-8:00 PM Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St. -Overlay discussion: try to attend. Come with your questions. July 22. 6:00-8:00 PM Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callender St. -Overlay discussion: try to attend. Come with your questions. July 24 6:00-8:00 PM Trolly Square Community Room, 2401 Mass Ave. -Overlay discussion: try to attend. Come with your questions. A group of us around the city have also begun a new advocacy group titled: CAMBRIDGE CITIZENS COALITION. We are addressing the Overlay & other Cambridge Issues. Lots of information on the Up-zoning is being posted there Website: CCCoalition.Org Facebook: CCCoalition1 We are currently Seeking 501c4 status Visit the CCCoalition website, volunteer, donate, and join this effort if it interests you. There are lots of documents we are posting here. It would be wonderful to have your help! We now have a legal opinion on this Upzoning but it will be much easier for us if this NEVER comes up for a vote; afterwards it will be far more difficult. We need four councillors to oppose it. Note - It will be hard to overturn this once it passes. Please contact Councillors as a group or individually and help out however you can. We also are putting together a door handle “flier” with key points of opposition that we will order and distribute in the weeks ahead. The HSNA Letter on the city-wide Up-zoning proposal is below: Thanks for your support and help! Please write to the Planning Board and Council – and if at all possible plan on attending and speaking at both meetings. Best, Suzanne ______________________ Dear Honorable City Councillors, City Manager, and members of the Planning Board and Cambridge Historical Commission: Citywide up-zoning (the Affordable Housing Overlay – AHO) is advancing to a vote. This will allow developers to construct massive new buildings everywhere. Existing residential zoning will be scuttled, and 1-3 story homes and businesses can be replaced with 4-5 to 8-story structures with up to 8X the density. Current parking, set-backs, green space and community oversight will be annulled. We need your help to stop this radical move! THE RUSH TO PASS UPZONING: The city of Cambridge is moving to push through radical up-zoning without proper impact studies. If passed, this will be hard to change. Now that the process has begun, the City will try to pass the zoning between August 13th and October 7th while many people are away on vacation. The City is marketing this with a series of poorly advertised meetings, often changing zoning language afterwards to obscure the substance. No other U.S. city has proposed such a radical city-wide up-zoning. Cambridge is the fifth most dense U.S. city of 100,000+ people. Adding yet more density is not the solution. This developer-driven plan brings more gentrification and forces out long-term residents. Our city is fast becoming one of rich and poor. We have added 9,000 housing units, surpassing state mandates, yet housing prices are still increasing, and vacancy nears 10%. We need a smarter, equitable plan that preserves current citizen rights & design processes, while promoting more diversity & middle income needs. CONSEQUENCES OF THIS UPZONING PROPOSAL • Encourages tear-downs & displacement • Promotes tall, massive, box-like buildings • Allows greenspace & mature tree removal • Supports 2 to 8 X taller and larger buildings • Removes ability of citizens to appeal decisions • Adds traffic congestion by removing parking • Uses outdated model of economic segregation • Raises some property values & lowers others • Makes developer rights unequal, promoting law suits • Increases residential property taxes across city • Alters city livability and character all over Far too many questions remain unanswered. Neighborhood Impacts: the impacts likely will be felt on every other nearby site and will transform both the neighborhood and the city. Why? Because Special Permits are granted for other non-affordable building projects based on context (how a building fits in with its specific setting) and the nearby context will now be defined by a new tall massive structure which becomes the new "norm." Once a 4.5 or 7 story building that towers over nearby ones is in place, this massive new structure becomes the context that all new structures are compared with regardless of function. Without the requirement of setbacks local streets like Huron, Concord, Cambridge, Mt. Auburn, and Massachusetts Ave. will have a very canyon-like feel, a tall ripple of box-like structures. Without the requisite required parking, traffic circulation will get even worse – impacting the environment (and daily lives), in much the same way as the displacement of green spaces and mature trees. Local Residents and Business Impacts: Once one or more of these much larger structures is being built (and even before then) nearby property values will increase and both housing & store lease prices will rise. Local stores and amenities that made this neighborhood especially appealing will likely close, and housing here generally will become even more expensive while real estate developers and investors will have made large profits and public expense. Even before the first AHO tall building goes up, anticipation of the change is sending real estate prices soaring making it even harder to find affordable housing in Cambridge - even with the current 10% vacancy rate. While the city is increasingly becoming one of rich and poor, and the % of homeowning population in the Boston area is well below the national average, nothing in this proposal will help people with lower incomes purchase homes; and very little in the AHO helps our very low or the middle-income residents. Financial and Gentrification Impacts: While the city-wide up-zoning will only be for 100% affordable projects, these projects will impact both the area and the city as a whole. Property values will escalate and soon the whole street may become a site of largely new 50 -or 80-feet buildings. Of concern too is whether the up-zoning Overlay, in bringing more and more residential housing (both affordable and luxury) into Cambridge will skew the tax base and the required 70 -30 relationship between commercial and residential income, requiring the city manager to raise taxes, funds that would go into the general fund and not to specific areas of concern. .

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Nanny share starting in August/September
by Owen T Cornwall 26 Jun '19

26 Jun '19

Dear neighbors, I'm writing to see if anyone knows of any families interested in a nanny share starting in August or September. We live at 89 Upland Road and we have a wonderful nanny, who has looked after our son (20 months old) and another boy (whose family is moving away in August) for the last year. Preferably, the family would be within walking distance as ideally we would split the time at both houses. But we have some flexibility on that. For more information, please contact me at owencornwall(a)gmail.com. Thanks, Owen -- Owen Cornwall oc <otc2101(a)columbia.edu>ornw01(a)tufts.edu :: 347-532-0576 Lecturer Religion and International Literature Tufts University

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Grand Junction Pathway Overlay District
by Ruth Ryals 26 Jun '19

26 Jun '19

FYI

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Here Are Some New Rules For Marijuana In Massachusetts | Patch
by Ruth Ryals 26 Jun '19

26 Jun '19

https://patch.com/massachusetts/beaconhill/5-new-rules-marijuana-massachuse… Ruth

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FW: Affordable Housing meetings today and in the future, plus some other information
by Ruth Ryals 25 Jun '19

25 Jun '19

See the attachments. From: "Kelley, Craig" <ckelley(a)cambridgema.gov> Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at 10:47 AM To: "<Undisclosed recipients:;>" Subject: Affordable Housing meetings today and in the future, plus some other information Hey Everyone: There are a number of affordable housing related meetings coming up, starting today at 1 PM at the City Council Chambers to discuss inclusionary housing and continuing tonight at the Planning Board at 344 Broadway to discuss the Affordable Housing Overlay. The Ordinance Committee will also talk about the AHO next Tuesday, 2 July, at 5:30, also in the Council Chambers. I’ve attached a number of memos on issues ranging from new Housing Choice voucher payment schedules to some of the City’s thoughts on the AHO (and schedule of AHO-related meetings) I thought you might want to look through. I continue to have many of the same thoughts about the Affordable Housing Overlay as I had before, including- How much price per unit can a developer affordable in land costs to make a project viable If the AHO is wildly successful, how might we alter it if we decide we want to slow things down (something that we’ve been unable to do at Alewife) What might the impact be of investment organizations who, in a global market, may regard these new rules as an opportunity to put more money into Cambridge property What are the opportunities for the redevelopment of land already owned and built on by affordable housing developers but now offering new and possibly significant redevelopment opportunities. When I see a lot with a building on it, I think it’s full. Other people understand that one can, literally, put buildings in the trash and if removing existing buildings creates a logistically simple and financially realistic way for developers to create more affordable housing projects, I would think the markets would steer them in that direction. Which might mean that rather than seeing a push of affordable housing into the larger lots of West Cambridge, we would see a spurt of redevelopment in the Eastern part of Cambridge as existing affordable housing developments are replaced with denser ones. How do management fees impact a developer’s incentive to build AHO properties. Even if the margin is thin for building a property, if you have a lucrative, long-term management contract for the property the non-profit aspect of a company may start to look far more financially motivated. The advisory nature of project review is likely to result in better buildings than if such review did not exist but is unlikely to counter the financial momentum of larger developments with more units with the result that we may see properties maxed out for building mass and also being somewhat unattractive, dwarfing nearby lots and so forth. While the AHO talks about four stories in many districts, it seems like a fifth habitable floor could reasonably be put on the ground level, as long as it’s less than 4’ above grade, so we’re really talking about 5 story buildings. If I am right, and no one has told me I’m wrong, this ‘four story focus’ seems a bit misleading in terms of helping people understand how impactful AHO developments might be. I don’t have any easy answers for these issues. There is a real press of people and jobs towards urban areas, especially coastal ones like Cambridge and the greater-Boston region. I’ve biked through small and mid-sized towns from the Canadian border to Florida and from Pittsburgh to DC and seen more empty, dilapidated and abandoned buildings than I thought existed in places that, not too long ago, used to be thriving. It is pretty scary to see just how fragile communities can be. The jobs and people Cambridge and the greater-Boston region attracts from other parts of the Country, and the world, help make us the wonderful place we are but it’s a really expensive place for both jobs and people, as well as non-profits and just about everything else. I suppose the question is, is the AHO the best, or even an adequate, solution to some of the challenges this growth brings us. And if not, what is a better solution? Can it be changed and still be useful? If passed as is, will we find ourselves in a feedback loop with negative consequences we didn’t anticipate but which, given zoning’s super-majority requirement regarding voting, we cannot change? Ultimately, I think it’s important for all of us to have the same basic understanding of what the AHO can and can’t do. If something is in our zoning, we should assume it’s going to happen and not get upset when it does. And if something isn’t in our zoning, we shouldn’t express angst that it doesn’t happen because, at the end of the day, zoning is the rule book for what our City looks like. If we think the AHO is a good idea at least partially because it’ll only create 45 units or so a year, then let’s codify that number. If we think the AHO’s resulting in hundreds of new units a year would be a success, then let’s be clear that that’s what we hope will happen. People can disagree on what they like or don’t like about the AHO, but first we have to understand it. Anyway, if you can’t make the meetings but want to share your thoughts with the Council, you can email all of us at Council(a)Cambridgema.gov. All the best, Craig All emails to and from this City address should be considered to be subject to Massachusetts’s Public Records laws. To be removed from this list, click here. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested in it. Also, I have scheduled office hours in Central Square on Monday’s from 1-3 PM and Thursdays from 9:30-11:30 AM, but please email CKelley(a)Cambridgema.gov before coming to confirm before showing up. Tuesday, June 25, 20191:00 PMThe Housing Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss the Affordable Housing Trust’s recommendations for the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program’s preferences on selecting residents for available units. THIS HEARING WILL BE TELEVISED (Sullivan Chamber) Tuesday, July 2, 20195:30 PMThe Ordinance Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss a proposed amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to create an Affordable Housing Overlay District. THIS HEARING WILL BE TELEVISED (Sullivan Chamber)

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June 25: Public Hearing on 100%-Affordable Housing Overlay
by Ruth Ryals 24 Jun '19

24 Jun '19

Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the proposal 100%-Affordable Housing Overlay Upcoming Meetings Planning Board Public Hearing Tuesday, June 25, 2019City Hall Annex344 Broadway, 2nd Floor6:30 p.m. The Cambridge Planning Board will host a public hearing on the 100%-Affordable Housing Overlay petition. Public comment will be heard. To access meeting materials and livestream the meeting, visit the City's Open Meetings Portal. Materials are also posted on the project page: cambridgema.gov/affordablehousingoverlay Upcoming Public Hearings City Council Ordinance Committee Tuesday, July 2, 2019City Hall Sullivan Chamber795 Massachusetts Ave.5:30 p.m. The Committee will meet to discuss the 100%-Affordable Housing Overlay proposal. To livestream the meeting, visit the City's Open Meetings Portal Upcoming Open Houses Do you have questions about the 100%-Affordable Housing Overlay proposal? Are there concerns you would like to discuss with City staff? The Community Development Department (CDD) is hosting a series of open houses to discuss the proposal. Staff will be available to provide the most current information, answer questions, and address concerns at the following drop-in sessions: Thursday, July 18, 2019 6:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St. Monday, July 22, 2019 6:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. Cambridge Community Center, 5 Callendar St. Wednesday, July 24, 2019 6:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. Trolley Square Community Room, 2401 Mass Ave. Refreshments and child care will be provided at all open houses. The City can provide translation services, auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures upon request, given 48 hours notice. For more information, visit the project page ‌ ‌ ‌ CambridgeMA.gov/CDD Cambridge Community Development Department | 344 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139 Our Privacy Policy | About our service provider Sent by housing(a)cambridgema.gov

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