Dear Neighbors,

I note that today the state department of transit released a report that says traffic congestion has reached a "tipping point" where it is now significantly affecting the economy and the quality of people's lives.  The report included a listing of the five worst places and times for traffic congestion in the whole state, two of which were Route 2 eastbound in the morning.  The poor folks stuck in that mess are, I assume, mostly people commuting in from the western suburbs to all those great jobs that have been created in Kendall Square and other parts of Cambridge.  I suppose a few of those commuters park at Alewife but most continue in to Cambridge, causing huge amounts of congestion in our city.  

It's not a great system and it's getting worse.  There's no one simple solution, but certainly part of it is building more housing closer to the jobs, in places like our city.  Unless you have a plan for quashing the economic vitality of Cambridge and moving all the new jobs elsewhere, you have to face the fact that more and more people are going to be working here.  Isn't it only fair, and also the right thing to do environmentally, to build a corresponding amount of housing in Cambridge?

Tom Burke
11 Buena Vista Park

On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 8:41 PM Tom Burke <tburke@wellesley.edu> wrote:
Dear Neighbors,

I recommend this article which demystifies some of the mistaken claims made about the overlay proposal.

An anti-overlay city council candidate who was canvassing the neighborhood last week evoked the image of whole blocks in Porter Square being bulldozed to make room for high-rises.  I understand it's a complex issue and there are legitimate concerns, but I also think there's a tendency to overstate what the overlay would do.  

My family and I lived in the Bay Area from 2014-2016 and that experience vividly illustrated what happens when a purportedly progressive community finds reasons to oppose almost all new housing even as the economy booms.  Racial and class diversity in places like Berkeley and Oakland is rapidly evaporating.  In Silicon Valley, where they seem to have fallen in love with those squat suburban ranch houses of the 1950s, even extremely well-off people, families at the top of the income ladder, can't afford to live there.   

I am hopeful that this fate can be avoided in Cambridge, where it seems Nimby-ism isn't nearly as strong, and where Yimby-ism ("Yes in my backyard!") seems to be gaining some momentum.

--Tom Burke
11 Buena Vista Park

On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 6:46 PM Ruth Ryals <rryals@comcast.net> wrote:

All,

 

We are heading into the home stretch on the hotly-debated proposed Affordable Housing Overlay. 

 

Below are details on up-coming informational sessions put on by the city.

And go to this site for information about the city’s housing programs:  https://www.cambridgema.gov/Services/applyforaffordablehousing

 

On the other hand, there is a new website for opponents of the AHO as written: https://www.cccoalition.org/

Also see the attachments to this email.

 

Ruth

 

 

From: "Cambridge Community Development Department, Housing Division" <housing@cambridgema.gov>
Reply-To: <housing@cambridgema.gov>
Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2019 at 10:44 AM
To: Ruth Ryals <rryals@comcast.net>
Subject: Upcoming Affordable Housing Information Sessions

 

Updates from the City of Cambridge

 

 

 

Affordable Housing Information Sessions

 

 

Upcoming Affordable Housing Information Sessions

Attend an upcoming affordable housing workshop! Join the Cambridge Community Development Department's Housing Division to learn about the rental and homeownership programs offered through the City.

 

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

 

Central Square Branch Library

45 Pearl Street, Lewis Room

 

·     1st Session at 6:00 PM

·     2nd Session at 7:00 PM

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

 

O'Connell Branch Library

48 Sixth Street

 

·     1st Session at 6:00 PM

·     2nd Session at 7:00 PM

 

 

Thursday, September 12, 2019

 

Cambridge Public Library, Main Branch

449 Broadway, Community Room

 

·     1st Session at 11:00 AM

·     2nd Session at 12:00 PM

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

 

Citywide Senior Center

806 Massachusetts Avenue, Ballroom



·     1st Session at 6:00 PM

·     2nd Session at 7:00 PM

 

Want to learn how to apply for affordable housing? Click here to view a new webpage that brings together information and FAQ’s about the City’s housing programs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cambridge Community Development Department | 344 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139

 

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"From time to time I return to Ozu feeling a need to be calmed and restored. He is a man with a profound understanding of human nature, about which he makes no dramatic statements. We are here, we hope to be happy, we want to do well, we are locked within our aloneness, life goes on."
              --Roger Ebert, Review of Yasujiro Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon


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"From time to time I return to Ozu feeling a need to be calmed and restored. He is a man with a profound understanding of human nature, about which he makes no dramatic statements. We are here, we hope to be happy, we want to do well, we are locked within our aloneness, life goes on."
              --Roger Ebert, Review of Yasujiro Ozu's An Autumn Afternoon