Cambridge Civic Journal

On June 22 the Cambridge City Council voted 8-1 to create a Lesley Porter Overlay District. This new overlay district rezones Lesley University's Porter Square campus, including the former North Prospect Congregational Church site, to allow Lesley to bring the Arts Institute of Boston to Porter Square. It limits what Lesley could eventually build on the parking lots behind and across Massachusetts Avenue from University Hall, although Lesley has not proposed any specific plans for those sites. It also has provisions to require open space and to encourage ground floor retail.

The City Council also granted landmark status to the church, meaning that any alteration to the church's exterior, or relocation of the church on its lot, will require approval by the Historical Commission.

Lesley University has submitted a related memorandum of understanding which commits them to working with neighbors on construction mitigation, providing courtesy parking during snow emergencies, ensuring adequate parking during events, contributing to beautification along Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Porter Squares, giving the public access to Lesley facilities such as an art library, and long-term engagement with the neighborhood.

This is the outcome of nearly three years' negotiation by Lesley University, City of Cambridge planning staff, neighborhood associations including PSNA and Agassiz Baldwin, abutters, and other concerned citizens, to develop an acceptable rezoning plan.

Discussion by the City Council included the usual questions about traffic and parking, impact on immediate abutters, construction mitigation, worry that economic problems could cause the project to be suspended halfway through, retail issues, and open space. Many of these concerns were addressed by amendments worked out in an intensive dialog between Lesley, the City's planning staff, and neighbors and abutters over the last several weeks. Most of the councillors praised the civil tone of the dialog, the dedication of both supporters and opponents, and the hard work of all participants, and called for continuing engagement of all parties.

The next major step in the process will be for Lesley to develop a specific design for the Arts Institute of Boston project, for submission to a special project review before the Planning Board as well as Historical Commission review. That will take a while. There is lots more coming, but at the moment we can hope for a respite. - John Howard

June 7, 2009 - One upon a time there was a civic organization in Cambridge known as the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). It was formed in 1945 out of several organizations that had been existed through the 1930s and that had lobbied the state legislature to create the Plan E Charter option (1938) which featured a city manager form of government and proportional representation elections for city council and school committee. These reforms were central to model charter reform movements active in the United States from the early 1900s. The central theme of the CCA in its early days was "good government" in the sense of being anti-patronage and for professionally managed local government. This changed with the introduction of rent control at the end of the 1960s after which the CCA shifted leftward and became permanently lashed to the mast of the rent control vessel. Though the CCA still exists on paper (I believe), it rapidly declined after the statewide abolition of rent control (late 1994) and essentially disappeared a decade later (early 2005).

I bring up the ghost of the CCA today only to point out that when it was created it had some very admirable goals. Here's the original Mission Statement of the CCA:

1. To promote businesslike, honest, and efficient conduct of local government, open to public scrutiny.

2. To induce residents to take an active interest in the affairs of the City of Cambridge.

3. To encourage and support the candidacy of men and women seeking election to public office and to support intelligent, wholesome leadership in public affairs.

4. To assure that the best qualified persons are appointed to positions in the City government after consideration of all qualified candidates.

5. To promote among the citizens of Cambridge equitable distribution and benefit of public services and equal opportunity for economic security, education, and social advancement.

These are pretty good founding principles for a civic organization and I'm tempted to say that some should be incorporated into the recently adopted City Council's Goals for FY2010 (adopted Feb 2, 2009). In fact, of the 22 current goals, the only one that comes close is: "An increased level of recruitment and opportunities for membership on boards and commissions." The current Council goals emphasize things like "fostering community" via block parties and such, though one has to wonder if the City should be promoting these activities or just getting out of the way so that people can foster community on their own. The goals also seem to put some emphasis on developing "successful nightlife campaigns" while mentioning nothing about promoting ordinary "daytime" economic activity that supports the everyday needs of residents.

One founding principle of the CCA that fell into disuse over the years is listed above as #3: To encourage and support the candidacy of men and women seeking election to public office and to support intelligent, wholesome leadership in public affairs. Indeed, I can personally testify to the fact that in its dying years the only reason the CCA made endorsements at all was because the CCA-endorsed incumbents wanted the benefit of having an advertised CCA slate of candidates that would help secure their reelection. There was precious little effort to recruit new candidates or to support them. Today, the benefits of incumbency are greater than ever. The cost of political campaigns have become absurdly high and most of the incumbents now have (City paid) staff who are inevitably political appointees who directly or indirectly assist in the reelection efforts of their bosses. The deck is increasingly stacked against challengers. Furthermore, the salary and benefits for elected councillors are now so sweet that it is unlikely that any of them would ever want to move on to another job.

With this background in mind, I would like to encourage all Cambridge residents to help level the playing field by finding out about this year's challengers for seats on the Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge School Committee. This is not meant as a dig against any particular incumbent as much as an appeal to support the challengers in what is a difficult and laudable effort. Please see the Cambridge Candidate Pages for the current list of expected candidates. Then use your own judgment - don't expect me or anyone else to do it for you.

Speaking of this year's municipal election, there are some activists who are now expending great effort to attack the City Manager and most of the current City Council. That is not nor has it ever been the intention of the Cambridge Civic Journal or its editor. Candidates are now being seduced by financial promises from one angry fellow with a Brattle Street address and a basketful of grudges. Former CCA Executive Board members from its darkest and most manipulative days are oozing up from the civic swamp trying to at last make good on their failed campaigns of the early 1990s to oust city manager Bob Healy.

It's entertaining to watch people who have primarily earned disrespect in their civic efforts try to capitalize on the recent Monteiro jury decision as a means of realizing their decades-old vendettas. Conveniently forgotten in their recent letters to Cambridge's "oldest weekly newspaper" are the many achievements of City Manager Bob Healy, the strong financial position of the City, and the recent 8-1 vote of confidence bestowed upon Mr. Healy in granting him a three year contract extension. Also missing in this testimony is the fact that virtually all affirmative action in the hiring of employees and department heads has taken place on Mr. Healy's watch. These letters also fail to divulge how long these writers have been carrying their jealousy and anger toward Mr. Healy for actually orchestrating progress in Cambridge while the best they could ever do is snipe from the sidelines. - Robert Winters

An Inconvenient Truth - Global warming study sees smaller shift in sea levels (Boston Globe, May 15, 2009)
Keep doing the home insulation and the compact fluorescent bulbs, folks, but perhaps a little less alarm would be in order, even if that's inconvenient for your larger political goals. - RW

May 11, 2009 City Council Agenda Highlights

City Manager's Agenda #1. Transmitting communication from Robert W. Healy, City Manager, relative to a Planning Board recommendation on the Lesley University zoning petition to extend the boundaries of the Business C zoning district in Porter Square and create a new Lesley Porter Overlay District.

This item is noteworthy only because the Planning Board "enthusiastically" favors the petition. You don't usually get such an emphatic statement from the Planning Board. The Porter Square Neighbors Association (PSNA) has been generally supportive of most of the proposed changes, at least from what I've seen on their listserv messages. What seems to be driving this enthusiasm is the relocation of the Art Institute of Boston (part of Lesley University) to the Porter Square area with the hope that this will positively change the character of the area. The option of restoring the stockyards was not discussed. Art is the new beef.

City Manager's Agenda #5. Transmitting communication from Robert W. Healy, City Manager, relative the Final Landmark Designation Study Report for the Shell Spectacular Sign at 187 Magazine Street at the corner of Memorial Drive.

I'm a local history buff - as anyone who's seen my bookshelves will attest. That said, I'm not quite to the point of viewing a gas station sign as an historic landmark. The Cambridge Historical Commission has a 24 page report on the landmarking of the sign. The irony is that if some commercial enterprise (particularly a multinational corporation) were to today propose erecting such a sign in Cambridge, it would likely be fiercely opposed.

City Manager's Agenda #7. Transmitting communication from Robert W. Healy, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 09-38, regarding a report on methods and policies that are in place to guarantee that all residents have equal access to city information and services.

Order #19. Urge the Massachusetts Legislative Delegation to be aware of the need for universal broadband access for all members of the public and the elimination of the digital divide. Councillor Davis

These items are noteworthy primarily because of their partial nonresponse to the Order of the previous meeting. That order primarily addressed the fact that some people choose to obtain information via methods other than Internet access either because of disability or personal preference. The Manager's response essentially says that you can read Legal Notices in the Cambridge Chronicle, go to a computer at a public library or other City facility, or read the semiannual CityView newsletter. This is all well and good, but I believe the real point of the original Order was to ensure that residents can get a verbal or mailed response to any reasonable information request made to any City department. Regarding Councillor Davis' Order, it would be interesting to see what the latest figures are on the "digital divide" in Cambridge. I suspect that many of those whom Davis wants to reach are already twittering away on their cellphones and texting their way down the streets and sidewalks of Cambridge. It's no longer a matter of who can open a browser and surf the web.

City Manager's Agenda #8. Transmitting communication from Robert W. Healy, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 09-17, regarding a report on the possibility of creating a publicly accessible, appropriately confidential database of broad average or median neighborhood rents for retail space.

Though I was skeptical about Councillor Seidel's original Order on this, the information that came back from Director of Assessment Robert Reardon is actually quite interesting. Here it is:

Average Retail Rents per sq. ft. used for assessment as of January 1, 2008 based on 2007 data
Area	Average Size	Average Rent	Median rent	Max. Rent	Min. Rent
East Cambridge	4,938	$17	$16	$41	$12
Kendall Square	10,758	$28	$29	$38	$17
MIT	13,530	$29	$28	$41	$13
Cambridgeport	1,392	$16	$16	$27	$9
Central Square	4,764	$24	$25	$43	$10
Cambridge Triangle	2,189	$21	$20	$41	$12
Harvard Square	5,262	$68	$72	$140	$25
Porter Square	7,389	$32	$34	$48	$17
North Cambridge	3,136	$19	$19	$33	$9
Alewife/West Cambridge	8,189	$25	$26	$55	$12
Citywide	5,436	$32	$25	$140	$9

One has to wonder who's paying $140/sq. ft. in Harvard Square and who's paying $9/sq. ft. in Cambridgeport and North Cambridge. Other information I would love to have is the differential in rents between premium street frontage and the side streets and back streets in places like Central Square. I've always felt that all commercial districts in Cambridge would fare better if the back streets and side streets were better developed for businesses that cannot afford top dollar rents on the main drag. There really is room for everyone.

Charter Right #1. Transmitting communication from Robert W. Healy, City Manager, Awaiting Report Item Number 08-141, regarding a report on the possibility of awarding points to affordable housing applicants based on the number of times an applicant has applied for housing. [Charter Right exercised by Councillor Maher on City Manager Agenda Number Four of Apr 27, 2009.]

There is something perverse about this. In an ideal world, access to publicly-subsidized affordable housing should be based on need and suitability of the tenant for a given housing situation. Why should "the number of times an applicant has applied" be a criteria at all? It seems that this only creates an incentive for people to apply early and often in order to get a better position in the pecking order. It seems that affordable housing programs (and other initiatives) are already subject to abuse by those who are less than perfectly honest about their income and need. This will not improve things to create other ways to game the system.

Resolution #26. Congratulations to Laura Nichols on the occasion of being appointed to the position of Executive Director of the Cambridge Consumers’ Council. Councillor Davis

I note this Resolution only to again say what a great guy former Executive Director (and now gentleman farmer) Paul Schlaver is and that his successor Laura Nichols is cut from the same cloth as Paul. I have often heard tales from residents of how helpful the Cambridge Consumer's Council has been.

Resolution #28. Thanks to the Central Square Restaurant Association participants for their successful Central Square Clean Up on May 3, 2009. Councillor Davis

Order #9. That the City Manager is requested to direct the Commissioner of Public Works to increase the cleaning efforts in Carl Barron Plaza, as well as other benches and areas in Central Square where liquor bottles, cigarette butts and other forms of trash are routinely discarded and render benches unclean and unusable. Mayor Simmons

Order #10. That the City council urge the License Commission to consider requiring all licensed establishments to be responsible for cleaning the cigarette butts and packaging in front of their business or risk being fined. Mayor Simmons

Order #16. That the City Manager is requested to confer with the Commissioner of Public Works to direct DPW crews collecting trash to clean out the trash and debris that collects and rots in the metal trash cage the supports the barrel. Mayor Simmons

These Resolutions and Orders all seem to have grown out of the recent First Annual Clean Cambridge Spring Cleanup. It's worth noting that this wasn't really the "first" such cleanup. I participated in a very significant Central Square cleanup with City Year volunteers about ten years ago in which we did a lot of graffiti removal in addition to a general cleanup. After this year's efforts there was a noticeable improvement in Central Square, but it took no time before the slovenly smokers clogged up everything with their detritus. Would it be so difficult for the bars and restaurants to hire or assign someone to clean up after their patrons?

On a related note, our dear friends at the Department of Public Works really should methodically move up and down Mass. Ave. in Central Square restoring or removing the steel grates at the base of all the trees. They are a trip hazard now and really serve no useful function. While there, this would be a good time to systematically repair the brick sidewalks and replace the hundreds of missing bricks.

Order #1. That the City Manager is requested to confer with the Director of Traffic, Parking and Transportation to determine whether metered parking spaces in the East Cambridge residential streets can be converted to residential parking due to the decrease in courthouse traffic and increase in residential units. Councillor Toomey

This Order will likely be filed in the same wastebasket that Traffic Director Susan Clippinger uses to file all of Councillor Toomey's Orders. It's a shame, really, because there are many simple fixes that could be made to make everyone's life easier. Parking meters were installed in front of the old Longfellow School building across from my house when the Main Library moved there. The Library's now gone, but the meters remain. Virtually all of the businesses on my side of Broadway are now residences or vacant, yet the meters remain. In Somerville, they have many metered areas where residents with stickers can park for free - an excellent compromise, especially for those who wish to use metered spaces just for overnight parking without having to move their cars at 8am. It sure would be nice if Cambridge could be as smart as Somerville. While we're on the subject, whatever happened to Councillor Toomey's request that the state-mandated Cambridge Traffic Board be appointed that would be empowered to review regulations made by the Traffic Director? Inconvenience is no excuse for ignoring the law, even for department heads.

Order #13. That the City Manager is requested to create a position for a Green Streets Coordinator to continue the coordination of the program currently performed by Janie Katz-Christy in recent years which has created a sustainable initiative that is being replicated around the world. Mayor Simmons

I'm all for Green Streets and sustainability 'n stuff, but isn't this the wrong time to be creating new positions in a bad economy?

Order #14. That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to consider a cost benefit analysis for refurbishing the former bath-house at Corporal Burns Park so that it might draw income for the city and simultaneously provide valuable service to residents and visitors to the park. Mayor Simmons

As long as Mayor Simmons is talking only about a park-related use, this is a lot better proposal than what former City Councillor Ed Cyr and others proposed in the early 90's. Back then their bright idea was to create a "Land Bank" of properties on which, you guessed it, affordable housing could be built. Included in the proposal was the building in Corporal Burns Park as well as all sorts of other small parcels around the city. Those were the great days of the CCA's penchant for "solutions in search of a problem." Thankfully, that trial balloon crashed. Unfortunately, a decade later the City sponsors the development of housing on any postage-stamp parcel it can deliver to its nonprofit partners. Would it it be so dreadful just to leave a few undeveloped square feet of land here and there around the city? Must everything be built over?

Order #17. That the City Manager is requested to direct the appropriate city departments to increase the City’s responses to a scale proportionate to the emergency and consistent with the city’s own Climate Protection goals for 2010 and beyond. Councillor Decker, Councillor Toomey and Councillor Davis

Rumor has it that quite a few people intend to speak on this Order. At the risk of infuriating my environmentally conscious comrades, the vagueness of this Order worries me. It highlights the rise in greenhouse gases and calls for a "response proportionate to the emergency." This could be interpreted to mean that the ability to own and operate an automobile in Cambridge should be made dramatically more expensive (even if you only occasionally drive), and that every little change made to your home should go through an onerous and expensive regulatory review. Everyone who lived through Cambridge's rent control decades remembers how the claim of a housing emergency was twisted into a justification for oppressive and often idiotic regulations that were, in fact, politically motivated. I want very much to see good environmental initiatives in Cambridge, but I remain extremely wary of any effort to use a perceived "emergency" as an excuse for carrying out an agenda that will likely have very political overtones. The efforts of the Cambridge Energy Alliance seem the far more appropriate way to proceed, i.e. provide financial incentives and technical assistance for people "to do the right thing." - Robert Winters

The First Annual Clean Cambridge Spring Cleanup took place last weekend (Sat, May 2 and Sun, May 3). Find out more at http://www.cleancambridge.org.

Excerpt from "Sketches of Boston, Past and Present", by Isaac Smith Homans, 1851

I found this 1950s vintage photo of a DPW garbage truck (a.k.a. "honey wagon") in an MIT collection. There used to be separate food waste, i.e. garbage, collection back then. As one native Cantabrigian commented, "I remember the simple pleasures of youth sitting with my grandfather on the front porch on garbage pick up day on a hot summer's day. The pungent smell would wrap the entire neighborhood and every fly was on escort duty above the truck." Keep Cambridge Clean!

My favorite columnist, David Brooks, again hits the nail on the head regarding Mr. Obama's handling of the current economic crisis: "The president of the United States has decided to address this crisis while simultaneously tackling the four most complicated problems facing the nation: health care, energy, immigration and education. Why he has not also decided to spend his evenings mastering quantum mechanics and discovering the origins of consciousness is beyond me." The whole column, as always with our Mr. Brooks, is worth the read.

This Old Land of Cambridge - The true story of the geological history of Cambridge - by George Ehrenfried

This book was published c. 1923 and features very witty one-page “pen portraits” (with photo) of prominent Cantabrigians of the day. I'll be adding names alphabetically as time permits. There are 182 portraits in the book.

It comes to mind that there may be some value in expanding these profiles to other prominent Cantabrigians who arrived on the scene after 1923, including prominent Cantabrigians of today. With this in mind, I extend the invitation to any and all who may wish to contribute their own “pen portraits” of Cambridge people. Contributions do not necessarily have to be in the style of Mr. Mahoney. Inclusion is, as always, subject to the erratic discretion of the editor.

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“The Number One thing I would emphasize is that journalists and bloggers would do well to see themselves as partners in the provision of information and that each can benefit greatly from the other. I’ve never seen this as a competition. It is especially true these days that local papers and young journalists are not very well-versed in the communities they serve. Much of the institutional memory has either died out or been bought out.” -- Robert Winters, mathematician and creator of the Cambridge Civic Journal, an online publication about Cambridge, MA (rwinters.com)