Cambridge Civic Association is a 56-year-old civic organization committed to honest, efficient progressive government. Its mission is to build a city government that is open and understandable and to make city services available to everyone.

The City Council is responsible for setting policy. It must work closely with the City Manager to see that the departments of city government carry out the Council’s goals by developing suitable programs and efficiently delivering services throughout the city. The Council must conduct systematic, ongoing oversight and regularly measure progress towards its goals. The City Council also needs to work with appropriate state and federal officials to increase the resources available for city projects.

The CCA calls for the City Council and the City Manager to create, fund and evaluate policies that:

The City Council’s highest priority must be to increase affordable housing. The rapid increase in housing costs has caused the dislocation of many long-term lower- and middle-income residents and has prevented immigrants and young workers from moving to Cambridge. This ongoing trend threatens the economic and racial diversity that we highly value. The City Council must:

• continue to preserve affordable units through incentives or acquisition
• design zoning incentives for creating and maintaining affordable housing units in every neighborhood throughout the city and in areas previously not zoned for housing
• seek resources from state and federal agencies to maximize the creation of affordable housing
• support housing proposals brought forth by the non-profit housing community in Cambridge
• support the Community Preservation Act, which devotes funds to affordable housing, open space and historic preservation

The City must provide a safety net of support services and programs for our most vulnerable residents, including poor families losing welfare benefits, older people on fixed incomes, and immigrants facing restrictive eligibility requirements. The City Council must continue to:

• support neighborhood clinics and our unique partnership with the Cambridge Health Alliance
• fund Agenda for Children initiatives including after-school and literacy programs
• find a site in which to expand the Community Learning Center

The Education Platform of the CCA addresses specific educational issues that are the responsibility of the School Committee. The City Council approves the School Department budget, however, and the Mayor serves as chairperson of the School Committee. The CCA calls upon the City Council to support the schools with proper funding while requiring greater accountability, and to work with state officials to obtain additional financial support for the school system.

The City Council must address the increasing dangers and diminishing quality of life associated with growing traffic volume and congestion in Cambridge. The city can address these by:

• negotiating with the MBTA and surrounding towns and cities to improve routes and schedules
• actively promoting alternative forms of transportation by building more bicycle routes and improving respect for pedestrians
• investigating transit for elderly who cannot drive or children going to libraries, sports events, etc.
• promoting vehicles that use alternate fuel wherever practical
• continuing support for the traffic reduction and parking measures in force for current commercial development

The City Council must find ways to preserve, maintain and increase open space in the wake of rapid development in Cambridge by:

• acting on the recommendations in the Green Ribbon Open Space Report, which include determining what areas of the city are in greatest need of additional parks, athletic fields and playgrounds; setting priorities for acquiring and preserving open space so that it is fairly distributed across all residential areas; fairly allocating resources among competing recreational uses
• devising zoning incentives that may lead to additional publicly accessible open space
• supporting the adoption of the Community Preservation Act as a means of funding open space acquisition, as well as affordable housing and historic preservation

The City Council must create policies that manage business development. The Council can help create a balance between the need for continued economic vitality and the need for maintaining the quality of life we have come to value in Cambridge. The City Council must:

• lead the discussion about how best to make the tradeoffs between these competing interests
• continue zoning reforms that moderate growth and which provide a better balance between new residential and commercial development

Develop a more constructive collaboration with Harvard and MIT. These universities are two of the city’s largest employers and landowners that create a great demand for housing. The City Council must find appropriate ways to work with the institutions’ administration, faculty, students and alumni, to help address the myriad issues Cambridge is facing in development, housing, schools and open space.

The City administration and city departments must hire, retain and promote employees that reflect the racial and socio-economic make-up of our city. The City Council will ensure that:

• every city department provides a welcoming and tolerant work environment free of discrimination
• city employees who serve the public receive ongoing direction to treat all residents with equal courtesy and respect
• domestic partner benefits are made available to all eligible City employees
• all City employees have regular performance evaluations which identify strengths and weaknesses and determine training needs

Make access to City services as simple and equitable as possible. Such efforts should include:

• one-stop service via telephone, internet or visit to a single office
• funding a single unified office on constituent services
• helping residents use Internet resources more effectively for obtaining information, paying bills, and other routine tasks
• increasing outreach to the under-served
• ensuring cost savings through departmental restructuring while improving quality of service

Establish protocols and deadlines for mayoral selection that ensures the election of a mayor during the first month of the new Council term. The CCA does not support actions that might jeopardize the fundamental structures of the Plan E government. It does, however, place a very high priority on election of the mayor quickly and efficiently so that the City Council and the School Committee, which is chaired by the Mayor, get down to the business of the people.

The City Council and administration must look for means to empower neighborhoods in decision-making through neighborhood councils, representation on committees, and other appropriate measures.

If the City Council needs to hire a new City Manager, the CCA urges that the Council undertake a hiring search, much like the recent searches for the Superintendent of Schools and the Police Commissioner. Such a search would include hiring a search firm, conducting a national search, and promoting community participation in the hiring process. The CCA also endorses annual evaluation and feedback for each of the employees directly hired by the City Council: City Manager, City Clerk, Deputy Clerk, and Auditor.

return to Cambridge Civic Journal