Elie Yarden for City Council, 2013
Elie Yarden, 90, is running for City Council for the first time, calling this a critical time in Cambridge’s development to which he wants to contribute his knowledge and political vision. He is a Green-Rainbow Party candidate who has been active in city civics for 20 years.
He is a Philadelphia native and retired Bard University professor who moved to Cambridge 32 years ago. He has a spouse, three sons and three grandchildren.
Compiled from the candidate’s words in publicly available sources
Yarden’s top three priorities:
From the Cambridge Residents Alliance
Healthy communities.
Sustainable economies.
Democratic governance.
Whatever the peculiar aspects of a particular city, it stops being a political entity when it cannot house its population. Enactment into law of the “right to domicile” is a city’s only secure way of encouraging the presence of traditional and nontraditional families supportable by the income of one or more wage earners whose work is required. Because of the presence of large institutions with transient populations, large research and development facilities and high-tech manufacturing, the required number of skilled custodial and maintenance workers may be larger than elsewhere. Another varied working population to be housed is needed for tourism, an important source of income to the cities’ businesses. Finally, the residents – not the corporate stakeholders, but the people who now live, work, learn and play here – have the knowledge and the wisdom to govern and plan, indirectly and directly.
Yarden on the issues
From Cambridge Community Television
Inclusionary housing:
City governance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhmn0hs_wgY
I like the “One view of Yarden” of the unknown commentator. Especially the “more engaging, funny, and focused . . .” and the comment on my performances at City Council meeting “diffuse tirades” and better yet “fulminations {that} go regularly from municipal minutiae to global conspiracy,” which might have led a reporter who has been reporting for twenty years to note that of the new candidates, I have demonstrated a far greater commitment to acquainting myself with civic concerns in practice then have they. As a City Councillor I expect to spend far less time on “minutiae” than is currently true for incumbent Councillors, work on developing policy. But “conspiracy!” Spare me! The only time I ever cited one in my testimony to the Council, was when the Council was hesitating over a motion protesting the junior Bush’s invasion of Iraq by giving them the documentation on PNAC, and the news that the Chicago City Council had already done it. Thus that could do it also. Not being the first to do it won the day. I will not control the use of the salary that I receive.
The process will be transparent and begin all “over the place” sort of like Occupy.
Elie Yarden