Residents group A Better Cambridge releases rankings for 18 candidates
A Better Cambridge – a Cambridge residents group that describes itself as “working to build a more diverse and livable city on the path toward sustainable growth” – has released the results of its 2013 City Council Candidate ratings.
“A Better Cambridge looks forward to working with all nine members of the next City Council to help build a more diverse and livable city,” ABC chairman Jesse Kanson-Benanav said. “We believe a better Cambridge is one that grows smart and sustainably, taking advantage of Cambridge’s proximity to public and alternate transportation to expand housing choices for all Cambridge families.”
See the full ABC mission and vision here. For a complete analysis, including charts listing candidate ratings on individual question plus summary analyses of each candidate’s positions, visit the ABC website.
The group’s process, as explained in a press release:
In low-information elections such as this one, ABC knows it’s difficult for voters to make the complex decisions about how they will rank candidates on their City Council ballot. To help voters understand where the candidates stand on difficult urban growth issues facing Cambridge, we distributed a six-question survey to all 25 candidates, as well as conducted extensive third-party research using news articles and other organizations’ candidate questionnaires to assess their position on four key development issues facing the city.
The candidate questionnaire and analysis is intended to give information about how the various candidates stand on the issues ABC has focused on. It is not intended to be an exhaustive analysis of their stance on every issue facing Cambridge.
This is garbage. I don’t agree with these rankings at all.
House above Dennis Carlone and Minka??? Are you kidding me?
No disrespect to the other candidates, but this is obviously a joke
It’s unfortunate that a group called A Better Cambridge has used opposition to the “Connolly Petition” for net zero emissions as a key factor in its assessment of city council candidates.
And it’s ironic, too — since the group also claims to support sustainability and dialogue. In fact, it was the dialogue created by the Connolly Petition — and the many courageous candidates who supported it — that has led to better prospects for the sustainability through the recently-approved Getting to Net Zero task force.
Over the past few months, I joined with hundreds of other Cambridge residents to say “Yes” to greener building standards. Unfortunately, A Better Cambridge did nothing to enrich the debate, opting for a tired Not-In-My-Backyard stance.