Neighborhood groups endorse a civility pledge for elected officials – with so far a single signer
Heather Hoffman speaks during a City Council public comment period in January 2020. (Photo: Derek Kouyoumjian)
Five neighborhood organizations are asking elected officials to take a civility pledge for the coming term, modeling “civil debate and sharing of divergent views” while “refraining from abusive name calling, shouting and disparaging of others.”
The emails to every member of the City Council and School Committee went out Wednesday and quickly got a signer in Paul Toner, who joins the council at Monday’s inauguration.
After making civility a plank in his campaign for a seat, “I don’t think I could not sign,” Toner said Saturday, laughing. “But I do believe in having civil discourse. During all my years working as a teacher and union leader, one of my mottos was ‘agree to disagree without being disagreeable.’ I’m willing to have a beer or coffee with anybody to talk about and understand where they’re coming from.”
Toner
Three days after the pledge went out, as Cambridge rested on the first day of the new year, Toner was still the only person to commit, said Heather Hoffman, who led the initiative under the monicker of Civil Cambridge. (It is “just an email address” formed for this sole purpose, she said.)
(Late Saturday, after the initial posting of this article, councillor Quinton Zondervan signed on, Hoffman said. On Jan. 13, 2022, José Luis Rojas Villarreal signed the pledge, becoming the first member of the School Committee to do so.)
Some council incumbents said in October that public politics had become more personal and less substantive than in years past. Longtime School Committee member Fred Fantini was present at an East Cambridge Planning Team meeting where Hoffman pitched the pledge last month and didn’t seem opposed, she said, so people may just be taking time off from email for the holiday.
The endorsing organizations are the Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, East Cambridge Planning Team, Fresh Pond Neighborhood Alliance, Harvard Square Neighborhood Association and Porter Square Neighborhood Association. All citywide and neighborhood organizations were asked to take part; though the Cambridge Highlands group responded initially, there were “no responses” from others, Hoffman said.
Inspired by Medford pledge
Hoffman said she was inspired to start a civility pledge by a similar effort in Medford.
“We can’t go on like this. It has become toxic around here. And someone has to start the detox,” Hoffman said. “When I saw [the Medford civility pledge online] I said, ‘Well, thank you algorithm for choosing the right person.’ Because I really needed to know that it wasn’t just us. And someone else had done all of the hard work of writing something.”
There’s no panel of judges or litmus test for civility, Hoffman told Toner. It’s really just a pledge to model better behavior in public. “It’s maybe less about the elected officials and more about the citizenry itself,” Toner said, pointing to “folks on social media attacking one another or questioning people’s motives simply because they have a different perspective on things.”
The installation of bike and bus lanes on North Massachusetts Avenue was one issue over the fall where nuance had been lost and “if you raised an issue or question about how it was implemented or whatever, it quickly turns into that you’re either for bikers or against bikers,” Toner said.
Hoffman had an example too: some of the response to a Planning Board vote in May about proposed “missing middle” zoning. The proposal went to a 5-3 defeat at the board, with opposing members – and even some in favor – concerned the zoning would lead to more development without achieving its goals of affordability, inclusivity or sustainability. Hoffman said the vote sparked calls of racism.
“We have big problems to solve, and all we’re doing is calling other people nasty names,” Hoffman said, referring to “just gobsmacking” throwing around of terms of racism and homophobia.
“Too often the people who are loudest about throwing around the terms are just talking about disagreeing with somebody,” Hoffman said.
The text of a introductory letter sent to elected officials and the pledge, adapted by one from the group Safe Medford, as provided by Hoffman:
Dear Elected Official:
Congratulations on being elected or reelected to the Cambridge City Council! After what has often been a contentious election, we are looking forward to ushering in a new spirit of collaboration and civility here in Cambridge and, to this end, are inviting you to sign on to our civility pledge.
We have noted the ways in which the growing level of hostility and verbal and physical violence being promoted from the highest levels of government has seeped down to our own city of Cambridge. We have witnessed name-calling, yelling, distortions and personal attacks in lieu of honest and respectful debate.
We are committed to ensuring the physical and psychological safety of all residents of our city. In this spirit, a number of groups are joining together to ask our elected officials to pledge to promote an atmosphere of respect for all at City Council meetings, at School Committee meetings and in all public venues, including emails and social media posts. This certainly does not mean that we cannot have serious, even passionate political debate. It does mean that we will treat each other with civility and acknowledge the inherent dignity of every one of us, in the spirit of our common humanity.
With this pledge, we call upon you, our elected officials, to model this kind of respectful behavior in all your interactions with colleagues and members of the public and to take the responsibility for ensuring that our city representatives be role models for how we treat each other.
Please see the pledge below and indicate your willingness to sign on by notifying us at [email protected].
Thank you!
Civil CambridgeWe, the undersigned, make this pledge: We commit ourselves as city leaders to maintaining a respectful attitude to all participants in our public meetings and messaging, refraining from abusive name calling, shouting and disparaging of others. We welcome civil debate and sharing of divergent views. We expect no less from those we are affiliated with in their encounters with others about matters of public concern.
Endorsed by: Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, East Cambridge Planning Team, Fresh Pond Neighborhood Alliance, Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, Porter Square Neighborhood Association
An extremely worthy effort after the last political season. We will see where it goes. It takes a certain courage to sincerely ask for civility. And this strikes me as a sincere effort. We are lucky to have Heather Hoffman in Cambridge.
I appreciate the compliment, but it’s really not about me. I will probably never understand why the Nextdoor (!) algorithm decided I should see a posting from Medford that only had Medford commenters on it. We have witnessed bullying by City Councillors and School Committee members of each other and the public for years. It is a more recent phenomenon that the public seems to have taken up the bullying of each other and city officials, both elected and unelected, with such vigor, and it is truly disturbing the way elected officials have joined in and egged it on.
We are destroying our community from within, and we will lose everything that has made Cambridge the place that so many of us have wanted to be part of if we don’t rein in the toxicity and nastiness. I was just the person who saw this and did something with it; it could have been plenty of other people. There is still tons of work to do to make everyone feel valued and encouraged to participate in civic affairs, but it has to start with treating each other with respect. The next step is to teach people perseverance in the face of adversity, of course, but let’s not start out with the personal attacks.
The vitriol displayed over the last year both nationally and locally bred intimidation, anger, resignation, even trauma. It seems pledges are now the tool used cornering those who want to protect their political careers first over principle and community concern.
Closer to home we have special interests threatening a no-vote if someone doesn’t support the machine. Constituents are ignored under threat of recourse and neighbor is pitted against neighbor. So it is refreshing to see a sincere if not idealistic effort appealing to the better human nature we all lament disappearing.
What is so threatening about signing a simple pledge appealing to one’s conscience to try to be kind, thoughtful, empathetic to others as part of a new year behavior? It is a deal made with yourself. I find this effort totally uplifting. It would be sad to see who remains a cynic and who will rise to the occasion. Happy New Year!
Thank you Heather!
Readers might benefit from knowing that Heather is a board member of the ECPT and CCC, two groups who between them have well-documented histories of racism, homophobia, misinformation, and personal attacks against people who disagree with their prevailing viewpoints. During her time on the ECPT board, the group’s email list devolved into a toxic arena where ECPT leaders, including Heather, engaged in escalating personal attacks against people who presented factual arguments they didn’t like, which culminated in one of Heather’s fellow board members directing homophobic and sexually harassing messages at me in response to an op-ed I’d written about housing policy. The board member resigned in disgrace and the city council unanimously condemned his remarks as homophobic, but Heather has publicly defended the remarks since then, saying that remarks belittling a queer person by implying that he must wear gender-nonconforming clothing are somehow not the classic definition of homophobic and that the city councillors who spoke out against the remarks were themselves the bullies.
The ECPT has a long history of uncivil behavior, some of which one can read about here. https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/cambridge-chronicle-tab/2020/11/17/ecpt-members-speak-against-hostile-culture-after-board-member-resigns/6309006002/
I understand that Heather and other leaders of the ECPT and CCC are upset that more people are calling out their groups’ racist, classist, homophobic, and otherwise unconscionable actions. But these things happened. They’re facts, and they’re well-documented. I would suggest that ECPT and CCC leaders’ energies might be better used trying to understand the criticism and learn from it rather than engaging in tone policing, which is a common but always fallacious rhetorical maneuver to attempt to deflect attention from the content of criticism and instead focus on how criticism is delivered.
If Heather Hoffman and other CCC and ECPT leaders do genuinely want to improve civility in Cambridge politics, they need look no further than the groups they lead as well as their own personal actions. I’m sure that most will see the irony in asking elected officials, who’ve played almost no role in any of this, to sign a pledge when Heather and her colleagues haven’t made the first attempt to fix themselves.
Really? Sign a pledge to
“behave” c’mon Cambridge do better. How about stop lying, hiding, being phony and be adults. Just do your job.
After reading the article and the comments, it is clear that there is a long back story here and lots of personal animus. While civility is always desired, this sounds like a way to limit someone else’s free speech. If you have to pledge your civility, you don’t belong in office.
If I were a city council member, I wouldn’t get dragged into this situation that they were not even a part of. I plan to email the council members with that message.
Thank-you, Heather. I’m optimistic the remaining Councillors will sign and use this as a helpful reminder that we should all be civil during passionate debate.
Loren Crowe’s comments above–attacking a person while that person is simply asking for all to refrain from personal attacks–seem to highlight the need for this initiative.
Yup……problem solved.
Slow clap.
“If you have to pledge your civility, you don’t belong in office”. Thank you. This is what probably prompted this idea. Unfortunately, some officials have been taking cues from certain unelected constituents. Thank you Councilors Zondervan and Toner for seeing this simple well-meaning pledge for what it is.
Since when has Cambridge taken a page from Republican playbooks? Repeat things often enough to skew impressions. If I remember correctly, the offending party referenced by Mr. Crowe apologized and resigned from a local group, yet Mr. Crowe keeps it front and center…. for YEARS. There must be another side to the story but I’m afraid that a single view is now calcified, fossilized into an immovable issue influencing even city officials afraid of looking politically incorrect. Well-meaning people are trying to keep their heads down including those looking at a simple thing like civil engagement. It permeates everything we ultimately care about. It is not fair. I read the petition as not tone-policing or legislation (because it is unenforceable) but as a reminder. Passionate but respectful dialogue is still vital to the democratic process. So don’t sign a pledge. It is symbolic. But try to consider its intention. Other cities and groups have initiated this and it seems like a good idea.
I think a new attempt at civil engagement is encouraging and is everyone’s responsibility. The alternative erodes, intimidates and silences community. Sometimes a rose is just a rose and a plea for kindness and elimination of character assassination is just that. If you want to deal with resentment, get a therapist/ negotiator to sit all parties down to air grievances. This personal vendetta is peppered with real truths at how we treat others who are victimized everyday. It is doing them great harm and disrespect by dominating the issues. Everyone needs to be listened to…and we need to find solutions. But we need a grown-up in the room.
I only wish Mr. Crowe finds peace in the new year.
thank you.
First I want to thank Mr. Toner for stepping up and signing on! Thank you Paul.
Now I am going to take a risk at being pilloried, abused and probably threatened on Twitter and say to Mr. Crowe…Please stop it! I take exception with your assertion that “ECPT and CCC, two groups who between them have well-documented histories of racism, homophobia, misinformation, and personal attacks against people who disagree with their prevailing viewpoints.” I cannot speak for ECPT, but I can speak for CCC and say that you are categorically wrong in your accusation and it is unfair for you to keep on repeating what is false, defaming and destructive about a group that is anything but what you claim it to be! I am on the board of CCC. I am a black woman with close, beloved family members that are homosexual. I would neither be accepted by racists nor agree to have anything to with homophobes. I feel personally insulted by your accusations. But perhaps it’s best if you would kindly document the facts that lend credence to your your claims for all to see so that this mischief can be laid to rest once and for all. It is irresponsible for you to keep up this all encompassing, sweeping indictment of an entire organisation unless you have concrete unassailable incidents to back it up. Now if you do, then let’s put them out there and let’s clear the air and move on, rather than you constantly hurling it out as an explosive grenade every time the letters CCC appear anywhere. It is not constructive and solves nothing.
As I said, I cannot speak for ECPT as an organisation, but I can tell you that there are many good people on there who are trying to do good work. You may not agree with their values as to what should be done, but that does not make them ALL evil. Certainly Heather Hoffman deserves neither you extreme opprobrium nor your accusations of homophobia. I am sure that dear readers will be surprised to learn that actually she has been on the leading front of LGBTQ issues, not just in word but in deed. Like me, she has close beloved gay relatives which makes your accusations particularly egregious.
To be sure what happened to you with Chris Matthews was terrible and whether he meant to insult you or not is irrelevant. All that matters is that you, the victim, were insulted and hurt that is enough. I am sorry, that you were subjected to that. But the man apologised which is all that anyone can do Loren. He even resigned from the organisation. It has been over a year; there has been no repeat of anything like that, why do you want to keep dredging it up? And why condemn an entire organisation and all the innocent well meaning people in it?
By continuing with this tirade of yours, you are contributing to the discord in this community. You are an articulate, obviously talented, smart young man, find a way to make peace with those people that you disagree with. Don’t dig deeper and deeper into the wound. In the end you will just seem petty and what waste. Cambridge needs your voice in a positive way. Instead you have taken the poison and are hoping that the other man dies. It is a total waste. Wouldn’t it be great if you used your voice to help make peace in this city, instead using it to perpetuate the divisions. After all, wouldn’t we all rather get along despite our having different visions of what our city should should be? Surely we do not have to be mortal enemies, that is NOT the only alternative. I refuse to believe that!
Lastly I want to make it clear that I wrote this on my own. It has nothing to do with CCC. I have not spoken to anyone in the organisation. I was just got fed up and took a chance. I hope I will not get terrorised on Twitter.
To Ms. Kironde
Your use of the phrase “whether he meant to insult you or not is irrelevant” hardly sounds like you can empathize with someone who has been publicly humiliated and shamed. This is clearly in the vocabulary of the current group of people that think an apology consists of “I regret that you were offended by my comments” rather than “I’m sorry. I was thoughtless. Please forgive me.”
congratulations to the new councilors. what struck me is that this petition is not suggesting anything new. the Oath of office states members uphold the rules and regulations “to the best of my ability and understanding “agreeably”.
To Madd- does her next sentence help? “All that matters is that you, the victim, were insulted and hurt that is enough. I am sorry, that you were subjected to that”.
Katiti,
I take your comment as sincerely offered. My response got a little long, so I created an unlisted post on my blog that addresses many of the points you’ve raised. An unlisted post means that one can only see it by following the link, and someone just searching the internet or browsing the blog in the usual way won’t see it. (link: https://lorencrowe.medium.com/2a09309c4119)
I’m a little surprised by your request to back up my claims about CCC. I’ve written tens of thousands of words about these incidents, reported out with evidence in the form of emails, videos, screenshots, and more. The articles got a lot of attention before the election. I know that your president knew about them because CCC responded to them, and I guess I would have expected that they would have been discussed among the board. I would be quite concerned to learn about them if I were a board member.
If you would like to discuss these incidents or anything at all, I would be happy to set something up. I don’t want to post my contact info here, but I can be reached via Twitter message or at the email address on my blog, and I’m sure that you could find my number quickly from someone you know. I would be glad to chat with anyone looking to learn more about these incidents.
To Maddmann1,
As a black person who has lived in this skin for over 70 years, I hardly need you to tell me about being humiliated, spat on, insulted and shamed, yes PUBLICLY at times and in front of my own children!! You guys that are so quick to label people racist should know better than to preach to me from your perch of white privilege. PLEASE! But what I have learned as a black person in an essentially racist country is that not every offender is a racist, or even means to offend me. It is an important lesson that I also taught my children lest they spend their lives in permanent grievance and poison themselves with hate and mistrust. Besides there is more credibility in measure and discretion than in permanent complaining and victimhood. One wisely wants to avoid the “oh here he/she goes again” response and essentially never be taken seriously when there is real bigotry and hatred to address. Just a little lesson.
As for your assertion : This is clearly in the vocabulary of the current group of people that think an apology consists of “I regret that you were offended by my comments” rather than “I’m sorry. I was thoughtless. Please forgive me.” Please do not presume to tell me what I meant. Never ever assume to know what anyone means. You do not know me and I am not in that “group” and I resent your presumption. Mr. Mathews apologised and lost his position in that organisation, what in your view would constitute sufficient contrition? You got your pound of flesh, do you want blood? What would make you and Mr. Crowe happy? Please tell us all so that we can get it done and move on instead of using the victimhood as a cudgel for any and all future perceived slights, not to mention anyone that holds an opposing view! Because I really can’t believe that you think that ALL of the people on ECPT and CCC are bigots. Does that even make sense. What like the KKK or Proud Boys or something like that?? It is ridiculous!
Let me tell you something as a person of colour, we do not like it when white folks bandy around the term racist so cavalierly. We know what racism is and have felt its sting. It is not just a term to be used lightly. Thank you.
The post you are berating Heather for is just about civil language and civic duty. Who could oppose a move for civility? What’s wrong with pledging to agree to disagree civilly? Is your vocabulary only limited to uncivil language? I have called you out here for your excesses and I have not resorted to ugliness? I think we make our points better and more effectively when we keep things civil.
Meanwhile I have to confess that it feels weird defending myself to a person who needs to hide behind a pseudonym. What’s up with that?
In any case. Have a good Covid free 2022 and PLEASE, let us know what is you want in order to put an end to all this; what to you folks would constitute sufficient contrition.