Attend meetings on budget, ‘Zoning 101,’ IQHQ and if Inman will get its Brooklyn Bagel Factory
A Cambridge restaurateur says he’s eager to open the Brooklyn Bagel Factory on Hampshire Street in Inman Square. (Photo: Brooklyn Bagel Factory via Instagram)
Councillors work on budgeting
Finance Committee, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councillors Dennis Carlone and Patty Nolan begins talking through city budgeting goals and priorities for the 2023 fiscal year. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom video conferencing.
It’s ‘Zoning 101’ and IQHQ review
Pedestrian Committee, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. This advisory group, which often takes walking tours in pursuit of its business, this time takes a step back in a way that could be useful for any resident – the agenda for this meeting includes an hourlong talk called “Zoning 101: An Overview of Zoning Standards and Development Project Review” by Jeff Roberts, the Community Development Department’s director of zoning and development, and Sarah Scott, an associate zoning planner. A review is also planned for what life-sciences developer IQHQ expects to do at 36-64 Whittemore Ave., a 19.6-acre site in North Cambridge near Alewife. Watchable by Zoom video conferencing.
Brooklyn Bagel Factory steams in
Board of Zoning Appeal, 7 to 11:45 p.m. Thursday. Brooklyn Bagel Factory makes its bid to come to 168 Hampshire St., Inman Square, potentially filling a space left empty by the departure of Lapels Dry Cleaning. Though the same location was long ago a Taco Bell, it’s not now zoned for “fast order food.” The proprietor is Cantabrigian Paul Rungta, who ran the Indian eateries Cafe Spice in MIT’s Stratton Student Center (and said he might again next year) and Surya Indian Express at the CambridgeSide mall. Rungta said Saturday that he’s “been working on this project for almost two years,” including posting delicious-looking images of steamed sandwiches made with hand-rolled and water-boiled bagels that drew a following online. “I got calls asking, ‘Why did you stop posting?’ I didn’t want to dream ahead of time.” Without zoning relief, between $30,000 and $40,000 in improvements to the site will have been wasted and a new location will have to be found for some $70,000 in equipment, Rungta said. But community support makes him optimistic: “I’m getting 10 calls a week asking ‘When are you opening?’” Watchable by Zoom video conferencing.
God forbid they open a bagel shop in Inman. What will the NIMBYs do next 🙄
The fact that a bagel shop has to apply for an exemption at that location is one of the many signs that our zoning is outdated and overly restrictive.
To both of the concern trolls who’ve already posted, I missed the part where there was even a hint of opposition to Brooklyn Bagels’ petition. If you want to change the zoning, submit a petition. You just need ten registered voters to sign and $150 or whatever the filing fee is. Or you can convince a City Councillor or two or three to introduce it themselves, and you pay nothing. Your choice. Otherwise, stop the whining. You live in a community, not the Ayn Randian libertarian every-man-for-himself paradise of your dreams.
I’m not a troll, but as the person who led the civility pledge, maybe you should hold yourself to it?
Bono is surprised that A Bigger Cambridge aren’t demanding a nine-story residential tower here. After all, don’t we have a “housing crisis” here in Cambridge?? Bagels??