Attend meetings in Cambridge from Feb. 9-16 about micromobility and toll of vacant spaces
These are just some of the municipal meetings and civic events for the coming week. More are on the City Calendar and in the city’s Open Meetings Portal.
Central Square, city contracts
A shopper at Cheapo Records in Cambridge’s Central Square on Oct. 10, 2020. (Photo: Marc Levy)
City Council, 5:30 p.m. Monday. A call for action to increase housing capacity and support retail and culture in Central Square is being sounded, with a reminder that there are some five underused studies and reports that city staff can look to in updating maps, development processes, zoning language and laws by September. Councillors want a plan responding to a study showing “a severe racial and gender disparity in the allocation of city contracts that does not reflect the demographics or values of Cambridge,” and to know whether the city can make its own laws around the use of “micromobility” devices such as electric bikes, scooters and skateboards that are good in many ways but give anxiety to seniors, people with disabilities and others. An order about “the appropriateness and methodology of addressing foreign policy resolutions within the scope of the City Council’s responsibilities” returns after being set aside Jan. 29.
From the staff side of the meeting, a report arrives on the unarmed Community Safety Department that is to begin its work in March; and there’s a recommendation against acting too quickly on replicating a Somerville tuition relief program that used federal Covid-relief funds to offer help to municipal employees and residents attending Lesley University for graduate degrees in social work, mental health counseling or human services. The council meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Jerry’s Pond hearing returns
Conservation Commission, 7 to 8 p.m., Monday. After a look at the site, commissioners bring back discussion of plans by the life-sciences developer IQHQ to return Jerry’s Pond as a public amenity; it’s been fenced in since the 1960s. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
City Council goal-setting
Special City Council meeting, 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Councillors gather to discuss goals for the term at a special location, with no public comment or way to watch remotely. At the City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge.
Town-gown reports
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. It’s town-gown report time, when the board checks in on what Lesley and Harvard universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are doing in, for, with and to the city. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Changes to City Council rules
Government Operations, Rules & Claims Committee, 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday. This committee run by councillor Paul Toner reviews and discusses possible amendments to how the City Council runs. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Economic toll of vacant spaces
Economic Development & University Relations Committee, noon to 2 p.m. Thursday. This committee run by city councillor Paul Toner discusses lab, office and retail vacancies and their expected impact on city revenues in the near and long term. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
This post was updated Feb. 13 to correct the headline and update a changed location for Tuesday’s special City Council meeting.
The City Council has absolutely NO business wasting time on “foreign policy resolutions”.
It is not within the scope of your responsibilities to your constituents.
You are welcome to write letters to our federal government, protest in the streets, post on the internet, whatever you like as a private citizen.
You are not welcome to work on tax payer dime on meaningless resolutions.
I agree with Jason. More time on local issues such as traffic and parking violations, etc and less on expressing your opinion on world affairs.
The number of empty storefronts from Arlington to central on mass ave is pretty grim. I don’t know what official numbers are but I’d guess like 20%.
Hopefully they can attract some new businesses that aren’t just weed stores that dodge taxes.
^^^ recreational weed stores don’t “dodge taxes”. They generate revenue at such a rate that cities like Cambridge are tripping over themselves to pack in as many as they can.
That fact that anyone can dodge taxes by spending $150, complain about headaches and get a medical card that exempts them from paying taxes….now THAT’S a dodge.