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.

A rendering of the Third Street Park park planned for the Volpe parcel in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. (Image: Mitimco)

Envisioning Mass. Ave. of 2040

Massachusetts Avenue Planning Study community meeting, 6 to 7:15 p.m. Thursday. The group holds its second community meeting toward creating a vision for what the avenue will look like in 2040 between Alewife Brook Parkway and Cambridge Common. The focus this time is on the area south of Porter Square, providing an overview of existing conditions and findings from the team’s initial research. The agenda will include a virtual presentation from the planning team, a review of the next community meeting approach and time for discussion questions and feedback. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.

Schools budget proposal, Part I

School Committee special meeting, 6 to 8 p.m Thursday. A budget workshop around the budget proposed by superintendent Victoria Greer presents for the 2025 fiscal year. Watchable online.

Van Leeuwen ice cream; La Saison

Board of Zoning Appeal, 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Thursday. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, which makes pints you probably see at the grocery store, is expanding its scoop shops to Massachusetts – one to Boston’s Seaport and the other to 1 Brattle Square, if it can get permission from the board as a “formula business” in a Harvard Square Overlay District meant to favor small, locally owned businesses. (The company made it through a Harvard Square Advisory Committee meeting last week.) The dessert shop wants 1,375 square feet at street level in a prime location that has seen long vacancies from departures such as an EMS outdoors shop, Chipotle and Spyce. La Saison Bakery, an instant favorite upon its 2020 opening at 407 Concord Ave. in Neighborhood 9 near Fresh Pond, wants to expand to 20 outdoor seats, as it’s already expanding hours to 7 p.m. daily. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.

Talk about school climate survey

School climate survey town hall, 6 to 8 p.m. Monday. Go over the findings from a 2023-2024 survey of how students, families, educators, staff and administrators feel about their school district – which doesn’t seem to come off well, but superintendent Victoria Greer and district leaders promise “context.” They will present data, share next steps and answer questions. Dinner is served at 5:30 p.m. and child care is provided. The town hall is in the Media Cafe of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. To register to attend in-person or virtually, click here.

Budget season starts in earnest

Finance Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillors Patty Nolan and Joan Pickett reviews and discusses the 2025 fiscal year capital budget and council budget priorities and goals, and continues a Dec. 12 discussion on public investment planning. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.

Unarmed responders meet public

Meet the Community Assistance and Response Engagement Team, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Listen and learn about the missions, values and goals of the new unarmed Community Safety Department of Cambridge and get answers to questions before its official launch. Refreshments will be served. At the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge.

Schools budget proposal, Part II

School Committee, 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday. No agenda as of press time for this meeting, but it starts with a hearing on the 2025 fiscal year school department budget. The committee meets in the Dr. Henrietta S. Attles Meeting Room at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, 459 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Televised and watchable online.

More green in Volpe site park

Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. This meeting is more about what’s not happening, meaning two projects are being withdrawn at least temporarily – including 48-50 Bishop Allen Drive near Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street, first presented four years ago to demolish an 11-home building in Central Square and put up a seven-story one with 22 – and one seeks an extension: a four-story lab development at 160-180 Fawcett St., between properties now owned by Healthpeak in the Alewife Quadrangle section of the Cambridge Highlands neighborhood. (We wrote about it here.) One thing that is happening is a design review of the small Third Street Park being built on the Volpe parcel in Kendall Square, where designers say they have reduced the size of a pavilion 10 percent to squeeze in more green space. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.