The Cambridge City Council remembered councillor Joan Pickett in their meeting Monday, the first since Pickett passed away on Aug. 30 at age 69.
The council’s resolution stated that Pickett “earned the respect, admiration and affection of her colleagues and people throughout the Cambridge community for her warmth, her thoughtfulness, her desire to serve and her willingness to engage with every person that she came across.”
In the meeting, council members and other city staff remarked on Pickett’s deep desire to improve the city and understand viewpoints that differed from her own – a desire they observed in their own conversations with Pickett as well as her interactions with constituents.
“Some people might want to think that she already had her mind made up [on issues], but she did her homework, and she really wanted to talk to everybody on all sides of the issue before she made her mind up,” councillor Paul Toner said.
Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler acknowledged that he disagreed with Pickett on issues regarding bike lanes and housing, but said that she was “interested in the different perspective that you brought to the table” and “really eager to learn” from whomever she was speaking to.
Pickett lived in Cambridge since 1997, where she became a member and then 10-year president of the Mid-Cambridge Neighborhood Association. She also served on the Charles River Conservancy as board and finance committee chair, and she was a founding board member of Caring Canines Pet Therapy. She came out of retirement to run for office last year, councillors said.
Pickett’s candidacy grew out of her concern around bike lanes, a divisive topic in Cambridge. Speakers at the meeting commended Pickett for her ability to avoid partisan and judgmental aspects of politics in her six months of work on the council.
“She was never hostile, was never personal,” vice mayor Marc McGovern said, adding that the two “were able to have really constructive, meaningful conversations, even when those conversations weren’t easy.”
Councillors Sumbul Siddiqui and Ayesha Wilson were the most visibly overcome by emotion and loss during their remembrances. As Wilson finished her remarks, saying she will “always miss” Pickett’s “kindness and her curiosity, because it always came from a genuine place,” Siddiqui handed her a box of tissues.
City Manager Yi-An Huang said Pickett made city staff “feel seen and heard.” She could ask sharp and challenging questions, “but always with a real caring tone,” Huang said.
Speakers emphasized Pickett’s singular personality and the painful effect of its absence on the council. Mayor E. Denise Simmons and others noted how they appreciated Pickett’s uniquely dry sense of humor. “She was a hoot,” Simmons said.
Pickett’s empty desk in Sullivan Chamber held a display of flowers and a framed photo of the councillor put together by Naomie Stephen, executive assistant to the council. Pickett “had that unique combination of gravitas and humor and just humanness, so she’ll be sorely missed,”Stephen said.
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