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.
Joint health initiative starts
Somerville-Cambridge Public Health Collaborative Advisory Board, 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday. Overseeing a collaboration to tackle shared community health challenges, the board meets for the first time to establish grant uses and begin hiring staff. The neighboring cities established the collaborative, funded by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, this year to employ health officials with responsibility toward both municipalities. Watchable via videoconferencing.
Net-zero transportation plan
Health & Environment Committee, 10 a.m. to noon Monday. This committee run by city councillor Patty Nolan reviews and discusses the launch of a Net Zero Transportation Plan. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
More charter review by council
City Council, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Monday. A “special committee of the whole” continues a Feb. 13 hearing to review and discuss recommendations from a Charter Review Committee and additional suggestions from councillors about the city’s charter – the ruling document that gave us a city manager form of government and didn’t get a second look for 80 years. Mayoral elections, budget powers and approval of city solicitor appointments are on the agenda. At Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
School district budget needs
City Council and School Committee, 5:30 p.m. Monday. The bodies get together to talk about Cambridge Public Schools budget priorities for the 2026 fiscal year at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Regulating broker fees
Neighborhood & Long Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts & Celebration Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillors Cathie Zusy and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler meets to discuss tenant-paid broker fees and other housing fees and what ways city and state government can regulate them. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
State of the City speeches
State of the City address, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Mayor E. Denise Simmons and city manager Yi-An Huang discuss the city’s recent accomplishments, current work and vision for the year ahead. In the Sullivan Chamber on the second floor of Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, and preceded by a casual social at 6 p.m.
Update on open space work
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The board hears the latest on a citywide open space plan and a withdrawal from a request for a special permit to build first- and third-floor extensions on a house in the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood. The latter is because multifamily zoning passed Feb. 10 by the City Council makes the permit no longer necessary, a lawyer says. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Council budget process begins
Finance Committee, 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday. This committee run by city councillors Patty Nolan and Paul Toner reviews and discusses priorities and goals for the coming fiscal year and how they will shape the city budget. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
BB&N school appeals nonuse
Board of Zoning Appeal, 6 to 11:30 p.m. Feb. 27. The Buckingham Browne & Nichols private school argues that a variance granted in July 2020 authorizing it to use its 1.2-acre plot at 30 Gerry’s Landing, West Cambridge, for educational uses, isn’t lapsed: The land has been used by the school for classes, meetings and storage as imposed on it by the Covid pandemic. If that can be settled, the school hopes to go on to use the land for day care, preschool, kindergarten, primary or secondary school uses and even some parking, as needed. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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Regarding the BB&N petitions at the BZA, I believe that Cambridge’s recent voluntary loss of its exemption from the Dover Amendment probably makes them unnecessary.