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’s MoreFun Café and Found
License Commission, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday. The space at 438 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, that was an Artifact Cider Project taproom from 2020 to 2023 is set to become the MoreFun Café like the two in Boston – with toys, stationery and housewares – and a small kitchen and seating for 10, unlike in Boston. Also in Central Square, the vintage flea market Found (we wrote about it here) prepares to return to 5 Columbia St.; Arrow Street Arts in Harvard Square seeks to add a 200-square-foot seasonal patio with 20 seats, just a sign that it’s patio season all over; (McCarthy’s in Porter Square) and Violette (in Neighborhood 9) are coming for new patios too. Starbucks plans to open a location in the Sanofi building at 450 Water St., North Point. It will become the closest coffee to the Community College orange line T stop just over the line in Charlestown. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Housing for the lower-income
Public comment drop-in session for HUD grants, 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday. In preparing spending of federal funds for the coming years, Community Development Department staff ask public comments on affordable housing, economic development, public service and other community development needs for low and moderate-income residents. The funds to be used include general sources and one from a Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids program. At City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge.
Affordable housing near Porter
Affordable Housing Overlay project community meeting, 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday. This 100 percent affordable-housing proposal is for 2072 Massachusetts Ave., near Porter Square in North Cambridge, replacing the Darul Kabab restaurant next to senior homes. The potential height and number of units under a previous version could have provided as many as 49 affordable units, many of them intended for families. Developers Capstone Communities, Hope Real Estate Enterprises and MPZ Development discuss new plans and street and site context analysis at a meeting on the second floor of University Hall, 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Porter Square. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Renewed Harvard Square kiosk
Cambridge Kiosk opening celebration, 10 a.m. to noon, Friday. The historic former Out of Town newsstand reopens after a long renovation as a community gathering space and visitor information center as a project of the City of Cambridge, the CultureHouse organization and the Cambridge Office for Tourism. The kiosk is expected to feature such things as poetry open mics and arts workshops as well as rotating historical exhibits and intimate live music, and the launch party includes some of that live music, refreshments and a speaking program. The inaugural exhibit: a pop-up newsstand celebrating Cambridge’s print media history, including the legacy of the Out of Town News, the influence of radical newspapers and the role of music and cultural publications in shaping Cambridge’s creative identity.
Assessing ShotSpotter technology
Public Safety Committee, 3 p.m. Monday. This committee run by city councillor Ayesha Wilson gets an update on and looks at Cambridge Police Department use of the controversial Shotspotter technology, which listens for gunfire. Public comment will be allowed if time permits. A group called the Camberville Stop ShotSpotter Coalition believes there’s a conflict with Cambridge policies as a welcoming and sanctuary city in the use of tech such as ShotSpotter that has government funding and can share data with federal authorities. “We expect the city and CPD to push for increased implementation of this technology despite a myriad of concerns,” said the group’s Myles Herbert, noting – among other things – questions about the ability of the devices to pick up street-level conversations. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
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The Shotspotter hearing is Mon. at noon, not Tues.