I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported me and helped re-elect me to the City Council. It’s truly rewarding to see so many residents take the time to learn about the issues and to vote — showing once again how deeply people care about the future of Cambridge. You are what makes this city such a wonderful place to live. I am also deeply grateful to our Election Commission and poll workers for running such a smooth and well-organized election.
Over the past few months, I’ve campaigned in every neighborhood, every precinct, often riding my bike to every corner of our city. Again and again, I listened to your concerns about the new Multi-Family Housing (MFH) Ordinance. Many of you asked me the same question: “How could the council even consider discarding our zoning protections and allowing tall buildings everywhere — without neighborhood input?”
The reality is that Cambridge cannot solve the housing crisis alone. It’s a national — and global — problem. It does not help that every week sees more older, affordable units lost by attrition: demolished or sold to developers to become luxury condos. Additionally, about 8,000 university students now live off campus, and Airbnb and Vrbo list hundreds of rental units in Cambridge — only a third of which are legal. We must not only stop the erosion of affordable housing, but also continue doing our fair share, along with other MBTA communities, to create new affordable homes. We can meet the challenge of affordability by preserving what we already have and creating new housing for working families without destroying our neighborhoods or building tall on every block. Initially, I would like to see the council revisit the recommendations of the Envision Cambridge plan to build taller on the main corridors and around the transportation hubs so that residents may live comfortably in the city without needing cars. Other options: for the city to explore social housing through public-private development on existing city-owned lots, and strengthening the work of the Cambridge Community Land Trust.
Livability and safety were also on the minds of countless residents I met while campaigning: people who love Cambridge but worry about its direction and sustainability. Some feel squeezed by rising housing costs; others are frustrated by the loss of parking and increased congestion. Many asked me how we can make the streets safe again for every car, bicycle, scooter and pedestrian? I share these concerns, and we will address them.
Yet, I feel Cambridge faces new challenges even greater than those of worsening traffic and longer commuting times. The city budget is growing faster than our revenues, and the threat of higher taxes could make Cambridge less affordable for everyone. On top of that, federal budget cuts and climate change — especially rising sea levels and the intense rainfall that overflows our sewage system — are challenges we can’t ignore. We — the City Council and all of you — will have to dig deeply into our strategic and imaginative thinking to continue building the livable, progressive and caring community we are today.
I remain committed to addressing our housing, transportation and budget challenges with practical, balanced solutions. We are fortunate to live in such a dynamic, diverse and forward-looking community, and I believe that, working together, we can keep Cambridge vibrant, affordable, and welcoming to all.
In the next two years, I look forward to hearing from you, whether you supported me as your #1 choice or not. Your ideas, your energy and your commitment are what make progress possible. Let’s keep the conversation going and keep Cambridge as the extraordinary city we all love.
Respectfully,
Cathie Zusy
The writer was re-elected to the Cambridge City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
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Cambridge’s housing crisis demands bold action, not more delays or corridor-only upzoning.
Protecting outdated “zoning protections” just preserves exclusion and scarcity while rents soar and families are pushed out. The MFH ordinance is a vital step to allow more diverse, affordable homes in all neighborhoods, not only busy streets, so working families and newcomers aren’t shut out.
Leadership means embracing real change, not deferring it with studies and nostalgia.
Cambridge can’t do it alone. But if everyone adopts an attitude of “you first”, nothing will get done.
The crisis is acute in Cambridge because we have created more jobs than housing. Cambridge needs to act now and be an example for others. More studies,.after years of studies and delays, is just another effort to block housing.
This reminds me of the convivial, serious atmosphere at the polls I worked at on election day. We got a surprising turnout for municipal voting. Care about the issues was there in the faces. Beyond her thanks, Zusy has laid ground for policy which invites thought. Our big issues get simplified, dumbed-down, captured by ideology so often in public conversation. Her reflection on the balancing act for housing that people both need and can live next to, is refreshing. Balancing–as if life has many poles, not just for or against. And here is the importance of neighborhoods. This week showed me how precious the flavors and bonds of neighborhood really are. Our local issues are loaded by broader pressures: money, federal policy, and climate. It’s easier to tap our strategic imagination when we have revenue, when we’re insulated from hardship. With less we’ll have to dig deeper. Can this reveal the real capacities of our strategic, imaginative, practical, and caring civic selves?
Dear Councilor Zusy,
Your re-election by a rising number of votes tells me that people value being kept in the loop, and being a part of the decision-making, something that is slowly getting lost. We have been given a glimpse into what is to come by yet another Globe article on councilor Azeem… something echoed by Councilor McGovern.
“We actually still have all of these other rules and restrictions, and it’s going to take time to get through all of them,” he said. “What’s important from the abundance perspective of all of this is that it’s possible.”
Get them ALL through? That tunnel-vision agenda suggests more pre-determined results, diminished oversight, more foreign investors, happy developers and less affordable housing. We lose the soul of the city in the meantime.
Thank you Councilor Zusy for your integrity, introspection, outreach to the seemingly ignored. we need compromise and real city planning. Not pass now and fix later. Please stop, look and listen.
The problem will only grow as the population grows. Might as well take down all the single-family homes and build a row of skyscrapers on each street.
A sad sight. Happy to be 80 years old, so I don’t have to live like that.
Good luck, Cathie; you’re doing a great, but impossible task.