In late January, some Riverside residents met with Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioner Brian Arrigo and state Rep. Marjorie Decker to discuss weekend park access via road closings on Memorial Drive. What should have been a collaborative community meeting turned into a secretive rally against the park, driven by Decker’s yearslong effort to exclude the thousands of Cambridge residents who support open park space.
I am a Riverside resident who has spent more than two years advocating for Riverbend Park. I’ve spoken at City Council meetings and engaged deeply with neighbors about our park space. We know the facts – a 2022 City report showed that 94 percent of Riverside residents use the park regularly, and 90 percent saw no major traffic issues during the closings – but listening to those with concerns is just as important. That’s why I’ve worked to understand and address the issues that were raised, including traffic and pollution.
I sought this engagement because Riverbend Park matters to Cambridge. Yet state leaders such as Decker have continuously ignored our voices.
Decker was unhelpful from the beginning. I first met her in 2022, when then-councillor E. Denise Simmons and the city held six community meetings for residents from all sides to discuss their views on Riverbend Park. I expected an elected official to care about hearing multiple perspectives. But Decker arrived only halfway through, listened briefly and promptly declared she was not taking a position.
She said it was only a council matter, something we later discovered was false.
I noticed she did not attend the other five meetings, where much of the constructive dialogue and compromise between neighbors took place. Her absence spoke volumes about her level of engagement and commitment to finding a solution.
After the council’s decisive 7-2 vote in favor of Riverbend Park in 2023, I was hopeful we could move forward. But surprisingly, the DCR changed course and opted to cancel Saturday closings to vehicle traffic. Meanwhile, the traffic issues Riverside residents said they experienced remained unresolved.
I met with state legislators and affected neighbors, believing we could address the community’s needs through dialogue. For nearly a year, I also reached out to Decker, individually and as part of the Memorial Drive Alliance, urging her to help us find solutions.
She stepped in only after an article highlighted her lack of responsiveness.
When we finally got to call, I learned again that she preferred discussing anything but solutions to park access. Each time I respectfully redirected to the issue, she would dwell momentarily, question whether I understood the situation and shift topics. I listened patiently as any constituent would while she pointed out several instances where she had been unfairly maligned by certain groups, which wasn’t the purpose of the call.
My state representative spoke at me, not with me.
In time, we learned the truth: Despite the public health benefits and strong support for Riverbend Park, Decker worked to roll back this program. She claimed neutrality publicly, but public records revealed she was actually “staunchly opposed.” She told Cambridge she was open to hearing from her constituents, but she organized private meetings with state officials secretly to block park access.
Because she refused to engage with residents offering constructive solutions, from changing traffic signals to improving sidewalks, she only deepened divisions within our community.
The final straw for me was the staged January meeting. When I arrived, hoping to share productive ideas and listen to others, I found an environment hostile to anyone with a differing view. For more than 30 minutes, I waited for an opportunity to speak. But the atmosphere quickly became toxic. I was shouted down, accused of being a “puppet” for white people because I am Black, and even told I should be “purged” from the room.
It was disheartening to see Decker not only stand by as this happened but support it. She called me out by name and said I was hurting the process. All the while, she said officials needed to listen to the “Black and Brown” voices in the room while explicitly ignoring mine.
I later found out through another public records request that Decker’s staff scheduled the meeting secretly with the DCR. She handpicked the organizers, who invited only people who opposed the park, and she did not advertise the meeting publicly to the Riverside community. That way, she could define the entire narrative to other decision-makers as one of controversy and division, not a sustained attempt to compromise or find solutions.
This experience was deeply painful. I thought that as an actively engaged constituent, I would have the chance to make my voice heard – not because I wanted to speak over a community but because I wanted to contribute to it. Instead, I felt silenced despite my efforts to work constructively with all sides.
Decker’s actions didn’t silence just me. They silenced a broad swath of Cambridge voices who support open spaces and, importantly, fair processes. After all, nobody likes a leader who doesn’t show up for them and respond to their needs. It’s not democratic, and it’s not what we deserve.
Decker disregards the values of transparency and collaboration that many of us care about in Cambridge. But thankfully, our community is strong, vibrant and civically engaged. As we look toward Tuesday’s state primary, we should support a leader who will genuinely listen and work for good things, like safe, healthy, inclusive and accessible public spaces. That is how we build a city that is truly for everyone.
Clyve Lawrence is a student at Harvard College, a transportation columnist in The Harvard Crimson and co-president of the Harvard Undergraduate Urban Sustainability Lab.
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Such behavior is unacceptable from a representative. Ignoring and excluding community voices, lying about actions – this is not how our state rep should act. Luckily there is a primary election on September 3rd and we have a better choice.
@bahmutov And you don’t have to wait till September 3rd! Here’s more info about early voting: https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/electioncommission/earlyvoting/earlyvotinginperson
Thank you Clyve for having the strength to write about your awful experiences interacting with Representative Marjorie Decker.
Many of Decker’s defendants are quick to point out her achievements, like her recent work on the major health bill that had just passed. However, when you pick apart how Decker has interacted with her constituents, like blatantly lying to them, it brings into question the integrity of her work in spite of her achievements. Who’s to say what other lies Decker has told to get what she wants?
I don’t want my state representative lying to me and applying opaque methods to get what they want. Luckily, Decker’s challenger is an option that I’ve already voted for because lying and disrespecting your constituents is unacceptable.
Decker lied, the park died.
I was at the Riverside meeting Clyve refers to. It was shameful how the meeting leaders shouted him down and refused to allow him to make comments. And it was equally shameful how Decker stood by and did not intervene to promote open discussion. She professed to be trying to give the community a voice, but she clearly stood strongly not only with opponents of Riverside park, but with opponents of any type of road diet for Mem Drive. And demonstrated clearly her propensity for back room deal making and lack of transparency.
Decker supporters are also currently parking their mobile billboard in the Senior Center Bus Only parking across from City hall right now. Hard to say I’m surprised