Stanislav Rivkin has a long list of gripes with the current Cambridge City Council. At the top of that list is a failure to meaningfully oppose the federal government’s sweeping cuts to social services and its attacks on undocumented immigrants.
“They haven’t been standing up for a working-class community – they haven’t been standing up for the communities that have been under attack by the Trump administration,” Rivkin said of the councillors.
The presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Cambridge has left the city’s immigrant community feeling afraid, said Rivkin, who came to the United States from Uzbekistan as a child and emphasizes the importance of immigrants. During the first years after his arrival, Rivkin’s family relied on Medicaid, subsidized housing and food stamps to get by – programs that, he said, helped them build a life and give back to their community.
The council is scaling back social programs similar to those, such as the Rise Up cash assistance plan, Rivkin said.
“The city, rather than standing up for these families, standing up for these individuals that are being attacked, is actually cutting back its services,” he added.
Rivkin said he’s tossing his hat in the political ring as an independent in November to make Cambridge more affordable for working-class families and oppose the Trump administration. He believes removing money from politics is a necessary first step.
Big, organized groups such as the Cambridge Citizens Coalition, A Better Cambridge and Cambridge Bicycle Safety have collectively raised and spent more than $60,000 in the past election, according to The Harvard Crimson. Every sitting city councillor has gotten an endorsement from at least one of the three political action committees.
The influence of the groups has created a system that favors “favoritism, cronyism, profiteering” over the interests of working-class Cantabrigians, said Rivkin, who vowed as a candidate not to seek or accept endorsement by either the Cambridge Citizens Coalition or A Better Cambridge.
“Changing the system is the only way that we’re going to give working-class people in the city a fair shake, in my opinion,” he added.
Part of his vision to change the city’s system also means imposing term limits through charter reform to give way to a greater variety of voices in local government.
He also aims to make Cambridge more affordable, especially for low-income residents. Rivkin advocates for building more affordable housing, investing in social housing and supporting community land trusts – measures he believes will keep wealth within the city and prevent it from flowing into the hands of out-of-state private equity investors.
Municipal vouchers are part of his plan. These city-funded vouchers help residents pay for affordable housing units that are still too pricey. Additionally, he wants to streamline the process of building, submitting and renting units below market rate.
Despite his progressive optimism, Rivkin recognizes that the city won’t be able to replace all federal funding cuts. He proposes tapping into the city’s rainy-day fund and raising residential property taxes to continue supporting social services.
The city has its own approach to coping with federal cuts threatening Cambridge’s social programs. In amendments in the fiscal 2026 budget, an additional $1 million was allocated toward a Municipal Supportive Housing Voucher program for the homeless.
The city expects more than $12 million in federal funds in the 2026 fiscal year, but “some expected funds may be at risk due to executive orders, federal budget changes or challenges surrounding grant conditions that are incompatible with city policies and values,” the city said in a press release.
If federal funding is cut, the city plans to use a $5 million Federal Grant Stabilization Fund to offset the losses.
Rivkin was a public policy and international relations at Knox College in Illinois who expects a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in May, according to an online profile; it says he works at Harvard as a research assistant at its Ash Center and associate director of admissions at the Graduate School of Education. He is one of 20 people running for a seat on Cambridge’s council. Municipal elections are Nov. 4, with eight of nine council incumbents running for reelection – guaranteeing a spot for a newcomer.
This post was updated Sept. 5, 2025, to add the candidate’s undergraduate degree and correct the context for remarks around social programs and campaign endorsements.
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Stan Rivken was endorsed by Our Revolution Cambridge and the Cambridge Residents Alliance, which both share Stan’s desire for a different approach on housing affordability, including social housing and a community land trust.