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.
Community benefits analysis
Human Services & Veterans Committee, 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday. This committee run by vice mayor Marc McGovern and councillor Ayesha Wilson looks at the work of a Community Benefits Advisory Committee, mainly a report presented in May but likely taking into account a divisive process in East Cambridge that raised questions about whether benefits can be focused toward a single neighborhood or must be considered citywide. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
DEI layoffs draw a hearing
Government Operations, Rules & Claims Committee, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday. This committee run by vice mayor Marc McGovern responds to a Nov. 20 restructuring of the city’s Equity and Inclusion Department that cost seven people their jobs in an abrupt way that city councillors and community members called unprecedented, opaque, harmful to vital services, “inhumane” and “brutal.” The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Brattle Street bicycle lanes
Historical Commission, 6 p.m. Thursday. Among agenda items is a review of existing two-way bike lanes and related structures on Brattle Street from Mason Street to the Fresh Pond Parkway. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
License plate reader technology
Public Safety Committee, noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday. This committee run by city councillor Ayesha Wilson considers “the implications” of automatic license plate readers – surveillance technology the council approved in February and wanted turned off in October after learning more about its uses and abuses. The committee meets at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Turkish food for North Point
Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. A continuance until Jan. 13 has been asked for a plan to put up a six-story building with 68 apartments at 16-28 Porter St., Wellington-Harrington, with no car parking but extensive bike parking. Developer SGL – also working on a six-story, 71-unit building at at 1740 Massachusetts Ave., Neighborhood 9 – would be filling an empty lot that was once a few multifamily structures totaling around 15 beds. The owner is an LLC based on tony Lewis Wharf in Boston. Also on the agenda: Use of ground-floor space at an apartment building at 20 Child St., North Point, for a Turkish restaurant called Doner Shack. (A month ago it was expected to be a fitness center.) Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
Solar preservation zoning
Housing and Health & Environment committees, 3 to 5 p.m. Dec. 11. These committees run by city councillors Burhan Azeem and Sumbul Siddiqui and city councillor Patty Nolan, respectively, discuss proposed zoning that calls for the architecture of tall buildings to include stepbacks to preserve sunlight for neighbors’ rooftop solar panels. The committees meet at City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Televised and watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
ChiCha San Chen tea shop
Board of Zoning Appeal, 6 to 11:30 p.m. Dec. 11. Harvard Square can expect at least its fifth boba tea shop as ChiCha San Chen seeks to open in One Brattle Square – replacing a bank. The Taiwanese chain emphasizes that its drinks start with freshly ground and brewed traditional teas. Those can be enjoyed as they are or infused with flavors, then toppings, all with the by-now standard range of sweetnesses and amounts of ice. Watchable by Zoom videoconferencing.
A stronger
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