Tree-cutting moratorium felled by complaints of lack of process, shrugs about ‘emergency’
Warnings of an environmental emergency failed to win over enough city councillors to enact a temporary moratorium on tree-cutting. Instead the idea was returned to committee for a hearing to be scheduled by the end of February, possibly back for a vote in April.
Requiring more permits could slow tree loss, but many feel tweak to law is too small a step
Though a complete moratorium on cutting down trees drew strong support among speakers at an Ordinance Committee hearing, City Council committee members voted for a permit for anyone planning to take down a “significant” tree.
Catastrophic Dec. 23 West Cambridge floods brought no comfort from city, residents say
Silence from city staff about a December water main break along Craigie Street drew shocked testimony from affected residents and city councillors at a council meeting Monday, with vice mayor Jan Devereux calling it “un-Cambridge-like.”
Digital equity initiative is ‘spinning our wheels’ on way to study of city broadband, officials say
Plans for a “digital equity research initiative” failed to impress Monday, seen as a follow-up to the a Municipal Broadband Task Force that avoids answering whether the city should or could have municipal broadband.
Inman Square redesign gets $5M allocation, with design work, business plan still to come
The changes were debated and opposed to the end, by councillors and more than a half-dozen residents who showed up to say the concept was overly complicated, unnecessary without trying simpler fixes first and even made the intersection more dangerous.
Unanimous support for ‘Yes on Three’ order underlines city as haven for trans population
Expectations of razor-thin margins for a November ballot question brought vows of assistance from city councillors Monday who want Cambridge to set an example on protecting the rights of transgender people – or rather, to continue to.
Inman Square redesign gets 7-2 council vote, promises of help for affected small businesses
A plan to redesign Inman Square and improve its chaotic traffic patterns with new bike lanes, a daytime bus lane and its Vellucci Plaza broken into two was essentially voted in Monday by the City Council on a 7-2 vote.
Police congratulated for task force in The Port that cut gunfire incidents, kept Carnival peace
A police task force put together after a series of gunfire incidents in The Port neighborhood cut reports of shots fired by 78 percent from its start June 19 to its disbanding Sept. 1, along with making 46 arrests and issuing more than 200 warnings for illegal behaviors.
Tax bills will see big rise with housing surge, city manager warns at master plan meeting
A development master plan’s call to build affordable housing will almost certainly have unsettling, expensive effects for long-term Cambridge taxpayers, officials warned at a City Council roundtable.
Divisions made clear, Inman Square plan okayed by City Council to go to Legislature
A plan to redesign Inman Square will go to the state Legislature for permission after winning a 6-3 vote by the City Council on Monday. As a home rule petition, it needed a two-thirds vote and just made it.
