Attend meetings on winter costs, mall makeover, getting independent legal advice for City Council
Public meetings this week look at independent counsel for elected officials, renter credit checks and the city’s winter expenses; design review on two lab buildings that will begin transforming the CambridgeSide mall; the city’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic; and an interim schools superintendent.
Attend meetings on lower majorities for zoning, pool repair, MCAS tests and ice cream from a lab
Public meetings this week look at passing zoning more easily, and a Green New Deal; opting out of the MCAS test and a vocational education coalition; the Volpe redevelopment in Kendall Square; “missing middle” zoning; a Sub Zero Nitrogen Ice Cream in Cambridgeport; and much more.
Planning Board holds ‘missing middle’ zoning for more discussion, despite praise for its goals
Proposed “missing middle” zoning that might bring more multifamily housing to the city will stay with a torn Planning Board for more discussion – yet the fallback would have meant sending the proposal onward with notes on its complexity rather than the usual recommendation or rejection.
‘Missing Middle’ zoning is bait and switch, Cambridge style, and won’t aid affordability
Under the “Missing Middle” zoning proposal, existing double- and triple-decker properties would be irresistible to developers, and could be torn down and their tenants evicted. The resulting new units would sell for millions of dollars.
Attend meetings on rolling out solution for rats, single-use plastics answer and zoning proposals
Public meetings this week look at keeping rats out of the trash with new barrel and advice on a single-use plastics ban; the school district budget; and the “Missing Middle” and “Green Roofs” zoning petitions.
Our city can yield maple syrup and consideration, even on something as divisive as a development
“She said that a friend had told her some people were trying to prevent this affordable housing building from going up, and the friend had tried to enlist her in opposing the opposition. I said, I’m one of those opposers, but let’s talk.”
The simple solution to desegregating schools: Desegregate the neighborhoods feeding them
School reforms alone will not change persistent inequalities. The most effective solution is through, comprehensive zoning reform and enforcement of fair housing laws on the state and local levels.
East Cambridge nonprofit offers free mediation to landlords and tenants, and separating parents
The Community Dispute Settlement Center of East Cambridge is offering free mediation services to landlords and tenants as part of the state’s Eviction Diversion Initiative, and for parents who are separating and need to address co-parenting time and other child-related conflicts.
Court rules against Cambridge over Vail Court, giving ex-owner $3.7M even as he seeks return
The 0.65-acre property at 139 Bishop Allen Drive was taken in September 2016 by eminent domain after a decade of inaction on the vacant property. But the affordable, senior or transitional housing the city wants to build as a replacement continues to be slowed in court.
Attend meetings on single-family zoning law, snow removal, MIT dorm plan, Palmer Street
Public meetings this week look at snow removal, while the snow keeps falling; an Alewife Quadrangle zoning petition, continued; MIT plans for a grad student dorm; a possible end of zoning just for single-family housing; remaking Harvard Square’s Palmer Street; and more.
