Heard at the hearings: Police want body cameras, broadband hire is under the manager, and more
In some tidbits from budget hearings, we learned that a municipal broadband hire is listed as being in the City Manager’s Office; our housing liaison could evolve into an Office of Housing Stability; police body cameras have wide support; and Cambridge ranks high on cybersecurity … according to the people responsible for Cambridge’s cybersecurity.
Housing Authority board raises director salary, enthusiastic endorsement of Johnston tenure
The head of the Cambridge Housing Authority got a bigger salary increase than he asked for in approval of a new five-year contract. He’s led the agency through two years of pandemic, continued a sweeping renovation of the CHA portfolio of low-income housing and branched out to administer Section 8 housing programs in other communities.
Starry will put $15 broadband into CHA homes; The Brook opens; Residences will cross city line
The wireless Internet provider Starry will provide low-cost broadband to more than 2,630 affordable homes citywide in partnership with the Cambridge Housing Authority; a high-end apartment building called The Brook has opened near Alewife; and 29 residential units are planned for a building crossing the city line between Inman and Union squares.
Connolly and Elugardo’s tenant protections bill could aid against rising rents and gentrification
Only investment in new affordable housing, particularly social housing, can provide a long-term solution to our housing crisis, but a bill enabling municipalities to consider rent control and rent stabilization could provide short- and medium-term solutions. There’s a hearing on it Tuesday.
Attend meetings on bike lanes, Alewife zoning, after-school buses, Heart safety plan and more
Public meetings this week look at bike lanes on Massachusetts Avenue; licensing for New Republik, a Barcelona Wine Bar and 286Broadway, a Housing Affordability petition, after-school program busing, an unarmed public safety program, Margaret Fuller House improvements and more.