Three on the School Committee seek reelection so far; Rojas invites voters to a Thursday event
School Committee member José Luis Rojas Villarreal has announced that he will run for a second term, with a “pre-kickoff event” Thursday. Fellow first-termer Ayesha Wilson and Rachel Weinstein began talking in December about running again.
Juneteenth is recognized as a federal holiday. What does that mean for this Fourth of July?
Juneteenth can no longer stand in the shadows of America’s celebration of independence, but highlights how it is inextricably linked to America’s core values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all.
Toomey opts to retire with ‘much gratitude,’ having served as an elected official since 1986
City councillor Tim Toomey said Monday that he is retiring from public service after more than 35 years.
Cathy Park Hong has more than ‘Minor Feelings’ to share in a library author conversation Monday
Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong comes to the Cambridge Public Library on Monday – online – for a conversation with Harvard’s Courtney Sato about her “Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning.”
Attend meetings on a condo conversion law, after-school programs, Harvard dining, more
Public meetings this week look at a condo conversion, closing Central Square to car traffic – along with four topics delayed from last week – as well as hiring the next city manager, ensuring after-school programming for the fall and adding Summer Shack and Bar-Enza to Harvard Square’s dining mix.
Poker provides untraditional path to council race for Eckstut; Siddiqui, Nolan also ante up for runs
A new challenger has declared a run for a City Council seat in Robert Eckstut, a Lesley-educated life coach, and three more council incumbents: councillors Patty Nolan and Dennis Carlone, and Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui.
From $65 million for Covid to drug reparations, councillors delay four big items to last meeting
City councillors used their “charter right” four times Monday to delay discussion on a variety of topics by one week. despite there being just one meeting to go before their summer break. Millions in funding, a reparations plan, government reforms and a treat rescue are briefly on hold.
A loophole in a 40-year-old ballot initiative explains much of our love for development
After passage of Prop 2½, the state’s communities were reeling from lowered revenues. To keep services running and keep up with inflation, they latched onto a loophole: encouraging new construction that was exempt from tax limits.
Attend meetings on reparations, name changes, police technology and aging elementary schools
Public meetings this week look at reparations through cannabis revenue, name changes to the Agassiz neighborhood and Central Square branch library, police surveillance technology that worries civil libertarians, aging elementary schools, tree tear-downs and much more.
It’s no coincidence that eight decades passed without the council holding a charter review
The incrementalism of the City Council’s charter change order is sad, but what elevates it to tragedy is how thoroughly the nature of our government stunts its own reform, and how blind the council as a whole seems in identifying the circular nature of the problem.
