WE SUPPORT
Community, Environment, Livability, Affordability, Good Government
We encourage more responsible governance, economic sustainability, sound environmental policy, and progressive housing policy - not the demolition of homes in lower income neighborhoods to make way for more luxury housing, increasing housing costs for everyone.
CCC is proud to have been the first Cambridge civic group to present to City Council a zoning petition to end single family exclusionary zoning, the 2021 Advancing Housing Affordability Petition (also referred to as the Donovan Petition): HERE.
CCC is proud to have been the first Cambridge civic group to present to City Council a zoning petition to end single family exclusionary zoning, the 2021 Advancing Housing Affordability Petition (also referred to as the Donovan Petition): HERE.
CAMBRIDGE GOVERNANCE & FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
City Council Charter Reform Process: Draft: City Charter Reform Document (March 17, 2025) HERE
Finances: On March 3, 2025 City Manager Huang announced at Council that Cambridge was now entering a period of serious financial concern if not peril, akin to the dangers of COVID due in large measure to impacts of the U.S. Government on funding that is important to local universities, hospitals and federal employees. Read more here: “Trump Policies Could Hit as Hard as Pandemic Officials Say in Assessing Financial Worst Case” HERE
March 17, 2025: City Manager requests from Council an OK to transfer of $30 million from "Free Cash" fund to mitigate anticipated debt service costs in future years for the City’s major capital projects. (#9 3.17.25) HERE
A March 16, 2025 Boston Globe article notes that the biotech industry in Cambridge and Boston is grappling with a record 16.1 million sq ft of unleased lab space. Read more: HERE
CCC supports a re-evaluation of citywide spending in the face of this looming crisis.
Finances: On March 3, 2025 City Manager Huang announced at Council that Cambridge was now entering a period of serious financial concern if not peril, akin to the dangers of COVID due in large measure to impacts of the U.S. Government on funding that is important to local universities, hospitals and federal employees. Read more here: “Trump Policies Could Hit as Hard as Pandemic Officials Say in Assessing Financial Worst Case” HERE
March 17, 2025: City Manager requests from Council an OK to transfer of $30 million from "Free Cash" fund to mitigate anticipated debt service costs in future years for the City’s major capital projects. (#9 3.17.25) HERE
A March 16, 2025 Boston Globe article notes that the biotech industry in Cambridge and Boston is grappling with a record 16.1 million sq ft of unleased lab space. Read more: HERE
CCC supports a re-evaluation of citywide spending in the face of this looming crisis.
UPZONING PLANS for the CORRIDORS AND SQUARES
The City Council is initiating a plan to upzone our corridors and squares. Here is what it would mean on the ground for the corridors: In essence one could have 9 story buildings if the area's current "district standard" is 74', and 13 stories for 75' or above districts. For AHO projects, Concord potentially can go to 15 stories anywhere as an AHO corridor (12 stories plus 3 bonus stories); it can go to 16 stories (13 stories plus 3 bonus stories) where there is C-2 zoning. For AHO projects, Huron avenue can go to 9 stories like the rest of C-1. The related C-2 areas include parts of the city Harvard Street, etc. also can have AHO project heights of 16 stories (13 + 3). It is hard to imagine Concord Ave, which is only 30’ wide at some locations, with15 story buildings. Squares would go even higher to 23 stories. Note the height of the Rindge Towers are 22 stories, but there is a lot of land around them which would NOT be true for squares like Porter Square, Central Square and Harvard Square.
NEW CITY WIDE DESIGN GUIDELINES PROPOSED & PRESENTED
(with no Community Commentary or Input)
(with no Community Commentary or Input)
Tuesday March 18, 2025 from 7:00PM The Planning Board will address and vote on Cambridge's proposed new city design guidelines, long before most residents have had a chance to see what is in them. You can read them HERE
March 25, 2025 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Cambridge Public Library, CDD's proposed new citywide design guidelines will bee presented to Residents for the first time.
In all likelihood the City Council will vote on them soon after.
Read CCC's new blogpost on "Our City's Proposed New Design Guidelines"(3.16.25) HERE
March 25, 2025 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the Cambridge Public Library, CDD's proposed new citywide design guidelines will bee presented to Residents for the first time.
In all likelihood the City Council will vote on them soon after.
Read CCC's new blogpost on "Our City's Proposed New Design Guidelines"(3.16.25) HERE
TRANSIT ISSUES
Cambridge is planning to remove 60% of residential parking along Broadway starting as early as this April to comply with the Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO), which will replace street parking with wide-shouldered bike lanes which will cause severe hardship for many residents on and near Broadway.. The Group "Broadway Parking" has asked people to sign a petition HERE. One can contact them at [email protected]
CITYWIDE UP-ZONING
City Council passes radical upzong on February 10, relinquishing viable City Planning, and turning our future over to for-profit investors and developers.
The citywide luxury up-zoning was ordained on Feb. 10, 2025. We thank Councillor Cathie Zusy for opposing it. We are already feeling the impacts of this ordinance with higher housing prices, taxes, and energy bills, as well as the loss of critically needed mature trees and green spaces. In addition to our group, others that are unhappy with this luxury housing upzoning and voiced opposition to the 4+2 model ordained by City Council include the Cambridge Justice Coalition, the Cambridge Residence Alliance, CARE Housing, Our Revolution, and the Cambridge branch of NAACP.
A Key Question: We are already on track to meet or 2030 new housing goals, but is 12,500 new units by 2030 really the number we should strive for in an uncertain economy with the array of federal-funding and employment cuts in Cambridge and the Boston area?
A Key Question: We are already on track to meet or 2030 new housing goals, but is 12,500 new units by 2030 really the number we should strive for in an uncertain economy with the array of federal-funding and employment cuts in Cambridge and the Boston area?
UPDATES SINCE THE UPZONING PASSED
WE NOW HAVE 7 EXAMPLES of now-larger multi-million dollar homes benefitting from the Feb 10, 2025 luxury upzoning. All of them represent far larger and more expensive single family homes, duplexes or luxury three-unit examples replacing triple deckers:
26 Jay Street in Riverside
24 Newell St in Area 9
121 Rindge in North Cambridge
131 Thingvalla in Strawberry Hill
161 Cushing Street in Strawberry Hill
18 Clinton St in Mid-Cambridge
READ analysis of these HERE
26 Jay Street in Riverside
24 Newell St in Area 9
121 Rindge in North Cambridge
131 Thingvalla in Strawberry Hill
161 Cushing Street in Strawberry Hill
18 Clinton St in Mid-Cambridge
READ analysis of these HERE
READ our Blogpost: Up-Zoned: Economists Weigh-In (3.18.24). HERE
READ our Blogpost: "Science is Real: Cambridge House Flipping and Cost Factors in Luxury Housing Upzoning" (3.12.25) HERE
READ: State Senator Pat Jehlen's Letter to Constituents on How Investors are Now Outbidding Local Buyers: HERE
READ: "Supply Constraints do not Explain Price and Quantity Growth Across U. S. Cities." by Schuyler Louie et al., National Bureau of Economic Research" March 2025. "...our findings imply that constrained housing supply is relatively unimportant in explaining differences in rising house prices among U.S. cities. These results challenge the prevailing view of local housing and labor markets and suggest that easing housing supply constraints may not yield the anticipated improvements in housing affordability." What does matter? Income Level Increases among other things. HERE
They note in this important study that " using four standard measures of housing supply constraints from the literature, we find that cities measured to have more restrictive housing supply show the same growth in house prices, quantities, population and rooms per person in response to higher income growth from 2000–2020 as cities that seem less constrained. This is true across all the measures of housing constraints, if we extend our sample to cover 1980 to 2020, and if we instrument for housing demand using the plausibly exogenous increase in housing demand from pandemic-era remote work. Interpreting our empirical approach through a demand-and-supply framework where we allow for arbitrary correlations of income growth with other shocks, we show that our results imply that housing supply constraints are quantitatively unimportant in explaining rising housing costs across U.S. cities. In the simplest case, when income growth is uncorrelated with other housing demand and supply shocks, then the same income growth will translate into more house price growth and less house quantity growth in less elastic cities." In short, removing zoning constraints (allowing developers to build higher and larger, as of right, and without design oversight) will NOT bring the housing prices down.
READ: " How Giant White Houses Took Over America" by Dan Kois, Slate (March 6, 2025): HERE
READ: "Homes for Profit: Speculation and Investment in Greater Boston An Analysis of Investor Activity in the Greater Boston Residential Real Estate Market, 2000 - 2022" Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (MAPC): HERE "Using MAPC’s Housing Submarkets to analyze investor activity in Greater Boston’s varied housing markets, our research finds that investor activity is most likely to occur in the region’s high-density urban submarket with relatively low housing prices (Submarket 2), which is home to the highest share of renters, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and immigrant populations of the region’s seven submarkets." Cambridge is a key target.
READ our Blogpost: "Science is Real: Cambridge House Flipping and Cost Factors in Luxury Housing Upzoning" (3.12.25) HERE
READ: State Senator Pat Jehlen's Letter to Constituents on How Investors are Now Outbidding Local Buyers: HERE
READ: "Supply Constraints do not Explain Price and Quantity Growth Across U. S. Cities." by Schuyler Louie et al., National Bureau of Economic Research" March 2025. "...our findings imply that constrained housing supply is relatively unimportant in explaining differences in rising house prices among U.S. cities. These results challenge the prevailing view of local housing and labor markets and suggest that easing housing supply constraints may not yield the anticipated improvements in housing affordability." What does matter? Income Level Increases among other things. HERE
They note in this important study that " using four standard measures of housing supply constraints from the literature, we find that cities measured to have more restrictive housing supply show the same growth in house prices, quantities, population and rooms per person in response to higher income growth from 2000–2020 as cities that seem less constrained. This is true across all the measures of housing constraints, if we extend our sample to cover 1980 to 2020, and if we instrument for housing demand using the plausibly exogenous increase in housing demand from pandemic-era remote work. Interpreting our empirical approach through a demand-and-supply framework where we allow for arbitrary correlations of income growth with other shocks, we show that our results imply that housing supply constraints are quantitatively unimportant in explaining rising housing costs across U.S. cities. In the simplest case, when income growth is uncorrelated with other housing demand and supply shocks, then the same income growth will translate into more house price growth and less house quantity growth in less elastic cities." In short, removing zoning constraints (allowing developers to build higher and larger, as of right, and without design oversight) will NOT bring the housing prices down.
READ: " How Giant White Houses Took Over America" by Dan Kois, Slate (March 6, 2025): HERE
READ: "Homes for Profit: Speculation and Investment in Greater Boston An Analysis of Investor Activity in the Greater Boston Residential Real Estate Market, 2000 - 2022" Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (MAPC): HERE "Using MAPC’s Housing Submarkets to analyze investor activity in Greater Boston’s varied housing markets, our research finds that investor activity is most likely to occur in the region’s high-density urban submarket with relatively low housing prices (Submarket 2), which is home to the highest share of renters, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and immigrant populations of the region’s seven submarkets." Cambridge is a key target.
The composite image below is 121 Rindge Avenue, one of many responses to the citywide upzoning.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: "People are very bad at macroeconomics. Even many economists. We simply cannot see a whole system and constantly forget the first lesson of macro that someone’s spending is another’s income" (Economist Cameron Murray, author of The Great Housing Hijack; source: X/Twitter March 2, 2025).
QUOTE FROM THE RECENT PAST: "Asking for-profit developers to fix the affordable housing problem is like asking an arsonist to put out their own fire. What is their incentive?"
The Black Response Cambridge on the Upzoning Petition:"Missing Middle Fails for Housing Affordability"
PRO-DEVELOPER POLITICAL GROUP, ABC, IS PUSHING TO FURTHER GUT ARCHITECTURAL PRESERVATION HERE (Neighborhood Conservation Districts - NCD) urging Council not to renew any current NCDs or allow any new ones unless their review is "advisory" (non-binding) because they feel NCDs have "the potential [to] misuse historical preservation or limit new housing." This is inaccurate, but more to the point, from this vantage maybe we should ban bikes or cars because of the potential to misuse stop signs. ABC's letter to members on March 12, also misstated the facts on a recent Mid-Cambridge decision. In this case a developer of a house already under construction (11 Clinton St) wanted to change the plans to conform with the new zoning laws. After considerable discussion the project was OK'd and now a very expensive much larger two family home will replace what were formerly six apartments. This is one of the examples we address in our UPDATES: HERE
QUOTE FROM THE RECENT PAST: "Asking for-profit developers to fix the affordable housing problem is like asking an arsonist to put out their own fire. What is their incentive?"
The Black Response Cambridge on the Upzoning Petition:"Missing Middle Fails for Housing Affordability"
PRO-DEVELOPER POLITICAL GROUP, ABC, IS PUSHING TO FURTHER GUT ARCHITECTURAL PRESERVATION HERE (Neighborhood Conservation Districts - NCD) urging Council not to renew any current NCDs or allow any new ones unless their review is "advisory" (non-binding) because they feel NCDs have "the potential [to] misuse historical preservation or limit new housing." This is inaccurate, but more to the point, from this vantage maybe we should ban bikes or cars because of the potential to misuse stop signs. ABC's letter to members on March 12, also misstated the facts on a recent Mid-Cambridge decision. In this case a developer of a house already under construction (11 Clinton St) wanted to change the plans to conform with the new zoning laws. After considerable discussion the project was OK'd and now a very expensive much larger two family home will replace what were formerly six apartments. This is one of the examples we address in our UPDATES: HERE
CITY COUNCIL NOW PLANNING TO UPZONE CORRIDORS AND SQUARES:
The first meeting was held on March 3, 2025 at 11:30AM the same Housing Committee that initiated the deplorable Luxury Housing Upzoning that was ordained on February 10. In this case, they are joined by the Neighborhood and Long Term Planning Committee in a joint meeting. For largely political reasons, it appears, the Council majority voted to leave out the city area with the greatest potential for more housing, namely Central Square. Read more in the Harvard Crimson "'What’s The Hold Up?': Cambridge City Councilors Disagree on Whether Central Square is Ready for Rezoning” HERE
NOTE: A recent Vancouver Sun report calls their recent upzoning efforts on the corridors the “Uglification ofMetro-Vancouver Mass-Upzoning” (11.28.24) HERE. Let’s not make the same mistake in Cambridge of leaving out green spaces, trees, inner courtyards, height limits and more. As noted in this article: “Politicians are asking tower developers for fewer aesthetic features and community amenities. But residents lose, and prices still don’t go down.”
READ our new Blogpost "Cambridge Corridor & Square Upzoning: Let's Do this One Right (3.1.25): HERE
NOTE: A recent Vancouver Sun report calls their recent upzoning efforts on the corridors the “Uglification ofMetro-Vancouver Mass-Upzoning” (11.28.24) HERE. Let’s not make the same mistake in Cambridge of leaving out green spaces, trees, inner courtyards, height limits and more. As noted in this article: “Politicians are asking tower developers for fewer aesthetic features and community amenities. But residents lose, and prices still don’t go down.”
READ our new Blogpost "Cambridge Corridor & Square Upzoning: Let's Do this One Right (3.1.25): HERE
WHAT CAMBRIDGE REALLY NEEDS IS APARTMENTS NOT MORE INVESTOR LUXURY CONDOS:
Cambridge's real needs in housing according to the most recent MAPC report is NOT more luxury single family homes and duplexes (what our new citywide up-zoning has encouraged even more, but instead APARTMENTS! As we move into the push to increase heights on corridors and squares we need to be pro-active in delimiting this as a top priority.
READ THE CCC 2025 STATE OF THE CITY REPORT: HERE
Some of our Highlights:
SERIOUS BUDGET PROBLEMS IN CAMBRIDGE
"Cambridge officials agree that the city's rising budget poses a major problem.... Over the past five years, the city budget has swelled by 7.1 percent annually, hitting nearly $1 billion for fiscal year 2025." Harvard Crimson Oct 29, 2024
WHY ARE ELECTRIC & GAS COSTS THROUGH THE ROOF?
Learn about the different categories of your electric bill and a see sample bill with explainer tool tips. This is an interesting part of the electric bill explanation. Any upgrade to the system (infrastructure or generation) are passed along to the other customers. So, the up-zoning will cost everyone here and in the area more in their home electricity needs. Check your Eversource bill: HERE
PLANS FOR CITYWIDE TRANSIT OUTSIDE BIKES?
Cambridge was once a U.S. leader in the transit industry, and thought and planned about future.
READ: "The Imaginary Future of Cambridge Transportation" (2.25.25) by John Pitkin HERE
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CCC Cambridge Reality Check Cartoon Series
OUR FIRST ENTRY
NBC News Report: Channel 10 (Feb 11, 2025): HERE
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ABC News (WCBV) Report: Channel 5 (Feb 11, 2025): HERE
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ELECTIONS MATTER
We have an important City Council Election this year. For many of us who are disappointed in the massive luxury housing up-zoning that passed February 10, this will be critical.
Most residents have no idea what has just happened; we need to get out this information.
We cannot do this without your major help! Let us know how you can help - on the ground, through donations, or in other ways. The other side will have receive lots of donations from developers, investors, and people in the building trade. We are on our own here.
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Read Our Other Many Reports on these and Related Subjects:
ENVIRONMENT AND TREES
High Waters, Higher Stakes: Why Cambridge Must Rethink Future Development (also Published in Cambridge Day on 2.10.25): HERE
Deconstruct Don’t Demolish: Older Building Reuse (1.29.25): HERE
Upzoning Green Space VS Open Space VS Green Roofs VS Climate Harm (1.21.25) HERE
Take CARE: Up-Zoning Can Bring Major Solar Panel-linked Environmental and Economic Losses (1.25.25) HERE
BEUDO: What Every Cambridge Resident Should Be Following (7.27.23): HERE
Environmental Impacts & Upzoning: Trees, City Policy, and Practice (10.3.24): HERE
Cambridge Trees: Policy and Impacts (9.29.24): HERE
CCC Advisor & Landscape Architect, Elena Sapporta, reports on Memorial Drive's threatened Sycamore trees: HERE
ZONING: CAMBRIDGE SPECIFIC ANALYSES AND OVERVIEWS
Cambridge Corridor & Square Upzoning: Let’s Do This One Right (3.1.25) HERE
Our Six Part Series: Cambridge YIMBY Win? Initial Results & Reflections
Part One -- “Take a Look. It’s Already Happening” HERE
Part Two -- "YIMBY Present and Past" HERE
Part Three -- "Strawberry Fields Forever" HERE
Part Four -- "A PRIMER: Our Revolutionary YIMBY Success Story" HERE
Part Five -- "Cambridge is Number 1!!!" HERE
Part Six -- " The Role of Students in our Recent YIMBY Victory HERE
Part Seven -- "Updates: Specific Examples Resulting from the Rezoning Initiative" HERE
Part Eight -- "Summary of YIMBY blogposts and Further News"HERE
Cambridge YIMBY win? Initial Results and Reflections (2.20.25): HERE
Multi-Family/AHO Zoning Petition Comments & Recommendations by Architect Dennis Carlone (Neighborhood Nine Presentation of 1.6.26/2.9.25). HERE
Property Value Impacts in Upzoning by Charles Norris (1.31.24) HERE
Housing Outlooks: Demography, Migration, and Changing Home Starts (1.30.25) HERE
The View From My Window (1.25.25) HERE
Multi-Family Project Reviews in the Up-Zoning Petition by Gordon Moore (1.24.25) HERE
Dirt: Why is Vancouver so Insanely Expensive (extract from P. Condon’s Jan 16, 2025 Maclean article) HERE
Design Impacts for Homes new Squares and Corridors by Gordon Moore HERE
Cambridge: Up-zoning Increases Gentrification and Reduces Affordability by Realtor, Ed Abrams (1.14.25) HERE
Three Cambridge Photos: The Story of Upzoning Impacts (1.14.25) HERE
Diversity, Bias, Age, Race & Gentrification in Our Zoning Criteria (1.13.25): HERE
Form-Based Zoning: Cambridge Goal Since 2021 (1.12.25): HERE
Roll the Dice: Randomness Planning & Its Problems (1.12.25): HERE
Mapping Cambridge Housing Diversity and Potential Housing Impacts (3.13.24): HERE
Cambridge Specific Needs: Upzoning for Best Outcomes (11.21.24): HERE
Doing the Math: On Residents Housing and Rezoning (11.18.24): HERE
City Housing Data Matters: Graphs, Maps, Analysis (9.28.24) HERE
Why Housing Prices are So High & Going Higher (10.23.24) HERE (Cambridge/Boston Focus)
How to Get Far Better Housing Results (10.14.24): HERE
Likely Citywide Zoning Impacts: What Most Residents Do Not Know (9.27.24): HERE
Cambridge Residents Speak Out Against the Upzoning (1.7.25): HERE
What Responsible Zoning Entails (9.22.24): HERE
No Rules Zoning: One Architect’s View of demolishing 3-Story Homes (9.15.24): HERE
Zoning-in on the 2024 Cambridge City Council Upzoning Petition (5.10.24): HERE
Cambridge Citywide Upzoning Discussions and Data (10.3.24): HERE
CAMBRIDGE AND COMPARATIVE ENGAGEMENTS
Billionaires versus Boomers: Who is to Blame for the Housing Crisis? (3.17.25): HERE
How Investors are Now Outbidding Local Buyers: Letter to Constituents by State Senator Pat Jehlen: HERE
Land Speculation & Property Tax problems (12.17.24): HERE
Housing Prices & Crisis Capitalism (with a Cambridge focus – 12.9.24): HERE
Why Housing Prices are so High and Going Higher (10.23.24) HERE (w. Cambridge data on demolitions, prices)
Disaster Capitalism and our Housing Crisis (12.4.24): HERE
Urban History Matters: Here, There, and in Film (11.27.24): HERE
Towering impacts: Planning Locally for the Realities ahead (11.10.24): HEAD
The Cat in the Hat & Housing: Breaking Past Rules, Likely Outcomes (11.7.24): HERE
How to Get Far Better Housing Results (10.14.24): HERE
BROADER POLICY STUDIES AROUND HOUSING, UP-ZONING & COSTS
"Up-Zoned: Economists Weigh-In" (3.18.24). HERE
"Science is Real: Cambridge House Flipping and Cost Factors in Luxury Housing Upzoning" (3.12.25) HERE
Open Letter to a City Councillor by Lawrence and Lynn Cetrolo (2.28.25): HERE
“Uglification of Metro-Vancouver Mass-Upzoning” Vancouver Sun (11.28.24) HERE
DODGE: Deputies of Destructive Government Excess: Time to Vote No Against the Upzoning by Donald Grossman HERE
How Much New Housing Do We Need (2.1.25): HERE
How to Make Housing More Affordable in Cambridge (1.30.25): HERE
What happens when a city leaves planning & development up to market forces, without design review and oversight
Urban Planners Speak Out on the Cambridge Upzoning Proposal (1.8.25): HERE
Housing Truths, The Hard Facts (what other scholars are saying - 1.7.25): HERE
Trickle Down & Supply Demand (12.17.24): HERE
NYC lessons & Up-Zoning Housing Policy (12.9.24): HERE
Reinventing the Construction Industry to Build More Housing (12.8.24): HERE
Zoning Lessons from Other Cities: Will We Heed Them (10.31.24) HERE
(includes: Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Vancouver, & other International)
SCHOOLS
Kennedy-Longfellow School Changes by Cambridge School Committee Member, Elizabeth Hudson (12.17.24) HERE
TRANSPORTATION
The Imaginary Future of Cambridge Transportation (2.25.25) by John Pitkin HERE
Parking Minimalism Plans in Cambridge: Why Facts Matter (2.27.22) HERE
Removing Parking Minimums: Likely Consequences: The Buffalo Story (10.11.22): HERE
UP-ZONING - LOCAL & PUBLICLY FUNDED HOUSING
Upzoning for Dummies: Our citywide up-zoning proposal simplified (10.22.24): HERE
Cambridge Zoning History (with Charles Sullivan - 5.6.21): HERE
[note C.N.A. appears to have removed the video].
Playing Monopoly in Cambridge is Not Just a Game (9.29.21): HERE
Frogs R Us: Unrestrained Development Threatens to Boil us (10.18.21) HERE
Housing for All, Not at All Costs (Doug Brown, Kelly Dolan, Alison Field-Juma
(6.12.19) HERE
CCC 2024 Overview and 2025 Goals (12.30.24) HERE
Radical New AHO Upzoning: Developers Dream (11.18.22) HERE
AHO Interim Report: Past, Present, Future (7.15.24) HERE
High Waters, Higher Stakes: Why Cambridge Must Rethink Future Development (also Published in Cambridge Day on 2.10.25): HERE
Deconstruct Don’t Demolish: Older Building Reuse (1.29.25): HERE
Upzoning Green Space VS Open Space VS Green Roofs VS Climate Harm (1.21.25) HERE
Take CARE: Up-Zoning Can Bring Major Solar Panel-linked Environmental and Economic Losses (1.25.25) HERE
BEUDO: What Every Cambridge Resident Should Be Following (7.27.23): HERE
Environmental Impacts & Upzoning: Trees, City Policy, and Practice (10.3.24): HERE
Cambridge Trees: Policy and Impacts (9.29.24): HERE
CCC Advisor & Landscape Architect, Elena Sapporta, reports on Memorial Drive's threatened Sycamore trees: HERE
ZONING: CAMBRIDGE SPECIFIC ANALYSES AND OVERVIEWS
Cambridge Corridor & Square Upzoning: Let’s Do This One Right (3.1.25) HERE
Our Six Part Series: Cambridge YIMBY Win? Initial Results & Reflections
Part One -- “Take a Look. It’s Already Happening” HERE
Part Two -- "YIMBY Present and Past" HERE
Part Three -- "Strawberry Fields Forever" HERE
Part Four -- "A PRIMER: Our Revolutionary YIMBY Success Story" HERE
Part Five -- "Cambridge is Number 1!!!" HERE
Part Six -- " The Role of Students in our Recent YIMBY Victory HERE
Part Seven -- "Updates: Specific Examples Resulting from the Rezoning Initiative" HERE
Part Eight -- "Summary of YIMBY blogposts and Further News"HERE
Cambridge YIMBY win? Initial Results and Reflections (2.20.25): HERE
Multi-Family/AHO Zoning Petition Comments & Recommendations by Architect Dennis Carlone (Neighborhood Nine Presentation of 1.6.26/2.9.25). HERE
Property Value Impacts in Upzoning by Charles Norris (1.31.24) HERE
Housing Outlooks: Demography, Migration, and Changing Home Starts (1.30.25) HERE
The View From My Window (1.25.25) HERE
Multi-Family Project Reviews in the Up-Zoning Petition by Gordon Moore (1.24.25) HERE
Dirt: Why is Vancouver so Insanely Expensive (extract from P. Condon’s Jan 16, 2025 Maclean article) HERE
Design Impacts for Homes new Squares and Corridors by Gordon Moore HERE
Cambridge: Up-zoning Increases Gentrification and Reduces Affordability by Realtor, Ed Abrams (1.14.25) HERE
Three Cambridge Photos: The Story of Upzoning Impacts (1.14.25) HERE
Diversity, Bias, Age, Race & Gentrification in Our Zoning Criteria (1.13.25): HERE
Form-Based Zoning: Cambridge Goal Since 2021 (1.12.25): HERE
Roll the Dice: Randomness Planning & Its Problems (1.12.25): HERE
Mapping Cambridge Housing Diversity and Potential Housing Impacts (3.13.24): HERE
Cambridge Specific Needs: Upzoning for Best Outcomes (11.21.24): HERE
Doing the Math: On Residents Housing and Rezoning (11.18.24): HERE
City Housing Data Matters: Graphs, Maps, Analysis (9.28.24) HERE
Why Housing Prices are So High & Going Higher (10.23.24) HERE (Cambridge/Boston Focus)
How to Get Far Better Housing Results (10.14.24): HERE
Likely Citywide Zoning Impacts: What Most Residents Do Not Know (9.27.24): HERE
Cambridge Residents Speak Out Against the Upzoning (1.7.25): HERE
What Responsible Zoning Entails (9.22.24): HERE
No Rules Zoning: One Architect’s View of demolishing 3-Story Homes (9.15.24): HERE
Zoning-in on the 2024 Cambridge City Council Upzoning Petition (5.10.24): HERE
Cambridge Citywide Upzoning Discussions and Data (10.3.24): HERE
CAMBRIDGE AND COMPARATIVE ENGAGEMENTS
Billionaires versus Boomers: Who is to Blame for the Housing Crisis? (3.17.25): HERE
How Investors are Now Outbidding Local Buyers: Letter to Constituents by State Senator Pat Jehlen: HERE
Land Speculation & Property Tax problems (12.17.24): HERE
Housing Prices & Crisis Capitalism (with a Cambridge focus – 12.9.24): HERE
Why Housing Prices are so High and Going Higher (10.23.24) HERE (w. Cambridge data on demolitions, prices)
Disaster Capitalism and our Housing Crisis (12.4.24): HERE
Urban History Matters: Here, There, and in Film (11.27.24): HERE
Towering impacts: Planning Locally for the Realities ahead (11.10.24): HEAD
The Cat in the Hat & Housing: Breaking Past Rules, Likely Outcomes (11.7.24): HERE
How to Get Far Better Housing Results (10.14.24): HERE
BROADER POLICY STUDIES AROUND HOUSING, UP-ZONING & COSTS
"Up-Zoned: Economists Weigh-In" (3.18.24). HERE
"Science is Real: Cambridge House Flipping and Cost Factors in Luxury Housing Upzoning" (3.12.25) HERE
Open Letter to a City Councillor by Lawrence and Lynn Cetrolo (2.28.25): HERE
“Uglification of Metro-Vancouver Mass-Upzoning” Vancouver Sun (11.28.24) HERE
DODGE: Deputies of Destructive Government Excess: Time to Vote No Against the Upzoning by Donald Grossman HERE
How Much New Housing Do We Need (2.1.25): HERE
How to Make Housing More Affordable in Cambridge (1.30.25): HERE
What happens when a city leaves planning & development up to market forces, without design review and oversight
Urban Planners Speak Out on the Cambridge Upzoning Proposal (1.8.25): HERE
Housing Truths, The Hard Facts (what other scholars are saying - 1.7.25): HERE
Trickle Down & Supply Demand (12.17.24): HERE
NYC lessons & Up-Zoning Housing Policy (12.9.24): HERE
Reinventing the Construction Industry to Build More Housing (12.8.24): HERE
Zoning Lessons from Other Cities: Will We Heed Them (10.31.24) HERE
(includes: Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Vancouver, & other International)
SCHOOLS
Kennedy-Longfellow School Changes by Cambridge School Committee Member, Elizabeth Hudson (12.17.24) HERE
TRANSPORTATION
The Imaginary Future of Cambridge Transportation (2.25.25) by John Pitkin HERE
Parking Minimalism Plans in Cambridge: Why Facts Matter (2.27.22) HERE
Removing Parking Minimums: Likely Consequences: The Buffalo Story (10.11.22): HERE
UP-ZONING - LOCAL & PUBLICLY FUNDED HOUSING
Upzoning for Dummies: Our citywide up-zoning proposal simplified (10.22.24): HERE
Cambridge Zoning History (with Charles Sullivan - 5.6.21): HERE
[note C.N.A. appears to have removed the video].
Playing Monopoly in Cambridge is Not Just a Game (9.29.21): HERE
Frogs R Us: Unrestrained Development Threatens to Boil us (10.18.21) HERE
Housing for All, Not at All Costs (Doug Brown, Kelly Dolan, Alison Field-Juma
(6.12.19) HERE
CCC 2024 Overview and 2025 Goals (12.30.24) HERE
Radical New AHO Upzoning: Developers Dream (11.18.22) HERE
AHO Interim Report: Past, Present, Future (7.15.24) HERE
OTHER ENGAGEMENTS
CCC's blogpost on "Our City's Proposed New Design Guidelines"(3.16.25) HERE
CCC 2025 State of the City Report (2.27.25) HERE
CCC Advisor, Federico Muchnik, has a new film, "An Ideal Husband (updated in a local setting) featured in Cambridge Day (2.23.25) HERE
CCC 2025 State of the City Report (2.27.25) HERE
CCC Advisor, Federico Muchnik, has a new film, "An Ideal Husband (updated in a local setting) featured in Cambridge Day (2.23.25) HERE
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Other Articles and Recordings of Importance
"Boston Area Lab Boom Meets Life Sciences Bust" Boston Globe (3.16.25) HERE
"Number of those Burdened by Rental Affordability Hits Record High" Harvard Gazette (3.14.25) HERE
Conclusions: "You’re going to have a hard time solving the affordability problem through zoning."
"Supply Constraints do not Explain Price and Quantity Growth Across U. S. Cities." by Schuyler Louie et al., National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper. March 2025. HERE
"How Giant White Houses Took Over America" by Dan Kois, Slate (March 6, 2025): HERE
"Why Housing Efficiency Isn't Making Homes Affordable" Strong Towns (3.10.25) HERE
"How Much Does it Actually Cost to Build Housing" Medium (dtx transit posts - (2.5.25) HERE
"This Bike Lanes Story Isn't About Bike Lanes" Boston Magazine (3.9.25) HERE
“Uglification of Metro-Vancouver Mass-Upzoning” Vancouver Sun (11.28.24) HERE
The Housing Loophole: As the U.S. struggles with a housing shortage, investors continue to exploit a gap in affordable housing law to raise rents. Propublica. 2.13.25 HERE
The American Dream (Water Not Included)- Real estate developers are running a dark-money campaign to overturn new housing rules — and ignore basic laws of nature. The Lever (2.7.25): HERE
“Lexington Residents Call for Limiting Multifamily Housing” 2.5.25 Lexington Observer HERE
Design Matters! Harvard GSD Mayor's Forum: "State, City Officials Emphasize Importance of Design in Addressing Housing Issues" (2.7.25): HERE
“Can Co-Op Development Be A Housing Crisis Solution?” AIA (11.7.24) HERE
"Billionaire Blowback & Housing Disruption" (10.2024): HERE
"Citywide Upzoning Proposal and Impacts (1.26.25). Featured speaker: Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation (NYC). Local speakers: Liz Byron (co-founder CARE Housing, Cambridge), Ed Abrams (Cambridge Realtor), Al Peterson (Cambridge Developer and Landlord). Watch the video HERE
Recording of Cambridge Day discussion of Up-Zoning (1.29.25): HERE
San Francisco Examiner Housing "...rallies end with YIMBYs shouting down protesters of color" (4.5.18): HERE
"How Higher Densities Makes Traffic Worse" The Public Purpose (May 2003): HERE
"Number of those Burdened by Rental Affordability Hits Record High" Harvard Gazette (3.14.25) HERE
Conclusions: "You’re going to have a hard time solving the affordability problem through zoning."
"Supply Constraints do not Explain Price and Quantity Growth Across U. S. Cities." by Schuyler Louie et al., National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper. March 2025. HERE
"How Giant White Houses Took Over America" by Dan Kois, Slate (March 6, 2025): HERE
"Why Housing Efficiency Isn't Making Homes Affordable" Strong Towns (3.10.25) HERE
"How Much Does it Actually Cost to Build Housing" Medium (dtx transit posts - (2.5.25) HERE
"This Bike Lanes Story Isn't About Bike Lanes" Boston Magazine (3.9.25) HERE
“Uglification of Metro-Vancouver Mass-Upzoning” Vancouver Sun (11.28.24) HERE
The Housing Loophole: As the U.S. struggles with a housing shortage, investors continue to exploit a gap in affordable housing law to raise rents. Propublica. 2.13.25 HERE
The American Dream (Water Not Included)- Real estate developers are running a dark-money campaign to overturn new housing rules — and ignore basic laws of nature. The Lever (2.7.25): HERE
“Lexington Residents Call for Limiting Multifamily Housing” 2.5.25 Lexington Observer HERE
Design Matters! Harvard GSD Mayor's Forum: "State, City Officials Emphasize Importance of Design in Addressing Housing Issues" (2.7.25): HERE
“Can Co-Op Development Be A Housing Crisis Solution?” AIA (11.7.24) HERE
"Billionaire Blowback & Housing Disruption" (10.2024): HERE
"Citywide Upzoning Proposal and Impacts (1.26.25). Featured speaker: Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation (NYC). Local speakers: Liz Byron (co-founder CARE Housing, Cambridge), Ed Abrams (Cambridge Realtor), Al Peterson (Cambridge Developer and Landlord). Watch the video HERE
Recording of Cambridge Day discussion of Up-Zoning (1.29.25): HERE
San Francisco Examiner Housing "...rallies end with YIMBYs shouting down protesters of color" (4.5.18): HERE
"How Higher Densities Makes Traffic Worse" The Public Purpose (May 2003): HERE
Cambridge online Sewer system site: https://cambridge.mysticdrains.org/
IN THE NEWS...
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Boston Globe article (11.21.24) titled "‘We love these buildings’: Should developers get to build six stories anywhere in Cambridge?"
Cambridge Day (11.20.24) Opinion Piece "Zoning lessons from other cities: Will we heed them?"
Harvard Crimson (11.13.24) article titled "'Radical and Irresponsible': Residents Blast Zoning Upheaval at Planning Board Hearing."
Harvard Crimson (10.13.24) on the Neighborhood and Longterm Planning meeting with Neighborhood Group Leaders: Meeting Video (11.13.24): HERE
Boston Globe on former Public Housing Project (now Luxury Condos) HERE
Cambridge Day (11.20.24) Opinion Piece "Zoning lessons from other cities: Will we heed them?"
Harvard Crimson (11.13.24) article titled "'Radical and Irresponsible': Residents Blast Zoning Upheaval at Planning Board Hearing."
Harvard Crimson (10.13.24) on the Neighborhood and Longterm Planning meeting with Neighborhood Group Leaders: Meeting Video (11.13.24): HERE
Boston Globe on former Public Housing Project (now Luxury Condos) HERE
The Added Problem with Tear-downs In this Up-zoning
A useful article on environmental cost of demolitions here: https://restoreoregon.org/2021/04/12/understanding-the-carbon-cost-of-demolition/
- "Conservatively speaking, residential and commercial demolitions in the City of Portland are responsible for 124,741 metric tons of C02 emissions per year, which amounts to approximately 4.5 percent of the City’s total annual reduction goal."
- "This study finds that it takes 10 to 80 years for a new building that is 30 percent more efficient than an average-performing existing building to overcome, through efficient operations, the negative climate change impacts related to the construction process.”
- "calling upon policy makers to acknowledge the environmental impact of sending usable buildings to landfills; strive for density without demolition; provide meaningful incentives for retention and reuse; and maintain or strengthen demolition review requirements for designated historic properties."
Environment & Housing
Get Building Height Right for the Climate! "It may seem obvious that cities filled with big buildings use energy more efficiently than dispersed suburban landscapes, and that newer, taller buildings are more energy-efficient than older, squatter structures. People widely understand that New York City, for example, ranks well on energy use per person, where housing tends toward the vertical, one boiler room can serve many units, and heat rises into the units above, rather than being lost to the sky....Skyscrapers use and lose more energy than low-rise buildings, research shows....
'The results show that height is a significant predictor of energy use, even accounting for other variables,'the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Building Research and Information. In fact, each additional story in a building is associated with a 2.4 percent increase in electricity use and 2.9 percent increase in fossil fuel use, more than doubling the average emissions per square foot for the tallest buildings in their survey." Source: Greentech Media November 2020 (read article at link below).
'The results show that height is a significant predictor of energy use, even accounting for other variables,'the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Building Research and Information. In fact, each additional story in a building is associated with a 2.4 percent increase in electricity use and 2.9 percent increase in fossil fuel use, more than doubling the average emissions per square foot for the tallest buildings in their survey." Source: Greentech Media November 2020 (read article at link below).
Other Cambridge Citizens Coalition Research and Opinion Pieces published in Cambridge Day
Weekly Calendars of Local Civic & Other Events
Weekly Calendar of Council/Committee Meetings (& videos of past meetings): Granicus link.
Weekly Calendar: Cambridge City Government - the CITY WEEKLY CALENDAR
Weekly Calendar: Cambridge Day Weekly Calendar HERE
Weekly Calendar: Cambridge Civic Weekly Calendar of Events and Meetings in Cambridge: Cambridge Civic
Weekly Calendar: Have Fun! Patch Local Music and Entertainment: HERE
Weekly Calendar: Find It Cambridge HERE
Email Contacts for councillors:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]
Sign Up link for Speaking at any City Meeting (24 hours before): HERE cambridgema.gov/publiccomment (to fill in the "agenda item" or "policy number" simply write "up-zoning" or another topic)
You can watch Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council meetings in several ways, including: On TV: Tune in to Channel 22-City View Local Access
On the Open Meeting Portal: Go to cambridgema.iqm2.com and navigate to the meeting you want to view
On Zoom: Follow the link for City Council Meetings to participate virtually
On 22-CityView: Watch live broadcasts on Mondays at 5:30 PM, and again on Wednesdays at 5:30 PM and Fridays at 10 AM You can also find archived versions of past meetings on the Open Meeting Portal.
Closed captioning is available for City Council meetings. To turn it on or off, you can: Click the live streaming link to watch the meeting Click the “CC” button in the bottom right of the video screen Select “Off” or “On” If you have problems, you can contact the Office of the City Clerk at (617) 349-4260
Weekly Calendar: Cambridge City Government - the CITY WEEKLY CALENDAR
Weekly Calendar: Cambridge Day Weekly Calendar HERE
Weekly Calendar: Cambridge Civic Weekly Calendar of Events and Meetings in Cambridge: Cambridge Civic
Weekly Calendar: Have Fun! Patch Local Music and Entertainment: HERE
Weekly Calendar: Find It Cambridge HERE
Email Contacts for councillors:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]
Sign Up link for Speaking at any City Meeting (24 hours before): HERE cambridgema.gov/publiccomment (to fill in the "agenda item" or "policy number" simply write "up-zoning" or another topic)
You can watch Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council meetings in several ways, including: On TV: Tune in to Channel 22-City View Local Access
On the Open Meeting Portal: Go to cambridgema.iqm2.com and navigate to the meeting you want to view
On Zoom: Follow the link for City Council Meetings to participate virtually
On 22-CityView: Watch live broadcasts on Mondays at 5:30 PM, and again on Wednesdays at 5:30 PM and Fridays at 10 AM You can also find archived versions of past meetings on the Open Meeting Portal.
Closed captioning is available for City Council meetings. To turn it on or off, you can: Click the live streaming link to watch the meeting Click the “CC” button in the bottom right of the video screen Select “Off” or “On” If you have problems, you can contact the Office of the City Clerk at (617) 349-4260
WHO WE ARE
Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) was founded by local neighborhood group leaders and is led by them along with other local civic activists and residents dedicated to smart development, thoughtful city planning, good governance policies, sustainability, housing affordability, and the preservation of our trees, green spaces, and historic architecture.
"CCC is a city-wide organization that does not... believe that developers know best about how to solve the affordable housing crisis. That is pure neo-liberalism and that is the flavor favored by our political opponents. We are interested in taking land costs out of the equation as much as possible, building on city properties, encouraging land trusts and protecting renters. We also do not take a back seat on climate issues and want city resources spent on creating safe streets for bikers." (CCC Board Member, Chris Mackin).
"CCC is a city-wide organization that does not... believe that developers know best about how to solve the affordable housing crisis. That is pure neo-liberalism and that is the flavor favored by our political opponents. We are interested in taking land costs out of the equation as much as possible, building on city properties, encouraging land trusts and protecting renters. We also do not take a back seat on climate issues and want city resources spent on creating safe streets for bikers." (CCC Board Member, Chris Mackin).
CCC: Promoting a More Livable Cambridge
POLICIES THAT MATTER ON:
Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) is dedicated to thoughtful city planning, smart development, good governance policies, sustainability, housing affordability, and the preservation of our trees, green spaces, and historic architecture.
1. Environmental Equity - addressing climate change can't wait! Safeguard trees and green spaces in every neighborhood.
2. Housing - stop gentrification, end exclusive single family zoning, create a real path to home ownership; add more mixed income housing
3. Smart Growth - we need a Citywide plan for smart growth (people before profits)
4. Neighborhoods are key (retain and build on naturally affordable longterm sustainable housing)
5. We live in an historic city; let's work together to preserve our rich architectural diversity.
POLICIES THAT MATTER ON:
Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) is dedicated to thoughtful city planning, smart development, good governance policies, sustainability, housing affordability, and the preservation of our trees, green spaces, and historic architecture.
1. Environmental Equity - addressing climate change can't wait! Safeguard trees and green spaces in every neighborhood.
2. Housing - stop gentrification, end exclusive single family zoning, create a real path to home ownership; add more mixed income housing
3. Smart Growth - we need a Citywide plan for smart growth (people before profits)
4. Neighborhoods are key (retain and build on naturally affordable longterm sustainable housing)
5. We live in an historic city; let's work together to preserve our rich architectural diversity.
DONATIONS
We urge people able to do so to donate $40 yearly either to help CCC 's active Civic work (at the Act Blue link above) or to support complementary city election efforts at CambridgePac.org: HERE
ONLINE DONATIONS
For Election Work the Nov. 2025 City Council and School Committee donate via ActBlue HERE
For the civic work of the Cambridge Citizens Coalition donate online via ACT BLUE
CHECKS
Checks for Election efforts sent to Cambridge Citizens Coalition IE PAC can be mailed to CCC at P.O. Box 410291, Cambridge, MA 02141.
Checks to Cambridge Citizens Coalition for our Civic Work can be mailed to CCC at P.O. Box 410083, Cambridge, MA 02141.
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MAILING DONATION CHECK$
Checks to Cambridge Citizens Coalition IE PAC can be mailed to CCC at P.O. Box 410291, Cambridge, MA 02141.
Checks to Cambridge Citizens Coalition can be mailed to CCC at P.O. Box 410083, Cambridge, MA 02141.
Checks to Cambridge Citizens Coalition IE PAC can be mailed to CCC at P.O. Box 410291, Cambridge, MA 02141.
Checks to Cambridge Citizens Coalition can be mailed to CCC at P.O. Box 410083, Cambridge, MA 02141.
CCC is committed to promoting good governance and to driving positive urban change. To fuel our mission, we rely on the generosity of individuals like you.CCC is committed to promoting good governance and to driving positive urban change. To fuel our mission, we rely on the generosity of individuals like you.
CCC stands with the LGBTQIA+ community’s fight for equality. We are committed to ending anti-LGBTQIA+ violence, bullying, and discrimination, and to ensuring that LGBTQIA+ individuals are treated with dignity and respect in their communities, their workplaces, and their schools. CCC believes in nurturing growth and positive change for individuals and communities alike. We stand with and advocate for equity and social justice for indigenous communities, people of color (BIPOC), those with disabilities, others marginalized and individuals practicing every religious faith.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We honor and acknowledge that Cambridge sits on the traditional homelands of the Massachusett people. We also acknowledge their close neighbors and relatives, the Nipmuc and Wampanoag peoples.
We honor and acknowledge that Cambridge sits on the traditional homelands of the Massachusett people. We also acknowledge their close neighbors and relatives, the Nipmuc and Wampanoag peoples.