Neighbors before Developers. Join our fight against the gentrification of Cambridge.
In Cambridge, the Port neighborhood of Cambridge used to be among the most diverse in Massachusetts, but gentrification is changing the community. From Alewife to East Cambridge, Kendall MIT to North Point, the impact of real estate transformation will create irreversible consequences that decide who gets to call Cambridge home.
Currently, our City Government’s encouragement of unregulated development is unsustainable. Please join the Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC), to protect the most cherished qualities of a city renowned for our dynamic culture, diverse vision, and rich history. As a nonprofit organization composed of residents from every corner of Cambridge, help us create a more informed community before the upcoming election.
The MMH petition expires July 7, 2021 (90 days after presentation at the Ordinance Committee) if it is not acted on, or withdrawn before then.
Sign Our Petition to Stop citywide MMH (Missing Middle Housing) up-zoning petition (SEE BELOW) or at: bit.ly/wakeupcambridge
The "Missing Middle" Up-Zoning Petition NEWS: The citywide up-zoning petition (misnamed the "Missing Middle" -MMH) came before the Planning Board at its May 11, 2021 and they decided to OPPOSE the citywide M.M.H Petition based on a number of grounds: the lack of affordability, concerns about neighborhood impacts, design (scale), legal concerns and turning our housing concerns over to market forces. This citywide up-zoning petition, earlier came before the Planning Board on March 30. and they chose at that point also NOT to support it -though in principle they did support the end of zoning for exclusively Single Family Housing. This petition has also been taken up by the City Council Ordinance Committee for discussion and theywill be discussing this again in the near future. It will not be easy to persuade the City Council to vote against the MMH because a local developer-linked political group that calls itself A Better Cambridge (ABC - strongly identified with several Councillors) is promoting this massive up-zoning. We need to convince City Council that it will ruin our beloved city.
THANK YOU for writing letter to the Planning Board and signing up to speak at that meeting voicing your opposition. The fight IS NOT OVER and the MMH petition most likely will come back before the Ordinance Committee in the near future, unless it is withdrawn first.
WHAT TO DO NOW: Please write to City Coucillors voicing your views about the MMH. You can reach all of them individually through this email: If you know any of them particularly well, also write to them separately.
Scrambling for what to say in a letter and 2 minute statement? The Missing Middle (MMH) Up-Zoning Petition calls for a massive zoning change to build more luxury (market rate) housing at far greater density than currently allowed. It promotes the demolition of current housing, diminishes open space and tree canopy, increases traffic, and encourages McMansions and multi-story luxury duplexes in every neighborhood. It jeopardizes affordable housing, adds ZERO housing for middle income residents, and benefits investors and developers. The MMH zoning petition has been promoted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and others; it will principally benefit investors and developers. Worse it will jeopardize affordable housing efforts, adding ZERO housing for middle income residents.
Please read our opinion piece, "The 'Offal'" Truth About Cambridge Zoning,"which details how Cambridge's zoning changes are linked to the city's factory history and to the public health problems they caused, not race as ABC keeps saying: www.cambridgeday.com/2021/04/22/the-offal-truth-behind-cambridge-zoning/
The issue of our city's zoning history has also been addressed by Charles Sullivan, Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, at the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association. This video titled "Neighborhood Zoning & Development History" can be viewed at www.cambridgeport.org/history. Regardless of the origin of today's wealth disparities in Cambridge, the Planning Board seemed generally persuaded that the MMH as presented would only make things worse. Even the propnents admitted that it was aimed at providing more housing for people making more than $100,000 a year.
CCC's mission is to ensure that future development sustains the health of the entire community. Through citizen activism, change is coming- without citizen activism, we would not have had a progressive city charter.
LEARN MORE: at our "Missing Middle" tab above!
AND READ our letter on the MMH published in Cambridge Day titled "'Missing Middle' zoning is bait and switch, Cambridge Style, and won't add affordability"
Currently, our City Government’s encouragement of unregulated development is unsustainable. Please join the Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC), to protect the most cherished qualities of a city renowned for our dynamic culture, diverse vision, and rich history. As a nonprofit organization composed of residents from every corner of Cambridge, help us create a more informed community before the upcoming election.
The MMH petition expires July 7, 2021 (90 days after presentation at the Ordinance Committee) if it is not acted on, or withdrawn before then.
Sign Our Petition to Stop citywide MMH (Missing Middle Housing) up-zoning petition (SEE BELOW) or at: bit.ly/wakeupcambridge
The "Missing Middle" Up-Zoning Petition NEWS: The citywide up-zoning petition (misnamed the "Missing Middle" -MMH) came before the Planning Board at its May 11, 2021 and they decided to OPPOSE the citywide M.M.H Petition based on a number of grounds: the lack of affordability, concerns about neighborhood impacts, design (scale), legal concerns and turning our housing concerns over to market forces. This citywide up-zoning petition, earlier came before the Planning Board on March 30. and they chose at that point also NOT to support it -though in principle they did support the end of zoning for exclusively Single Family Housing. This petition has also been taken up by the City Council Ordinance Committee for discussion and theywill be discussing this again in the near future. It will not be easy to persuade the City Council to vote against the MMH because a local developer-linked political group that calls itself A Better Cambridge (ABC - strongly identified with several Councillors) is promoting this massive up-zoning. We need to convince City Council that it will ruin our beloved city.
THANK YOU for writing letter to the Planning Board and signing up to speak at that meeting voicing your opposition. The fight IS NOT OVER and the MMH petition most likely will come back before the Ordinance Committee in the near future, unless it is withdrawn first.
WHAT TO DO NOW: Please write to City Coucillors voicing your views about the MMH. You can reach all of them individually through this email: If you know any of them particularly well, also write to them separately.
Scrambling for what to say in a letter and 2 minute statement? The Missing Middle (MMH) Up-Zoning Petition calls for a massive zoning change to build more luxury (market rate) housing at far greater density than currently allowed. It promotes the demolition of current housing, diminishes open space and tree canopy, increases traffic, and encourages McMansions and multi-story luxury duplexes in every neighborhood. It jeopardizes affordable housing, adds ZERO housing for middle income residents, and benefits investors and developers. The MMH zoning petition has been promoted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and others; it will principally benefit investors and developers. Worse it will jeopardize affordable housing efforts, adding ZERO housing for middle income residents.
Please read our opinion piece, "The 'Offal'" Truth About Cambridge Zoning,"which details how Cambridge's zoning changes are linked to the city's factory history and to the public health problems they caused, not race as ABC keeps saying: www.cambridgeday.com/2021/04/22/the-offal-truth-behind-cambridge-zoning/
The issue of our city's zoning history has also been addressed by Charles Sullivan, Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, at the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association. This video titled "Neighborhood Zoning & Development History" can be viewed at www.cambridgeport.org/history. Regardless of the origin of today's wealth disparities in Cambridge, the Planning Board seemed generally persuaded that the MMH as presented would only make things worse. Even the propnents admitted that it was aimed at providing more housing for people making more than $100,000 a year.
CCC's mission is to ensure that future development sustains the health of the entire community. Through citizen activism, change is coming- without citizen activism, we would not have had a progressive city charter.
LEARN MORE: at our "Missing Middle" tab above!
AND READ our letter on the MMH published in Cambridge Day titled "'Missing Middle' zoning is bait and switch, Cambridge Style, and won't add affordability"
