WAKE-UP CAMBRIDGE!
Neighbors before Developers. Join our fight against the gentrification of Cambridge.
CCC Joins Black Response, Green Cambridge, the Cambridge Residence Alliance, Our Revolution, DSA and many other residents across the City, in OPPOSING recent efforts to UPZONE the City to benefit out-of-town investors and developers seeking to profit from adding greater density through MORE Luxury (Market Rate) Housing. The MMH up-zoning petition was also opposed recently by the Cambridge Planning Board.
*ACTION ALERT: JUNE 10, 2021 at 5:30 PM -- MMH Petition at Ordinance Committee at 5:30 PM.
On June 9 Please email City Council at: council@cambridgema.gov as well as the City Clerk at clerk@cambridgema.gov
It appears that this specific proposal the Council is likely to table at Thursday evening’s Ordinance Committee hearing due in part to time. This does not mean that the effort is over and they well might introduce another similar petition in the months ahead.
*ACTION ALERT: JUNE 17, 2021 at 5:00 PM -- a Rally in front of City Hall. Sign-Up HERE
*ACTION ALERT: JUNE 10, 2021 at 5:30 PM -- MMH Petition at Ordinance Committee at 5:30 PM.
On June 9 Please email City Council at: council@cambridgema.gov as well as the City Clerk at clerk@cambridgema.gov
It appears that this specific proposal the Council is likely to table at Thursday evening’s Ordinance Committee hearing due in part to time. This does not mean that the effort is over and they well might introduce another similar petition in the months ahead.
*ACTION ALERT: JUNE 17, 2021 at 5:00 PM -- a Rally in front of City Hall. Sign-Up HERE
Why CCC Opposes MMH Luxury Up-zoning and Changes to the City's Preservation Work
CAMBRIDGE HOUSING DECISIONS NOW IN PLAY
Housing costs are now prohibitive. More and more multi-family homes (often with long-time renters) are gobbled up outside developers, gut rehabbed and sold to the highest bidder, driving up neighborhood property values, along with taxes, rents and more. The whole city is being hit, and more and more of our longtime residents - including many African Americans - are being forced out.
The New York private equity firm, Blackstone, has invested $12 billion in the larger Boston-area ($4.6 billion in Cambridge alone) n recent years, becoming by far the largest commercial landlord, according to a May 25, 2021 Boston Globe article. They and other investors are buying up prime real estate for labs that could have gone to housing, further driving up home prices, with ample-salaried employees, forcing out long time residents, and making it harder for people to afford houses here. The equity differentials are shocking. U.S. Census data shows that Cambridge has the 7th highest gap between the top 20% of earners who average $340,000 annually and the bottom 20% whose income averages $13,000 and the heaviest burdens by far are felt by Black Cantabridgians, where one third of Black home owners spent 30% of their income on housing and Black renters spent 55% of their income on housing. (Source: Cambridge Community Foundation Report as cited in the Boston Globe April 7.2021).
How can anyone afford to live here any more? Few can! Indeed, the percentage of our Black residents has dropped exponentially through gentrification in recent years. Added to this problem, Cambridge, which comprises a tiny 7.2 square miles, and is one of the top 5 or 10 most dense urban areas nationally, is already bursting at the seams. We built extensively to try to keep up, far surpassing state affordable housing minimums, and by adding large numbers of inclusionary apartments. We have lost 18% of our tree canopy in the last decade, along with critical open spaces. Our homeless population is growing too. So why is the City doing nothing to stop or counter this? We need action and accountability now!
Moreover, as one Cambridge City Councillor long affiliated with the ABC ("A Better Cambridge") Political Group which is pressing for city wide up-zoning to add more luxury housing wrote recently: "[Housing] is a regional issue....[W]e don't work well together (this is a housing, traffic, environmental and public transportation issue as well). The truth is, we could find housing for the 500 unhoused folks in our yearly census tomorrow and there will be 500 more on our streets in a week. Of course, this is not a reason not to try....but it will take more than Cambridge.... there is no easy answer. Building more housing is absolutely part of the solution, but housing alone won't do it and Cambridge can't build enough housing for every unhoused person in the Metro Boston area. It's going to take a regional effort" (Cambridgeport Neighborhood List serve: May 27, 2021). CCC agrees! And if, to this well known politician, "housing alone won't do it and we can't build enough," then why is he and others in this political group, promoting housing policies that will only make things worse for generations to come.
Sadly, TWO NewThreats to Neighborhood Stability are in play that seek to add more LUXURY Housing, likely increasing costs far higher, adding to gentrification and the loss of long term residents. This is equally valid for the current push by some Councillors to add more luxury ("market rate") housing, even though this would likely remove still more rental units, increase housing costs, and add to land values and taxes. In addition this would lead to the loss of core open spaces (that in dense neighbors are shared visually by adjacent neighbors, along with critically needed trees, and the rich and diverse historic architectural fabric of the city. So why is the City doing nothing? Because we need elected officials accountable to the people who are willing to stand up to the outside developers and investors !
How can anyone afford to live here any more? Few can! Indeed, the percentage of our Black residents has dropped exponentially through gentrification in recent years. Added to this problem, Cambridge, which comprises a tiny 7.2 square miles, and is one of the top 5 or 10 most dense urban areas nationally, is already bursting at the seams. We built extensively to try to keep up, far surpassing state affordable housing minimums, and by adding large numbers of inclusionary apartments. We have lost 18% of our tree canopy in the last decade, along with critical open spaces. Our homeless population is growing too. So why is the City doing nothing to stop or counter this? We need action and accountability now!
Moreover, as one Cambridge City Councillor long affiliated with the ABC ("A Better Cambridge") Political Group which is pressing for city wide up-zoning to add more luxury housing wrote recently: "[Housing] is a regional issue....[W]e don't work well together (this is a housing, traffic, environmental and public transportation issue as well). The truth is, we could find housing for the 500 unhoused folks in our yearly census tomorrow and there will be 500 more on our streets in a week. Of course, this is not a reason not to try....but it will take more than Cambridge.... there is no easy answer. Building more housing is absolutely part of the solution, but housing alone won't do it and Cambridge can't build enough housing for every unhoused person in the Metro Boston area. It's going to take a regional effort" (Cambridgeport Neighborhood List serve: May 27, 2021). CCC agrees! And if, to this well known politician, "housing alone won't do it and we can't build enough," then why is he and others in this political group, promoting housing policies that will only make things worse for generations to come.
Sadly, TWO NewThreats to Neighborhood Stability are in play that seek to add more LUXURY Housing, likely increasing costs far higher, adding to gentrification and the loss of long term residents. This is equally valid for the current push by some Councillors to add more luxury ("market rate") housing, even though this would likely remove still more rental units, increase housing costs, and add to land values and taxes. In addition this would lead to the loss of core open spaces (that in dense neighbors are shared visually by adjacent neighbors, along with critically needed trees, and the rich and diverse historic architectural fabric of the city. So why is the City doing nothing? Because we need elected officials accountable to the people who are willing to stand up to the outside developers and investors !
THREAT 1 A Citywide Up-zoning Petition to add LUXURY housing!
*ACTION ALERT: JUNE 10, 2025 -- MMH Petition before the Ordinance Committee at 5:30
NEWS on the "Missing Middle Housing (MMH) Up-Zoning Petition: The citywide up-zoning petition (misnamed the "Missing Middle" -MMH) comes again before the Council's Ordinance Committee, this is after being VOTED DOWN by the Planning Board at their May 11, 2021 meeting 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. It will not be easy to persuade City Council to vote against this damaging city-wide luxury housing up-zoning because it too is being promoted by the pro-developer ABC Political PAC.
What this petition does? The 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. Who is behind this move? The MMH zoning petition has been promoted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and others; it will principally benefit non-resident investors and developers. Worse it will jeopardize affordable housing efforts, adding ZERO housing for middle income residents. It would allow dorm-size (40 foot tall, 1.25 FAR density) structures to be built in residential neighborhoods citywide, removing critical and fast declining neighborhood open spaces and our diminishing tree canopy. No affordable housing is included, nor is there any design review for these projects. Why this matters: Even the proponents admitted that it was aimed at providing more housing for people making more than $100,000 a year. Most likely the greatest impacts will be felt in now transitional neighborhoods such as the Port, North Cambridge and East Cambridge, areas that 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. What you can do: Please write City Council at: council@cambridgema.gov and CC the City Clerk at: cityclerk@cambridgema.govPlease write to City Councillors 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.
Sign Our Petition above or at: bit.ly/wakeupcambridge
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: www.cambridgeday.com/2021/04/22/the-offal-truth-behind-cambridge-zoning/
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.
LEARN MORE: at our "Missing Middle" tab above!
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"
THREAT 2 Assault on Neighborhood Conservation Efforts
This petition has been introduced and forwarded by City Council to the Ordinance Committee. This petition ,that one could call the "Neighborhood Conservation District" (NGC) Assault Petition, was received from an individual often allied with the pro-developer political Pac calling itself "A Better Cambridge (ABC)." The petition seeks to gut Cambridge's long standing architectural preservation means, local areas established by neighbors to preserve the unique eclectic mix of housing in their area. What this petition does? It removes the right of citizens to petition the City on this matter, enabling City Council (who already must approve any new Conservation District after the study period, to stop the process before it even starts. Citizens will lose long established rights. And, Council (not citizens) can change the language of established districts, and have redefined criteria for existing Boards, from District residents who bring professional knowledge to these issues, to simply ones ownership status. Who benefits? Largely out-of-time developers, and non-resident monied investors (many of whom represent national and global financial interests), and those seeking to build large McMansions inconsistent with our long-standing local neighborhoods. Why this matters? Cambridge, founded in 1630, one of the oldest planned cities in America. Its history, and the legacy of its rich architecture matters - whether we are talking about workers cottages or more elite residences, workplaces, or one time battlegrounds. Because Cambridge neighborhoods matter, and this is just one more effort (based in part on a national drive) to end restrictions on developers and investors to build more luxury housing in this already very dense and very historic city - further gentrifying these areas, and forcing out long term lower income residents. We know that Neighborhood Conservation Districts help to keep rental and housing costs more stable, but this is not just about economic issues, and we know that our tourism economy and local businesses are dependent on our unique historical and architectural legacy; This petition is also about environmental sustainability - maintaining sound architecture. Please write City Council at: council@cambridgema.gov and CC the City Clerk at: cityclerk@cambridgema.gov
Read: the "Neighborhood Conservation District Assault Petition" at www.cccoalition.org/docsinfo.html
WE ARE ALREADY IN A HOUSING CRISIS - DO WE REALLY WANT TO MAKE IT WORSE?!
Read: the "Neighborhood Conservation District Assault Petition" at www.cccoalition.org/docsinfo.html
WE ARE ALREADY IN A HOUSING CRISIS - DO WE REALLY WANT TO MAKE IT WORSE?!
