HONORING INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: Today, October 11, 2021 CCC honors the important civilization of Indigenous Peoples who lived in Cambridge before European settlers arrived and appropriated this land. We recognize the painful legacy of practices and ideologies of land removal and both personal and cultural destruction in the conquest and settlement of this native home. It was a woman, Sqa Sachem, who signed some of the key deeds in this area and worked valiantly toward as diplomatic ends as possible. We thank her for her leadership. (Map source: HistoricIpswich.org)
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CCC and CCA: the legacy of strong Citizen Action Groups in Cambridge Good-Governance Advocacy10/12/2021 Illustration from the original Plan E Brochure that was a central piece of early CCA discussions. Source: CambridgeCivic.com Times have changed, and it is not just men who are the players in Cambridge politics. But some things have remained the same - groups of leaders around the City stepping up and saying: Enough is Enough! It is time for a change! key thing we have noticed while canvasing recently is how eager people are to have our voter cards because they are receiving so many palm cards from candidates (in person and in the mail) and are finding it hard to identify who is for what. Indeed, one resident said outright “Finally, we have a card like the old CCA I can take to the polls.” Yes. Or you can put it on your refrigerator for when you fill out your mail-in ballot.
What is the connection between the old CCA and the new CCC? Quite a bit actually! The Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) followed in the footsteps of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA) – itself founded in 1945 (a merging of several earlier groups) and positively impacting issues in the City until it came to an end after the demise of rent control in 1995. Eight years later, CCA ran its last slate of candidates. During its 58-year run, a CCA served for some as the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for candidates running for office, representing a balanced approach that emphasized good government, concerns about housing costs (rental prices among others) and an array of other issues. The Cambridge Citizens Coalition is concerned with similar issues. We emerged from the group of neighborhood group leaders from across the city, individuals who often are at the frontlines in addressing core issues of government transparency, smart development, housing, the environment, housing and good governance more generally. More on the CCA legacy can be found at Cambridge Civic: http://www.rwinters.com/CCA/. In the same way that Plan E was formed, in part through the efforts of the early leaders who formed CCA, so too parts of Plan E are now up for a vote in the November 2 Election. We will be discussing this more as we go forward. But in the meantime, let’s celebrate the rich history of citizen activism in Cambridge. No matter what your views are of Plan E in the present day, it is certainly time (over time!) to review key elements of this system and to work together to think forward about the next 50 years or so. For more on the origins of Plan E advocacy, see: cambridgecivic.com/?p=3237 For more on the demise of CCA, see: www.thecrimson.com/article/1995/6/8/cambridge-civic-association-flounders-in-search/ Efforts to diminish Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation policies rebuffed (for the moment)10/1/2021 THANK YOU to everyone who wrote to City Council and to those who were able to speak at the Ordinance Committee Meeting on September 29 to oppose the petition that would gut our Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCD). The petition, put forward by a North Point resident who is trying to stop the proposed East Cambridge NCD, was pushed by the forces that want to strip what few protections exist for Cambridge’s diverse architectural and historical urban landscape. CCC and friends opposed this ill-conceived measure on many grounds - including serious legal issues. This VIDEO of the Ordinance meeting provides key insights on the issues and concerns in play, as well as those involved in these efforts. Toward the end of the meeting, Co-Chairs Dennis Carlone and Marc McGovern proposed that the petition be sent to the City for a legal opinion by the Solicitor and asked that the North Point petitioner work with CHC Executive Director, Charles Sullivan, to determine amenable changes to the current Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) language. While much of the petitioner's overview focused on East Cambridge and a study committee underway there , the impacts had the petition succeeded would have also had Citywide implications. Watch Charlie Sullivan's overview of the building and social history of this important part of Cambridge and our unique history that he presented for one of the early East Cambridge NCD study committee meetings: : www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/historicalcommission/pdf/echistoryandresarchitecture.pdf. Credit for above photo: Cambridge Day. Knowing the political landscape is important. The 2021 Cambridge City Council election is one of the first elections in recent memory in which national political parties and players have a significant a role – from the Democratic Socialists and Bernie Sanders allies to the burgeoning West Coast YIMBY movement supporting more building as the solution to all our ills (homes, offices, and labs). Our election is also now a regional one (with area bicyclists in play). And, 2021 is a distinctively local Cambridge election in both issues and tone.
With all these political factions, it is hard to keep everyone straight. Hence in part the rationale behind creating the above chart. The Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) is a relatively new player in our city. We were founded in 2019 by leaders of a number of local Cambridge neighborhood groups across the City – east, west, north, south and middle. Many of the affiliated neighborhood group leaders (and their members) have continued to address some of the toughest issues in the City as more and more development and outside investment monies are in play. We often report at the BZA, the Cambridge Historical Commission, or the Planning Board and as a result may face social media attack by opponents, sometimes allied with developers. Cambridge politics has become a microcosm of the nation. Edited on 9.30.21 to add Robert Eckstut to the CBS signatories. Edited on 10.1.21 to add * to Skeadas, as a renter in the CRESA circle, and to add CRESA to the group with 50% or more renters. Also edited the framing of the CBS circle to make it clearer.. with thanks to Lee Farris Edited on 10.1.21 to replace the terminology to describe Sunrise and Our Revolution. Edited on 10.10.21 to change language for Sunrise Edited on 10.12.21 to more correctly convey Our Revolution, with thanks to Henry Wortis This Op Ed addressing the impact of investment capital in Cambridge by Katiti Kironde appeared in Cambridge Day on Monday September 27 as debates are about to get underway in the City Council Ordinance Committee on a citizen petition authored by North Point resident Loren Crowe that seeks to gut longstanding preservation efforts in Cambridge. This game, a Cambridge version of Monopoly was released in November by Top Trumps USA. The game is an apt referent to what is happening in Cambridge itself currently. We include Kironde's full text below, but urge readers to also read it on the newspaper's website (along with commentary). Also please please consider donating to this critically important local newspaper. "Home to plumbers and philosophers, geneticists and custodians, descendants of long-ago immigrants and new residents, Cambridge risks sacrificing diversity and history to profit-driven development. We face a polarizing challenge pitting out-of-town investors against long-term conservation and sustainability efforts. The classic board game Monopoly was patented back in 1935, but the Cambridge version – yes, it exists – makes special sense today. “OWN IT ALL!” screams the headline on the Monopoly game box. Kendall Square, Longfellow House, even City Hall and the Charles River are up for grabs. For those fighting out-of-control development it looks like a nightmare with a pair of dice. To those pushing to “build, baby, build,” it’s a dream come true. Often this is accompanied by pushback on long-standing building preservation efforts, conservation districts and environmental drives to safeguard mature trees and open spaces. As one of the most densely populated cities in the United States, Cambridge doesn’t have many open lots to build on. Proposals such as the now sidelined, misnamed “Missing Middle” zoning petition promised to open the floodgates to larger and higher buildings where double- and triple-deckers now stand. Current tenants would be hard pressed to make a down payment or pay rent in the new luxury housing. Advocates of building “a bigger Cambridge” want to go further, loosening zoning rules so investors and developers can simply build more. All homes, single-family and multi-unit alike, could be scooped up by the highest bidder, torn down and replaced by much larger, much more profitable buildings. Some additional units would be created but would go to those able to pay sky-high market-rates. Most of us look back with horror on the days massive bulldozing of neighborhoods was admired. Even in Massachusetts, it was government that condemned neighborhoods such as Boston’s West End and the hundreds of homes in Roxbury razed for the never-built Inner Belt highway. Now it’s the private sector that puts a bullseye on homes in hot markets. Outside of enacting sensible tenant protection laws, how can city governments help residents stay in their housing? How can we promote smart growth that adds homes without overwhelming neighborhoods? How can we stop this real-life Monopoly game in our cities? Cambridge Citizens Coalition leaders support ending exclusive single-family zoning districts in our city. Cambridge has one of the lowest percentages of single-family homes among American cities at just 7.2 percent. Making it possible to create units within existing homes is a smart way forward. CCC also endorses an areawide approach to housing, transportation, parking and infrastructure for our largest employers. These issues are addressed in an Advancing Housing Affordability zoning petition recently taken up by City Council. Constructive zoning changes cannot do everything, but they will help especially when coupled with other policy changes: adding more affordable housing transparency and oversight, and more support for renters; employing the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing program; and a plan to mitigate heat islands and flooding impacts. Some developers and their friends say that demolishing our long-sustainable historic homes and cutting down our mature trees is sound environmental policy. It is not. It is greed that fuels this kind of disregard for green space in an already tightly packed city and shows a lack of concern for the well-being of all Cantabrigians. One issue to address in Monopoly game terms is a petition before the Ordinance Committee on Wednesday to greatly restrict citywide architectural preservation efforts and neighborhood conservation districts. This petition, which clearly oversteps state law and city ordinance, is a reaction to preservation efforts in East Cambridge, one of the hottest development areas, and indeed global markets. If approved, this petition would make new NCDs harder to create and put current ones at risk, removing professional requirements for committee members. In the end, who benefits from these proposed changes? Not current residents – homeowners or renters – but rather those seeking to rush the process such as investors and developers who have no reason to work with their neighbors on compatible design. While the Cambridge Citizens Coalition strongly supports architectural change, building new structures and repurposing old ones, we believe that good design is critical in a dense and deeply historical city such as ours. The basic rule of Monopoly is to build as much as you can on as many properties as possible. Again, the box says it all: “Buy amazing sites, make the highest bid on each property, build houses and hotels, and become the richest citizen of Cambridge!” For many, that’s a threat, not a promise. It’s time to put sanity back into our public policy and rein in the forces that have turned our city into a real-life board game that celebrates profit over community.." Photo by E. Houghteling Knowledge of the Cambridge political landscape is important, particularly in election year. The 2021 Council election here is one of the first elections in recent memory in which national political parties and players have a significant a role – from the Democratic Socialists and Bernie Sanders allies to the burgeoning West Coast YIMBY movement supporting a supply/demand approach to adding more buildings. Our election is also a regional one (with area bicyclists in play). And, 2021 is a distinctively local Cambridge election cycle in both issues and tone. With all these political factions, it is hard to keep everyone straight. Hence in part the rationale behind creating the above chart. Both individual candidates and their alliances matter. Knowing the lay of the land in assessing who to vote for –or trying to understand the roots of rumors and attacks is important. The Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) is a relatively new player in our city. We were founded in 2019 by leaders of a number of local Cambridge neighborhood groups across the City – east, west, north, south and middle. Many of the affiliated neighborhood group leaders (and their members) have continued to address some of the toughest issues in the City as more and more development and outside investment monies are in play. We often report at the BZA, the Cambridge Historical Commission, or the Planning Board facing social media attacks by opponents who may be allied with developers. Cambridge politics has become a microcosm of the nation. If there are clear inaccuracies please let us know and we will try to revise.
Fritz Donovan, a member of the group who wrote the Advancing Housing Affordability (AHA) Zoning Petition published this Op Ed on September 12, 2021, in Cambridge Day addressing how this petition was written, what it will do , and how important it is for the City as we go forward. Also please read the article there and support your local newspapers. His Op Ed points out that: "This spring and summer, a group of concerned residents from a wide range of backgrounds and skills met weekly to discuss Cambridge housing problems and what can be improved through zoning. This resulting citizens’ petition to advance housing affordability – and called the Advancing Housing Affordability Petition – offers an important avenue for change while maintaining essential Cambridge features that must be preserved in this era of climate change and population increases. These changes will provide more affordable housing in Cambridge while solving many problems we face.
A fundamental contributor to Cambridge’s current housing, transportation, parking and infrastructure needs is the addition of thousands of corporate and institutional employees and students with no requirement to plan for housing. This petition proposes a citywide overlay requiring all organizations of more than 100 people to provide area plans with annual reporting for 85 percent of their full-time employees, students and affiliates by 2040. A key element would be assistance to low- and middle-income employees to build equity by buying rather than renting. Another factor in the housing shortage is the current restriction that all residents in single-family or two-family zone homes must be from the same one or two families. Many such homes are now occupied by just a single family member, forcing owners to leave hundreds of rooms empty throughout Cambridge or violate the law by renting to unauthorized tenants to support the home. The AHA petition proposes to modify single- and two-family zoning restrictions to allow creation of additional units within the shells of single-family and two-family homes, with relatively modest changes such as doors and windows in the rear or on side walls near the rear. These modifications will preserve existing sustainable residences and legalize the illegal apartments that now exist. Owners who add three or more units must meet city affordability housing guidelines prorated to the number of units, with a bonus to encourage adding affordable units. To address climate change, this petition also mandates that all new residential off-street outdoor parking spaces be exclusively of water-permeable surfaces that absorb rain. Why these zoning changes are needed The latest U.S. Census reports that total residential housing units in Cambridge increased 14 percent between 2010 and 2020, to 54,000 units from 47,000, while occupied units increased more than 12 percent and vacancies increased 33 percent. More is definitely needed; Cambridge must look holistically at its entire housing situation and identify solutions to reduce vacancies and encourage other improvements. Our large employers and institutions must work with residents and officials to create area-wide housing, transportation, parking and infrastructure plans addressing critical concerns facing the city. This petition’s requirement for annual reporting will ensure that goals are established and met, with the city itself reporting to the City Council and all others reporting to the Planning Board. Collaboration among employers and area-wide planning involving all major employers will be critical to addressing climate change as well. In summary, this petition will modify Cambridge zoning for exclusively single- and two-family housing in a way that will not escalate housing costs or property values and will not destroy the city’s rich array of sustainable historic housing. It seeks to prevent the current environmental problem of tearing down existing stock to build larger, more expensive housing and to preserve Cambridge’s diverse neighborhoods and their broad array of architecturally beautiful and historic housing. Encouraging the adapting of single-family and multifamily homes will create a new supply of studios, one-bedroom and smaller two-bedroom units, as well as cooperatives with shared living spaces. These will enable individuals and households seeking lower rents to move in, increasing the supply of existing various unit sizes and helping reduce average rents citywide. The larger residences they move out of then become available for new families. In addition, by encouraging large employers – and city government – to take an active role in planning the housing of their employees, and to help their low- and middle-income employees build equity where they are living, Cambridge can take a major step toward reducing its current housing shortage. Cambridge is a wealthy city with a progressive citizenry committed to maintaining its historic diversity and adding more affordable housing. But the recent Cambridge Community Foundation report states less than 15 percent of our current housing is income-restricted affordable housing accessible to families earning below 80 percent of Cambridge‘s area median income of $98,100; Cambridge is therefore losing teachers, firefighters, artists, police, nurses, nonprofit staff, small-business owners, senior citizens and, increasingly, the long-standing African American families who have anchored our community for generations. Sadly, tax-funded Affordable Housing Overlay costs have risen to more than $900,000 per unit, as quoted recently for Jefferson Park by the Affordable Housing Trust." Top left: Walden Square II, top right: Jefferson Park; bottom left: Frost Terrace; bottom center: Finch (Concord Ave.), Bottom right; New Street. *A version of this text also appeared August 19, 2021 in CCC’s Cambridge Day AHO report Op Ed. Please read and donate to this important local newspaper and others. Below we also address initial response to this Report.
Authors of the August 13, 2021 Cambridge Day and Cambridge Chronicle opinion pieces on the AHO (Affordable Housing Overlay) address perceived successes over the last year, but omit key details, such as where the 350 units are located, initiation dates, or related impacts. The AHO ordinance itself requires no annual review, leaving this up to others. While the Cambridge Citizens Coalition (CCC) along with many residents opposed the AHO’s passage, once ordained, we were eager to see and potentially support its outcomes. Below is our overview of the AHO successes and questions in this initial period. AHO Pluses
Finding AHO-specific examples that meet stated goals is harder to do, but it is not hard to guess what sites are being referenced by the authors: Jefferson Park (underway): Plans call for demolishing all eleven buildings, a six-story residence, and a group of three-to-four story “low rise” buildings, then rebuilding here to rehouse these tenants while adding some 114-120 units to bring the site to 289 units from the current c.175 units. Many of the mature trees that gave Jefferson Park its name will be lost. Had 40B permitting been used, fewer trees would go. New Street (construction stage): This 107-unit project was well underway when the City Council voted not to support more store units at this site with a scattering of affordable units as sweetener (summer 2019 - before the AHO was ordained). Eventually the owner transformed the use to affordable units. While not an AHO goal-based project per se, New Street represents a positive outcome. Walden Square: (planning stage). This proposed 103-unit project expands Winn Properties’ existing Walden Square affordable housing development onto their parking lot and simply adds more density to an existing affordable housing development, so non-profit developers are not competing here with market rate investors, and it further segregates affordable housing residents and ,leaves them with few amenities. Other current affordable housing projects are also important to this overview: 2072 Mass Ave (planning stage). Plans for this proposed 49-unit development have not been finalized, but this project (Capstone Properties, employed NOT the AHO, but instead long available Massachusetts Chapter 40B comprehensive permitting was employed. Had AHO guidelines been used, some neighborhood opposition might be dissipated. Rindge Tower (in process): The expansion of Rindge Tower, like Jefferson Park, was planned pre-AHO and is proceeding outside the scope of AHO and the developers are adding greater height and density on an existing affordable housing site, to be managed by private entities and segregating affordable housing tenants from other city residents. Frost Terrace (completed - 40 homes) created by for profit Capstone Properties and the Finch Cambridge development on Concord Ave. (98 homes - Homeowners Rehab Inc) are also in play, but neither was built under the AHO. None of the above examples represents viable AHO “success stories,” created through the AHO or achieved as the AHO intended, in providing non-profit developers a means to compete with market rate investors to purchase sites citywide in wealthier neighborhoods. None-the-less, we can learn much about the AHO results to date vis-à-vis current and potential impacts.
CCC’s key concerns about the AHO still remain: 1) the lack of independent project design review (the AHO removed Planning Board oversight); 2) existing tools that could be and still are used, notably Mass. state 40B to consolidate affordable housing project development; 3) the lack of viable neighborhood input on design; 4) the allowance of non-porous surfaces such as porches and roof decks to count as “open space”; 5) the frequent removal of green spaces (and mature trees) in AHO developments, raising issues of environmental equity; 6) issues of resident parking for those needing cars to get to work; 7) lack of transparency and potential conflict of interest in the selection and funding of AHO developers; 8) those units funded in part by state and federal resources must include non-Cambridge resident applicants (roughly 30 percent of units go to these non-residents) making it harder for local residents to find housing, and 9) the lack of built-in regular accountability (annual reporting) of AHO projects. For the most part, these concerns were on target. Note: the Cambridge Chronicle photograph shows 881 Mass Ave. which has market rate apartments. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Response to the Cambridge Day AHO Op Ed. to date
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Cambridge Citizens Coalition is delighted to be co-sponsoring one of the two rallies in Solidarity at City Hall - Cambridge Trees and Cambridge Youth. Join CCC, Mothers Out Front, along with the Alewife Neighbors' Inc., Alewife Study Group, Association of Cambridge Neighborhoods, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, Cambridge Residents Alliance, Communities Responding to Extreme Weather, Fresh Pond Residents Association, Friends of Jerry's Pond, Green Cambridge, Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, Meadowscaping for Biodiversity, Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, Violence is a Public Health Crisis and we’re in a State of Emergency. On Monday August 2 at 5:00 pm The Cambridge City Council will hold it's summer meeting. We must remind our elected officials and other city leaders that creating a strategic plan to protect all of our residents, especially our young people, is all of our responsibility. We must stop the violence. Read: Tony Clark, My Brother's Keeper, Over Last 6 Weeks Cambridge Has been Plagued by Violence Cambridge Chronicle, July 26, 2021. Cambridge Trees are at Increasing Risk. Since 2009, Cambridge’s tree canopy has shrunk by more than 16 acres every year, leaving only a quarter of our city shaded. At this rate, by 2030 as much as 83 percent of the city could be without any tree canopy. Mature, healthy trees are irreplaceable infrastructure, as they mitigate the temperatures of heat islands. On a 90-degree day, a shaded street feels like 80 degrees, while a sparsely shaded one feels like 100 degrees. In our warming city, development must be paired with saving healthy, fully grown trees; sequester carbon dioxide. It is critical that we address the environmental equity aspects of this. Read: Rally for Cambridge Trees in Cambridge Day on July 30, 2021. Retaining Mature Trees Must Be Top Priority in Cambridge in Cambridge Chronicle on July 30, 2021 Also: Climate Emergency is a Tree Emergency by John Pitkin n Cambridge Day. July 30, 2021: We’re all in this together . We’re speaking now, and counting on you to join us in solidarity in supporting BOTH efforts. Cambridge Citizens coalition has led city efforts in opposing the city-wide luxury housing (market-rate) up-zoning petition because it will make things even more expensive than it is currently. Many other groups are now on board from Black Response Cambridge to Green Cambridge. We now urge CCC supporters to join us and these other groups for a rally for Cambridge housing justice on June 17 at 5:00 PM in front of City Hall.
Please also sign up to attend HERE: https://bit.ly/2RwKSz3 Read the Cambridge rally organizers statement below: |