What's in a Name change? Once Upon a Time there was a Civic Organization...

We have changed our name! After long discussions with people around the city, we have become the Cambridge Citizen Coalition. We still believe in our founding goals (and the concerns expressed by our former name: Cambridge Citizens for Responsible Redevelopment) but we also want to make it clear that we have long term goals as well. 
     As we contemplate our name change we can't help but recall the long standing impact of the Cambridge Civic Association on the local  political scene . Robert Winters provides an overview of CCA and its larger impact in this June 7, 2009 post on the Cambridge Civic Journal:
        "Once upon a time there was a civic organization in Cambridge known as the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). It was formed in 1945 out of several organizations that had been existed through the 1930s and that had lobbied the state legislature to create the Plan E Charter option (1938) which featured a city manager form of government and proportional representation elections for city council and school committee. These reforms were central to model charter reform movements active in the United States from the early 1900s.                                          The central theme of the CCA in its early days was "good government" in the sense of being anti-patronage and for professionally managed local government. This changed with the introduction of rent control at the end of the 1960s after which the CCA shifted leftward and became permanently lashed to the mast of the rent control vessel. Though the CCA still exists on paper (I believe), it rapidly declined after the statewide abolition of rent control (late 1994) and essentially disappeared a decade later (early 2005). I bring up the ghost of the CCA today only to point out that when it was created it had some very admirable goals.                                                Here's the original Mission Statement of the CCA: Purposes: This association is formed for the following purposes:                                                     
1. To promote businesslike, honest, and efficient conduct of local government, open to public scrutiny. 2. To induce residents to take an active interest in the affairs of the City of Cambridge.                                       3. To encourage and support the candidacy of men and women seeking election to public office and to support intelligent, wholesome leadership in public affairs.                                                                                      4. To assure that the best qualified persons are appointed to positions in the City government after consideration of all qualified candidates.                      5. To promote among the citizens of Cambridge equitable distribution and benefit of public services and equal opportunity for economic security, education, and social advancement.                                        These are pretty good founding principles for a civic organization and I'm tempted to say that some should be incorporated into the recently adopted City Council's Goals for FY2010 (adopted Feb 2, 2009). In fact, of the 22 current goals, the only one that comes close is: "An increased level of recruitment and opportunities for membership on boards and commissions." The current Council goals emphasize things like "fostering community" via block parties and such, though one has to wonder if the City should be promoting these activities or just getting out of the way so that people can foster community on their own. The goals also seem to put some emphasis on developing "successful nightlife campaigns" while mentioning nothing about promoting ordinary "daytime" economic activity that supports the everyday needs of residents.                               One founding principle of the CCA that fell into disuse over the years is listed above as #3: To encourage and support the candidacy of men and women seeking election to public office and to support intelligent, wholesome leadership in public affairs. Indeed, I can personally testify to the fact that in its dying years the only reason the CCA made endorsements at all was because the CCA-endorsed incumbents wanted the benefit of having an advertised CCA slate of candidates that would help secure their reelection. There was precious little effort to recruit new candidates or to support them.                           Today, the benefits of incumbency are greater than ever. The cost of political campaigns have become absurdly high and most of the incumbents now have (City paid) staff who are inevitably political appointees who directly or indirectly assist in the reelection efforts of their bosses. The deck is increasingly stacked against challengers. Furthermore, the salary and benefits for elected councillors are now so sweet that it is unlikely that any of them would ever want to move on to another job.                                                                                                       With this background in mind, I would like to encourage all Cambridge residents to help level the playing field by finding out about this year's challengers for seats on the Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge School Committee. This is not meant as a dig against any particular incumbent as much as an appeal to support the challengers in what is a difficult and laudable effort. Please see the Cambridge Candidate Pages (http://vote.cambridgecivic.com) for the current list of expected candidates. Then use your own judgment - don't expect me or anyone else to do it for you. Speaking of this year's municipal election, there are some activists who are now expending great effort to attack the City Manager and most of the current City Council."
     Thank you Robert Winters. This is indeed an important background from which to delimit our own mission and future.  For more on the CCA see this 1996 Crimson article:    www.thecrimson.com/article/1996/3/15/cambridge-civic-association-sets-four-goals/

​*photo credit. Channing Real Estate