All:
Happy summer! One week ago we had one of the most anticipated events of the year, the CITY DANCE PARTY! I loved the event, which saw people of all ages dancing up a storm and a palpable community spirit. And of course I enjoyed the sparkling and fun outfits. I loved the addition this year of a Play Streets at Temple Street with swings and seesaws for younger people (I snuck onto the swing for a minute so I can personally confirm it was fun!).
The big news this week is that the council officially passed amendments to the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO)!! You can read more of my thoughts below, for now, I will speak to the gratitude I feel towards all in the community who helped push this bold piece of legislation forward. I am proud to have done so much work bringing people together – bringing the council together – to get to a place where Cambridge can mandate emissions reductions in large buildings.
BEUDO is important because for the decade and longer climate work on the city we have asserted that it is the largest tool we have to reduce emissions in our city. Reducing emissions is the only way we are going to be able to mitigate some of the effects of the climate crisis. In the news just this week, we have seen dozens of stories across the country that speak to the seriousness and the urgency of the climate crisis. So the work continues.
In terms of the calendar for the council, our next regular meeting of the full council will not be until Monday, August 7, but we will continue with committee meetings throughout the summer and I will continue to update you through my newsletter from time to time. But as always, please feel free to contact me about any city item at any time. I will be working through the summer and hope to catch up on various projects.
Below are some comments on a few top line items, some quick notes from last Monday’s meeting, and a few events to check out.
Patty
A great time was had by all celebrating the return of the City Dance Party.
A great time was had by all celebrating the return of the City Dance Party.
BEUDO
We did it! I’d like to thank all who spent time advocating and pushing to help us get BEUDO requirements to reduce emissions across the finish line. This effort is a wonderful accomplishment and a moment worthy of celebration! I was thrilled to work on this effort with many in the community and the city and am glad we succeeded in a strong bill. It has taken a long time for us to get here, and it wasn’t an easy road. Since the first BEUDO in 2014 and the Net Zero Action Plan, a way to enforce emission reductions has been a goal. We are finally here! It took a significant amount of work to bring players from all walks to the table and to bring councillors together to pass what amounts to groundbreaking legislation. This ordinance should get us closer than ever to our own decarbonization goals and will hopefully serve as a model for cities around the country to reduce emissions and combat the climate crisis.
As I mentioned Monday night, passing legislation is hard, but implementing the ordinance will be even harder. It will take ingenuity, transparency, and support from the city and the community. I am prepared to continue the work and make sure that this ordinance fulfills its goals of emissions reduction. The world is demanding us to be bold, to try, to aspire, and to require the reductions we’ve been wishing, planning, and studying for a decade. I also want to recognize two important points: we may try things that don’t work, and we will learn a lot. That is expected, and it will contribute to the field when we succeed. AND when we fail. We embrace that role of innovators and experimenters.
It’s also important to note that this ordinance could have been stronger. I voted for a lower threshold of buildings to be included in the 2035 timeline. And I advocated and voted for tighter deadlines on net zero reductions. Through compromise we ended with the largest non-residential buildings at 2035, with others at 2050. I am also disappointed that the council voted to exempt large 50+ unit rental properties. Now our work is cut out for us to come up with an emissions reduction strategy for all the buildings that aren’t included in this iteration of BEUDO, including all residential: from single families to large apartments and condo buildings. This will be a difficult task that will take creative solutions and a commitment from the community and the city to work collaboratively to problem-solve. I am committed to starting that process as soon as possible. BEUDO isn’t a silver bullet for emissions reductions or combating the climate crisis, but it’s the biggest tool we have currently. So we need to build on it with the rest of the suite of tools in our NetZero Action Plan. And if we implement well, we will be leaders and forge a path for others to follow.
Thank you for your support throughout this process. Today is a good day for climate justice and for Cambridge. And to celebrate!
Cycling Safety Ordinance Business Impact Study
As I’ve mentioned in the past I have been working and am continuing to think about ways to review the effectiveness of our Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO). Recently, discourse over the issue has lent itself to a range of competing metrics and I want us to be able to have more reasonable discourse over the impacts of the CSO. If you’ve been following my council work, you’ll remember my recent policy order calling for a committee meeting to review the effectiveness of the CSO and provide an avenue for transparent review and discussion about implementation. In that vein, this week, I am introducing a policy order to improve the data gathering of the ongoing business impact study.
The goal of this policy order is not to further delay. I share the frustration about how long it has taken to get to this point. However, as I’ve mentioned ad nauseam, it’s important to continue to evaluate all our city operations using good data to inform SMART goals. At the last recent committee meeting on this study, several of us struggled with the lack of reliable data going into the Business Impact Study. Since then, a data scientist from Harvard who was on the CCWG had reached out to me with concerns about the scope of the survey. He recently did a study in Berkeley CA and offered to help us gather independent, reliable results that the community can discuss together. A month ago I sent a request to CDD with his offer to help improve the work – and connect Prof. DeBenedictus with CDD and he followed up and offered to help. Neither of us had heard back yet, so this policy order is the logical next step in trying to ensure that these ideas are taken into account during the business impact study. And I agree we should use cyclist and pedestrian count data as well. I support the CSO and support improving transportation infrastructure across the city, especially carbon free transportation – and we need to ensure that any analysis of the effects of recent changes are as comprehensive and clear as possible, so that we can have an informed discussion using independent metrics. This policy order will not be discussed until the summer meeting on August 7, now, but I hope eventually this policy order will lead to a better impact study.
Local Events/Notes
Rise Up Cambridge – Registration Open!
As many of you know, the City recently launched an incredible program that will provide cash assistance to low-income Cambridge households with children at or under 21 years of age, earning at or below 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. Rise Up Cambridge will enable these households to receive $500 per month for 18 months. As a reminder, anyone who qualifies for the program will be accepted. If you, or someone you know qualifies for Rise Up Cambridge, please submit your application soon. The registration period is open now through July 31, 2023 with initial payments beginning June 30. To learn more about Rise Up Cambridge, program eligibility, in person application assistance, or to apply, please visit www.cambridgema.gov/riseup.
Charter Review Committee
The Charter Review Committee has been continuing their work reviewing our city charter and to prepare their report for the city council. The CRC currently meets every other Tuesday from 5:30pm – 7:30pm and are actively seeking input from all members of the community. Their next regular meeting will be Tuesday, July 18, 2023 from 5:30pm – 7:30pm. In the coming weeks and months, they will be planning more public outreach events. They have also been working to attend community group meetings to spread the word about their important work and get input from the community. If you are part of a community group and would like to invite a CRC member to your meeting to talk about the work and get involved, please reach out to them via email! I invite you to attend their meetings and events, engage with members of the committee, and discuss your vision for our City charter. All the information as well as recordings of previous meetings can be found on their website. Further, you can submit written comments at any time to be considered by the CRC by emailing CharterReviewCommittee@Cambridgema.gov.
Thank You
Thank you to everyone for reading. If there are any topics you want me to cover in future newsletters, I’m always happy for the input! As always, please feel free to reach out to my aide, Patrick (phayes@cambridgema.gov) , or me for any of your City Council needs.
You can find all previous newsletters on my website. Please share with anyone you think would be interested: https://pattynolan.org/news/