Council Updates, CSO Extension Vote Change, And More

Halloween, Arizona-style

All:

The election has started – early voting is happening in many states and in Massachusetts early voting starts next week. If you’re voting in Cambridge, you can find out how to vote on the Elections Commission website. I have helped several residents connect with the Elections Commission for help voting in the last two weeks – if you don’t have a plan to vote yet, I encourage you to review their website for information and call if you need assistance. And, Happy Halloween! Above is a picture I took in Phoenix, Arizona, where I was last week. Some houses do it big for Halloween and there are a few great ones in Cambridge (go by Appleton Street this weekend…), but I doubt anyone in New England has a cactus as a backdrop for their witch.

On Monday night, the Council debated language to extend the deadline for three streets of the Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO) to November 2027. After a long night of debate and discussion with City staff, the Council voted to extend the deadline for the CSO to November 30, 2026 by a vote of 7-2, which represented a compromise between the existing 2025 deadline and the proposed 2027 deadline. In April I supported a 2027 deadline and Monday I voted for the 2026 deadline, after initially not voting on 2026 – more below on my thinking behind the decision.

On Wednesday, the Neighborhood and Long-Term Planning Committee held a meeting with representatives of neighborhood groups from across the city to discuss the current multifamily zoning proposal. You can watch the meeting here. It was a good opportunity to hear from these different neighborhood groups about goals, concerns, and especially their willingness to participate in this process. What was striking, and hopeful, was that each neighborhood leader present noted a desire to end exclusionary zoning and allow multifamily development in all neighborhoods of the city. Now we need to work to find a way to meet our housing, climate, and transportation goals through this process. There will be a number of other opportunities to discuss this proposal in the Council and through community meetings. I have included a list below of upcoming meetings and a link to the CDD web page which has more information on the proposal. If you’re interested in how I’m thinking about the proposal, please read my previous newsletter here, where I unpack some of my thoughts.

The City of Cambridge has rolled out a number of interesting updates to online tools in recent weeks. If you read my newsletter last week, you’ll remember the fall foliage map that was recently updated (as a reminder, you can view all my previous newsletters via my website – pattynolan.org/news). This week, the City has rolled out updates to the GIS Web Map, which allows staff and public users to view GIS data, create maps, generate abutters lists, and more useful features. Another update is the Designated Historic Landmarks Map. This page has been updated to include more pictures and filters to more easily view properties you are interested in. AND the BEUDO draft regulations on how to measure emission pollution have been published – open for comment for 30 days.

Our regular City Council meeting on Monday will be replaced with a roundtable discussion on macroeconomic trends facing the City. You can review the meeting materials here and my communication on the fall Finance Committee schedule here.

Below are some comments on a few top line items and a few quick notes for Monday’s meeting. If you have questions or comments on these or anything else I’ve been working on, please feel free to reach out at any time.

Patty

Council Updates

Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO) Extension
On Monday night, the City Council discussed ordinance changes to the Parking and Transportation Demand Management Ordinance (PTDM) and the Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO). The PTDM updates were sent to the Ordinance Committee for further discussion, and the entire Council spoke favorably of the changes, which seek to free up more access to public parking in already existing private lots across the city. The changes to the CSO were to allow more time and flexibility in the CSO installation schedule. I initially voted present on the amendments to change the extended installation deadline to November 30, 2026, before changing my vote to yes. The November 30, 2026 deadline was a compromise between the currently applicable date of May 2025 and the proposed extension of November 1, 2027. There is some confusion around my decision to support the compromise, after voting for the 2027 date earlier this spring, so I wanted to explain my decision-making process here. I have been and remain committed to implementing a safe and complete bicycle network throughout the city. I am committed to maintaining the pace of installation and continuing the process to improve street safety.

My approach to the CSO and installation of bike lanes has not changed, however, the position of the  City staff has changed. When I wrote about the decision in April, I made it clear that there were important considerations on both sides of the debate. Not simply parking versus safety, which is unfortunately how some frame the conversation, but as a holistic discussion over seasonal and citywide construction schedules, staff time, competing project schedules, working groups, and communication schedules. When presented with information from City staff in the spring on potential construction schedules and the difficulty of maintaining those schedules in light of looming deadlines, I made the decision to support an extension to 2027. In conversations and in meetings I heard from City staff that they would have difficulty meeting a May 2025 deadline and it may lead to incomplete community processes. And that the flexibility of a 2027 construction schedule would have advantages and disadvantages. In the six months since that vote, I got conflicting messages from the city about a 2026 deadline and how feasible it was. There was concern about the ability of the city staff to complete the bike lanes by 2026 AND do the intersection infrastructure improvements that are needed which the council requested. That work for systematic intersection infrastructure improvements was not a part of the original CSO construction schedule and would mean additional staff time not previously accounted for.

It seemed, based on communication as late as Monday morning with staff that the tradeoffs remained: not only for a few parking spots v. safety, but a range of pros and cons which needed to be balanced. Then Monday night, in full disclosure and honesty, I was floored by the city staff saying 2026 posed no issues at all with implementation. City staff stated they were comfortable with a November 2026 deadline and would still be able to install the bike lanes all while segmenting the streets out in a way that made sense for working group deliberation, and they would be able to do this without compromising the new work on intersections – which was different from past messages. After asking a number of questions to try and resolve this disconnect, I voted present figuring we would have an opportunity in the Ordinance Committee meeting to resolve discrepancies. Like the discrepancy about timing, it was said at the meeting that the Main St. schedule was delayed by the vote in April. But that was not what the memo from staff in April stated: Main St. completion was planned for 2025, under both the existing CSO timeline and a 2027 one. That kind of disconnect with no chance to fully discuss left me frustrated and flummoxed. Had I had a warning that the City position had evolved and they now were confident that 2026 would not compromise the work or mean hasty implementation, I would have voted in favor of a 2026 deadline immediately. Having gone back to staff after the meeting and been assured that the concerns they had earlier this year have been resolved I am fully on board with a November 30, 2026 deadline. I wish that assurance had come prior to the meeting. Some decisions are not easy and they are rarely as black and white as advocates or proponents would expect. And when one is wrong, it’s important to admit. I was wrong for voting present instead of yes from the start, given the staff position change.

Short Term Rentals Update
After sponsoring a policy order last month, the City Manager has delivered a report on the use of short-term rentals in Cambridge (i.e. AirBnb, etc.). The intent of the Short-Term Rentals (STR) Ordinance, which passed in August 2017 and made the operation of short-term rentals legal for Cambridge residents, was to enhance the city by supporting residents wanting to operate STRs without compromising housing availability or affordability. While there are state and municipal requirements for short-term rental operators, there are examples from other places with different rules which might be appropriate for Cambridge, now that the experience of the past seven years can be reviewed. There have also been a number of instances reported to the City Council of neighbors who have provided their evidence that some residents are not following the rules, yet determining whether the rules are being followed and enforcing them can be challenging. On Monday night I sponsored a policy order that asks for ordinance changes based on the recommendations from City staff. I look forward to going through the ordinance process in order to improve our ordinance and regulations around short-term rentals.

Local Events/Notes

City Halloween Events
There are a number of community and City-sponsored Halloween events in the next week that I would encourage you to check out. For a full listing of the City events, take a look at the City’s webpage here. Cambridge Day also has a number of great events listed here.

Multifamily Zoning events
As I mentioned above, there are a number of upcoming meetings related to the multifamily housing zoning proposal. You can see them all at the CDD webpage here. In addition to the scheduled Ordinance Committee meetings on November 19 and December 4, CDD will be hosting an open house on Tuesday, October 29, from 5:30pm – 7:30pm at the Cambridge Senior Center at 806 Massachusetts Avenue. You can also sign up to receive email updates on the zoning proposal here.

Halloween in Harvard and Inman Squares
There are a number of fun and exciting Halloween-themed events this October sponsored by the Harvard Square Business Association. Check out some of them here… and the return of “Inmanween” in Inman Square TODAY!

October is National Women’s Business Month
The City of Cambridge will celebrate National Women’s Business Month during October to recognize the importance of women-owned businesses and highlight the women entrepreneurs who contribute so much to the local Cambridge economy. National Women’s Business Month commemorates the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988, which authorized the federal government to issue loans to businesses controlled by women. Before then, many states required a male co-signer for women to access capital via a business loan. There will be hosting a number of City-sponsored events throughout the month. Check out the City of Cambridge website to register for a number of fun and educational events, including the Mapping Feminist Cambridge walking tours, which highlight the impact local individuals and organizations had on the feminist movement from the 1970s-1990s.

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/

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