Council Updates, Final Four, and More

Finance Committee Schedule Updates

• ARPA and FY26 Police Department Budget: Thursday, March 27, 1:00pm-3:00pm (meeting materials) The Finance Committee held a public meeting to receive a status update on the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding in Cambridge, as well as to review and discuss the Police Department budget for FY26 before it is submitted to the City Manager, as required under Cambridge Municipal Code Chapter 2.74.040. In addition to the FY26 Budget preview, we will also be discussing two free cash allocations requested by the Police Department last week, CMA 2025 #40, which has to do with replacement firearms, and CMA 2025 #41, which has to do with an electric transport wagon. Both items were forwarded to this meeting for further discussion. On Monday, March 31, the Council voted to approve both appropriations. I voted against the appropriation for new firearms as I had concerns with costs, their relation to policies for the new Body Worn Camera initiative, and discrepancies with previous CPD allocation data. After reviewing data on firearm discharge and firearm draws, this seemed like an unreasonable expense. According to CPD data, for the last five years, officers only draw their firearm an average of 8 times a year, and thankfully, discharge them even fewer. The current firearms were purchased in 2018 (although originally reported as 2020 by the Police Department) and some acquired later, and per CPD guidelines, the department policy is to replace firearms every 8-10 years, which indicates we should not be considering new firearms until at least next year. I also had concerns about the specific technology of automatically engaging Body Worn Cameras when drawn: PERF best practices indicate that we should not be relying on automatic deployment of cameras and instead it should be policy for officers to manually engage cameras when in certain situations. This kind of responsibility and training is a best practice because it affords officers discretion concerning whether to record informal, non-law enforcement-related interactions with members of the community, such as a person asking an officer for directions or officers having casual conversations with people they see on patrol. If officers were always required to record in these situations, it could inhibit the informal relationships that are critical to community policing efforts. The policy can also help to secure officer support for a body-worn camera program because it demonstrates to officers that they are trusted to understand when cameras should and should not be activated. For all of these reasons, I voted against the appropriation; however, the appropriation was passed by a 6-3 vote. Cambridge Day wrote about the vote here.
• Big Programs and Projects: Wednesday April 16, 3:00pm-5:00pm (meeting materials, when available). The Finance Committee will have a public meeting to review and discuss capital and large-scale programs and projects currently underway and in the funding plan, and potential future programming and projects that would need to be planned and incorporated into medium- and long-term capital and operating budgets.

Health and Environment Committee Schedule Updates

• Zero Waste Master Plan 2.0 Update: Tuesday, March 25, 3:00pm-5:00pm (ZWMP 2.0 Webpage, meeting materials) This was a meeting I had been building up to with DPW staff for several years now (Oct 2024 meeting materials) towards the launch of the ZWMP 2.0. On Wednesday, City staff published a draft of the ZWMP 2.0, which includes a suite of changes to the ZWMP and includes a review of progress on waste reduction and a number of ordinance changes around single-use plastics (plastic bags, “skip the stuff”, and more), mandatory food waste diversion, and mandatory waste reduction plans for large buildings. This was a very good meeting and included some excellent commentary from advocates and members of the public. Thank you all for participating and pushing this process forward. (Meeting video recording). We followed up the meeting with a policy order to ensure additional changes are made to the ZWMP 2.0 that align with council goals and priorities. The final ZWMP 2.0 will come to the full City Council for a vote on adoption.
• Protecting Registered Solar Energy Systems: Monday, April 14, 2025, 2:00pm-4:00pm (meeting materials, when available) This meeting is in response to a policy order I filed in January (POR 2025 #7), which asks City staff to consider ways in which we can encourage the use of solar energy systems and protect solar access for Registered Solar Energy Systems. With new development popping up in neighborhoods and new zoning in effect, it is essential that we continue to promote investment in renewable energy sources, but equally as important to work to protect residents who have already made that important investment in renewable energy. In this meeting we will consider zoning options to protect solar access for residents with existing solar energy systems. I have heard from a number of residents in recent weeks who are interested in this topic, and I encourage you to attend this meeting and stay engaged in the process as we look to protect solar access for residents.

Automated Parking Enforcement
After a lot of work over the last few years, the Council voted unanimously to file a Home Rule Petition to allow for the use of automated parking enforcement in Cambridge. The council began talking about this issue several years ago when I brought forward a policy order to lead the discussion. In that time, I have worked with the Law Department, discussed with other cities who have implemented this technology (or have wanted to), and have discussed with vendors and city staff, so I’m glad we’re finally at the point of requesting state authority. This is a great opportunity for us to improve enforcement of dangerous parking violations in bus stops, crosswalks, bike lanes, fire lanes, and hydrants, and other important uses. These kinds of violations can not only be dangerous for pedestrians and other road users, but also lead to double parking, congestion, and chaotic road conditions. We have been working with the City of Boston as they navigate a similar option. I hope they join us as well. Similar action in Somerville passed the state legislature with little issue, so I would hope we would have the same success. I am grateful this passed unanimously and now we can work with our state delegation to pass this.

Bishop Allen Drive RFI
I’m glad to see we are moving forward with considering options for City-owned lots in Central Square. Central Square planning and zoning has been a much drawn out process over many years, and it is beyond time we prioritized it. This response to the Requests For Information (RFI) put out by the City is a good step in that direction as it gives us a fuller picture of the range of options available for these specific lots. A question now is what to do with the responses. Per the City Manager’s memo, staff indicate it may be better to wait until Central Square Zoning is done in order to move forward with considering options, but the sense of the Council, and my position, is that we should consider the RFI responses as soon as possible and begin formulating an RFP process. Central Square zoning has sat on the backburner for over a decade, and even in the most optimistic scenario, is over a year away. I am concerned that if we wait to finish the whole central square zoning process, that we could be waiting an entire year, so it’s not out of the question to be worried about early 2026 slipping away and all the work that has gone into this RFI process will no longer be as relevant in a year or two, given the changing nature of the development industry. We will continue to discuss this process in the coming weeks, and I would suggest that we continue to push ahead with this process, even without central square zoning and refine an RFP. If we can work to put out a good RFP, much of the planning and development strategy work can be offloaded to private development while staff at CDD continue with other zoning efforts at the same time.

Community Discussion on Sex Work and Sex Trafficking
Last week I filed a policy order, cosponsored with Vice Mayor McGovern and Councillors Sobrinho-Wheeler and Siddiqui which calls for a Human Services and Veterans Committee meeting to discuss sex work and sex trafficking. It’s important to acknowledge the context of the conversation. The main reason we are discussing this issue is due to discovering last year that there was a brothel operating in Cambridge, and then more recently, the revelations that a colleague was implicated. I made a statement with three other colleagues on this issue and am continuing to consider how to react.

We are all disappointed we have to navigate this issue through the context of the City Council, but the community is discussing this issue and the Council should not shy away from this important issue. I want to support the Council furthering the conversation about consent, sex work and trafficking, which we can do in the committee meeting. That an illegal brothel was operating in Cambridge for many years is a concern of public safety and of civil rights, and worthy of a frank conversation with community advocates and experts in women’s issues, immigrant issues, and public safety professionals. The City has led a process over the last year, since the news of the brothel came out, that has included a group of diverse stakeholders across the community to develop a comprehensive, multi-sector response to this issue. The policy order passed unanimously and a committee meeting will be a good opportunity to hear more about that process and the ongoing work.

Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District
I wrote in more detail in my last newsletter about the Half Crown-Marsh NCD, the data on NCD reviews in this area, and why I am supportive of renewing this NCD. On March 31, the Council voted unanimously to request a year-long study on this NCD and its effects on multifamily housing development. In light of recent changes to the NCD system and multifamily zoning changes passed earlier this year, it makes sense to reanalyze this NCD to understand the full context. I believe this review will confirm what the data already demonstrates, which is that the Half Crown-Marsh NCD shows a process that works effectively through development issues without disrupting development potential or the rights of property owners, and I look forward to reviewing the results when they come out.