Council Updates, Summer Break, And More

All:

As the summer heat rolls along, official council business slows down. Although there are fewer council meetings, my work continues on a number of important issues. The summer schedule also allows me to attend a number of great events in the area.

There will be a meeting on August 5, and I expect a number of issues to be discussed at that time. The Council and the City are continuing to work on housing, development, bike safety, traffic changes, responding to climate change, and a range of other issues. It is a time when many people take some time off, given the intensity of the last few months. I have been taking advantage of some summer offerings, and I hope you do, too. The Cambridge Jazz Festival is this weekend, as is the Lowell Folk Festival. Lots of places to be outside and inside.

I loved participating in the Harvard Square Concierge Stroll: There are so many places to visit there, from Oggi Pizza to (SOON!) the Comedy Club opening in just a few weeks on JFK Street. I continue to be interested in the Council’s efforts from the last few years to pedestrianize parts of Harvard Square, which would bring more vitality and community. I was also able to attend the Central Square BID annual meeting, and saw the energy in that square – lots of great places across the city and region.

One of the best events the last couple of weeks I attended was the ribbon cutting for a Passive House affordable ADU in Arlington. It is the result of a partnership with Reframe Systems and the Arlington Housing Corporation. Modular construction saves money, and net zero is a necessity for any new construction. Lowered construction costs and sustainable building practices are going to be essential as we look to support affordable housing development while continuing to combat the climate crisis. The next modular construction project for Reframe will be a triple decker in Somerville. I am advocating for them to do a project in Cambridge.

I also participated in the Charles River SPLASH event – sponsored by the Charles River Conservancy and the Esplanade Association. CRC is working, along with many others, to get the river to the point where you don’t need a special permit to swim in it – but for it to be safe every day. If Paris can do it, then we can, too (the Olympics start tonight and some events will be in the Seine River).

I have spoken to many in the community about the potential to change traffic patterns around Appleton Street in West Cambridge and the broader efforts to address dangerous speeding and traffic. I live nearby and frequently use the streets under discussion as a driver, cyclist, and pedestrian. I have discussed this issue with City staff, as well, and have encouraged them to study the traffic patterns in detail and communicate with the entire neighborhood before a decision is made about whether to implement some kind of turn restriction. The City has put up signs around the neighborhood asking for feedback and I encourage anyone who lives in or traverses that area to give their input. To be clear, this decision is not a City Council decision, but I have asked the City staff to carefully weigh the information they receive and to do traffic simulations before making any decision.

Once again I’d like to remind everyone to consider adopting a tree! There are a lot of public trees in Cambridge in need of care, and residents can help by adopting one or more near their homes. I’ve adopted one just outside my home on Huron Avenue and water it throughout the summer, but there are  thousands of trees that need care and surely one within a few yards of your home. Adopting a tree is easy, and all it takes is a watering can (or an old milk jug!). Young trees especially need to be watered regularly in the summer, particularly during times of drought. A few gallons a week of water can make the difference in a young tree’s life and can provide decades worth of shade and environmental benefits. Learn how to be an Urban Forest Friend, and consider signing up for the city’s monthly newsletter. Take a look at the map, walk around your block, find a tree that works for you, and help improve our urban forest.

Over the last year the City Manager and his team have been working to put out a quarterly publication, CityView, which gets mailed to all Cambridge residents. Past publications have focused on specific topics such as sustainability and affordable housing. The most recent issue, published this week, focuses on the City’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which the City Council passed early in June. The publication provides a brief overview of the budget process, goals, and some top line notes from this year’s budget. I have covered a lot of this information in previous newsletters as well, but I would encourage you to take some time to read through the latest CityView.

I read a great op-ed in the Boston Globe today about heat pumps and neighborhood-scale electrification efforts. As you’ve heard me talk about countless times and seen in action with efforts like BEUDO, I believe large-scale electrification is absolutely essential to combatting the climate crisis, and we need to take immediate action with regards to infrastructure changes that support those efforts. To that effort, I have long supported additional funding and action to support electrification as well as efficiency improvements through technologies like networked geothermal wells and heat pumps. I was pleased to see one of the efforts I supported, a regionally-coordinated heat pump accelerator program, was granted $450 million by the Environmental Protection Agency. This is the kind of investment and regional planning that we will need in order to combat the climate crisis. We must meet that energy on the local level with infrastructure improvements so that those national investments can be utilized quickly and effectively.

As I mentioned earlier, the next City Council meeting will not be until Monday, August 5, but throughout the summer there will be committee meetings and a lot of work to follow. You can see all the scheduled Council meetings here. Below are some comments on a few top line items from the last week. 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