October 13, 2025
Dear Fellow Cantabrigians,
Campaigning has been an amazing opportunity to hear from you about a broad range of issues. Mostly, I’m hearing anxiety about the Multifamily Housing Ordinance, frustrations about mobility and concerns about City finances.
I will continue to do my best to move new development back to the main corridors, to encourage greater traffic enforcement for all types of travel, and to demand fiscal responsibility. Due to the Federal government’s pressure on blue states, research, moderate income programs, health subsidies and educational institutions, the City will have less money. We will need to work smarter and prioritize our goals.
Updates:
Zoning, Housing & Development
Upzoning North Mass Ave. & Cambridge St.
Development should be “smart” and along transportation corridors, though the residential heights proposed by CDD below are too high! Projects with community benefits and AHO developments will be rewarded with additional height. I am the only Councillor with reservations.
- On Cambridge St.: Generally building will be limited to 8 stories, with 10 stories at Inman Square, 12 stories at Webster and Windsor Streets, and 15 stories at Lechmere.
- On North Mass Ave.: Buildings are allowed up to 12 stories with active ground floor uses and up to 18 stories in the Porter Square area.
Once again, this proposed zoning is contrary to the Envision Cambridge plan. While Envision doesn’t specify specific heights, it notes:
“Squares and Major Mixed-Use Corridors along Massachusetts Avenue and Cambridge Street should grow at a moderate, measured pace that takes advantage of transit proximity and enhances their unique character and sense of place.”
“Evolving Mixed-Use Districts, such as Kendall Square, North Point/Cambridge Crossing, and Alewife, should continue to accommodate the bulk of the city’s growth and change, taking advantage of transit proximity, and positively transforming areas characterized by surface parking lots, automobile-oriented uses, and obsolete commercial buildings.”
The Ordinance Committee will meet October 30 and November 13th to discuss upzoning for N. Mass. Ave. and Cambridge St. further. For more information and to give public comment, go here closer to the dates. Send emails to the Council, City Clerk and City Manager. The City Council is intent on passing this upzoning in 2025.
Multifamily Housing Update
Sept. 15th Inspectional Services reported that little MFH permitting is happening, but we’ve all heard of many parcels changing hands. It appears that many projects won’t advance until the Council considers lowering the 20% inclusionary unit rate—a conversation that I understand will happen after the election—and after corridor upzoning is pushed through.
The Dover Amendment & Protecting Neighborhoods from Institutional Uses
The City’s MFH Ordinance removed our exemption from the Dover Amendment. (The Dover Amendment is a state law that exempts certain land uses from local zoning regulations.) On Monday the Council unanimously supported the law department to align City and state policy regarding institutional use. Next: To meet with institutional partners and neighborhood associations about how best to encourage universities to build more student housing without encroaching on neighborhoods. It is critical that we reintroduce clear guidelines for institutional use.
The Full Council Supports Social Housing
The challenge to developing mixed income, city-owned housing will be acquiring land, and funding construction. Most social housing in Europe was created post-WWII, when land was readily available. Cambridge’s eight limited equity co-ops were established back when there were opportunities to purchase rent control-weary properties. I would love for Cambridge to figure out how create more social housing.
Environment & Transportation
Protecting Solar Installations
Some 6-story MFH projects will threaten existing solar installations, almost 1,000 on individual homes. CCD has proposed requiring the 6-story buildings to be stepped back, which would provide some shadow relief, though still, sometimes, reduce solar radiation efficiency by 20-30%. Developers have pushed back. They say that this would eliminate too much development space, even though CDD has suggested the stepbacks would only impact 3-6% of locations suitable for 6-story development.
We must build housing and hold true to our sustainability goals, too! Our current installations produce about 10 gigawatt-hours of clean energy, enough to power a large hospital or small university. Communities across the country have recognized this problem and enacted solar access ordinances to protect existing installations and encourage more people to adopt clean energy. This discussion will continue at a joint Housing and Environment Committee meeting.
Bakal Petition & Green Space Preservation
On Tuesday the Ordinance Committee voted against a Citizens’ Petition asking for park paths to be limited to 10’ wide. CDD said it was too restrictive and the Mass. Dept. of Conservation & Recreation follows more flexible guidelines; their shared use paths are 10’-14’, depending on the site.
But I agree with the petition in principle. Current park design trends are too hardscape heavy. Why? Because paving requires less maintenance, can serve multimodal uses and increases accessibility. Look at Carl Baron Plaza (Central Square), Inman Square, the plans for Raymond Park and Linear Park, Copley Square in Boston and even the Rose Garden at the White House. We need more vegetation and less pavement in our City parks.
The City Presents Its Net Zero Transportation Plan
The Transportation Department’s goal is to focus on more sustainable forms of transportation—walking, biking and mass transit—and to encourage fewer cars and less driving. While supportive generally, I pointed out that there are over 44,000 registered vehicles in the City and that we must continue to deal with them. I recommended that we encourage universities to discourage students from bringing cars, reduce parking permits to 1 per person and 2 per household, and encourage more car shares. Next, the Transportation Dept. will be drafting a 5-year Cambridge Access and Mobility Plan, an overall transportation plan for traveling to, from and within Cambridge.
Finances
Commercial Taxes up 22%
The City Manager shared that the FY26 budget will require a 22% increase in commercial taxes. This will impact all businesses, especially more vulnerable small businesses.
For years development has powered our economy and that growth, mostly in the commercial sector, has paid for our extraordinary programs, including universal pre-K, investment in affordable housing, school renovations and park redesigns. With labs and offices now about 20% vacant, overall, most development has stalled and there’s less tax revenue to cover expenses.
I wish we had understood the full tax implications of our budget last year. Had we, we might have modified spending.
Summary: We’ll have less money for the future. It’s essential that we evaluate existing programs and reduce expenses. Our approximately $100m annual debt service payment will remain constant.
Incentive Zoning Nexus Study
The City will hire a consultant to do a study of our linkage fee in January, with the report out by fall 2026. Our current linkage fee is $36.36 per square foot, much higher than that of neighboring communities. The City is considering adding a job training fee on top. While I support job training programs—we have about 10—we must evaluate our existing programs before demanding more money from developers. I worry that if we make it too expensive and difficult for businesses to locate here, they will go elsewhere.
Local Retail
The Economic Opportunity and Development Division of CDD is doing a great job supporting local businesses. My concern is that retailers will continue to be challenged by parking, permitting and taxing issues.
I am happy to hear that 9 new businesses are coming to Central Square. I understand that one of the reasons that we have so many empty storefronts is that some property owners are awaiting upzoning. Upzoning will make their real estate more valuable and salable.
Other
Elder Care: Mayor Simmons and I, as the co-chairs of Civic Unity, have been meeting with senior service providers about how we can best support elders impacted by the “Great Big Beautiful Bill.” Some seniors face losing SNAP benefits, fuel assistance and even housing vouchers.
Needles & Narcan: More needles are being found in pubic parks and places. The City is responding by putting more boxes out, especially in North Cambridge, and making Narcan broadly available.
Around Cambridge
I’ve been all around this past month connecting with constituents: at the Danehy Family Fun Day, the Cambridge Science Festival, Paddy’s 5k, the Bowtie Ride, an East Cambridge Untour, and many block parties.
I’ve met with residents of Manning, LBJ and 2 Mt. Auburn apartments about safety and mobility concerns, residents of Strawberry Hill, Larchwood and East Cambridge about development concerns, and residents and neighbors about the latest construction plans for the Cambridge Housing Authority’s Corcoran Park.
I sat in on lectures at the Harvard Joint Center on Housing about the national decline in homeownership and at MIT’s Mobility Forum about shared autonomous vehicles; and attended a Stat Municipal Partnerships Conference to hear directly from Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll and Mass. Secretaries of housing, environment, health and finance.
I am proud of MIT for rejecting the Trump Administration’s compact and happy that David Murphy was named CPS superintendent.
Thank you for all of your support for my campaign. Please give me your #1 vote while supporting other Cambridge Citizens Coalition candidates.
Also, support the new City Charter. It’s the result of about five months of work and many, many discussions. The language has been modernized, but mostly it reflects the old one. The one real change is that now the Mayor is not automatically the Chair of the School Committee.
Cathie
Cambridge City Councillor
P.S. More Zusy for City Council yard signs are arriving this week. Let me know if you’d like one! Also, be sure to check out my new Facebook and Instagram accounts.
