April 30, 2025
Dear Fellow Cantabrigians,
Here’s what’s happening at City Hall:
City Finances
With its long-time AAA bond rating, Cambridge is in excellent fiscal health.
Per our City Charter, the Council sets budget priorities and the City Manager is responsible for the bottom line. Decades of robust commercial development have provided the tax income to finance major new initiatives such as: Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK), extended school hours and a new Housing Department. Low interest rate municipal bonds allowed borrowing for the extensive rebuilding of the main library, several new middle school complexes, modernized firehouses and separated bike lanes. The pandemic-related federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money gave us $88 million spent on protecting our most vulnerable: for homelessness and housing support; the Cambridge Rise Up income supplement; public and mental health, safety; small business and non-profit support; infrastructure upgrades and more.
Today we face a slimmer budget with less tax income due to lab, tech, and office space vacancies. Federal political turmoil may increase the problem by cooling new construction and tightening Harvard and MIT budgets. This requires the Council to reassess future funding. The City Manager has been blunt: we cannot afford to take on any new initiatives. New municipal bonds will complete the main firehouse and Tobin School renovations and the North Mass Ave redesign. The bond rating agencies make clear that robust cash reserves must be maintained to provide flexibility and stability.
ARPA Funds Spent
While many of my colleagues are advocating for the continuation of Cambridge Rise Up and the Transition Wellness Center (TWC)—both excellent programs funded with one-shot ARPA money—I don’t see that we have the $25m to do so. Bothsupport programs are expensive. TWC, at Spaulding Hospital, has offered wrap-around services to 58 residents who have private rooms to stay in during the day at a cost of $52k annually per person, which costs more than twice that of other homeless facilities. Meanwhile, Cambridge Rise Up, a $22 million direct payment program which supplied $500 a month to 19,500 low-income singlemothers for 18 months, was discontinued in February.
Existing Program Evaluation Needed
In these uncertain times, I’ve urged that we should methodically evaluate programs and proactively reduce spending. The City has taken a different approach. The FY26 budget mostly mirrors the FY25 budget with a 3.5% cost of living adjustment. It doesn’t appear that programs have been evaluated or cuts made. We’re paying $40k per CPS pupil and $50k per UPK per student. The City Manager has said that we can and will adapt to financial circumstances as needed.
May 8-15, City departments will share their work and budgets. See the FY26 budget here: https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/Budget/fy26submittedbudget
Please send me any questions you have ASAP.
Our Streets Are for All
Garden Street
I voted to restore Garden Street to two-ways, ending a controversial experiment. There were too many unresolvable problems to maintain it as one-way. The bike lanes will stay and we’re working to find parking and create a loading zone for, especially, the elderly residents affected.
Our roads must work for all mobilities. We must encourage able residents and visitors to walk, cycle, and use mass transit; better publicize existing private shuttles that are available to Cambridge residents; and create a broader inventory of off-street parking places. I’m also pushing for more car shares in neighborhoods across the City. If we can get those who can out of their cars, we’ll have less congestion and more parking places for those who truly need them.
Balancing Parking and Cycle Lanes on Broadway
This is really the same discussion. We must balance the needs of our drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, facilitating user safety and mobility. We have 42,000 registered cars in Cambridge, many car commuters and much through traffic.
What I’m thinking about:
- Central Square. How can we best partner in development in the center of our City? The preliminary responses to the City’s “requests for information” from potential developers were disappointing.
- Open Space! See the most recent annual report for Magazine Beach Partners. https://magazinebeach.org/
- We really love and multi-use this 17-acre riverside park.
- Graying. We need to better plan for our aging residents.
- Affordable Housing. How can we better preserve naturally affordable housing (NOAHs) and produce housing for the middle class?
I’m watching the impact of the MFH ordinance. So far, I see it producing more and larger luxury units and no affordable inclusionary units.
What I’m working to advance:
Monday night the two policy orders I introduced passed:
- Requesting the City Manager to evaluate current broadband programs designed to support underserved audiences. Currently finances don’t allow for the implementation of municipal broadband. In the meantime, we need to make sure that everyone has internet access.
- Requesting the City Manager to ask CDD to develop and post an inventory of indoor and outdoor meeting and gathering places, by neighborhood, for the City. We need places to gather! See the P.O.s on pages 159-162 here: https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=15&ID=3008&Inline=True
I’m also planning committee meetings focused on how best to frame a study of the Cambridge’s private university and business shuttle services, how we’re preparing for our aging population, safety issues in our squares, and establishing housing goals and evaluating our City-funded housing programs.
Around Town
This month I’ve attended the Legislative Breakfast for the Somerville/Cambridge Elder Services, CDD’s Mass Ave Planning Open House, the Planning Board meeting about the high rise 740 Concord Ave development (overlooking Fresh Pond), and a Harvard Joint Center for Housing symposium on permanently affordable housing. I’ve met with residents concerned with Broadway parking changes, neighbors disgusted by CSOs dumping sewage at Alewife, and connected Harvard graduate students with local nonprofits. I’ve also stopped by the City’s Compost Giveaway, the Earth Day Cleanup at Magazine Beach and celebrated Jim Wooster’s ten years of leadership at Club Passim.
If you like my approach to issues and my council votes, please share my letter with friends. They can receive my updates by e-mailing czusy@cambridgema.gov. [link!]
Working for you every day,
Cathie