June 6, 2025
Dear Fellow Cantabrigians,
Here’s what’s happening at City Hall.
We Need Safe Bike Lanes AND Parking
The City Council voted against two policy orders drafted to provide parking relief for those along the Broadway corridor, keeping the timeline for the rollout of the separated bike lanes intact.
I voted to proceed with the Broadway bike lanes implementation because, after a lot of thought, discussion and walking and cycling down Broadway, it was clear we needed those separated lanes to complete the bike safety network. I introduced a separate policy order in collaboration with residents along the corridor, asking the Transportation Department for a parking utilization study and to provide parking alternatives before building the bike lanes. This failed. I will try again. We must facilitate parking access for residents who must drive, caregivers, service workers and visitors, especially as more on-street parking disappears. Yes, we want to encourage people to use sustainable modes of transportation—walking, biking and mass transit—but many rely on cars and we need to accommodate them, too.
Let’s Fix the Sewage Problem at Alewife
I introduced a policy order at the request of North Cambridge neighbors asking the Governor to amend the MBTA Alewife Complex Development request for proposals to include working to eliminate untreated CSO sewage and incorporating green and gray infrastructure to the project. Two major sewage outflows are at the MBTA site. The City has been working to improve this sewage problem for decades at considerable expense. The private developer who wins site development rights must not only deliver transportation and housing improvements, but also make progress in addressing this public health threat.
Residential Upzoning for Cambridge St. and North Mass. Ave. See CDD’s presentation here. [Add link: https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=4270&Inline=True
On Tuesday, Cambridge Community Development (CDD) presented plans for residential upzoning on:
- Cambridge St. to 6 stories, 8 stories with ground floor retail and setbacks, and 12 stories with setbacks, in the Webster subdistrict.
- N. Mass Ave. to 8 stories, 11 stories with ground floor retail and setbacks, and up to 18 stories at Porter Square in exchange for open space, parking and destination retail.
CDD is projecting that the proposed upzoning will result in the creation of:
*6,720 more housing units by 2030, with 1,580 inclusionary affordable housing units total)
*20,840 total housing units (with 3,750 total inclusionary affordable housing) by 2040, not counting AHO units in purely affordable housing developments.
Most of my colleagues were eager for more height. I asked how CDD was planning to accommodate parking for the professional and medical offices as well as restaurants and retail that often rely on drawing regional clients and customers. There are no plans for this except at Porter.
While I believe growth should be along the corridors and squares, close to transit and out of our neighborhoods:
- I don’t think we need tall buildings everywhere.
- I am concerned about shadows.
- I worry about our creating sterile canyons and threatening the local retail and restaurant economy that makes Cambridge Street so charming. N. Mass Ave. has similar ethnic restaurants and retailers, but is a wider street served by MBTA nodes at Harvard, Porter and Alewife. We don’t want streets with character replaced with ones with a generic, cookie-cutter look, like at University Park (Central Square), the Alewife Quad, the Alewife Triangle and much of America. We can do better.
The Council needs to have a conversation about how large we want to grow and whether we have the electricity, water and sewage systems to support that growth. I will advance this discussion at a Transportation & Utilities and Neighborhood & Long-term Planning meeting.
Six Stories as of Right for Religious Institutions?
Lubavitch of Cambridge, Inc. introduced a zoning petition that would allow any religious institution in Cambridge to build to 6 stories (74’ high) without gross floor area or floor area ratio limitations, as of right without permeable open space requirements or the need for community consultation. The Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is federal law that prohibits implementing a land use regulation that “imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution.” But does that mean that they can build whatever they like?
The City Council will continue this discussion Monday, June 27. Passing the zoning petition would decrease the liability risk for the City and its volunteer boards if they challenge what is argued to be a “substantial burden to religious use.” The City just settled with Lubavitch of Cambridge, Inc., allowing them to build to five stories at Kerry Corner (on Banks Street in Riverside) and paying them over a half-million dollars in damages. See: [CD story:https://www.cambridgeday.com/2025/06/21/settlement-of-540000-is-only-the-beginning-concerning-religious-groups-win-on-a-project/
A Shuttle & Transit Gap Study
I led a Transportation Committee discussion on the shape of a study that examines how a municipal shuttle could augment existing MBTA and other mass transit services. Ideas shared included studying existing shuttle ridership and considering consolidating those services, building on existing mass transit, better publicizing the free EZ ride and Harvard shuttles, and considering point to point transport rather than whole routes. The study should be completed by late 2026. Click here to watch the meeting. [add link: https://cambridgema.granicus.com/player/clip/1045?view_id=1&redirect=true
Elderly Services
I led a discussion attended by elder and housing service leaders from the City, Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCEC), the Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee (CEOC) and Cambridge’s Public Health Department focused on the growing need for elder services—as much as 30% in Cambridge alone over the next five years. Currently in Cambridge we have 16,000 residents between ages 60 and 85, some of whom will need support, including housing, healthy food and social opportunities. Click here to watch the meeting. [Add link: https://cambridgema.granicus.com/player/clip/1041?view_id=1&redirect=true
Two 6-Story Multifamily Housing Projects
Over the past weeks, I’ve attended neighborhood meetings about 60 Ellery St. and 124-132 Western Ave., the first proposed 6-story MFH developments to produce inclusionary units. The meetings were civil but neighbors are upset. Their concerns include:
*impact to building foundations and the water table
*traffic impacts from Uber/Lyft/Amazon
*parking competition since the developments provide no parking
*shade to solar panels, gardens and houses
*noise from roof decks (with balconies, often the only open space)
*at 60 Ellery Street, access to the 18 apartments directly behind it
*inappropriate scale
*concern re quality design and construction and the lack of design oversight
*the siting of construction staging, since the buildings fill the whole lots
I have great sympathy for the abutters of both properties and will continue to advocate for larger developments to be sited on the corridors and squares—and out of our neighborhoods! Know, however, that the majority of the Council continues to support the MFH ordinance.
A Gate at Wesley Ave., Off of Linear Park
June 9 the Council voted 5-4 to add a gate to the fence at Westley Ave. on Linear Park to allow access from the south. I voted against this because it seemed unnecessary, Westley Ave. being only a minute’s walk from the park entrance; because local residents had had big problems with vagrants entering the neighborhood from Linear Park when there was no fence; and because this will add more hardscape to the park and may threaten yet another tree.
City Plans & Reports
Check outthesenewreports.
*Annual Cycling Safety Ordinance Update, including Grand Junction path info (delayed by CSO and Eversource projects and the MBTA) [add link: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/Traffic/cyclingsafetyordinance/csoyear5report.pdf
*Zero Waste Master Plan 2.0 [Add link: https://www.cambridgema.gov/-/media/Files/publicworksdepartment/recyclingandrubbish/zerowastemasterplan/zerowastemasterplan2.pdf
The City has made great strides. In 2024 we’d eliminated 36% of our trash (from a 2008 baseline). The goal is to eliminate 80% by 2050. That means requiring Zero Waste Plans from commercial and larger residential buildings; requiring food waste diversion from all residential, commercial and food and retail establishments; and reducing move in and move out waste. It’s estimated that commercial trash is more than six times the 20,000 tons of residential trash generated annually.
*Parking Impact Report (on the October 2022 no parking minimum requirement) Impact conclusion inconclusive: Most of the housing proposals permitted between October 2022 and May 2025 are not yet built, so any impacts on street parking remain unclear. The City will provide another update in the next few years.
Around Town
I attended the Harvard graduation to support Harvard and President Alan Garber and to hear author Abraham Verghese. It was powerful to witness the cries for intellectual freedom and international students and it left me feeling hopeful. Also, over the past weeks, I celebrated renovations at Lowell Park; the expansion of the EZ Ride free shuttle; the restoration of significant buildings at the Cambridge Historical Commission’s Preservation Awards; and what we can accomplish in partnership at the Cambridge Community Foundation’s Imagine Together event. I delighted in East Cambridge’s Prix de Pain, which was wall to wall people, breads and pastries and Cambridge Arts’ River Festival, once again on the river!
I also attended the official opening of 116 Norfolk St. (a Cambridge Housing Authority development with 62 single occupancy units in the former St. Mary’s convent) and the groundbreaking for 4 Mellon St.—soon to be 29 affordable units. Yes, more housing!
Working for you,
Committed to a better Cambridge,
Cathie