March 3, 2025
Dear Fellow Cantabrigians,
Here is what’s happening on Council:
Hot off the Press: City Manager Yi-An Huang’s Contract Renewed for Four Years
Huang has received strong marks from City staff and the Council. I am grateful for his professional, intelligent, thoughtful, and fair leadership and the stability he will bring us during what could be a rocky few years.
Multifamily Housing Proposal Passed
I was the sole NO vote. I continue to worry that it will produce mostly luxury housing, not inclusionary units, and inflate rather than lower housing costs while disrupting neighborhoods. See my Cambridge Day opinion piece here:[link https://www.cambridgeday.com/2025/02/09/why-i-will-vote-against-the-multifamily-housing-proposal-on-monday/]
Early signs of developer interest are upticks in Cambridge Historical Commission inquiries and homeowner solicitations. Going forward, let’s keep an eye on demolition permits, aggregations of properties, building heights and whether this actually produces inclusionary units. If you know of any of these actions, please email me.
I’m pushing for Cambridge Community Development to come up with strong design guidelines. We also must address the lack of middle-income housing that inspired the MFH proposal. For this we need money, creative financial instruments and partners. In searching for solutions, I have attended housing lectures at Harvard and MIT and just visited a Boston artist housing collaborative.
Charter Review
*The final Council vote will be in March, but there will be no change to the current council-elected mayor. Language has been added, however, allowing the council to develop an alternative mayoral-election method.
*Citizens petitions are still allowed. (This is already permitted by State Law; but we were also encouraged to include this in our new charter).
*The City Manager will continue to hire the City Solicitor and remain responsible for the City budget. The Council will set financial priorities and partner with the Manager on developing financial updates.
*The Council will vote on the overall new language for the Charter soon. Anticipate a ballot question in November asking for approval of the updated charter.
Our Budget
Regarding our FY26 budget goals: With commercial taxes down due to office and lab vacancies, we’ll have less money to spend over the next 3-5 years, so new big funding initiatives are off the table. The City will follow through with current projects—including the Tobin Montessori & Vassal Lane Upper School; the Cambridge Fire Station Headquarters Building; bike lanes on Mass. Ave and at Central and Harvard Squares—and other ongoing infrastructure improvements. Our debt will grow from $780m to $1.1b in 2029.We are not in a crisis and we continue to have an excellent financial rating. But going forward, we must be prudent about expenditures. Unfortunately, this means don’t expect municipal broadband anytime soon.
Washington
As a Sanctuary City, we are preparing for Trump administration policy and budget impacts. NIH health and medical research funding cuts will dramatically affect Harvard, MIT and other institutions, all significant economic players in our local and national economy. In Cambridge, we remain committed to being a welcoming, diverse, dynamic, innovative, and sustainable community.
Upcoming Meetings at City Hall
Neighborhood & Long Term Planning Committee: Zoning Next Steps
NLTP and Housing Committee meeting Tuesday, March 4 at 11:30am about the City’s next steps in zoning. [add link: https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/citizens/default.aspx?
I will be encouraging CDD to focus on corridors, squares and transition districts, as recommended by Envision Cambridge. We need Smart Growth near transportation hubs. We also need to plan for Alewife as the MBTA prepares to rebuild the T station there. Housing opportunities may also be found in underutilized lots and City properties.
I have asked CDD to reexamine their goal of 12,500 new units by 2030 (noted in Envision Cambridge) and to clearly model the number of units anticipated from current and projected development. We need to understand these numbers before we commit to towers at Central and Porter Squares.
NLTP: The Arts
Join us Wednesday, March 5 at 11am for presentations by Cambridge Arts, the Cambridge Community Foundation and the Central Square BID about their future plans. The Arts nurture our vibrant community yet receive less than $2m of our $1b budget. Sign up to stream the meeting here. [Add link: https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/citizens/default.aspx?]
Heading to Washington for NLC
I’ll be at the National League of Cities conference March 9-12, as a newly appointed member of their Transportation & Infrastructure Services Committee. As part of this, I’ll be on Capitol Hill next Wednesday lobbying on issues of municipal concern.
Around Town
Some of the things I’ve recently attended: the opening of— Central’s DX Arcade, MIT’s new Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, and Mayor Simmons’ exhibit “Grace: The History of Black Churches in Cambridge”–the annual Town Gown presentation; several of MIT’s Mobility Forum programs; and the annual meeting of On the Rise.
I value your input.
Cathie Zusy
Cambridge City Councillor