Spring 2008 News-in-a-Letter

Quick Links: Environment & Energy|Health|Developments|Housing|Education, Schools, and Children|Green Public Building Boom in Cambridge

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In city government, spring brings with it the budget season and again I am pleased to report that our city is in good shape financially. Most importantly, some national problems, chief among them the massive housing foreclosures, have not hit hard here. I like to think that it’s not just luck but our homeownership classes and counseling that introduce our low-income buyers to good loan products, escaping the schemes that lured many in other communities to mortgages that now haunt them. Another sign of the way the city is in good shape: we are proceeding with a number of new public buildings, most opening in the next six to 18 months.

Environment and Energy

The most serious environmental issue of our time is global climate change. In the last year, this issue, which has been a focus of my work on the City Council, has moved to the forefront. Federal inaction has emphasized the importance of local leadership and I’m proud to say that Cambridge is a national and local pacesetter in promoting energy efficiency. Since 86% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, we are stressing using less energy to heat, light and cool all Cambridge structures.

Cambridge Energy Alliance (CEA)  

This is our model for cutting down on energy consumption -- using every rebate and discount NSTAR now offers and then some --  for at least half of city structures of all types. While still fundraising for its start-up costs, the CEA has been engaging large local commercial users of power to develop energy efficiency programs. In March, City Manager Bob Healy, the city’s environmental staff and CEA consultants, outlined their hopes and expectations to involve half of the city’s homeowners in the program at a meeting I chaired. For tips, attend the Energy Fair on Saturday, May 17, 10-2 pm at CRLS.

Fresh Pond Day, Saturday, May 10, 11-3 pm

To encourage everyone to understand and appreciate our water system, during our May Go Green month on May 10, we will be celebrating Fresh Pond Day. This is a chance to learn about the natural features of the Fresh Pond watershed and its wildlife. I put in the Council order to highlight our good-tasting, clean water supply. We should not take it for granted.

New Tree Planting Program

Recognizing that our city sidewalks are often quite narrow, making it hard to plant traditional street trees, the city is now offering free trees to residents who want to plant them within 20 feet of the street, on private property. This “back of sidewalk” program will begin in areas where there is road construction and is aimed to improve our urban forest. Contact arborist David Lefcourt at 617-349-6433 or dlefcourt@cambridgema.gov.

Green Jobs

In July, Cambridge sponsored a regional forum on new jobs in green technology. In addition to work in renewable energy, other jobs will be created in the field of household energy efficiency, especially in plumbing, electricity and carpentry. The City Manager is recruiting a task force to figure out and plan for the specific jobs that will be needed. For more information go to: www.cambridgema.gov/deptann.cfm?story_id=1627.

Greener New Buildings

The Council has considered an ordinance that would require all new buildings over 25,000 square feet be built as LEED certifiable, as they are in Boston. It was recommended that a task force of citizens, architects, and planners be convened to refine such a proposal.  This group, which has been convened by the City Manager, will also consider regulations needed to promote and protect solar installations on buildings.

Green Cabs!

Try out the new hybrid taxi cabs. Sponsored in part by Whole Foods and the city, look for six spiffy green and white Toyota Camry hybrids now on the road.

Finally, a Leaf Blower Ordinance

After many seasons of hearing from Cambridge residents about the noise nuisance presented by leaf blowers, the City Council enacted an ordinance to restrict their use. As of March 1, leaf blowers -- with a few exceptions on large institutional properties -- have been banned from June 15 to September 15. During spring and fall, leaf blowers will be restricted to one for every 10,000 sq. feet of property. They also will be required to be no louder than 65 decibels. Permitted hours of operation are limited to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Sundays and holidays are off limits, except for Veterans’ Day and Columbus Day. Enforcement of the ordinance will be by the License Commission from Monday to Friday and by the Police Dept. on evenings and weekends. For more information, consult www.cambridgema.gov/leafblowers or call the City Manager’s office at 617-349-4300.

Health

“Innovations in Prevention” Award

In November, I went to Washington, D.C. with School Superintendent Thomas Fowler-Finn on behalf of the Healthy Children Task Force and the School Department, where we received the “Innovation in Prevention” award. The Surgeon General and the U.S Dept. of Health and Human Services recognized our program, “Healthy Living Cambridge Kids,” an umbrella for the numerous activities the city undertakes to encourage healthy eating and more physical activities for kids. Ours was one of only five innovative programs recognized in the U.S. at a giant luncheon. It also was the only program that honored a comprehensive community partnership with schools.  We are proud to be simply the best in the country, serving as a model for others, yet never forgetting how much more there is to do!

Transfats

The Cambridge Public Health Dept has worked with a committee that includes restaurant owners to develop regulations that would eliminate transfats from restaurant menus. Boston, New York City and Brookline already have taken such action. A local proposal will be made public soon. We are also taking steps to remove these fats from food served at schools, along with many other measures to make school food healthier for children.

Sidewalks and Walking

Cambridge has been named the number one walking city in America by Prevention Magazine. The award recognizes a number of factors including the number of people who walk to work. Compared to some of the other named cities, like Washington, D.C., I believe we are much safer and friendlier to a whole range of pedestrians. We are also emphasizing sidewalk maintenance; a new snow and ice clearance task force will begin work soon. For broken sidewalks, call 617-349-4854.

Developments

Lesley University

Lesley is growing and has brought the Art Institute of Boston under its banner, with the intention of moving it to Cambridge to become the first art school here. In March, Lesley President Joseph Moore announced an agreement with the Episcopal Divinity School on Brattle St. to house AIB students in an EDS dorm. Also, and perhaps more dramatically, Lesley plans to re-use and add to the historic North Prospect Church in Porter Sq. as the academic home of the AIB. The university has presented its plans to the community for moving the church itself into the current preschool play yard and building a new, five-story academic building where the church now stands. The Agassiz Preschool, now housed in the basement of the church, is raising funds to buy a building of its own.

Lafayette Square

For the third year, the east end of Central Square is still under construction.  Lafayette Square, where Main St. merges into Mass. Ave, is now reconfigured. The endlessness of this project, under direction of the Mass Highway Dept., has been the result of the bankruptcy of the construction company. I hope they are able to get the job done as merchants there have suffered with the mess for far too long. A large peninsula formed in Lafayette Square which will be landscaped and have benches. Across the street, the Central Square Theater, new home to the Nora Theater and the Underground Railway Theater, will be completed very soon.

Walden St. Bridge

Another project that has dragged on and on is the rebuilding of the Walden St. Bridge. This project is under the control of the Mass. Highway Department, also. The official expectation is that it will be completed in late 2008.

Rindge Ave. Reconstruction

The City is managing this project which will not require the closing of the street entirely, just the closing of lanes. The entire project will take three months and had to be done because the roadway faults had become severe.

Fresh Pond Rotary Projects

Fresh Pond Seafood is gone and soon to be in its place is a new pedestrian-friendly commercial development. Parking will be moved to the rear of the site and in front of the new retail establishments, the developer will place plantings consistent with the parkway overlay zoning that covers that area. Also, the new garage, which now looks like nothing more than a temporary metal building, will have doors, windows and a permanent looking exterior.

Housing

The goal of the city’s affordable housing program is to create a stock of permanently affordable housing, housing that can be rented or purchased by those unable to afford the our generally high housing prices.

Subsidized Housing at 15%

The City Council kicked off this term with a housing roundtable to review the city’s affordable housing goals and to survey the number of units owned by the housing authority and by non-profit and private developers. That number currently maintains the city’s level of affordable, subsidized housing at approximately 15% of all Cambridge housing, most owned by the Cambridge Housing Authority. Also raised at the roundtable was a concern about adequate family housing. As I’ve said many times, I believe that families are finding it harder to find larger units, since most units built by private developers have only one or two bedrooms. The City Council Housing Committee, of which I am a member, will likely make recommendations aimed to increase family housing.

How Many are Homeless in Cambridge?

In January, Cambridge conducted a census of homeless persons. 462 homeless persons were counted (an increase of 7% from the counts in 2006 and 2007).   This included 31 families in shelters, five families in transitional housing for domestic violence victims, and five homeless families temporarily placed by the state. Also counted were 298 sheltered and transitionally housed individuals (up from 290 in 2007), two homeless inpatients in Cambridge Health Alliance facilities, and 60 persons staying on the streets, in cars, in wooded areas, and in other “unsheltered” locations. The city is piloting a new program to reduce homelessness through housing with support services.

Helpful Home Buyer Programs

Because Cambridge is committed to improving the prospects of people who want to become homeowners, we hold classes for first-time homebuyers classes open to everyone ten times a year. Also, the Affordable Housing Trust has made available up to $130,000 in financial assistance for prospective buyers. This grant enables first time home buyers to buy homes in exchange for deed restrictions on the homes they buy. The deed restriction requires that the city get right of first refusal on the property and limits the amount of equity (or profit) that a homebuyer will realize on its later sale.

New Affordable Housing Units

Recently rented at subsidized rates were 58 one or two and three bedroom units, 52 at the new Archstone Smith building at North Point and six elsewhere.  Coming up next year are ten units of homeownership at Nightstage on Main Street and 24 units on Harvard St in Area IV. A recent analysis of the location of all types of subsidized housing shows that roughly 20% is located in North Cambridge and 20% in Cambridgeport. The rest is scattered around the city, although there’s almost none in the single-family neighborhoods in West Cambridge.

Don’t Assume You’re Not Eligible

You may be eligible for affordable housing. For information about renting or owning subsidized housing, and to get on a list for all Cambridge affordable housing opportunities, call 617-349-4622, the Community Development Dept. Housing Department. Or consult www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/hsg.

Education, Schools, and Children

School Budget

In March, the School Committee drafted a budget in line with the amount recommended by the City Manager: $130,704,170. After public hearings and a vote by the School Committee the budget will be forwarded to the City Council for approval. The original funding gap of $3 million was eliminated in part by dropping six non-teaching positions.

Budget Highlights: Special Education Supported

Two new classrooms will be opened for children who are autistic or on the autism spectrum. In addition, at the Haggerty School, where inclusion is a school principle, teams of one mainstream teacher and one special education teacher, rather than a teacher and two aides, will staff three classrooms, one each at grades 3, 4, and 5. Slots for two special education ombudspersons will also be continued in the budget.

Mandatory Assignments Increase

Under our controlled choice school assignment system, parents can designate their top three schools from 12 possibilities. The most frequently chosen schools are Graham and Parks, Baldwin, and Haggerty. In this year’s lottery, 84% of 431 families received one of their first three choices, leaving 70 families to be assigned wherever there was space. This is significant because families who do not get one of their preferences may leave the public school system or the city. To keep families in Cambridge and in the public schools, I suggest that the assignment formula be modified.

About TV and the Internet

Converting Analog TV to Digital: It’s Either Snow or Signal

The Federal government, in its wisdom, has planned the conversion from analog signal to digital signal to create more TV channels. What should you do? If you have cable service, get TV from a satellite dish or you have a new digital television, don’t do anything!  However, if you do have an older TV and rely on an antenna to get a signal, to get any TV signal after February 19, 2009, you’ll need a converter box or a new TV with an antenna. As chair of the Cable TV, Telecommunications and Public Utilities Committee, I’m working with city officials to inform Cambridge residents what their choices are.

Newtowne Court

For about a year, the city has been testing wifi equipment at the Newtowne Court housing development to make the Internet freely accessible there. Now, wireless Internet access is available for free to nearly all residents there, many of whom (but not all) have their own computer equipment. I hope this is the start of universal wifi access at public housing developments in Cambridge to help all residents get information, now more available on the web than anyplace else.                                                     

Digital Divide Committee

As a result of my council order, a task force met at length to consider how to enable Cambridge residents to access the Internet. This group, which includes the School Dept, social service agencies, and residents, has now begun a pilot program with about 40 families in Newtowne Court, offering training, tech support and refurbished computers. The families are now in the midst of classes offered by CCTV and have received computers refurbished by Rindge Tech students. In addition, these same students support new computer users by answering questions phoned into a help line. I hope this community effort is expanded to others across the city who are “off-line.”

Green Public Building Boom in Cambridge

We will soon celebrate the opening of several new or refurbished city buildings. All are scheduled to be “green” — with features that are energy efficient, use abundant daylight, and conserve storm water on site.

CRLS

Our public high school is slated for two to three years of extensive renovation beginning in June 2009. Planning is underway by architects HMFH. Originally only to upgrade the infrastructure and fix the roof, the renovation will now bring the school up to date with new science labs, a new cafeteria, and other refurbishments.  The City Council approved borrowing for what is estimated to be a $95 million project with a later state reimbursement of $28 million. School staff are devising a plan to phase the relocation of students.

CRLS War Memorial

The War Memorial Building renovations will be completed late this year and ready for students and the public soon after. Total cost for this project is $28 million with the state chipping in $9 million.

R. W. Healy Public Safety Facility

Nearing completion is the city’s new police station at 125 Sixth St between Bent and Rogers Sts. The nearly 100,000 square feet of space will also house the city’s emergency dispatch operation. The building will be substantially complete in the summer. Police and others will move in around Labor Day.

Awaiting our Grand Cambridge Public Library

Construction on the main public library is making good progress. Its resources are available temporarily at the Longfellow School on Broadway. Completion is set for late spring next year with a grand opening in fall 2009!

West Cambridge Community Center

The new community and youth center on the site of the former VFW hall in West Cambridge will be finished this in 2009. Designed by Cambridge Seven, the space will incorporate a stage and dance floor.

See you at the grand openings!