2011 campaign

Thanks!

A bit after 9 AM on Wednesday, 9 November, the day immediately following this past election, I was lucky enough to host a class of 8th grade students visiting City Hall. First we visited the Senior Center where I showed them The Count, then we discussed the use of the word "God" in signage on public buildings such as City Hall and then we visited the Council Chambers where the students had a lively and informed discussion about ping-pong tables in public parks. After about 40 minutes of discussion, the “Councillors” voted in favor of conducting a test run of tables at a few parks to see how well the idea worked and how expensive it was.

In watching these youth tour their local government and participate in this mock version of our City's government, I realized, once again, how lucky I have been to have served on the Council for the past six years and how fortunate I am to have been re-elected to another term. I extend my thanks to everyone who participated in last week's election and I look forward to helping create and sustain the sort of Cambridge we want these students, and everyone else, to experience and inherit.

Sincerely

Craig A. Kelley

I've been a City Councilor for almost six years and they have been some of the most wonderful years in my life. With the help of local residents, City staff, fellow Councilors, my family and others, I've worked to make Cambridge a healthier, more sustainable place for all of us. If elections are a referendum on how well one is doing as an elected official, I derive much comfort from the fact that my campaign costs have dropped from over $40,000 in 2005 to below $10,000 in 2009 while my vote count keeps on increasing and my incumbent peers outspend me by tens of thousands of dollars. I hope to continue that trend in this campaign- I would like to, once again, spend less than $10,000 and get even more #1 votes than I did last time. With your help, this result will happen.

In this current term, I have continued to focus on:

• Proactive, issue-oriented email communication that informs people about City issues that are important to them, from schools to dogs to crime and beyond.
• Better educational experiences for all of our children.
• Safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians.
• Safer sidewalks for pedestrians.
• More effective community-based policing efforts.
• A more transparent City government.
• A comprehensive housing policy.
• Better traffic management and enforcement programs.

You will get a good idea of what I've been doing and what I believe in by spending some time on my website and reading some of the letters and emails I've written over the years as well as viewing the reports of the various Committee meetings I've chaired.

Over the years, the City has made some progress on the issues I care about. The Cambridge Public School District is more aware of school climate than it used to be and the School Committee and CPS took a big step this past budget cycle in creating a more detailed, informative budget. There is a lot of work to do in that department, but we're much closer to a working, informative CPS budget than we've been in years past. Similarly, DPW is still getting kudos from many cyclists for things like pothole efforts, although there is much work to be done to make sure our sidewalks are more passable this coming winter than they were last year. The Cambridge Police Department continues to send out bike patrols, develop innovative youth-oriented programs and hold community meetings, though I still wish they'd put more effort into traffic enforcement as well.

Perhaps most importantly to the long term future of Cambridge, our Department of Human Services Programs, along with other departments, is investigating ways to help our neediest families succeed before, during and after school. It's not clear where these programs will go, especially as we're looking at an increasingly bleak future when it comes to federal and state funding, but at least we're trying to find solutions to the educational and social problems that have bedeviled us for so long. As I've often said, if Cambridge, with its vast resources and civic heart, cannot solve society's problems of inequity and social justice, how will it happen in larger, more complicated cities like Chicago or Boston?

While these, and other, steps are positive, our current and future fiscal position poses significant challenges to continuing these efforts. In an effort to model fiscal restraint, and to free up money for more worthwhile programs, I have declined the City-funded personal assistant and consistently use a fraction of my allotted travel and training funds. Councilors, I feel, should show that we can do more with less, just as we're asking the rest of the City to do.

Beyond modeling what I think good government represents, in my fourth term, I will:

• Continue to use emails and personal meetings as a way to inform Cambridge residents and businesses of important local issues.
• Continue to push for more transparency in local government.
• Continue to use the City's budget as an opportunity to highlight where I see both strengths and weaknesses in our government.
• Continue to lead by example in promoting alternative transportation and creating more effective public schools.
• Keep challenging the City to develop data on quality of life issues such as noise and traffic enforcement so that we can all better understand the City's efforts on our behalf.
• Remain a voice on City Council that is willing to question the status quo when there appears to be a different, and better, way of doing things.

I ask for your support and your NUMBER 1 VOTE once more this November 8th. It won't be an easy race, but with your help, we can make sure that the things we care about continue to have a passionate advocate at City Hall.