Titles and excerpts.

Platform for City Council

Neighborhoods Count

Analyzing data and highlighting issues

. . . Learn more about Craig's belief in the importance of data as a management tool and his belief in voting his conscience . . .

Dogs belong too

. . . Other towns and cities, such as Brookline, have met this shared-use challenge with great success. There is no reason why Cambridge cannot do the same . . .

Hang together or be hung

. . . think they can bully our fellow citizens . . . then those of us in other neighborhood struggles . . . will be the next . . .

Neighborhoods Count: Smart Growth

The Return of the Ring

. . . many of Boston’s interior neighborhoods . . . still lack effective mass transit . . .
. . . Involving a system of dedicated busways and surface routes and costing hundreds of millions of dollars . . .
. . . critics of the Urban Ring fear that the dedicated bus routes, once built, will be expanded to allow for truck traffic and . . .

Put the brakes on runaway condo development

. . . the face of Cambridge is changing from low-level retail, industrial and institutional uses to condos, condos and more condos . . .
. . . We need to put the brakes on runaway condo development before we lose too much of what makes our Cambridge neighborhoods work . . .

BZA ignored North Cambridge neighbors

. . . too many unknowns for such a request to be granted . . .
. . . The Board turned its back on those it has an obligation to protect . . .

New Police HQ a dubious project

. . . Cambridge's Police Officers deserve a better headquarters than what they have now . . .
. . . we need to make sure that both the future Police Station and the Police Force itself will meet neighborhood needs as well as meeting those of the Department . . .
. . . we could go about building a Police Station and Police Force that works for everybody . . .

Cambridge needs parking data as a planning tool

. . . Almost without exception, the impact on local, on-street parking is the number one concern neighbors raise about any project, whether it be a restaurant expansion or a multi-unit housing development . . .
. . . It is unfortunate that we continue to rely on unsupported parking analyses when approving residential projects . . .
. . . [T]he City's Department of Traffic, Parking and Transportation should develop data on what type of units, including income and location, are likely to have how many cars . . .

Alewife area needs more thorough study

. . . A cumulative, regional review of the impacts of development in the Alewife area is needed . . .

Brownfields to gold

. . . turn local "non-performing" properties into "maximized asset value" without regard . . .

Grace asbestos and Neville Manor

. . . City-owned land . . . has value that must be measured . . .

Jobs versus cars in Cambridgeport

. . . does not make Cambridge a wonderful place to work and a lousy place to live . . .

Neighborhoods Count: It Takes a Village

Not in Cambridge anymore

. . . It is an ongoing struggle, but Cambridge, and much of the world, is learning to embrace multi-culturalism . . .
. . . [I]n YeeHaw Junction, authentic as it is, it's clear you're not in Cambridge anymore . . .

A Neighborhood responds when needed most

. . . give thanks for having found just such a village . . .

Vacation thanks

. . . don't ever try telling me there aren't angels on the T. I know, because I met them . . .

Safe Streets are Essential for a Livable City

Cyclists deserve safe streets

. . . she was terrified someone was going to get seriously hurt there . . .
. . . if you can walk away from a crash, it could have been much worse . . .
. . . Still, I am disturbed by the fact that it happened at all . . .
. . . DPW did not get this crucial area salted and sanded in a timely fashion . . .
. . . If DPW head Lisa Peterson cannot do that job, the City Manager should replace her with someone who can . . .

Police Department could enforce existing laws if it wanted to

. . . Lack of access is not an excuse for lack of enforcement . . .
. . . Although cycling is clearly a dangerous, even deadly, mode of transportation in Cambridge, the police apparently do not have a policy of getting young kids to wear helmets while cycling . . .
. . . The point, apparently, is that if you're young and doing something that bothers people, CPD will worry about your safety and the city will make you stop it. If you're simply young and doing something that is dangerous, CPD will, literally, look the other way. . . .

Cambridge Police Department still needs a traffic management plan

. . . I called for the City, and the Cambridge Police Department, to "develop and implement a comprehensive plan to make all of our crosswalks safe." … Commissioner Watson replied that he did "not fully understand what it is [I was] asking" . . .
. . . the Points 4 Safety Campaign lacked the specific goals, staffing requirements, budget needs and pretty much anything else concrete and measurable that, in general, makes a plan something more than a slogan . . .
. . . My experiences with CPD could be just one more tale of am activist Cambridge citizen getting the bureaucratic run-around if it didn't continue to have such tragic consequences . . .
. . . Despite this terrifying level of mayhem on our streets, CPD's response seems to be, "change nothing." . . .
. . . Given Commissioner Watson's long-term inability to view traffic enforcement as an important issue, it is time for the City to replace him with a professional who understands the important role our Police Department must play in keeping us all safe on Cambridge's dangerous streets . . .

Cambridge needs a traffic plan

. . . [O]ur busy streets are deadly for pedestrians and the Cambridge Police Department, the City Manager and the City Council all need to work much harder to make them safe . . .
. . . Unfortunately, the City has a laissez-faire attitude towards vehicular enforcement . . .
. . . [A plan] requires solid planning, measurable goals, genuine commitment by City officials and, above all, a fundamental and long-term shift in police tactics . . .

Multi-use paths - recreation or transportation

. . . only [safe streets] will make cycling a viable day-to-day transportation option . . .

Bike paths vs. bike lanes

. . . the classic Cambridge transportation policy mistake of confusing "bike paths" with "bike lanes" . . .

Do it right the first time

. . . the City has a lousy record of fixing dangerous transportation problems . . .

Council orders without enforcement mean nothing

. . . Anyone who is at all familiar with Cambridge's dangerous traffic has his or her own host of similar stories . . .
. . . the City Council is happy to pass Council Orders about traffic safety, but, collectively and as individuals, Councilors lack the stomach to actually demand any meaningful improvement. . . .

Cyclists' deaths

. . . It is a tragedy that people have to die to highlight public safety issues in Cambridge . . .

Cyclists are people, too

. . . I cannot defend cyclists who make pedestrians, or their dogs, feel unsafe . . .

Pedestrian safety issues, a sign that the city doesn't care

. . . Whenever someone gets killed . . . councilors manage to sound properly appalled . . .

We Need a Strong, Dynamic School System

MCAS Results

. . . successfully educating all of our students will require dramatic changes in Cambridge Public School's staffing and budgeting priorities . . .

Cambridge's MCAS Results are not Pass/Fail

. . . the percentage of CRLS 10th graders actually proficient under the MCAS decreased this past year . . .
. . . In school, as in life, you are rarely a success simply because you didn't fail . . .
. . . the most important question, and the toughest one to answer, is: how do we get many more students into the proficient/advanced categories? . . .
. . . require everyone to share the uncompromising insistence that our public school system must be, and can be, good enough for all students to succeed . . .

PASTE studies document excessive Cambridge Public School overhead

. . . Study after study has shown that the Cambridge Public School systems staffs its supervisory and administrative positions at rates of two or more times the State average . . .
. . . In his most recent budget presentation, CPS Superintendent Dr. Fowler-Finn provided some vague comparisons . . .
. . . The discrepancies between the incredibly detailed PASTE staffing analyses and what Dr. Fowler-Finn has made public are huge . . .
. . . For reasons he has not yet divulged, Dr. Fowler-Finn has consistently refused to engage in a meaningful discussion with PASTE supporters . . .
. . . Dr. Fowler-Finn should set up a committee made up of his staffing and financial officers, teachers union representatives, parents/guardians of CPS students and, very importantly, a few people who can intelligently analyze and explain the PASTE studies . . .

Students getting Ds

. . . Rindge and Latin High School has students of almost unimaginably differing academic abilities . . .
. . . The best solution to this multi-tiered educational experience is for the Cambridge Public School system to put a higher priority on placing teaching professionals directly in contact with the students . . .
. . . These at-risk students don't need more administrators, they need math and literacy and study skill specialists working with them on a daily basis . . .
. . . A simple review of the School budget makes it clear that CPS has the resources to provide much, if not all, of this academic support . . .

Infuriated parents

. . . parents demand a thoughtful, reasoned effort to provide outstanding education for our children . . .

Reject the merger plan

. . . With it's miniscule savings . . . this merger simply isn't worth the effort and disruption . . .

Tone down the MCAS rhetoric

. . . There is much more than MCAS to discuss when it comes to CPS . . .

Construction details versus teachers

. . . When we spend money on anything . . . that is money we can't spend someplace else . . .

Controlled Choice

. . . few parents . . . want their kids to be the "guinea pigs" . . .
(extensive and varied on-line discussion of the Cambridge Public School system on cambridgepublic.us website - we believe this is a valuable resource, but we do not necessarily agree with all the postings)

High Tax Loads are Linked to High City Spending

Kelley calls for rethinking future Police Headquarters

. . . We're putting the cart before the horse by building a Police Headquarters before figuring out how the police will address neighborhood concerns . . .

City budget and police station

. . . When it comes to the public's money, the City Council, the City Manager and the School Department all have a history of spending more than they should . . .
. . . The list of questionable expenditures is long . . .
. . . The most recent example of the City's extravagant spending habits is the City Council's dropping fifty million dollars on the future Police Station in the blink of an eye . . .
. . . the City will have no choice but to continue to raise taxes in order to meet its future financial obligations . . .

Infuriated parents

. . . parents demand a thoughtful, reasoned effort to provide outstanding education for our children . . .

Construction details versus teachers

. . . When we spend money on anything . . . that is money we can't spend someplace else . . .

We Need a Long-term, Sustainable Housing Policy

Needed: an honest discussion of Cambridge's affordable housing policy

. . . The primary issue neighbors have with affordable housing is, as with market rate housing, the impact that any given development will have on available on-street parking . . .
. . . The City's "as much as possible, as cheap as possible" policy towards affordable housing ensures that overly large developments further crowd neighborhoods where parking is already tight . . .
. . . It is much harder to actually develop a meaningful discussion, with supporting data, about what Cambridge's affordable housing policy should be . . .

City Manager needs more oversight in Board appointments

. . . The massive power the Planning Board wields in guiding large and small developments in a city as dense as Cambridge should be subject to much more public scrutiny, not less . . .
. . . These are disproportionately long-term development professionals who, far too often, don't seem to understand that neighborhoods generally know what's best for them . . .
. . . the City Manager tends to pick members who will rarely be strong neighborhood advocates . . .

City should listen to the residents

. . . the current administration's inability to effectively plan for or communicate with Cambridge neighborhoods . . .

Housing shrinks as election $ grows

. . . they'll spend less energy raising money and spend more energy responding to the concerns of their constituents . . .

City Council Service is a Privilege

City budget and police station

. . . When it comes to the public's money, the City Council, the City Manager and the School Department all have a history of spending more than they should . . .
. . . The list of questionable expenditures is long . . .
. . . The most recent example of the City's extravagant spending habits is the City Council's dropping fifty million dollars on the future Police Station in the blink of an eye . . .
. . . the City will have no choice but to continue to raise taxes in order to meet its future financial obligations . . .

The way to this voter's heart

. . . Reel in the City Manager . . . Do something about traffic . . . Do something about parking . . . Honesty is the key to love . . . Just say 'no' to special interest dollars . . .

What's wrong with being a City Councilor?

. . . There's enough work on the City Council to keep you busy if you want to do it . . .

City Council needs to develop teeth

. . . the Councilors . . . cannot get Mr. Healy to do what they want and . . . appear unwilling to try . . .

Dreaming of his own pay hike

. . . imagining what life would be like if we all had such power to approve our own pay raises . . .

Born deserves credit for voting against pay hike

. . . sometimes you don't do something because you're getting paid, you do it because it's the right thing to do . . .

Nonresponsive City Manager must be replaced

. . . on 5 October, 1998, eight of the nine Councilors passed an order requesting the City manager "follow up on a request made…by residents…for information regarding the current of property in their neighborhood." . . .
. . . This group of residents received no substantial information and on 8 February, 1999, over four months after its original order, the Council was once more considering an Order that the City Manager provide information about the property ownership in this neighborhood . . .
. . . As this property search story illustrates, Manager Healy, and his administration, frequently does what he wants, confident that the Council will muster neither the backbone nor the organization to admonish him when he ignores its requests and guidance . . .
. . . While several of the Councilors may have difficulty in replacing Mr. Healy, it is something all nine Councilors must decide to do . . .

Nonresponsive City Manager

. . . the City Manager is frequently non-responsive and the Council is chronically unable to force him to carry out its will . . .