The issues that matter to you.
People often ask me why I serve. My response is that I serve because I view public service as one of the greatest opportunities to make change in our communities, our city, and our state. Public service as an elected official provides me with the opportunity to advocate for the families and the citizens of Cambridge at the highest level.
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Keep reading to learn what I’ve been doing and what I care about.
As Mayor I have had the opportunity to sit, as chair, on all of the committees of the Cambridge City Council. It has been my goal to see that the vision and goals of these committees are properly represented and fulfilled to the fullest extent possible by the support of the three Cs: the City Council, the City Manager, and Constituents like you.
For The Record
Click on item or scroll to see all:
The Environment - Seniors and Accessibility - Youth and Families - Quality of Life -
- Public Safety - Acknowledging Past Activism - Education
- Race and Class Initiatives - Citizen Involvement - Economic Development
The Environment
In addition to my uncompromising support of the City’s numerous environmental initiatives, I have established a Green Collar Commission. The commission is charged with developing a Green Jobs Workforce that will train workers for the green economy—performing energy audits, retrofits, as well as developing a green collar policy that will support and reinforce our green initiatives and the green collar workforce. In September 2008 I convened the first meeting of the Green Jobs Task Force. The mission of the Task Force is to work over a period of 6-8 months to develop a green jobs policy that will link training and employment to emerging jobs in the green economy, with a special focus on making certain that the field is open to individuals who have been left out of previous employment innovations.
The annual Senior Picnic at MIT, which I hosted, was 100% green this year; all refuse from the event was biodegradable. In the interest of both health and energy efficiency, I formed the Blue Ribbon committee on Green Schools. This committee will discuss and examine projects that will green our public schools. The committee will be comprised of citizens and elected officials from the city council and the school committee. In Summer 2008 I launched a 7-week Summer Ecology Camp in partnership with Friends of Alewife Reservation. Underserved youth learned basic conservation skills like global positioning techniques, water quality testing, and tree and meadow maintenance.
August 2008 saw the launch of the Urban Mass Green Alliance (UMGA). The mission of UMGA is to educate minority communities to the benefits of the green economy, and to provide these communities with tools to take advantage of the opportunities inherent in the green economy. UMGA hopes to leverage collaborative relationships to develop job training and placement opportunities for minorities in the green economy. It is vitally important that minority and low-income communities enjoy the benefits of the green economy. I serve as a co-chair of the UMGA.
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Seniors and Accessibility
I have talked with many seniors informally, heard their concerns, and worked to address them, especially related to public transportation, local taxi companies, and services provided by city departments. My goal is to improve services to seniors and to anyone with limited ability or mobility.
In March 2009 I hosted the third Cambridge Senior Town Meeting, "Living Well in Cambridge," with the Cambridge Council on Aging and the Citywide Senior Center. The meeting included workshops, lunch, and a report out to City Officials. As in other Town Meetings that I have sponsored, public officials listened to seniors’ concerns and took those concerns back to relevant City departments. The workshops focused on health, wellness, fitness, and technology. It is important to note the technology workshop was one of the best-attended workshops that day.
Youth and Families
In this campaign I renew my commitment to services to our City’s families. The City of Cambridge needs to be family friendly, which means having housing that is affordable, parks that are clean and safe, neighborhoods that are crime free, high quality childcare, and enrichment programs with a seamless transition from the school day to the after school day.
Our Cambridge Community Schools programs are high-quality programs that offer enrichment programs to residents of all ages, particularly families. These programs also have Neighborhood Councils that allow for a level of citizen participation that is critical to the programs, as well as empowering for those who participate. During my next term I want to see the Community Schools program strengthened and want to see active Neighborhood Councils in all eleven neighborhoods. For more information about Cambridge Community School programs, go to http://www.cambridgema.gov/DHSP2/commschools.cfm.
During my current term I have taken new initiatives to support youth. The Mayor’s Girls Leadership Program nurtures leadership skills in 8th Grade girls across Cambridge Public Schools to instill in them the sense that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to--a can-do attitude that was not encouraged in young women of earlier generations. The Boys to Men Program provided parallel support for the leadership skills of 8th grade boys with the collaboration of the Phillips Brooks House at Harvard University. As noted under the Environment section, in 2008 I launched a 7-week Summer Ecology Camp in partnership with Friends of Alewife Reservation. One For the Arts is an initiative aimed at providing an easy way for people to donate $1 (or more) for arts programs for youth in Cambridge. The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on 0-18 will examine services for all young people and recommend improvements in programs and their delivery. I organized Parenting for a Second Time, a group of grandparents who are the primary caretakers of their grandchildren.
Quality of Life
Addressing Poverty and Other Needs. The monthly meetings I hold with local clergy have focused on theneedto provide services to homeless families. On Thanksgiving Day 2008 I joined a group of volunteers to serve Thanksgiving Meals to 475 people in the Tavern on the Square Restaurant in Central Square. This represented a 50% increase from the prior year, according to the restaurant’s Managing Partner, Mark Morris, who organized the event and reached out to my office for support. I launched The Mayor‘s Sock Drive to collect socks for Cambridge homeless shelters.
Affordable Housing. My commitment to affordable housing is unwavering. During my term as Mayor, 50% of constituents who came to my office were seeking housing and I was able to provide assistance to more than half of them. At my urging, the City Council recently recommended a change in the affordable housing program to require more 3-bedroom units in order to accommodate larger families. I have and will continue to press the City Council and City administration to look at eligibility formulas since our current formula has left too many people below the income range for some of our affordable housing programs and projects.
Wellness. In January 2009 I announced the Mayor‘s Wellness Initiative, a partnership between the Cambridge Public Health Department, the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, and the Boston Sports Club in Central Square to provide mini-grants to fund wellness programs created by any organized entities in the city. My office made twelve mini-grants this year. I participated in, and my office provided incentives for, Cambridge Walk-Ride Day, an initiative sponsored by the Harvard Square Business Association and Cambridge Green Streets that seeks to encourage Cambridge residents to use alternative means of transportation to and from work or school at least one day a month. This program serves the dual purpose of promoting health and wellness while reducing carbon emissions, a win-win situation for our city, state, country and planet.
GLBT Rights and Celebrations. In October 2008, the GLBT Commission and I brought the GLBT community together for a very well attended Town Meeting in City Hall. A mix of community members and city officials attended to address the community’s concerns and to get a status report on how the City is doing in regards to GLBT issues. This has provided us with valuable feedback, and it once again reminds us that Cambridge is proud to be an inclusive city where ALL of its citizens are embraced. On December 17, I hosted a panel discussion on Homophobia in the Haitian community. Moving testimonials by some members of the audience as well as comments by the panelists helped to shed light not only on homophobia in the Haitian community, but on homophobia in general. I hosted the Pride Day Brunch at City Hall in June 2008 and 2009 and a celebration of the 5th anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts in May 2009.
Public Safety
Neighborhood Safety. Safety is a critical issue in our city. During my term as Mayor I have had the distinct pleasure of working more closely with the Cambridge Police Department on issues of safety. I have also worked with the Cambridge Housing Authority regarding the quality of life for all Cambridge residents, especially those living in or near public housing. Public safety is a number one priority and it goes hand in hand with quality of life issues. Over the past several months I have worked with the Cambridge Police Department and the management companies of several housing developments to come up with strategies for building community and increasing safety measures, as well as promoting activities in the community.
Clean-up Effort in Central Square. Recently, Central Square has been the focus of much negative attention, with residents complaining about littering, public drinking, and vagrancy. During the course of the Central Square clean-up effort, it became clear to me that more attention needs to be paid to Central Square to create an atmosphere that will quicken the pace of revitalization in the area. This experience led me to draft policy orders calling for greater police presence in Central Square. I also called for businesses with outdoor seating to make ashtrays available for their patrons so that cigarette butts don’t end up on our sidewalks.
Citizens’ Privacy Rights. After careful consideration and intense debate, which included input from many Cambridge residents, I joined other members of the City Council in voting against the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to install surveillance cameras in various locations in the city.
I established the Beauty Parlor Project, an educational initiative that seeks to inform and engage women around the issue of domestic violence.
Acknowledging Past Activism
The Monument to Prince Hall: In the fall of 2009 the city of Cambridge will celebrate the unveiling of the nation’s first Prince Hall memorial, dedicated to celebrating the abolition of slavery and our country’s fight for equal rights. The project began four years ago, in 2005, when the Prince Hall Memorial Committee was formed. As a City Councilor I had placed an order to the City Manager to appoint a committee of community and business leaders to erect a monument in honor of Prince Hall. Since 2006, the committee has been working to erect the memorial on Cambridge Common in honor of this man whose legacy is synonymous with leadership, bravery, inspiration, and equality.
Prince Hall’s Legacy: His impact on civil rights is equivalent to the work advanced by Martin Luther King Jr. and Frederick Douglass. Born circa the 1730s, in a place unknown, it is said Hall was a slave in Massachusetts until 1765 when his master, William Hall, emancipated him. As a free citizen, Hall met with Commander George Washington in Cambridge to negotiate the entrance of Black men into the Revolutionary Army. Eventually, Hall would serve bravely in the Revolutionary War in the Massachusetts militia. A well-known activist in Cambridge, he gave at least two important speeches in the city related to the abolition of slavery, black rights, and education for black children. Hall was one of America’s first black freemasons and established the world’s first lodge of Black Masons in 1775, of which he was unanimously voted Grand Master. After his death, Prince Hall lodges were set up across the country, including one in Cambridge whose Grand Masters of Masons have included: William E. Reed, Benjamin Hazel and Andrew Spears. Hall also established the first school organized by Black citizens for Black children. Hall would continue to break down racial barriers, lecturing crowds on social, political, and economic rights throughout the country and most heavily in Boston and Cambridge.
My Passion for Prince Hall: For the past twenty years, I have found the accomplishments and teachings of Prince Hall to be an important part of the city I represent and my own personal narrative. And while the city of Cambridge has a historical connection to Hall’s memory, I have made it my personal endeavor to make this monument a reality. After becoming captivated by his story, I traveled to London in a quest to know more about Prince Hall. Triggered by my own family’s struggle in slavery, I often say, “I want people to remember that the fight for civil rights didn’t begin in the 1960’s but in the 1700’s, and Prince Hall was an individual who had a direct impact on this movement and still does to this day.”
The Monument: This visually and emotionally engaging monument, created by award-winning Cambridge artist Ted Clausen, will allow visitors to experience the legacy of Prince Hall in three dimensions. Clausen has incorporated both historical and contemporary activists’ quotes to accompany Prince Hall’s story on the outer walls of the monument. Quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Maya Angelou, and Nina Simone will further engage viewers in the memorial. Once visitors are immersed in the words of these well-known activists they will discover the internal quotes by Hall, symbolizing his early fight for equality that laid the foundation for these more contemporary activists. The memorial will stand as a symbol of the progress society has made and Prince Hall’s legacy that catalyzed a movement. Ted Clausen is particularly honored to be working on the Prince Hall Memorial to “use Hall’s life and words as a bridge to inspiring words of the civil rights leaders who followed in his footsteps.”
Education
I believe in public education, and in working toward excellence in education for all children. As a parent of school age children in Cambridge public schools and a former member of the Cambridge School Committee, I know the importance of a good education. In my previous City Council term I organized meetings for parents entitled " Real Kids, Real Schools, Real Success.” The purpose of these workshops was to look at schools that are succeeding at educating all children at the highest levels. Addressing the achievement gap is very important. During my first term on the City Council I asked for the establishment of the City Council-School Committee Roundtable so that the City Council and the School Committee could be in better communication with each other. We now meet together at least 3 times per year to talk about challenges facing the schools along with possible solutions. In this past term as Mayor, I served as the Chair of the School Committee.
In an effort to engage city leaders, to develop better community-school relationships, and to most importantly support students to succeed, I arranged for a meeting between local clergy and administrators at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in December 2008. The goal was to address some of the challenges facing our City’s students, their families, and the school system. The religious leaders who attended had an opportunity to ask questions about CRLS; a future meeting will likely address K-8.
In March 2008, I welcomed a delegation from Oeiras, Portugal, to City Hall to celebrate their new status as a Sister City of Cambridge. We discussed ways to strengthen the relationship between our cities, especially in the areas of technology and education and established a
Sister City Pen Pal Program with the 5th Graders of the Fletcher-Maynard Academy.
For those interested in learning more about our public schools and the School Committee, School Committee meetings occur on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6pm (no meetings in July or August). Open to the public, the meetings are held at City Hall in the Sullivan Chamber.
Race and Class Initiatives
I sponsored the City’s first Race and Class Forum 11 years ago. In its most recent installment, which took place at City Hall in May 2009, the community was invited to participate in an open forum that addressed race and class in Cambridge. The forum was moderated by Professor Charles Ogletree, director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School. The forum was successful in bringing the community together and inspiring open discussion on the topic. Many participants remarked that they were pleased with the dialogue that the forum inspired and requested that a follow-up meeting take place. Another such forum is planned for fall 2009.
In February 2009 I sponsored a lecture by Professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham,
Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies and
Chair, Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. Her lecture was entitled “The Obama Presidency and a Legacy of Change.”
Citizen Involvement
Participatory democracy has been a cornerstone of my work. Through town meetings, direct contact with citizens, workshops, and other meetings, I bring City Hall to the citizens of Cambridge and then bring whatever concerns I hear back to City Hall.
I am pleased to announce that I was the driving force behind the naming of two parks for Cambridge residents who devoted their life’s work to serving the citizen of Cambridge. One was named after Jill Brown Rhone, a Cambridge police officer and native Cantabrigian. Fran Greene Park was renamed the Greene-Rose Heritage Park to honor two women, Francis “Frannie” Greene and Janet Rose, who were well-known community activists and members of the Cambridge community.
My monthly meetings with local clergy engage religious leaders with issues of concern to Cambridge residents. Meetings have emphasized such issues as the importance of increasing services to homeless families provided by religious institutions in these especially difficult economic times; challenges facing schools, their students and the students’ families and how religious institutions can help; and public safety including awareness and help related to domestic violence.
I worked with the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce to organize Service Days in spring and fall 2008. We worked on the King School playground and the Dana and Lafayette Parks. In 2009, in collaboration with local churches, I organized the Mayor’s Volunteer Corps to engage in a city-wide cleanup effort. The Mayor’s Volunteer Corp’s efforts were focused in East Cambridge, where volunteers cleaned Gold Star Mother’s Park, Hurley Park, Ahern Field, Costa Lopez Taylor Park, Charles Street Park, Front Park, Centanni Way and several other neighboring parks. The Mayor’s office also sponsored a community clean up in Central Square, which has become the focus of much negative attention. In addition to the clean-up process I drafted a policy order to request more police presence in Central Square. Ongoing attention to the revitalization of Central Square will be a focus of my next term.
During my term as Mayor I have been working on an initiative called the Citizens Advocacy Institute. This initiative will allow residents of Cambridge to learn more about their local government as well as more effective ways to get their voices heard with better results. I am collaborating with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard on this project.
Economic Development
Small businesses are the life-blood of our community and provide the largest source of employment and revenue for our city. Women- and minority-owned businesses are the fastest growing businesses in our city. Over the last ten years I have worked to strengthen our economic development policy to encourage micro enterprises. As the owner of a small business, I am personally aware of the challenges of running a successful small business.
In February the City Council and I voted in favor of allowing zoning changes to pave the way for the construction of a 1.5 million-square-foot biotechnology campus in East Cambridge that will eventually house a number of world-class biotechnology companies. Cambridge has built a world-renowned reputation as a hub of biotechnology, and this project will allow us to remain competitive. To avoid such developments is to risk having these businesses leave Cambridge for greener pastures. The project promises to pump energy into our local economy — a piece of positive news at a time when there isn‘t enough good news to spread around! The building of this complex will provide hundreds of quality construction jobs over the next decade, in addition to an estimated 3,000 permanent jobs once the buildings are completed. The people filling these jobs will need places to park, places to eat lunch and dinner, places to shop – and they will be spending much of their money in Cambridge. Additionally, we believe that these new buildings will yield between $9 million – $12 million in property taxes every year.