Committee Report #2 - Jan 27, 2020 Cambridge City Council
NEIGHBORHOOD & LONG TERM PLANNING, PUBLIC FACILITIES, ARTS & CELEBRATION COMMITTEE MEETING - Thurs, Dec 19, 2019, 5:30pm
Attending: Zondervan (Co-Chair), Carlone (Co-Chair), Siddiqui
The Neighborhood and Long-Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts and Celebrations Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss ways to ensure that the Cambridge Carnival will take place in 2020 and beyond.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Welcome everyone, we're going to get started in a second. Okay, so this is a committee hearing by the Neighborhood & Long-Term Planning; Public Facilities, Arts and Celebrations Committee. I will read the call to the meeting: we will conduct a public hearing to discuss ways to ensure that the Cambridge Carnival will take place in 2020 and beyond. This hearing is being televised. We do have a quorum: I'm joined by my co-chair, Councillor Carlone, as well as committee member Councillor Siddiqui. So before we get started, just wanted to make a couple of quick announcements. Michael Monestime from the Central Square BID wanted to join us but unfortunately he won't be able to be here tonight. He sent us a message that said "I'm sorry my daughter has a performance tomorrow at her school. I want to be known that we have met with Nicola and the bid will support the Taste Of Carnival and Carnival itself in any and all ways possible. And we also have a message from Jason Weeks, who is unable to attend, but he's also sent a message that says "I've been working with Nicola Williams, Mike Monestime, and David Kale, on Taste Of Carnival for next spring in the Cultural District. We will continue to stay involved and provide partnership and assistance where needed. For the annual festival, Cambridge Arts has served as a partner in past years. We will continue to work with the organization to provide support going forward. So again, just wanted to share those messages.
And then from the community, we received communications from Our Revolution Cambridge, the Cambridge Residents Alliance, and Sheli Wortis sent us a letter as well that appears on the Dec 16, 2019 regular meeting agenda for the City Council. So those are all in support of the Carnival and continuing. So what I would like to do is welcome the city staff and start with a message from our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Representative. So if you could introduce yourselves and share with us your thoughts.
Betsy Allen
Good afternoon, everyone. Councillor Carlone, thank you for the invitation as well. So I want to thank everyone for being here and for the opportunity to speak. In the context of this hearing, I feel it's important to clarify that as the City's Director of Equity & Inclusion, my work is internally directed in that I collaborate with all employees to embed principles of diversity, equity and inclusion into everything that we do and how we carry our duties in service, sort of, to our diverse public. Let me start by stating that we, from the first day I was here and really from previous knowledge, that we are unequivocally and unquestionably committed to diversity. We are also firmly committed to the principles of equity, inclusion, and equal access to resources. All of this is our firm belief that if we cultivate an environment of equity, inclusion and diversity, that only serves to provide the excellent unparalleled customer service that we feel our public deserves. So, that’s really at the core- customer service- is really at the core of everything that we do. So we talk a little bit about equity. We believe that equity is allowing impartial access to opportunities and resources and support to everyone. And for years, the city has been committed to DEI projects (that’s the shorthand I'm going to use, so I don't have to keep saying diversity, equity and inclusion, so DEI). But in 2017, we really ratcheted up our efforts when we launched the Cambridge Equity and Inclusion Initiative. This initiative is headed by the Deputy City Manager Lisa Peterson, and it has the full backing, support, engagement, and participation of the City Manager Louis DePasquale. The reason we started with this Leadership Initiative is that we feel that by focusing on our top leaders, they will then permeate and help us embed the diversity principles into our operations and making sure that we are serving the public in the most inclusive, equitable and excellent way possible. And so I don't want to keep going on and on, you can always ask questions later. But we feel that in order for all of our efforts to be sustainable, adaptable and have accountability, we must have the structure to support that. And so we've partnered with an organization to do what we're calling a “recruitment hire and promotion project”, to look at how we're doing recruitment promotion, and hiring, to make it more equitable and more inclusive. And so, one of the other things I wanted to mention is that as part of our initiative, the city's top leadership, including the City Manager, Commissioner Bard, Mr. Kale and the chief here, they all have been through identity awareness training, race and structural racism training. They've been through microaggression training. In January we'll have an expert come in to do a full day training on microaggression for over 70 staff members, and also an implicit bias training in the spring. In addition to that, we have bi-monthly learning sessions about how to build cultural competencies and inclusive leadership skills. Everything that we do is about serving the public better. It's about providing that equitable customer service that our community deserves. With that, I want to thank you for inviting me and I appreciate the opportunity to speak.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you so much. We really appreciate the commitment to DEI that has been shown. And so what I'd like to do next is we'll hear from Nicola Williams from the Carnival Committee. And we'll do about 20 minutes of presentation and then we'll hear from the City Manager and the Police Commissioner on the end of the Carnival, what happened, and then how we can move forward and then we'll have an opportunity for public comment and then we'll come back to some more discussion about making sure that Carnival 2020 takes place.
Nicola Williams
Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Councillor Zondervan, Councillor Carlone, and Councillor Siddiqui for being here. Appreciate it as well as the Manager and city staff and Commissioner and the community, including members of the Carnival Committee, on the coldest day of the year. I'm glad to be here. Oh, thank you for Councillor Mallon as well. So what do we intend to accomplish today? Introductions, history of Carnival, I'm going to go through that very quickly. History of Cambridge Carnival, our programs and then I’ll focus more on preserving our legacy and the future of Carnival. So we hope to have a better understanding of Carnival in general, and learn about our 27 years of history, and plan for our next steps. So this is our Carnival and when I say our Carnival, our theme is planned by the people for the people. That's how all carnivals are planned across the world. It's a grassroots community-led event. Our mission is to produce an annual festival, and organize year round cultural events, and sharing the diversity of Cambridge and South American cultures with the community, and, you know, support cross cultural understanding, and we do that through our annual festival, and accompanying events. Carnival across the world represents a celebration of freedom and diversity. Cambridge Carnival is one of the largest festivals in Cambridge and the longest running festival celebrating the Caribbean and African Diaspora. Our festival stakeholders to make this work are Mas Bands which are the costume groups, steel bands, and our artists. And it's held in Central Square Cultural District since its beginning. That's definitely been the heart and soul of Carnival- Central Square. A snapshot of Carnival across the world: You have it in your document but there are 24 carnivals across the US, and around the same number across the UK. Germany has one and many countries internationally, France etc. have carnivals. The largest Carnival in the northern hemisphere is Toronto. And then we have Notting Hill, New York, Boston. So we have carnivals all over the world and most of them are free. The one in Miami does charge a fee. It's contained in a big stadium. But most of them are free. London did a study, I did actually do some did some work for the mayor there on their largest cultural event which is Notting Hill Carnival, and the study identified it generated 93 million pounds for the City of London. The Toronto Carnival generates $400 million for the city of Ontario. So how we began, we were formed in 1992 with community members. It was important that Cambridge celebrates its Caribbean heritage, because a number of community members who were of Caribbean descent wanted to acknowledge Cambridge's long history of Caribbean people. Especially those from Barbados who settled in the early 1900s in Cambridge. Other ethnic groups came along, Caribbean groups and South American groups afterwards, but the largest representation of the Caribbean population in Cambridge is from Barbados. If you kind of ask most people have been here for generations, their lineage is from Barbados. It was actually sanctioned by (back then) Mayor Reeves. He appointed me as a community representative to help this group of people who wanted to start a carnival, and I've been part of it ever since. The city matched funds that the carnival committee raised, $1500, and that's how we started. It's based on Trinidad and Brazilian models with an international focus and we raised money through the jamborees that we did in Carl Barron Square. And over the years, we've sort of evolved we've moved from Central Square to Kendall Square, because we outgrew it. And so the first 10 years we were in Central Square, and we ended up in Kendall Square in 2005. Our current programs- we have an annual International Festival and Parade. We have community collaborations with various community groups identified. We do a lot of community engagement through the River Festival, Mayfair, Hoops and Health, Oktoberfest, and Honk! Festival. We have the Cambridge Youth Steel Orchestra initiative, which is a brand new initiative. We've done a Taste of Carnival before, and thanks to the city support we are able to bring it back. Carnival operations- we are committee of mainly volunteers. Most of our funding comes from vendors, a little bit from sponsors. We used to have more sponsorship in the past but that has waned over the years. The city covers core services such as public safety, police, fire, and traffic. We are seriously under resourced. Ideally, a festival budget should be $150,000. We heavily rely on volunteers, interns, and in-kind planning services to organize this event. A committee of about eight to 10 people plan this year round with a lot of in kind services. Our performers receive honorariums based on what we're able to raise, and it's grossly less than what the Cambridge River Festival and other festivals offer for artists. This is a snapshot of festival programming. Our Youth Steel Pan Program was awarded a one-time grant of $40,000. We actually have a couple more pans to be delivered that were made for us, valued at $20,000, for our community in perpetuity. The Taste of Carnival event, thanks to the support from the City Manager, and in collaboration with the Arts Council and the Cultural District it will be Feb 29. So details to follow. So I'm going to focus now on a sustainability plan for Carnival for 2020 and beyond. So why do we need a Carnival in Cambridge? Well, Cambridge Carnival is an important and key cultural event that needs to be recognized as such in the Central Square Cultural District. Our city seeks to promote diversity and celebration in all cultures, and to support and stimulate the public purpose of inclusivity for the city of Cambridge. So the Carnival is extremely important. When it was cancelled this year, I can't tell you how many youth have come up to me and they, you know, are very upset still and don't understand. But it's kind of like when you don't have something, then you realize how much more valuable it is. And certainly the community came out to raise their voices about the importance of Carnival. So, we need to sustain it. How do we preserve it and what resources would be required? So, Caribbean immigrants contributed to the history of Cambridge for the first hundred years, as evidenced by the individuals represented in the African American trail in Cambridge, and this legacy needs to be recognized and honored. Prior to 1992 there was no significant festival that represented the art, history, and culture of the significant Caribbean population in Cambridge. The Cambridge Carnival founders with the help of Mayor Reeves and the city launched this event. Its purpose is to unite the diverse Cambridge community through art, culture and celebration, and recognize freedom and the emancipation of slavery, which is celebrated annually for the last hundred and 85 years in the form of Carnival masquerade industries worldwide. Cambridge Carnival is an important and key event for the city. The committee believes that by improving the quality of the festival, we will improve the safety. Very few events in Cambridge focus on African and Caribbean culture. And that became very clear during the cancellation. So, sustainability. a commitment from the council to preserve this historical event will require a few things. First, sanctioning a comprehensive public safety plan for Cambridge Carnival. We do have one in place and a forum in 2005 actually started that process. But we believe it's time to revisit that and develop a comprehensive safety plan. Other cities like London, New York, and Toronto have public safety plans specifically for carnival. So there are reference points that we can tap and learn from. And also Boston has a process as well. So I think it would be something that we could benefit from. Improving the quality of the event is also another opportunity to sustain the event. And support for more participation from Cambridge residents, especially youth, who really want to get involved but don't know how. But they certainly vocalize their disappointment when it doesn't happen. And employing the necessary resources to sustain the festival and the culture, long term. Public safety- so, the Cambridge Carnival Committee currently coordinates with the Cambridge Police Department.
We have a separate meeting for the festival. And like I said, a public safety plan- an expanded one- is needed for Carnival at this time. We encourage our police to coordinate with law enforcement officials in carnival cities such as Boston, New York, and Toronto. And we also would like the city to commit the necessary public safety resources, to have them in place, so we can continue. So on improving the quality of the event. There are a couple of things that we could do. We need to pay our artists and performers fair and equitable fees. We need to increase the number of live performances by local artists. We feel by relying less on what someone else provides at the carnival for entertainment and having a more controlled process of organizing and deliberate public performances (live performances) will improve the quality of the event. We need to expand our kids fest program which offers free activities for our kids. We need a year round professional and production staff for the carnival. We don't have a representative that can be in command central all day, which is required from the police department, because we are under resourced. So that's an important part. And we need to expand the costume camps. We used to have them in North Cambridge and different parts of the city. But we'd like to expand that. Cultural preservation: in order to preserve the legacy and cultural contributions of the Caribbean community, we feel that it would be great and important to have a Caribbean Cultural Center. We're almost 30 years old. The center will provide a permanent home to house our programs, including our steel orchestra. We don't store our pans, we have 20 pans that are stored in Boston right now. We can do community workshops, have meeting space, we kind of borrow space from banks, etc. to meet and it will provide a functional space as well. Last slide. So we've identified some of the resources required to facilitate and sustain the carnival. First, we need authorization of the necessary resources to develop and employ a comprehensive safety plan, through authorization of a line item in the city's budget.
Our festival really would take about $150,000 for the festival to make sure that we offer fair fees to our artists and employee staff. $50,000 would support our steel orchestra program, and $50,000 will help develop new costume camps for our youth in Cambridge. There is precedent for a line item. The city has line items for various festivals like the River Festival, the City Dance Party, and other activities. We are looking for a commitment to identify and secure a Caribbean Cultural Center, a permanent home to house carnival. We're not expecting that to be immediate, but it's something to consider when community benefit opportunities come up. There is precedent: the city helped to identify and secure buildings to preserve the Dance Complex and the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. Thank you.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you, Nicola. So now we'll hear from the City Manager and the Police Commissioner.
Louie DePasquale, City Manager
Thank you. So, first, I want to say that I also have a long history with the carnival. Back in my early days when this Carnival first started, with Mayor Reeves, Manager Healy asked me to make sure all the finances worked and I've been working on that with Nicola on the committee since this time. In since becoming City Manager, I clearly have done everything I could to make sure that this event was supported, in that we did everything we could to make it continue. I've attended the last two events as City Manager, and really got to witness the culture and the richness of the event. I want to bring something that's real important here. There is nobody on this side of the table who doesn't truly understand the importance of this event and truly does not understand the disappointment that everybody had when we called the event off. I think that's real important. In 2017, when I was at the carnival, there was an incident that put some concerns in the community and the Commissioner will get into more detail but I quickly said to him that we need to have this Carnival in 2018: "do whatever it takes". And I think he will show how we changed things dramatically in terms of making sure that this Carnival was going to take place in 2018, and it did and it was great. In 2019, we continued to say how can we even do it better and as the commissioner will state, I clearly stated to him, "I'm not worried about the funds. I'm worried about making this the best possible Carnival we can do. And we are in place, I think, to do that again". However, when the Police Commissioner states that he has a real concern for the safety of the residents and the participants of any event, that is something that I have to take very seriously. And I can honestly say, and I think people who know me will understand this, there was probably no more difficult decision that I've had to make, knowing the importance of this to the community to have to say, "okay, we're not having the Carnival". As soon as we made that decision with the Police Commissioner, we reached out to Nicola. And the real question was, we could not have it this year, probably, but how could we do something to help compensate for that, and how can we get prepared for 2020? And, you know, the Taste of the Carnival, once we met on that, I can tell you that I really helped take a lead in making sure that was going to work. I reached out to Pastor Washington immediately to get the Christian Life Center to see if we could keep it in the Cultural District because that was important. I assigned David Kale to try to make the finances work. We worked with Michael Monestime to continue to help and support and we work with Jason Weeks. So we really have tried to make the best of a very difficult situation, and are looking forward to the February event.
I think it is real important to continue to say that for 2020, now more than ever, it is incredibly important that we have this Carnival. And we will do everything we can, as we continue and have done, to make this Carnival a success. So, I'm going to turn it over on the specifics, but I just really want to thank everybody for working with us, for having this Carnival for all these years, and I can assure you that on the city side, we will do whatever it takes to try not to have this happen next year. I'm going to turn it now over to Commissioner Bard.
Branville Bard, Police Commissioner
Good evening, Mr. Chair. I start off by saying that this year would have been my third Caribbean festival, and it's delightful working with the Caribbean Carnival Committee. From Nicola, Gregory, Miss Drucilla, Owen, everyone is fantastic to work with. I just want to frame the events surrounding this year's cancellation but to do that I have to talk about my first Carnival here. So during the 2017 Caribbean Festival, as we all know, gunfire erupted near viewing stand at 300 Technology Square, resulting in two individuals being shot, and several other individuals being trampled. A secondary shooting, believed to be related to that shooting, occurred on River and William Street. Several houses were damaged, we recovered a large caliber weapon, and we made several arrests based on both of those shooting incidents. The video of that event I can tell you is brutally disturbing, and I've never publicly shown it or frames from it because I think it does damage to the reputation of the Carnival, which is, you know, a family friendly event. I have to point out that the event was also disrupted in 2015 and in 2016 by violence. So because the festival was interrupted by violence in those preceding years, after the gun violence in 2017 I was inundated with emails and phone calls, and I believe the City Manager's office was as well, asking that the carnival be re-evaluated and many pleaded for it to be canceled.
Therefore, the City Manager tasked me, after first stressing the importance of the event and the cultural landscape here in Cambridge, with conducting a review to make an informed recommendation as to whether the Carnival should be allowed to continue in 2018 and moving forward. So, to make an informed recommendation, a wide swath of historical and contextual knowledge was sought out. The following activities were undertaken by either myself or members of the Cambridge Police Department. We conducted a thorough review of prior incident action plans outlining our coverage for the festival. I conducted a thorough review of historical crime and incident related data pertaining to the festival, both here and in Boston. I met with then Superintendent and Chief William Gross of the BPD to discuss the event both here in Cambridge and in Boston. I held several intergovernmental meetings with departments most impacted by the festival. That includes obviously the police, fire, public works, inspectional services, special events, committee personnel, etc. Then I held several small working group meetings with elected officials and all, the Mayor, the Vice Mayor, and all the councillors were given opportunities to raise concerns and provide feedback and input. The mayor and his Chief of Staff continued to be assets throughout that entire fact-finding process. I conducted small clergy group meetings including with the police chaplains. I conducted a series of meetings between Cambridge Police Department and the Caribbean Carnival Committee board, who, I can't stress, were wonderful to work with. I can't stress that enough. I conducted several meetings between the Cambridge Carnival Committee board and then that larger intergovernmental group. We facilitated meetings between what was then the Central Square Business Association and the Cambridge Carnival board. We held two committee meetings, one in conjunction with the board, and Central Square and MIT, and then one that we held alone.
And then we conducted several internal planning sessions where different policing strategies and incident accident plans were discussed and then subsequently developed. So, as a result of all of the information gathered from those key sources, and then several other things that we did that I didn't mention, several themes developed. The first theme was that the Carnival is of such importance in the context of celebrating the multicultural landscape represented in Cambridge, that its potential cancellation should not be considered without much deliberation. Two, the Carnival is the sole remaining Cambridge event that celebrates the heritage of the minority Cantabrigians. Three, the consensus was also that continued violence cannot and should not be tolerated. Four, although slightly more muted, most stakeholders indicated that they would defer to the discretion of the Cambridge Police Department and its belief as to whether it could devise a plan that would severely reduce the likelihood of violence. And then the last one was that should the event be held in 2018, and should violence occur, that the event should be terminated for the foreseeable future in Cambridge. Based on all of those factors, I made a recommendation to the City Manager that the carnival be permitted to occur in 2018. The recommendation was heavily influenced by the opinions of stakeholders pertaining to the cultural importance of the carnival, and my opinion that the likelihood for violence could be drastically reduced by several factors. One, we had an augmented staffing plan. Two, we changed our zone policing philosophy. Instead of looking at it as one large event, we broke it down into several zones, with a Deputy Superintendent in charge of each zone, with dedicated resources, and a superintendent being the overall incident commander, with me being present the entire time. And then we shortened the length of the Carnival, and we also augmented the amount of volunteers that the committee provided. So I made the recommendation that we allow it to occur based on that but then my final sentence of that recommendation to the City Manager was, "although I make this recommendation, I would ask that the City Manager allow me to reserve the right to alter or cancel the event should information or any situation develop that was seen threatened public safety if the event were allowed to occur". So we had a wonderfully successful family friendly event in 2018. And you fast forward to August of 2019, And I recommended to the City Manager that the Caribbean festival that was scheduled for Sept 8, 2019 be canceled. Looking at the year prior and the backdrop, you know I did not come to this recommendation lightly. I did so because of the serious concern that gun violence would occur during this year's celebration. I consistently feel like I always have to point out that we were all set to go for 2019. We went through all of the necessary external, internal planning steps that we did the previous year. Much the way we had a successful event in 2018, we severely augmented our staffing plan. One of the bullets on Miss Williams' presentation was a comprehensive public safety plan. Well, we already had a comprehensive public safety plan.
We went from a staffing plan that costs for the Cambridge Police Department $40,000 in 2017, to one that cost $172,000 for the Police Department alone in 2018. And like I said, we pulled off a wonderfully smooth, successful event. So I already outlined how we went from treating it as one large event, to treating it as several smaller events in that zone policing, which worked out well. So we did that and many other things to prepare for this year. We were ready to go. The cancellation wasn't a knee jerk reaction to the violence that occurred surrounding the celebration in Boston. Although, I continually say of course, incidents that occur in Boston do play a role in the calculus for the events that occur here. I think it is key to remember that we went to, although this predated me, we went to a two week period and Between the Boston event and the Cambridge event as a cooling off period. So the recommendation this year was born out of a serious concern that gun violence was going to occur this year. And with the realization that there's no perfect public safety plan that can prevent targeted violence. I mean, you just got to harken back to the video of 2017, when you see an individual pull out a gun, and fire into a crowd of up to 40,000 people with 20 police officers within chasing distance. I mean very close to them. Understand that there's no perfect plan that can stop that type of targeted violence. So while I have the utmost confidence in the members of the Cambridge Police Department and our ability to successfully handle these large scale events, I can't let that confidence interfere with considerations when they concern matters of the highest level of public safety here in the city. I didn't make the recommendation lightly. I went into it knowing that the carnival is of such importance in the context of celebrating the multicultural landscape in the city. I knew that its cancellation could not be even considered without much deliberation. And regrettably, as I initially went to law enforcement interventions and augmenting what was already an augmented plan, I remember having the epiphany of "wait a minute, what are you doing? The best way to ensure that nobody gets hurt and nobody gets shot during this year's celebration is not to have it". So, I made a recommendation to the manager to cancel it.
Obviously, I remain committed and the department remains committed, to ensuring that we have the highest degree of public safety at the events moving forward. But this year, you know, it boils down to simple calculations. The simplest way to ensure safety was not to have it. Also, I felt like I wouldn't have allowed my wife and daughter to go to the event this year based on my serious concerns. So that means I wouldn't want any of you going to the event this year. And with that, I conclude the presentation of my comments.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you, Commissioner and thank you City Manager. I want to welcome Councillor Alanna Mallon as well as former Mayor Ken Reeves. We'll hear from Mayor Reeves for a few minutes. I do want to stress that I appreciate the history and how we got here. Tonight, we're really looking forward. Of course we need to process the past so that we can plan for the future but we don't want to spend a lot of time on what happened. It was painful to many of us, and that's acknowledged. We now want to move forward and make sure that we have the Carnival in 2020 and beyond, and that we have the necessary plans in place to make sure that happens. So we'll hear from Mayor Reeves and then we'll go to public comment.
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
I apologize for the late moment of my arrival as I have a competing Margaret Fuller board member meeting right now. So if I do leave that's why, I have to go back. I'm all about going forward. But I do think that we should not miss the many lessons that have been taught with respect to the cancellation of the Carnival. The first of which is that when the Carnival was canceled, members of the committee and members of the community came here to City Hall to say to their elected officials that we do not think that this action is merited based on information that we have. So if you have more information, we could hear it, but we were just essentially told that, you know, there was information and this was done. That's it. So we came as citizens and we spoke at the mic. And the council, in its wisdom decided, well, what it would do was put over the discussion of this issue for another week. So we came back again, and we spoke again.
And at the Council hearing about this event, there was no City Manager and no Police Commissioner, the two people who made the decision according to what was told to us. So, it was daunting, and I bring this up because I don't want anybody to think we missed it, that in our attempt to advocate on this issue, we didn't get a forum from our elected officials, because many of them for some reason kind of understood. I've talked to Craig Kelley, I've talked to you Councillor Zondervan, I've talked also to Sumbul Siddiqui. What do you think we came here for?
And we couldn't have been more specific about: we don't think it should be canceled, we don't understand the nexus between the Boston event, you know, weeks prior, and this thing. And then the coup de grâce was that even the rain day couldn't occur based on this information. So, very truly, I don't, I'm not a police officer. I'm certainly not the Police Commissioner, and I don't expect to do that person's job but I do know this is a $50 million police operation we have. And I can't for the life of me understand, if the Boston Marathon continues to go on, despite the carnage that occurred there, and the fact that no Carnival anywhere in the world that we know of has ever been canceled. None! I had a good friend Ruth Batson who is a famous lady of Boston, who used to sometimes say to me, you know Ken, not good enough. Well, that's what I would say to this: just not good enough. It was so demeaning and unsatisfying. And this is the meeting that should have taken place the next week at the Council. This is exactly the meeting.
Now here we are in the cloak of Christmas when nobody is watching and nobody is listening and nobody cares! And it's not because we didn't come and bring our issue here. It was really misdealt with. And I have to put this on the council, because you are the people who bring us the Manager and the Police Commissioner. To add insult to the injury, we had a rally here at City Hall. We had a big meeting over at the Union Baptist Church. We did everything we thought necessary to have our voices heard, and they were not heard. Because it got canceled, and there was no, well, why don't why don't we come and counsel, let us let you know a little more than we've let you know. Anything! And this has happened to no other group in the city that I'm aware of, and I've been aware of the city for a long, long, long time. And the further insult was that other events scheduled for that day went forward. So this is deeply problematic, both as to procedure, but as to fact. And, I for one, don't want to be treated in this manner. I am a citizen of the city, I pay taxes in the city. I'm paying for this $50 million police force. I expect it to be able to come up with a plan. If somebody does something to somebody in Boston, that will happen all the time. That has happened every year that there has been a Carnival. What made this year so distinct? We can't know because we don't have any information! So, you know, I'm not going to argue with the air. But trust me, I do not feel in any sense that any concern I have has been addressed, because, no information! And what little there is, is so...I mean, what gives? So, that being said, I don't think there is the fullest awareness that until this Carnival came, there was no vehicle in this city where the peoples of color felt celebrated at all. And as one of the founders of this Carnival, from the first event, people literally cried in the street as we walked down the street, to see the celebration of themselves and their culture here. And for the City of Cambridge to sort of respond in this way to this thing was really shattering. And unfortunate, to say the least, but also very suspect. Because, you know, there are no secrets in Cambridge. I mean, I know that the police force in general doesn't care for the Carnival, because everybody has to work that day. And it strikes me that if I had a police force that I'm leading and the opportunity exists, because there is some problem, to just call the whole thing off, I think that's well received in some places. It was not well received in our place. And I don't know that this isn't irreparable because this was not done without information. And we did come and we did all the English language things we could think of doing, and we were not heard. And certainly there was no action. And I for one, you know, I'm glad that something is going to happen in February. But not good enough is my conclusion. And I will refer back to the amount of resources we have in policing. And you know, if we wanted to come up with a system where we had checks for people to come near, etc, and so on, all of those are possible. And again, I'm not the police. But to shut us down on this pretext is just not acceptable and won't be accepted, I'll put it that way. So going forward, you know, the dynamic of the carnival and the city has been an interesting one because the carnival has always caused various concerns. And we're known to have the best Carnival in the area. People like to come to Cambridge, people won't go to Boston carnival. But we can't prevent people from Boston coming here. And if we have bands who are from not here, come here, they often bring with them whatever is going on wherever they're from. We have no way of protecting us from that either. But we can either have nothing ever, or we can come up with some sort of notion that is important as this goes on. Even if it had been confined to another area. That came up. Why can't we just go over and do it in the Forest City property, where we used to have it, a well contained area. Nope, that couldn't happen either. So it just, it just does not taste good. And I wish I had the great recipe going forward because I don't know. I stand on the fact that it has never been canceled before anywhere. So why we would be in dire concern about future cancellations is...you'd have to explain that to me. I don't have an explanation for that. But there are too many large events that go on around the world in New York City and wherever else. In the New York Carnival, they have issues all the time, but they they don't call it off. They try to build better systems to contain it and make public safety, and I do want to make it very clear that I want us all to be safe. But why we are calling our stuff off when other things occur and they don't seem to have to be called off. The Mayfair in Harvard Square didn't get called off. They said, "well, there's not been any gun violence there". Well, they didn't invite it. We didn't invite it. But we are living in a dynamic context so, stuff happens.
And I hate to conclude so generally, but it does. You yourself Commissioner Bard say you were there and then, you know, something spontaneous happened with 20 officers around, whoever would imagine that? Certainly not you or I. So, but does that mean we're not going to have festivals? Because that could happen? And so I'll just end for now with that, but I want to thank Councillor Zondervan, I didn't know you very well. But coming to you was the most hearing that we could have had. You understood this issue in the way it should have been understood. There's a big cultural underpinning to this and because of where you're from and what you know from being there, you know what it is we're talking about. People wait the whole year to, in many ways, do their dance at Carnival in a way that just sort of lifts them up for the rest of the year.
And they miss it! And not everybody is so articulate to come and tell you the many things it means, but it means a lot, and this meant a lot. And I want to say to you, Nicola Williams, you have done a wonderful job of really shepherding this event. Because you have been with us since the beginning, since I asked you would you do it. so I can't thank you enough for your efforts. But you took a big hit on this because there were people who believed that you called it off, and as I have told you, there's something you will never escape but it doesn't have to be true. And I thank you for your efforts in this. And I did run into the City Manager because I couldn't not tell him that, you know, when we came back to the council to discuss the issue, how come you and the Police Commissioner weren't there? And he did say that maybe the council didn't ask them to be here but I don't get that at all. I really just don't get that and I have a lot of faith in Cambridge government but this instance here really has woken my eyes and my number one went all kinds of new places because I wouldn't stand for this again, I just would not do it because this is a real limiting thing that occurred here for reasons that I still don't fully understand. So I think that's my few minutes.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you, Mayor Reeves.
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
Oh, I wanted to thank also the Our Revolution letter, I thought that was a very thoughtful letter, and I thought it spoke to why we're here. Thank you, Henry Wortis.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. And if I can ask the members of the audience to keep your enthusiasm inside, even though I understand the sentiment. So, let's hear from the public. We have a few people signed up to speak. When I call your name, please to the podium and make sure the microphone is turned on. So we'll hear from Nancy Ryan, and you'll have three minutes to speak.
Nancy Ryan
Thank you, I won't speak anywhere near that amount of time. I just wanted to say that I'm speaking formally for the Cambridge Residents Alliance. We've supported this organization, this community event in the past. We recognize how deeply important it is, especially in my neighborhood, The Port/Area IV, where so many of the Barbadians and other Afro-Caribbean people live. Our neighbors and friends were part of that enormous disappointment. So, I'm delighted that at least now it's getting an airing and we are committed to helping carry it forward, whatever that means. So, thank you all.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you, Nancy. Now we'll hear from Nomadik from Malden.
Nomadik
Hi, it's Nomadik and I live in Malden. So yes, I would like to speak and just say a few words about my experience with Carnival. I've been a long time attendee, and I've been participating as a DJ for the last couple of years. And it's been an amazing experience not only as a participant, but to actually be behind the scenes. I've been working with Nicola a little bit more over the years, and she's like a mentor to me. I am beginning to learn about all the work she does, all the tremendous energy and effort she puts in. And so it's much more than just me being a DJ. It's actually just experiencing as, like I said many years as a participant, the joy I get every year looking forward to it just as former Mayor Ken Reeves mentioned, you know, it is the carnival where people are like, in the area wants to be at, you know. Cambridge Carnival always seemed more family friendly. So, I'm just hoping today we really move forward into 2020 and just, you know, just pray for a safer and even better Carnival going forward. Thank you.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. We will now hear from Owen Howell.
Owen Howell
Yes, thanks for this opportunity. When I first came to this city in 1973, you know, it was the early days of Cambridge, and I used to walk from Central Square to Harvard Square. And that route was filled with nightclubs, and, you know, Cambridge has a wealth of diversity that it was this uh, you know, just walking from Central Square to Harvard Square at night was like, that was my joy. You know, I was in high school, but just doing that made me feel alive. Speaking on the carnival, being a carnival committee member, it was always a struggle trying to get resources, trying to get stuff with the city, it kind of felt like we were the forbidden child. And it was the city, obviously, and to be our opponent rather than help us go forward. Seeing that 2020 is perfect vision 2020 vision, I hope that perfect vision will allow us the resources and the time and the help to move this Carnival to where we always knew it should be. And that is a real, real high, you know, we we don't plan a bad carnival. You know, we aim to bring diversity, talent, things that people haven't seen to Cambridge. Hopefully the city will adopt our plans and help us get to that stage together. And that's all I want to say. Thank you.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you so much. Henry Wortis is next.
Henry Wortis
Thank you for the opportunity. I've submitted a letter, which you either read or have the opportunity to read. And I won't repeat what I've said in that letter. But the point I raised is that the actions of a city or a civil committee or a school or a school committee, actions by any of those bodies are going to be judged. And those institutions, in this country, lie in the history of institutional racism. And this has nothing directly to do with the motivation of any individual. It's the fact that once institutional racism exists, you've got to consciously break out of it. Otherwise, actions easily repeat the same patterns. And I want to add to what I've written, my own belief about the standard that we should expect from our institutions and from this city. And this is personal, I can't prove that what I'm saying is correct. It comes from some experience that I have, working in education, dealing with issues of diversity. And I've come to learn from interacting with people about this. So the standard a few years ago, and this is decades ago, in dealing or confronting or preventing racism, the cutting edge then was against the most blatant forms of outright racism. That was the cutting edge. About 20 years ago, there was a shift. And of course, the most blatant forms of racism still exist and at the highest levels even. But the cutting edge of the movement against racism, now 20 years ago, shifted to implicit bias. People becoming aware of all the things they've internalized, and without even realizing it, just acting out, right? Over the last few years, there's been another shift. And that's where I think we're going to be challenged, all of us, because now the standard isn't even implicit bias. The standard now is that people from the dominant culture, people in the dominant institutions, have to be aware, have to become aware, of what will the people most affected by my actions think about this? What's their view? Because if you haven't internalized that, as an institution, you take the risk, whatever your motive, of repeating again and again, the very actions that have harmed people over the years. That's the challenge. Thank you.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. Up next is Marilee Meyer.
Marilee Mayer
I'd love to thank you for your comments. Very, very astute observation. I also am representing the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, which is also very much in support of the carnival. If we had more cultural events, there'd be more understanding and less fear, this kind of interaction, and I've been attending Carnival for since the beginning, I knew Nicola before I knew who she was, and for 50 years, my parents, my family has been a host to the British Virgin Islands students up here, several who went on to become Attorney General Premier, Head of the Conservation and Fisheries, and Climate Change Commissioner. And I have, because of my dual cultural indoctrination, I had been in the position of being a liaison, during Carnival, in explaining to people on the sidewalk and explaining to neighbors, with my enthusiasm, how things work. And there's a lot more acceptance and a way of looking at things because people are talking. And so Carnival is a connection to my roots. And I've been to Boston for 15 years and there's always some incidents over there. And it's been frustrating to have those individual incidents always be associated with the carnival. They are using them as camouflage. And Brooklyn hasn't canceled, nobody's canceled. But this is an opportunity to include local musicians, etc. And I want you to pay attention to the suggestions that Nicola put up about improving the cultural event. As with other situations, communication was lacking. And I would like to see the organizers at the table. They had a right to hear, and even see the video perhaps. And maybe they did. The organizers need to be pulled in immediately. And if you're going if you're going to create a void where there's a lot of confusion, it is up to you, Manager and Commissioner, to not only create a teachable moment, but calm the waters. You guys were absent at some of these smaller rallies. I was at the church, at the small parade and there were no representation from the people who made the decisions. But in any case, you get my point there needs to be more communication. Thank you.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. Lynette Laveau-Saxe is up next.
Lynette Laveau-Saxe
Hello. It's a privilege for me to be part of this Carnival given that the small group of cofounders started with three and ballooned out to about 11 of us. Nicola was sent by Mayor Reeves, who believed in our vision and sailed with us all the way from 1992 to the parade in 1993. The response ability of the artist is to inspire and make a difference. And the carnival provided just such a platform for local artists. I've been a longtime resident of Cambridge, for about 50 years. And it was a wonderful thing to see how artists embraced the carnival. But over the years, of course, people move on, they migrate, they get married, they move away, whatever. So the responsibility of the current community is to continually let the public know the origin of the carnival, the original one, 185 years ago, that we are now continuing the tradition of celebrating, which is the emancipation of slavery. That was the first day of carnival. And if the public doesn't know, then, you know, we provide just such a platform for ne'er-do-wells who think that it's, someone said that, you know, it's a camouflage they use it as a camouflage to do their dirty deeds. So we must hold on to this product, energize it, edify it to newcomers. People who aren't understanding that it's a wonderful thing to to be part of because it has value. It allows people to release, celebrate. That was the reason why we decided to bring the carnival, because we can all celebrate this freedom that we now enjoy as people of color. And also share with other people. And I'm sure for people in this room if you've been to the carnival, you do see that. You see the effects. But on that first day, many things were happening. People were not only celebrating, but they were mourning their dead and searching for lost family members. And you feel it all. All of that is felt at Carnival. People don't know why they just explode with exuberance.
But there's a reason. It's like a primordial call for everyone when you are part of the carnival. And I'm looking forward to seeing it continue. I was sorry that it had to be interrupted, but that's in the past. We are all optimistic here. I thank the City Manager for having faith that this Carnival will, again, rise. Thank you, Ken for helping us to give it birth. Thank you Nicola for representing City Hall at that time and continuing to do the work. And we're going to make it live again.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. Kevin Donaher is up next.
Kevin Donaher
Sorry, I had a speech to say but most of my points were made better by Ken. So I'll just jump to the conclusion: the question is how will we incorporate input from the Caribbean-American community to ensure that the mistakes of 2019 are not repeated in 2020.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. James Williamson is next. Thanks so much, James. Three minutes.
James Williamson
Thanks. James Williamson, 1000 Jackson Place in Cambridge. I guess I want to start with a little bit of my own experience. I was sitting on a bench behind the reviewing stand in 2017, having a conversation with a German who I think was here working temporarily in the biotech sector. And for some reason, I think maybe partly because I saw a group of about a dozen officers with jackets on the back saying "Metro Gang Unit" or something, real big, bold letters, obviously a gang unit, all clustered together in the same location behind the reviewing stand. And I started having a conversation, I said, you know, maybe because there had been an incident on a previous occasion at the Carnival, and I said, well, you know, things can sometimes happen. But by and large, I think it's pretty safe. I think I also did talk about the fact that the German national police had fired their weapons in one recent year 70 times and I mentioned that Amadou Diallo was shot in New York City 41 times- just one person shot 41 times- while in all of Germany, the National Police in one year had fired their weapons 70 times. At which point, a huge mass of people came running around the corner of the building. The German I was sitting next to on the bench took off, and I got down crouch down on to the side of the bench. Just to wait and see what was happening. I wasn't going to start running without a better idea of what was going on. In a minute, when it sort of settled down, I had an computer, a laptop with me and I took it out and I went around the corner and about 30 feet away was the spot where I think the initial shooting had taken place. And they hadn't even put up any sort of police line or anything. And I started to record and a police officer, while other people walked in front of him to, you know, move to a different location. He singled me out and started yelling at me that I had to go. And I think it was because I was recording and I think the recording actually might have turned out to be useful. In fact, later that afternoon, I talked to a detective who said, "could you send me that recording? because it might be useful in terms of assembling information about what might have happened here". And I was, to be frank, so upset about the way I'd been yelled at, in my feeling totally inappropriately, abusively by this officer, that I just said no. I'm not going to go there. And I think that's an example of where unfortunate things happen that don't have to happen in the way things get handled. So I did find myself wondering, why a gang? Why a gang team of a dozen people all clustered in the same location? In retrospect, thinking about this and going to the meeting at the church that has been alluded to earlier. I wondered, the specific question that I had about the cancellation, in addition to comments that have been made by others was, if there was, in fact, credible evidence that would lead a prudent person to feel the right thing to do is to cancel the event, why were those people not arrested? I just didn't understand if it was credible enough to be like, yes, they're definitely going to do something, that you would presumably have enough information to make arrests, and that was the one thing that I didn't understand. Okay. I didn't realize it was three minutes. The ordinance says five, but may I have just a brief extension? I think going forward, the key thing about this is to do whatever is possible to make this safe. As safe as possible. I don't think it's going to be possible to make it perfectly safe. I go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. There are shootings there they happen all the time, quote, unquote, they don't cancel Mardi Gras, they don't cancel second lines on Sunday afternoons. I've been there, people have said don't go. I've had amazing experiences and yes, shooting sometimes happen. But they can happen anywhere and they happen there with a lot more frequency than here. The couple things that I would suggest that might help: one is to strengthen the connection to the history of the Caribbean community in this city. To elevate that, to integrate that and make that part of what this continuing and sustaining a safe Carnival here in Cambridge would be. That it's connected with that history that people have referred to. And the other thing is to elevate the visibility of when the Commissioner spoke about it having been a family-friendly event, to elevate the visibility of it as a family-friendly event. And to stress that. But the chair is getting looking impatient and I'll close early.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. Andrew Sharpe is next.
Andrew Sharpe
The Caribbean and the US have been tremendous friends, from the establishment of Alexander Hamilton, to Shirley Chisholm. The establishment of the US-Caribbean engagement acts speaks on the basis of the Caribbean diaspora importance to the US economic development and its cultural diversity. Carnival is one of the most important elements of the Caribbean diaspora community throughout the entire United States. And I encourage the council to look at the HR 4939 US Caribbean Engagement Act, which explains more the importance of the Caribbean diaspora community. And it is important that we continue our cultural heritage, which is carnival. And I commend Nicola for your continued support to our Carnival community and members of our Caribbean diaspora. And that's my input regards to the carnival: it must continue. And we have reached so far that the Caribbean caucus in Washington has established this US Caribbean engagement. And it is focused on the importance of the Caribbean diaspora. And in the City of Cambridge and in the state of Massachusetts. We have to, you know, work, engage, and elevate our diverse community. And the Caribbean community ain't going away because we were one of the pillars that really supported the United States. And we're America's third border. So we really appreciate you approving the continuation and establishing mechanisms, engaging with our community, bringing everyone at the table to see how we can move forward to continue Cambridge Carnival because I look forward to attend anytime. I'm a Boston resident, but definitely appreciate the work that you guys are doing and thanks a lot. Have a good night.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. That concludes the list of people have signed up. Anyone else want to speak, who hasn't spoken? All right, seeing none, we'll close public comment. So we'll have a little bit of discussion. And again, I want to frame it by focusing on what we do, going forward to make sure that the carnival happens in 2020 and beyond. As Mayor Reeves mentioned, I'm myself from the Caribbean, from Suriname in South America. I have the great privilege of going home on Saturday for a couple of weeks to visit. And when I came to Cambridge in 1992, I wasn't fully aware of the Caribbean heritage that exists here. But it must have spoken to me because I felt at home here, and ended up settling down here. So when the carnival was canceled it impacted me as well, personally, as a person of Caribbean heritage, that this event got canceled. And when, you know, as the Commissioner said, In 2018, there was a series of meetings and I met with the Commissioner and the police, I believe was Superintendent Elow actually, that I met with, regarding whether or not we should have the carnival in 2018. And I began to understand some of the history and some of the challenges that the carnival has experienced in sustaining itself through the years in Cambridge. And in 2019, when it was cancelled, it really became clear to me that this is an issue of equity, and an issue of race, even though it again does not reflect on any one person who is making decisions. But it's in the context of institutional and historic racism, that we come to a place where this important cultural event to an important part of our community can be cancelled so easily, when other events are not. And that is an issue of equity.
And I thank Nicola for her presentation because she really gave us some very specific ways that we can remedy some of those inequities. And we can begin to stabilize this event, in the same way that we have done for other events that take place in our city every year. This really can and should be a signature event for our city that we can be very proud of and that we can ensure continues to happen year after year and grows and really speaks to and uplifts the Caribbean community. So I really have only one question and I'll open it up to my colleagues if they have other questions. But my question is, knowing what we know now and knowing what happened this year, what can we put in place so that if in 2020, we get to the same point where we have information that threatens the carnival, can we have a plan that ensures that the event can still happen? It can happen in a different way, it can happen in a different place, but can we make sure that it can still happen?
Branville Bard, Police Commissioner
Mr. Chair, yeah, yeah. As I said, the City Manager, the Police Department, we're committed to ensuring that we have a family friendly, safe event in 2020. If you want me to say, with 100 degree, hundred percent certainty that nothing could threaten the carnival, then I can't sit here and do that. You know, for instance, if we found a device along the path where the festival was supposed to occur, then, you know, in many ways it would be derelict, you know. But absent something, you know, to that extreme degree, we will do everything within our power to ensure that the carnival is successful, safe, and that it you know, kicks off in 2020.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you, and I certainly appreciate that. And I want to press a little bit on your example. Even in that case, obviously, we couldn't have the event in that place, at that time, given a threat like a device that might explode. Can we have a plan that says, in that event, we will have the carnival somewhere else at another time, under different circumstances, so that we can secure it sufficiently that it can still happen?
Branville Bard, Police Commissioner
To you and through you, Mr. Chair, that's not unreasonable.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Louie DePasquale, City Manager
I would just say that, absolutely we can have a date. We may need two or three dates, because pending the situation and would give us as much flexibility as possible, because we understand the importance of this event. So I think having as many backup plans as possible, hopefully we don't have to use any of them. But to make sure that whatever we do, I think the problem is if the backup dates are too close, often you get the same issue. So I think being realistic to say, these are the dates and we have some plans in place where I am all for that and I think we can work that out and be happy to see how that works for Nicola and the committee and everybody else.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. I appreciate that and I’ll introduce a motion in a little bit to that effect. Mayor Reeves?
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
I think we should speak a little to sort of the elephant in the room and that is the breakout of violence in public celebrations. Now, for whatever reasons I happened to be in the middle of the Detroit riots of 1967. They broke out two blocks from my house, and I was a junior in high school. I have seen weeks of unrest, snipers, tanks in the streets. So I really know what can happen when there's public bedlam. And in Cambridge, I have seen I have been at Carnival when something happened in Kendall and everybody was running, and it's a very difficult feeling for me because it reminds me of '67 Detroit. And that's the reason I came to Cambridge is it was not like Detroit. So my point is this. I think there is a deeper understanding of what it takes to maintain order, but I'm not the police. But I do think this in prior years under prior commissioners, particularly under Commissioner Haas, after 9/11 happened and it seemed like the government had a lot of surplus riot gear, etc. So suddenly we have in the middle of Cambridge Carnival, you know, 50 officers in black with machine guns. And I'm bringing this up because you will never convince me that that ever happened at Saint Cosmas and Damian or any of it. I mean, that was for us. So we're not here imagining things. There's a history here. And it's important as the Police Department does its planning, etc. to really deeply realize that there are some things that set off public reaction and you put these people in riot gear in August, September, and you get a bunch of revelers with a Caribbean Carnival, many of whom are not from the city. It's like asking for a combustion. And I'll give you one more example. And this again was during Commissioner Haas. Some Caribbean people on Prospect Street had an annual party. And someone called about noise. And the police came and told them to turn down the noise. And the police went away and the noise went back up, and someone called again. Well, the person whose house it was contacted me to say that the police had now given them a ticket for this party, etc. So I said, Well, you know, you want to be able to have a party so I got involved with this issue. Spending this moment to say this: the next thing the man told me, he says, you know, there were 50 officers in riot gear on the river, in response to this party. And I said, Oh, no, that could never be, because given my Detroit instincts, I know that's the recipe for disaster. And so Commissioner Haas told me, oh, no, that could not have happened. And I continued my research to only find out that it did happen. It was a combination of Cambridge, and the MPC police and MIT and Harvard were ready in the event there was something, and this was so wrong. So as planning goes on, this is notes from the bridge of civilian, but there have been times in my life where I really felt that I was underpaid because some of these just needed a match. And it was in complete obliviousness, and maybe the commissioner didn't know which is even more concerning. So it's just to point out that this is a city of 110,000 people. It is not New York City. There must be a way to better engage and also be able to contain, without inciting. And that is a lesson I would really want to know that we have learned.
Louie DePasquale, City Manager
Through you, Mr. Chair, can I just respond briefly? So, as I said, just before you got here, I was involved in the first one from Manager Healey working with you to make this happen. And I really believe we've had a very strong working relationship for all your years as Councillor and as Mayor. I think you know how much respect I have for you, and I know how busy you are. But in talking to the Commissioner, if you would like to, in any way, shape, or form, be part of anything in terms of us trying to figure out moving forward, I would take that as a great opportunity for us and certainly would welcome you to help play a role. I think the council would feel that it's appropriate Nicola as well so I just want to make that as an offer. I think we've worked well together in the past, and we'll continue that, but I really want to make sure that that offer is out there for you. Thank you.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. Councillor Carlone?
Councillor Dennis Carlone
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Obviously the conversation and comments have been very powerful tonight. I thought the presentation was excellent. But I want to focus on something a little different. And that's Nicola's presentation, page 21, and a sustainable carnival. So we had a problem last time, people were disappointed. And in a way, as Nicola has done, it's sort of a recap. All right, where do we go from here? And I can say it without asking the four councillors that are here are all big enthusiasts for arts and celebrations. There have been committees made, and I think what I'm looking at here on page 21, seems very reasonable. I'm not going to ask what we do now because you need to look at that yourself. But it seems to me that the city, no matter if we thought it was the right thing, we still owe something to a group of people. And we need to look at how can we learn from this. And really invigorate what makes Cambridge special on those days. And that's the few celebrations we do. We don't do many. We don't have museums. We don't have our own theaters. This is it, really. And so I hope the recommendations here and I know the four of us, if not the whole future council, will be looking into this. How can we reinforce and remedy at least the planning and the strategy portion at the same time that we look at the whole plan for safety. And honestly, I went and re-read this. And it's extremely well put together and quite reasonable and it affects a large segment of our population and the rest of the city. I enjoy it. You're all going to laugh and that's okay. I was invited to be in the parade, not in an outfit. And I felt completely out of place, but I was welcomed! I won't do it again, but I was welcomed and it was fun. I was out of my...it's not who I am to dance publicly, but
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
You did a good job!
Councillor Dennis Carlone
Well you were just behind me which also made me feel awkward. But we all, I think everybody in this room wants this to work and wants it to be even more special. And maybe, as an example, you know, I know the River Festival, I was involved in the beginning. And I know a good chunk of money goes into that. And activities. So we don't have that many and we should make the most of it, but I'm saying what everybody here knows. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you. Councillor Siddiqui?
Councillor Sumbul Siddiqui
Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you. I want to echo Councillor Carlone's comments on this. Thank you to the members of the public comment who came and spoke. And thank you to Councillor Zondervan for being the lead on these important conversations. I think former Mayor/Councillor Reeves is right in that when this did happen, I think there was a failure of leadership on making sure that the community knew exactly what was going on. And I think something the city has to always do a better job as of is over communicating. And I think we think we communicate, but that doesn't happen. And so I think this was a lesson learned. It happened. Even that meeting, making folks come back, you know, that type of stuff, that was not the right thing to do. And so that's noted, and I'm sorry to you, I'm sorry to the Carnival and, you know, I think we need to accept responsibility for that, and then think about, as Councillor Zondervan has said, what do we do now moving forward in making this event as amazing as it can be? And how do we really think about how do we empower the Caribbean community in general? I think there's so much more work to be done. And I'm committed. I know my colleagues are committed. So I look forward to working together on that.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you Councillor. Councillor Mallon?
Councillor Alanna Mallon
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm not a member of this committee so thank you for allowing me the time and space to speak. I also want to thank Councillor Zondervan for putting this meeting together. I do, back to former Mayor Reeves comment, feel like it should have been held a long time ago and I'll take responsibility for that along with my colleagues. You know, city council meetings aren't the forum to have conversations, especially ones as important as this. So I think this is the right meeting. It just happened at the wrong time. So, I want to apologize to you and to the members of the public who are feeling not heard by their city leadership. So, and I also will say, I have been thinking a lot about this actually, in, you know, in terms of arts and culture here in Cambridge and the lack of celebrations. This is very high stakes, right, because this is the celebration. This is the event for the Afro-Caribbean community. And when it gets canceled, boy, that's it, right? A whole year goes by. So I will say looking forward, I like the idea of having the smaller taste of Caribbean events. Could there be more events that could make it feel like high stakes, while at the same time be preparing for having this event annually? And then, in terms of one of the things that you mentioned here is securing a Caribbean Cultural Center and something that Councillor Carlone said around we don't have museums here. We do have a museum in Central Square, the MIT Museum, and it's going away. I don't know what MIT's plans for the first floor of that building. It's right here in the cultural district. We've been thinking a lot about how do we bring more arts and culture into the Cultural District to make sure that it isn't...all the arts and culture don't just leave Central Square and we say, jeez, isn't that too bad?
So is there a way to be intentional around that space here in Central Square to really think about a Caribbean Cultural Center to again, add on that layer of this isn't just this one thing. So I guess that's that's all I'll say except, you know, I am, of course supportive of trying to figure out how to continue to hold this while at the same time really being aware and cognizant that, you know, public safety is a real thing. Public safety is something that we all really care about, obviously, and I know our Police Commissioner really cares about it. And I know, like, just looking at this number $172,000 for public safety for 2018. That's, that's quite a, quite a jump from $40,000. So I know that there's a commitment on the city side and on the police side to make sure that this event happens and it happens safely. I guess the last thing I'll say is I am thinking a lot about what Mayor Reeves said around the riot gear and what kind of visual and optics that presents. I have been thinking about that actually a lot lately, in terms of how that presents to the community. And what that relationship between the police and festival goers...how that interplay is and to carefully, really think about that so I'm supportive of how we're going to move forward here. I thank you again for allowing me to speak and being present tonight. And thank you to Nicola for really bringing this event forward every single year. I know it's a lot of work. So I look forward to working with you in the future.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you, Councillor Mallon. Mayor Reeves?
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
The comment of Councillor Carlone, and I meant to thank you for your prior participation and current because I think you have turned up twice.
Councillor Dennis Carlone
It was very forgettable!
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
It was good and he brought his Hawaiian shirt so he was in the spirit. I'm from the tradition where you take lemons and you make lemonade. So I want to refer to page 21 along with Councillor Carlone and just say, now if Cambridge really want to get into the carnival business, it turns out that in Canada, they understand this much better. So in Toronto, they have something called Caribana. And the provincial government gives Caribana $400,000 a year, because the number of people who come at that time, food sold, etc, is economic development too! So then, Montreal, they came up with their $400,000. In America, there's another idea that we couldn't possibly use public money in these ways. And Canada has some interesting cultural challenges, so they know how to put a little something to see if we can make things better. So I would hope, and Nicola has argued, that she has spent so much time telling me about how the city should embrace this as its own, because it's such a rich thing and I'm thinking to myself, or thinking to her, Nicola, they are not trying to own Carnival. But there is a point of view that could be mutually beneficial, which is evidenced by these kinds of supports. Now, I will say this to you, as somebody who's involved in Margaret Fuller. And I went on that board because I was asked to, I did not want to be on the board. But now I feel I'm a part of running an operation because our biggest problem is we don't have money. And to see East End House get tied to a $9 million dollar deal, it got my attention because these community institutions, nobody is giving away money. But we still expect them to exist. So I really think the council, and it would take several of you to with Councillor Carlone to say, well, you know, why don't we ask the Carnival people to pitch this in even greater detail, or, you know, bring in one of these steel bands so people can get to see how this works. And the steel band culture is a magnificent thing. And there are whole places in this country where it is a great deployment of youth, because you teach them to play these steel drums and have a curriculum and they compete, they travel, it is one of the things you want young people to be doing. So I think you've bought something of great value here, other than let's don't cancel again. Maybe we should build in some more support to make our Carnival even greater.
Louie DePasquale, City Manager
Hey, Mr. Chair, Can I just follow up with that? I think it's an important point. So you made a good point about government and financing and all of that. And, you know, one of the things we've been able to do with the Taste of Carnival is because it's in the Cultural District, it’s at a lot lower number, but be able to come up with some finances that's allowed us to really help support the event. I think at this larger amount, we're gonna have to really revisit the whole structure of the thing because it would probably almost have to be a City of Cambridge event. And that doesn't mean we shouldn't but it would mean we'd have a long conversation. But I do think the key is that in a smaller event, we were able to really be creative in the Taste of the Carnival. But I think to make this a reality, it's going to take some time, it's going to take a lot of meetings and a lot of discussion and I would be happy to have David Kale be a point person on my side to figure out what we can and can't do and working with the council and Nicola to see, you know, what role we can play as we have in the Taste of the Carnival, which I think has been a really good success. It's a lot smaller event, but trying to think about, can we tie it to the BID district? Can we tie it to Central Square? But again, these are not overnight decisions. But we're, I'm hearing you.
Nicola Williams
I just want to mention too that Michael Monestime said that the Central Square BID, because he's aware of this plan, can help.
Councillor Quinton Zondervan
Thank you both. And I had the brief pleasure of being part of the steel band effort, and it was quite remarkable to see the way the kids respond and get interested in in the music and the culture behind it. And I do want to thank the City Manager and the Commissioner, I know this has been a challenging conversation. I know it was a difficult decision. And we felt the impact in the community. And, you know, as Mayor Reeves said, we didn't fully hear what was being said. And so it took a while to get there. But I think the City Manager has been working with the Carnival Committee to address the immediate concerns around cancellation. And, we did plan to have this meeting sooner, but unfortunately, we had a death in the family and so that delayed it a bit. But I am glad that we were able to come together this evening and at least begin to look forward to 2020 and beyond. So thank you all for being here and for participating in that effort.
So I will put forward a motion and I will read it, and then I am of course open to suggestions for how to amend it and make it stronger. That the City Manager work with the Carnival Committee to enhance the Cambridge Carnival event, allocate the necessary funds, and develop a comprehensive public safety plan, including contingency plans so that the event can take place in a secure time and place, even in the presence of significant threats that can be anticipated.
So on the motion, all in favor?
All right. Thank you all. Happy holidays. Happy New Year.
Former Mayor Ken Reeves
Thank you. Thank you.
The committee received the following documents:
1. A communication was received from Our Revolution Cambridge, regarding the Cambridge Carnival.
RESULT: PLACED ON FILE
2. A communication was received from Nicola A. Williams, Cambridge Carnival International, Inc., regarding Cambridge Carnival presentation for Carnival Hearing on 12/19th
RESULT: PLACED ON FILE