Fall 2002 Notes

Congratulations to Don Drisdell on his appointment as City Solicitor and to Louis DePasquale as Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Affairs and to Nancy Glowa as Deputy City Solicitor, all effective December 2.

Nov 25 City Council meeting notes (corrected Dec 16)
     The physical condition of several public squares was a topic of considerable discussion at tonight's meeting. Specifically, the plantings in Carl Barron Plaza (in Central Square) elicited comments by Vice Mayor Davis and Councillor Reeves regarding City Manager's Agenda #2 and #5. Ken Reeves offered the rather un-PC suggestion that "we give the job to the ladies" in reference to general cleanliness on public squares. He told the story of his experience in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Sunday where a woman in her 70's had charge of the area in which Mr. Reeves was enjoying a cup of coffee. Though the proposal seemed a bit strange for Cambridge, the idea that a specific individual be given responsibility for the cleanliness of a location is actually a pretty good idea. It brings to mind the reorganization several years ago that gave three individuals personal responsibility for the parks, playgrounds, and tot lots in their assigned sector of the city.
     Perhaps the most interesting item of the evening was City Manager's Agenda #12 that authorizes the reallocation of $1,800,000 from the North Cambridge railroad underpass project (at Yerxa Rd.) to the Cambridge St. improvements, miscellaneous building renovations, and for Phase I of the Area Four Open Space Project. For several years, North Cambridge activists pressed the City Council and the City Manager for safer crossings of the North Cambridge railroad tracks. This resulted in a bond authorization for $1.8 million. Unfortunately, soil and drainage conditions at the site as well as right-of-way issues with the railroad led to considerable delay and higher costs. (Apparently when the City first built the present underpass many years ago, they did so without a legal right-of-way.) Since bond authorization requires that the money be spent within a certain time, these funds will now be spent on projects now in construction. The City Manager assured the Council and the public that a $100,000 temporary repair of this underpass will commence soon and that a new bond authorization of $4.1 million for permanent repairs will be presented to the Council next spring.
     Though it was passed without discussion at the meeting, City Manager's Agenda #17 was a resolution that help move along the long-delayed Neville Manor skilled nursing facility that was to have been built as a companion to the Neville Place assisted living facility. The facilities would share that portion of the Fresh Pond Reservation that was formerly the Neville Manor Nursing Home. If all goes well, there's a good chance that ground may be broken for this project by the end of this year.
     Councillor Galluccio brought up the matter of renovations to Russell Field (adjacent to the Alewife T station). These renovations have been delayed due to well-fueled controversies regarding chemical and asbestos contamination in the soil at Russell Field and at the adjacent W.R. Grace site. City Manager Healy reports that additional soil testing at the site (at 35 ft intervals instead of the original 70 ft intervals) has indicated contaminant levels below the threshold listed in Cambridge's Asbestos Ordinance. The only thing holding up the renovations now is an agreement with Alewife Neighbors, Inc. (ANI) that allows them to do independent testing from the same samples. The City has set a December 15 deadline for ANI to return their test results. Councillor Galluccio asked the Manager to send the message to ANI that “it's the kids who will be missing out” if they fail to adhere to this deadline. The Manager said that with these latest test results, the renovations and the remediation can be done under a single contract and that the project could be done by next fall.
     On a related matter, City Manager Healy informed the City Council that the City prevailed in court in a legal challenge of the W.R. Grace zoning. That lawsuit was initiated by W.R. Grace. The Land Court and now the Appeals Court have rejected all of Grace's claims, ruling that the temporary open-space buffer zoning, the interim building moratorium, and the final downzoning amendment did not constitute an abuse of the city's zoning power, spot zoning, or a taking that entitled Grace to compensation. The full decision is online at ~~http://www.socialaw.com/appslip/appNov02ee.html~~ is no longer online.
[Thanks to Michael Brandon for the corrections and the legal reference.]

Monday, Nov 18 - The Cambridge City Council tonight approved an extension of City Manager Robert W. Healy's contract through Aug 31, 2006. Though Councillor Reeves expressed some concern about the balance of power between the City Manager and the City Council, the vote was unanimous in favor of the extension.
The City Council also unanimously approved an appropriation of $86,000 to allow CASPAR to partially restore shelter services, specifically to allow extra beds at night (up to 107 beds) and to restore the daytime program for those in need (up to 40) - a necessity now that winter is coming.

Without competition, is it still democracy?
Take a look at these numbers from the Massachusetts 2000 election:
In the state Senate, 37 of 40 incumbents had no primary election opponent. (93%)
In the state Senate, 23 of 40 incumbents had no general election opponent. (58%)
In the state House 137 of 160 incumbents had no primary election opponent. (86%)
In the state House 98 of 160 incumbents had no general election opponent. (61%)

Addendum: According to MassINC, for the Massachusetts 2002 election:
In the state House, 69% of the incumbents had no general election opponent from the other major party. Massachusetts ranks 49th out of 50 states in the percentage of seats contested by both major parties. Michigan ranks #1 with 99% of all seats contested by both major parties.

Election Day News item: Florida voters on Tuesday, November 5 overwhelmingly banned smoking in the workplace, including about 12,000 restaurants and bars statewide. The Sunshine State joins California, Maine, Utah, Vermont and Delaware that ban smoking in public places.

Design Process for the Main Library expansion
There was a public meeting on Wed, Oct 16 at which residents could view the proposals now being considered for the expanded Main Library on Broadway. Peter Bruckner has provided panoramic views of the current conditions at the site from various vantage points: [URL expired]
Many people spoke at this meeting making it clear that the new design must not diminish nor detract from the open space. The panoramas are intended to focus on the major pedestrian paths to the library and what the current spaces feel like.

Sept 25 - At the City Council Ordinance Committee working meeting on this issue, we learned that the number of communities in the Boston Metropolitan that have now joined Clear Air Works stands at 16. There are an additional 9 north shore communities that have formed Clean Air North. The objective for all 25 communities is to protect workers' health by prohibiting smoking in all indoor public spaces. The announcement from Mayor Menino the day before did seem to affect the tone of the statements by the five city councillors present at the Ordinance Committee meeting, Councillors Maher, Murphy, Davis, Toomey, and Simmons. Some of the main issues discussed related to the possibility of nuisance behavior outside bars by smokers, the negative effect of a private club exemption on public bars and restaurants, schedule of implementation, and the matter of who has the authority to issue these regulations in each of the other communities who have joined Clear Air Works in order to clear the air.
Many advocates and opponents came to this hearing, even though public comment was not allowed. The matter was kept in committee, though co-chair David Maher made clear that he was committed to action on this matter and that would not just sit in committee. There will be at least one more hearing before the matter is moved to the full City Council for a final vote.

Councillors Maher and Murphy, why has this been sitting in the Ordinance Committee for so long?

A class action complaint was filed on September 19 by 6 Holyoke students against the MCAS high stakes graduation requirement. The legal document is provided here (PDF, 65 pages) and is recommended reading for anyone concerned about the MCAS graduation requirement. It outlines the arguments (federal) against the high stakes portion of the law and provides some valuable research and analysis.

The 20th “Doc” Linskey five mile race took place Sunday, September 15. This is to be the final running of this event, though all it would take is a few charitable local businesses to continue the tradition. Any takers out there?
City Councillor and State Representative Tim Toomey running with former Water Dept. Managing Director Mike Nicoloro, two sons of East Cambridge.	Joanne Luciano sports her original “Doc” Linskey T-shirt from 1983.


The Zakim Bridge during the Bridge Walk on October 6 attended by hundreds of thousands of people It was amazing to hear how many people spoke of their satisfaction and gratitude.