Continuing Question: How will the turmoil in national politics trickle down to the local level and, in particular, how might it influence the Cambridge municipal election?

Speculation: After over a century of non-partisan Cambridge elections (a major tenet of "The Cambridge Idea" dating back to the late 1800s), there are indications that "Our Revolution", the Bernie Sanders-driven national entity and effectively an emergent political party separate from the Democratic Party, may back candidates in the 2017 Cambridge municipal election.

Answer 1: New endorsing entities are popping up and sending long questionnaires to candidates testing them on their adherence to Sanders-oriented themes.

Answer 2: Candidates, especially incumbents, seem almost obliged to issue statements reinforcing their support for a variety of Resistance-theme actions, rallies, etc.

Answer 3: We'll have to wait and see whether candidates emphasize local themes or national themes at the candidate forums and on their campaign websites.

Political Updates

Suggest Topics for Municipal Election Candidates - 2017

Candidates for City Council and School Committee in each municipal election since 2003 have been asked to submit statements to be posted on their Cambridge Candidate Pages on a range of topics relevant to the respective offices. Candidates can also submit statements on other topics of importance to them and they can modify any statements all the way up to Election Day. There are no endorsements on the Candidate Pages - just an opportunity for candidates to introduce themselves to voters. The request will soon go out to this year's candidates. Are there any particular topic areas that should be on this year's list? Please let me know what you think so that we can have a good starting point for all candidates. For reference, the topics from the 2015 election are listed below. - Robert Winters

City Council candidates were asked in 2015 about: 1) Background [biographical, etc.] 2) Top Priorities [List about three and elaborate below] 3) Land Use, Planning, Zoning, Density 4) Economic Development and Commerce 5) Housing 6) Energy, the Environment, and Public Health 7) Traffic, Parking, and Transportation 8) Open Space, Parks, and Recreation 9) Municipal Finance (budget, assessments, property taxes, etc.) 10) Quality of Life and Public Safety Other topics that you might wish to address: Civic Participation, Government and Elections, Plan E Charter, City Manager, University Relations, Youth Programs, Senior Programs, Arts and Public Celebrations, Cambridge Public Schools, Future of the Foundry Building

School Committee candidates were asked in 2015 about: 1) Background [biographical, etc.] 2) Top Priorities [List about three ­ then elaborate below] 3) Top Challenges Facing CPS today 4) Evaluation of the Innovation Agenda 5) School Department Administration and Superintendent 6) School Department Budget and Capital Needs 7) Achievement Gaps, Meeting the Needs of All Students 8) Meeting the Needs of Advanced Learners 9) Controlled Choice, Student Assignment Policies 10) Curriculum and Programs    a) Elementary School Grades    b) Middle School Grades    c) High School Grades

Any topics to add, delete, or modify?

---

Aug 21 - The Election Commission has issued the official candidate list with names as they will appear on the ballot:

City Council Candidates		School Committee Candidates
Ronald Benjamin, 172 Cushing Street, 02138 Josh M. Burgin, 812 Memorial Drive #1411, 02139 Dennis J. Carlone, 9 Washington Avenue #6, 02140 Olivia D'Ambrosio, 270 3rd Street #305, 02142 Jan Devereux, 255 Lakeview Avenue, 02138 Samuel Gebru, 812 Memorial Drive #614A, 02139 Richard Harding, Jr., 189 Windsor Street #1, 02139 Craig A. Kelley, 6 Saint Gerard Terrace #2, 02140 Dan Lenke, 148 Richdale Avenue, 02140 Ilan Levy, 148 Spring Street, 02141 Alanna M. Mallon, 3 Maple Avenue, 02139 Marc C. McGovern, 15 Pleasant Street, 02139 Gregg J. Moree, 25 Fairfield Street #4, 02140	Adriane B. Musgrave, 5 Newport Road #1, 02140 Nadya T. Okamoto, 220 Banks Street #5, 02138 Hari I. Pillai, 165 Cambridgepark Drive #234, 02140 Jeff Santos, 350 3rd Street #809, 02142 Sumbul Siddiqui, 530 Windsor Street, 02141 E. Denise Simmons, 188 Harvard Street #4B, 02139 Vatsady Sivongxay, 59 Kirkland Street #2, 02138 Bryan Sutton, 764 Cambridge Street #6, 02141 Sean Tierney, 12 Prince Street, 02139 Paul F. Toner, 24 Newman Street, 02140 Timothy J. Toomey, Jr., 88 6th Street, 02141 Gwen Thomas Volmar, 13 Ware Street #4, 02138 Quinton Y. Zondervan, 235 Cardinal Medeiros Avenue, 02141	Manikka L. Bowman, 134 Reed Street, 02140 Fran A. Cronin, 1 Kimball Lane, 02140 Jake W. Crutchfield, 281 River Street #1, 01239 Emily R. Dexter, 9 Fenno Street, 02138 Alfred B. Fantini, 4 Canal Park #203, 02141 Elechi M. Kadete, 10 Laurel Street #4, 02139 Kathleen M. Kelly, 17 Marie Avenue #1, 02139 Laurance V. Kimbrough, 24 Aberdeen Avenue, 02138 William MacArthur, 18 Shea Road, 02140 Piotr Flawiusz Mitros, 9 Michael Way, 02141 Patricia M. Nolan, 184 Huron Avenue, 02138 David J. Weinstein, 45 S. Normandy Avenue, 02138

2017 Cambridge Candidate Pages

2017 Campaign Event Listings and Candidate Forums
[Note: Only events open to the general public (with or without RSVP) will be listed.]

2017 Cambridge City Council Campaign Bank Reports (with sortable tables)

Campaign Finance Reports - 2017 City Council (PDF with links to detailed reports)

Campaign Contributions (2017) - Total Receipts and Cambridge Receipts

---

July 20 - A group of at least 10 registered voters filed a petition to have a non-binding public opinion question placed on this year's municipal ballot asking if voters will approve of public financing for municipal elections. My personal opinion is that this lies somewhere between frivolous and an attempt to influence this year's City Council and School Committee elections. New candidates don't appear to be having any difficulty at all raising sufficient funds to run a credible campaign and they all have unlimited free access to social media. The Election Commission certified that the required minimum of 10 signatures were filed in support of this petition, and it now will be referred to the City Council and will (presumably) appear on the agenda for the August 7 Midsummer City Council meeting. The City Council can approve of it being placed on the November municipal election ballot, but that has to happen a minimum of 90 days prior to the Nov 7 election. The Council could also disapprove (or someone could presumably delay it via the Charter Right) which would then require the petitioners to instead gather the valid signatures of 10% of registered voters (about 6500 signatures) - a substantial task. They would also have to file the necessary paperwork with the state if they intend to raise or spend any money. The number of days between Aug 7 and Nov 7 is 92 days. The lead petitioner appears to be someone named Adam Strich who was photographed recently carrying a sign that says, in Arabic, "The people want to bring down the regime." Well, as long as we're clear about where the petitioners are coming from.

Here's the text of the petition:
We, the undersigned registered voters of Cambridge, Massachusetts, hereby petition the Cambridge City Council to include the following nonbinding public policy advisory question on the November 2017 ballot:

“Many Cantabrigians have expressed concern over what they perceive to be the undue influence of a few wealthy donors and special interest groups on municipal elections. Such concerns have the potential to erode the people's confidence in their elected officials and reduce civic engagement, thereby undermining the objectives of responsible government. In response to similar concerns, cities as diverse as Los Angeles, New York City, Portland (OR), Seattle, and New Haven have provided for the complete or partial funding of electoral campaigns. Although they typically require only a tiny fraction of a city's budget, these public-financing programs have nevertheless been shown to result in a more vibrant and democratic process. Would you be in favor of the City of Cambridge adopting such a program for elections to the City Council?”

---

Just in case you're interested in how this rather large number of candidates compares to past Cambridge PR elections, here's the whole history going back to 1941 (CC for number of City Council candidates and SC for number of School Committee candidates). Any significant write-in candidates are included in the totals.

Number of candidates in Cambridge municipal elections: 1941-present
Year	CC	SC		Year	CC	SC		Year	CC	SC		Year	CC	SC
1941	83	28		1961	23	16		1981	25	13		2001	19	10
1943	39	19		1963	22	17		1983	16	16		2003	20	8
1945	37	14		1965	24	13		1985	22	9		2005	18	8
1947	34	18		1967	20	18		1987	19	13		2007	16	9
1949	40	16		1969	26	14		1989	28	8		2009	21	9
1951	27	15		1971	36	22		1991	19	12		2011	18	11
1953	35	18		1973	34	26		1993	29	11		2013	25	9
1955	41	19		1975	25	16		1995	19	11		2015	23	11
1957	35	26		1977	24	10		1997	20	8		2017	26	12
1959	31	21		1979	23	12		1999	24	13

---

The following City Council candidates have either had or scheduled a campaign kickoff event, announced their candidacy, or submitted sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot (26): Ron Benjamin, Josh Burgin, Dennis Carlone, Olivia D'Ambrosio, Jan Devereux, Sam Gebru, Richard Harding, Jr., Craig A. Kelley, Dan Lenke, Ilan Levy, Alanna Mallon, Marc McGovern, Gregg Moree, Adriane Musgrave, Nadya Okamoto, Hari Pillai, Jeff Santos, Sumbul Siddiqui, Denise Simmons, Vatsady Sivongxay, Bryan Sutton, Sean Tierney, Paul Toner, Timothy J. Toomey, Jr., Gwen Volmar, and Quinton Zondervan.

The following School Committee candidates have either had or scheduled a campaign kickoff event, formally announced their candidacy, or submitted sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot (12): Manikka Bowman, Fran Cronin, Jake Crutchfield, Emily Dexter, Alfred B. Fantini, Elechi Kadete, Kathleen Kelly, Laurance Kimbrough, Will MacArthur, Piotr Mitros, and Patricia M. Nolan, and David J. Weinstein.

Pictures from the Oldtime Baseball Game - August 17, 2017

Photographs by Samara Vise

The Solar Eclipse - Aug 21, 2017
(top 4 photos by Linda Balliro, bottom 3 by Robert Winters)

CIVIC CALENDAR

Wed, Aug 23

6:00-8:00pm   Envision Cambridge Advisory Committee meeting  (4th Floor Meeting Room, City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway)

Discussion topic: corridor visioning and analysis

Thurs, Aug 24

6:00pm   Pedestrian Committee Meeting  (City Hall Annex, 4th Floor Conference Room, 344 Broadway)

Mon, Aug 28

5:30pm   Cambridge Election Commission meeting  (1st Floor Meeting Room, 51 Inman St.)

I. MINUTES II. REPORTS 1. Executive Director’s Report 2. Assistant Director's Report 3. Commissioners' Reports

III. PUBLIC COMMENT IV. ACTION AGENDA Old Business 1. Municipal Election, November 7th New Business

Tues, Aug 29

6:30pm   Planning Board meeting  (2nd Floor Meeting Room, City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway)

Wed, Sept 6

3:30pm   The City Council's Health and Environment Committee will conduct a public hearing to discuss the recently published “City of Cambridge Getting to Net Zero Action Plan: Fiscal Year 2016 Progress Report,” and to receive a general update on the Net Zero Action Plan.  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Sept 11

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Wed, Sept 13

8:00am-9:30am   Recycling Advisory Committee  (Sullivan Chamber, City Hall)

6:00-8:00pm   Envision Cambridge Advisory Committee meeting  (Citywide Senior Center, 806 Mass. Ave.)

Discussion topic: present focus area working group recommendations, review and comment

Mon, Sept 18

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Sept 25

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Tues, Sept 26

3:00pm   The City Council's Health and Environment Committee will conduct a public hearing as a follow up to Policy Order #2 of June 20, 2016 to discuss the City’s Tree Ordinance and possible ways to improve this ordinance to protect the tree canopy while protecting individual property rights.  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Oct 2

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Wed, Oct 11

8:00am-9:30am   Recycling Advisory Committee  (Sullivan Chamber, City Hall)

Mon, Oct 16

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Oct 23

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Oct 30

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Nov 6

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Tues, Nov 7

Municipal Election. Polls are open 7:00am until 8:00pm. The Preliminary Election Count will follow at the Cambridge Senior Center in Central Square.

The Preliminary PR Count will take place at the Senior Center after the polls close.

9:00pm   Cambridge Election Commission meeting.  (Senior Center, 806 Mass. Ave.)

Wed, Nov 8

The PR Election Count continues at the Cambridge Senior Center as auxiliary ballots are tabulated and Unofficial Results are determined.

9:00am   Cambridge Election Commission meeting.  (Senior Center, 806 Mass. Ave.)

Wed, Nov 8

8:00am-9:30am   Recycling Advisory Committee  (Sullivan Chamber, City Hall)

Mon, Nov 13

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Fri, Nov 17

4:30pm   The Cambridge Election Commission will meet to finalize the 2017 Cambridge Municipal Election results, including any provisional ballots and overseas absentee ballots (if any).  (1st Floor Meeting Room, 51 Inman St.)

4:30pm   COUNTING OF PROVISIONAL BALLOTS

5:00pm   COUNTING OF OVERSEAS BALLOTS

The Official 2017 Election Results will be tabulated, certified, and announced after these ballots are included.

Mon, Nov 20

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)

Mon, Nov 27

5:30pm   City Council meeting  (Sullivan Chamber)