City of Cambridge Events Regarding Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting of Sayed Faisal

Jan 9, 2023 – Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and City Manager Yi-An Huang today announced that the City of Cambridge will host a community meeting on Thurs, Jan 12, 2023, from 6-8pm, at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. School, 102 Putnam Avenue to discuss the fatal officer-involved shooting of Sayed Faisal that occurred on Jan 4, 2023. Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan will be present to discuss the investigation process and answer questions. Mayor Siddiqui will provide brief remarks. City Manager Huang and Police Commissioner Christine Elow will also be present to answer questions from the community. Representatives from Riverside Community Care and other health professionals will be present at the meeting and available to provide support and counseling for those who may need it.

There will also be a Special City Council meeting scheduled for the following week on Wed, Jan 18, from 3-5pm, in the Sullivan Chamber at Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue to discuss protocols, processes, and training of the Cambridge Police Department. There will be public comment at this meeting.

A meeting with the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association is also being planned by the Cambridge Peace Commission.

Message from City Manager Yi-An Huang
Dear all,
It has been a heavy beginning to the year, and I am deeply saddened by the fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred last Wed, Jan 4. My thoughts and condolences are with the family and community of Sayed Faisal over the tragedy of a young life lost. I also want to recognize the weight of this on our police officers who are dedicated to serving and protecting everyone in our community, especially the most vulnerable.

The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office is leading the investigation into this incident and the City and Police Department are fully cooperating. It may be many months before the full details are released and I encourage us to all support each other with empathy in this difficult time.

I want to recognize that our Police Department has been committed to progressive and community-based policing for many years. It is a national leader in the development of a legitimate and procedurally-just approach to 21st century policing, including crisis and mental health intervention and de-escalation. I believe deeply in Commissioner Elow, her leadership team, and the dedicated men and women of our police department. However, these kinds of tragic events must reinforce our commitment to have open and transparent discussions in order to learn, improve, and progress on our journey as a city and police department.

In this spirit, we are holding a Community Meeting this week on Thurs, Jan 12 with the District Attorney, Commissioner Elow, and myself to answer questions and a Special Council Meeting next week on Wed, Jan 18 that will discuss protocols, processes, and training in the Cambridge Police Department.

I recognize that this is a difficult time for many people. If you need support, please remember that the City's Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Deer Oaks, is available 24/7. These services are confidential and can be accessed at: (888) 993-7650. Alternatively, you can also contact Riverside Trauma Services and you will be connected with a counselor.

Thank you all,
Yi-An

Challenges of a New Year - January 9, 2023 Cambridge City Council meeting

The first meeting of the new year promises to be a difficult one. Here are some featured agenda items:

Updates

Manager’s Agenda #1. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to an update on the fatal officer-involved shooting in Cambridgeport.
Excellent, balanced statements by City Manager and Police Commissioner Elow; community meeting and Special City Council meeting scheduled; comments by SS, AM, BA, MM (body cameras, procedures, independent investigation), QZ moves to bring forward Committee Report #4 on “HEART”: 8-0-1 (DS Absent); Zondervan calls for funding of HEART program suggesting that they would have prevented this incident, calls for demilitarizing police, investment in more mental health services, objects to defense of our “supposedly progressive police force”, calls for Cambridge Police Department “to disarm or disband”, will schedule a Public Safety Committee meeting; remarks by PN, PT, DC, DS (resist the urge to think we have all the facts); Placed on File 9-0

Tragedy, controversy, and crisis can bring out the best and the worst in people, and can provide opportunity for leadership or opportunism. It’s best that everyone withhold judgment until all the details and circumstances of this incident are better understood.

An organized protest is scheduled to take place starting at 3:00pm in front of City Hall prior to the City Council meeting. The City will conduct a Community Meeting on Thurs, Jan 12 at the MLK School (102 Putnam Ave.) from 6:00pm to 8:00pm with District Attorney Marian Ryan, Police Commissioner Christine Elow, and City Manager Yi-An Huang to answer questions; and a Special City Council Meeting is scheduled for Wed, Jan 18 at 3:00pm to discuss protocols, processes, and training in the Cambridge Police Department.

Manager’s Agenda #2. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a public health update.
Derrick Neal notes that hospitalizations are now at a high level - stressed but managing; indoor masks recommended; wastewater peaked but declining; Placed on File 7-0-2 (DS,QZ - Absent)

Zoning Matters

Manager’s Agenda #10. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a Planning Board report recommending that the City Council not adopt the Patrick Barrett, et al., Zoning Petition.
Referred to Petition 9-0

Order #2. That the City Manager direct the Law Department to research whether the Barrett et al. petition would need to be refiled should there be a Letter of Commitment attached to the rezoning.   Vice Mayor Mallon, Councillor Zondervan, Councillor McGovern
pulled by Zondervan; Order Adopted 8-0-1 (Carlone ABSENT)

Manager’s Agenda #11. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to a Planning Board report recommending that the City Council not adopt the Duane Callender, et al., Zoning Petition.
Referred to Petition 9-0

Committee Report #2. Joint meeting of the Economic Development and University Relations Committee and the Neighborhood & Long-Term Planning, Public Facilities, Arts & Celebrations Committee on Dec 7, 2022, at 1:00pm to review and discuss the attached zoning petition regarding lab use. [text of report]
Report Accepted, Placed on File 8-0-1 (Carlone ABSENT)

Unfinished Business #3. An Ordinance has been received from Diane P. LeBlanc City Clerk, relative to Emissions Accounting Zoning Petition. [Passed to 2nd Reading Dec 19, 2022; To Be Ordained on or after Jan 9, 2023; Expires Mar 6, 2023]

Applications & Petitions #3. A Zoning Petition Has been received from Douglas Brown regarding Amending Article 4, 5 and 8 incrementally modernizing residential zoning.
pulled by Mallon; question about why only one signature on petition, Clerk reads ruling of City Solicitor explaining why this is permissible; Zondervan acknowledges the legality; Toner had same questions about single signature; McGovern also surprised but then barks ABC party line about housing crisis and his desire to not do anything incremental but instead only at a grand scale; Azeem, Simmons also comment; Referred to Ordinance Committee and Planning Board 8-0-1 (Carlone ABSENT)

Order #7. That the City Manager is hereby requested to direct the CDD and the Law Department to examine the Citizen’s Petition submitted by Suzanne P. Blier, et. al on the Harvard Square Zoning Petition Modification regarding Frontage of Financial Institutions and make recommendations for any amendments that are needed.   Councillor Zondervan
pulled by Zondervan; Order Adopted 9-0

Committee Report #5. The Ordinance Committee held a public hearing on Dec 14, 2022, at 1:30pm regarding the Citizen’s Petition submitted by Suzanne P. Blier, et. al regarding the Harvard Square Zoning Petition Modification regarding Frontage of Financial Institutions. [text of report]
Report Accepted, Placed on File 9-0 (Carlone ABSENT)

Committee Report #4. The Ordinance Committee held a public hearing on Dec 14, 2022 at 12:30pm on Zoning Petition Recommendation – Removing Limit on BZA Compensation (Attachment F of CM22#207 in Council on Oct 24, 2022). The Ordinance Committee voted to send proposed Ordinance #2022-23 regarding removing the limit on BZA compensation to the full Council with a favorable recommendation to Pass to a Second Reading. [text of report]
Report Accepted, Placed on File, Passed to 2nd Reading 9-0

Energy, Climate, and all that

Manager’s Agenda #12. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the Cambridge Net Zero Action Plan 5-Year Review and Update. [text of report]
pulled by Toner; comments by Nolan and Zondervan; Placed on File 9-0

Manager’s Agenda #13. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the Stretch Energy Code and Specialized Energy Code. [text of report]
pulled by Toner w/Order #4; Placed on File 9-0

Order #4. That the City Council adopt the Specialized Stretch Code, as outlined in 225 CMR 22.00 and 225 CMR 23.00, with an effective date of July 1, 2023.   Councillor Nolan, Councillor Zondervan, Mayor Siddiqui
pulled by Toner w/Mgr’s Agenda #13; series of forums and other outreach proposed for Feb-March (Farooq); comments by Zondervan (wants to adopt w/o outreach), Nolan (says City has been waiting for this - including the ban of natural gas supply to new buildings and more); Carlone tells of sustainable buildings he's designed and says Stretch Code doesn’t go far enough - calls it “old guard”; Siddiqui notes that it only applies to new buildings and substantial renovation; Simmons asks about what outreach has been done - Farooq acknowledges that no special outreach has taken place; Charter Right - Toner

In short, this Order calls for the immediate adoption of the new “Specialized Stretch Code” without any further discussion or committee meetings even though the new standards may involve considerable new requirements and expense for Cambridge residents. While it may be true that meetings have been held in the past, I will wager that very, very few residents were aware of such meetings or what adoption of the new code might mean in terms of renovation projects in their homes. This is reminiscent of the adoption of amendments in 2020 to the Bicycle Safety Ordinance where residents only found out much later what was in store for Cambridge roadways.

25 Years Waiting

Manager’s Agenda #14. A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appointment of Vivek Sikri, Kimberly Kaufman, and Kathryn Carlson to the Cambridge Traffic Board pursuant to Chapter 455 of the Acts of 1961 (the “Special Act”).
Placed on File 9-0

I first made the case at City Council about 20 years ago that the City was in violation of the law in its discontinuation of the Traffic Board. Without it, regulatory decisions of the Traffic Director are absolute with no mechanism for redress. We’ll have to see whether or not the City Manager has “stacked the deck” with advocates for specific policies or if the Traffic Board will prove to be objective in matters brought before them by residents or in their role advising the Department of Traffic, Transportation and Parking.

… and the rest

Order #6. That the Assistant City Manager for Community Development be and hereby is requested to inform the Ordinance Committee on whether or not it is the case that the rate of rents being charged in the buildings located in the City squares is primarily driven by those who can pay the highest rent amounts.   Councillor Simmons
pulled by Zondervan; rules suspended to also take up Order #7 and Committee Report #5; Order Adopted 9-0
[Note: Zondervan and Nolan question why these Orders from Committee Reports are listed here, but this is the way it had always been done until relatively recently.]

Other than during the rent control years, was this ever not the case for either residential or commercial buildings?

Committee Report #6. The Public Safety Committee held a public meeting on Dec 14, 2022 at 3:00pm to discuss the implementation of the new Community Safety Department and integration with HEART. [text of report]
Taken up with Mgr #1, Report Accepted, Placed on File 9-0

The report notes that “Robert Winters… shared concerns on discussions that were presented at the meeting.” That’s quite the understatement. The points I actually made were that: (a) most people, including Cambridge Police, support the idea of having appropriate alternatives in crisis response; (b) the proponents of the HEART proposal have a clear history of hostility toward police; (c) if the City chooses to contract with the HEART proponents in providing alternatives to police, it is inevitable that conflicts and possible litigation will result; (d) all of the rhetoric from the HEART proponents to date has been dismissive of the City’s newly created Community Safety Department which would be the department contracting with HEART; (e) there is no actual evidence of training or expertise among the people associated with HEART; and (f) good management calls for a proper RFP and bidding for the proposed services. - Robert Winters

Comments?

Rules? We don’t have to follow no stinkin’ rules!

Jan 8, 2023 - Among other tasks, I updated my copy of the 2022-23 City Council Rules. Here’s one that has been ignored for the current term as well as the two previous terms:
Rule 28. Every committee of the City Council to which any subject may be referred shall report on the subject within a reasonable time from the time of referral.…

For example, here are some City Council committee meetings in this term that have failed to be reported more than 2 months after meeting:
Ordinance Committee (2022): Mar 30, Apr 13, Apr 20 [Co-Chairs: McGovern, Zondervan] - 3 missing
Finance: Feb 16, Feb 23, Mar 2, Apr 20 [Co-Chairs: Carlone, Nolan] - 4 missing
Health & Environment: Mar 1, Mar 8, Mar 23, Mar 29, June 7, June 23, Nov 16 [Chair: Nolan] - 7 missing
Gov’t Operations: Apr 26 [Chair: Mallon] - 1 missing
Housing: Sept 13 [Chair: Simmons] - 1 missing
Econ. Development & University Relations: Apr 13, June 15 [Chair: Toner] - 2 missing
Transportation & Public Utilities: May 5, June 28 [Chair: Azeem] - 2 missing
Human Services & Veterans: June 16 [Chair: McGovern] - 1 missing
Civic Unity: Sept 29 [Chair: Simmons] - 1 missing
Public Safety: May 18 [Chair: Zondervan] - 1 missing

This never happened prior to the last two City Council terms.

Volunteer Opportunities - Cambridge Boards & Commissions

City of Cambridge Seeking Members for Cambridge Climate Committee - Deadline Mon, Feb 27, 2023

Members Sought for Cambridge Citizens’ Committee on Civic Unity - Deadline Mon, Feb 13, 2023

Volunteers Sought to Serve on the Cambridge Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship - Deadline Mon, Feb 6, 2023

Cambridge LGBTQ+ Commission Members Sought - Deadline Mon, Feb 6, 2023

Members Sought for Three Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation District Commissions - Deadline Mon, Feb 6, 2023

• Mid-Cambridge NCD, Cambridgema.gov/midcambridgencd
• Avon Hill NCD, Cambridgema.gov/avonhillncd
• Half Crown-Marsh NCD, Cambridgema.gov/halfcrownmarshncd

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang Seeks Volunteers to Serve on New LGBTQ+-Friendly Housing Task Force - Deadline Mon, Feb 6, 2023

Plague Report (Jan 17) - 34 new Covid cases reported today (covering 4 days), wastewater levels remain high but abating.

There were 34 new COVID positive tests reported today (covering 4 days) and the 7-day daily average decreased from 12.9 to 10.7. It is worth noting that the peak of the Omicron surge last year occurred on Jan 9, 2022 with a 7-day average of 384.3. That’s more than 35 times as great as our current 7-day average. The total number of residents who have tested positive is now 34,936 (not including me and possibly thousands of others who have tested positive at home). The Cambridge total increased by 34 today (covering 4 days), and 27, 9, 18, 17, 35 (covering 3 days), 23, 35, and 28 in recent days. Time will tell where this is headed as the BA.4&5, the BF.7, the BQ.1, and the even newer XBB variant continue to work their way through. The 7-day averages are now in the 10-15 range. The percentage of positive tests (measured over the last two weeks) recently increased significantly to 11.99% (recent previous rates 8.82%, 8.29%, 8.5%, 5.84%, 4.90%, 4.73%). Most importantly, the effects of the latest virus variants (along with vaccinations) appear to be much milder.

A new coronavirus variant has taken over, sparking concerns of a winter surge (Boston Globe, Nov 21, 2022)
Scientists expect a rise in infections but say the vaccines should still protect against severe disease.

Click on graph above for latest Cambridge data.

Jan 17, 2023 Breakdown of Cases:
34936 tested positive (total) - an increase of 34 since Friday
[includes 4492 Harvard (1 new) and 2819 MIT (0 new)]
181 confirmed deaths - 92 in long-term care facilities, 89 in general community
1 new death reported Jan 12 (general community)

Thanks to vaccinations, even though the 7-day averages were dreadful
the impacts were not as bad as they could have been.

City of Cambridge Covid Information     Harvard University COVID-19 data     MIT COVID-19 data

High vaccination rates have helped to blunt what might have been a larger surge and far more deaths.

Covid Cases by Age Group - through Jan 10, 2023

(click on above graph for the latest)
MWRA Biobot wastewater data - Jan 11, 2023

MWRA Biobot recent wastewater data - North System - Jan 11, 2023
The 7-day average reached as high as 8644 (copies/mL) in January 2022 before dropping to as low as 101 in March.
The BA.2 variants brought it back up to 1273 in May before dropping to under 400.
Recently it rose as high as 2023 due to the latest variants, but has more recently been falling.
The 7-day average now stands at 989 (copies/mL).

The percentages detected in wastewater samples in Middlesex County are now XBB* at 43.5%, BQ.1* at 33.8%, BA.5* at 21.9%,
and 0.8% other as of the week of Dec 26. [updated Jan 12]

Omicron Variant Overview - as of Dec 28, 2022 [updated Jan 12]

An asterisk (*) indicates that sub-lineages are included. “Other” indicates all other lineages of SARS-CoV-2.