May 21, 2026

Dear Fellow Cantabrigians,

I have focused on three main things over the past month.

Multi-Family Housing Ordinance: Tracking and Responding

There are 148 projects in the pipeline now; that’s a lot of demolitions. Click here to view the list.

Mostly, the MFH Ordinance is producing luxury units priced at $2.5m-$3m. I am appalled by the demolitions, empty foundation holes that collect water, the loss of mature trees, and the boxy architectural style that maxes out height and square footage spreading across our neighborhoods. Contrary to its intention, the MFH Ordinance is displacing residents and making Cambridge less affordable.

Along with attending community meetings about specific projects, I’ve been working with a group of architects, landscape designers, lawyers and urban planners to develop amendments to improve the ordinance. This is the most important thing we can do since there isn’t Council support for a moratorium. I’ve shared our ideas with CDD. They will present recommendations for amendments to the Council at Neighborhood & Long-Term Planning & Housing Committee meetings in June. I’ll let you know when.

Over the past weeks I’ve also introduced two policy orders that passed that will result in better communication and planning on housing issues. The first P.O. requires the City to post a Neighbors’ Guide to the Multifamily Housing Ordinance. This will answer questions about the rights of developers and homeowners and answer questions on process. The other P.O. requires the City to look into conducting a Housing Needs Study with the goal of matching housing priorities with our policies and resources. Provincetown, MA engaged the Donohue Center at UMass to do this to great effect.

Protecting the Natural World: Advocating for Trees & Open Space

On June 1 I’ll be submitting a policy order asking the City to update its Tree Protection Ordinance. I’m alarmed at the number of trees, private and public, that are coming down throughout the City, collateral damage of the MFH Ordinance. The City’s overall tree count and canopy is increasing, thanks to all of the City’s investment and the Urban Forest Master Plan, but it depends heavily on trees on private land. Inadvertently, the new zoning with minimal setbacks threatens our cooling green canopy and environmental health.

I have been supporting neighbors who are advocating for a grass field at Ahern Field in East Cambridge. I love that so many of our kids are playing sports and commend the work of Cambridge Youth Soccer, Cambridge Youth Lacrosse and our various baseball leagues, but we must find ways to ensure that we’ve got both adequate playing fields and well-maintained green open spaces. Personally, I don’t like synthetic turf and all of its microplastics, but I recognize that one gets much more playing time on it. I’ve asked the City Manager to meet with the Ahern Field neighbors and to look into City access to playing fields at MIT, Harvard, Hult Business School, EF and DCR as well as better maintenance of our grass fields.

East Cambridge has very little open space and the neighbors around Ahern want a flexible natural space that can be used not only for soccer but also volleyball, frisbee, picnickers, moon viewers and dogs! Over 1,700 residents have signed the neighbors’ keep Ahern natural grass petition. If you feel so inclined, sign onto this “grassroots” petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-ahern-field-a-community-petition-for-a-natural-grass-field

Our Finances: Budget Meetings

Councillor Patty Nolan did a great job leading these hearings—a great opportunity to learn about the work of the City. It made me feel very good about Cambridge. We have outstanding staff that are ensuring that we remain fiscally sound while delivering excellent services. Still, I can think of many places to cut if and as necessary. The budget book is chock full of information and a fascinating read: https://www.cambridgema.gov/news/2026/04/cambridgecitymanageryianhuangsubmitsproposedfy27budgettocitycouncil

Highlights:

Good News

The Arts Council shared that the restoration of Porter Square’s red mobile sculpture “Gift of the Wind” is closer than ever.
The City is investing in modernizing its IT and updating its website. Soon committee agendas and minutes will all be posted on the One Meeting platform and the Law Dept. is looking into sharing answers to their most frequent questions on gov.qa. The City has also drafted an AI policy and is looking into appropriate applications.
The Dept. of Transportation will be focusing on improving the City’s top 10 dangerous intersections, focusing on multi-modal safety, and will be implementing traffic calming measures in Garden St. neighborhoods this year. The City will share news of a site walk soon.
Inspectional Services is developing guides, checklists and trainings for architects and contractors to help them better plan fossil fuel free projects. Across departments, the City is working to expedite permitting.
Capital Building projects: About 40 projects are ongoing. $10m for First St. Garage. Rehab will be phased over two years and the garage will remain fully operational. Renovations of the Lafayette Fire Station (at Central Square) will cost $18m and address structural needs.

Of Concern

City staff anticipate that health insurance costs will continue to raise annually by 10% from FY28-31. Increases will be 9% in FY27.
The City responded to 2,255 public record requests in the nine months between July 2025 and March 2026. A project to digitize public records and make data publicly available is ongoing. Let’s hope that effort, along with greater trust in City government, will result in fewer inquiries.
Staffing for internet access programs will be reduced from 7 to 2.5 people. We must figure out how to supplement this, possibly with vetted volunteers?
Although we’ve voted to adopt the School Dept. budget of $293.5m, the City is still in 9 collective bargaining agreements with unions.

Interesting: Mostly, Transportation Related!

N. Mass. Ave will be redone in 3 phases, starting with Waterhouse to Linnaean Street. Cambridge St. is still in design. DOT will bid out the first 2 sections later this year.
Bow St. at Harvard Square will soon be made a pedestrians-only way.
The City’s goal is to have Bluebike stations within a 3-minute walk of residents all over town. We’re adding about 5 stations a year.
36 miles of our 72 miles of 1864-lined cast iron water pipes are still in use! We have about 185 miles of water mains overall. The City is actively repairing and replacing them and replacing valves. We used to have 108 leaks per year; now we have about 55.
Firetrucks go to all emergency calls with the required 5 firemen and all necessary equipment—already on the trucks. Some have suggested that they take smaller vehicles, but this would require a duplication of equipment and places to park the new vehicles.
Big CSO work in FY27 in Baldwin neighborhood on Kirkland Rd. and on Sherman St. (holding tank).
To lower costs, the Central Sq. Reconstruction project has been phased back from $50m to $10m. It will include some sidewalk work, tree plantings, floating bus stops (raised passenger islands) and separated bike lanes. The utility work has been delayed a decade. The MBTA’s elevator work is now scheduled for this fall.
Gold Star Mothers Park (East Cambridge) will cost $15m total. The polluted soil will go to an out-of-state landfill and be replaced with healthy soil.
Carl Baron Plaza at Central Square will open this summer. The work on River St. will be completed by December. The cost for both the plaza and River St.: $59m.
Harvard Sq. Plaza (the old Pit) will be completed this November. The estimated completion of adjacent street work is a year way.

Also of Interest

Riverview Condominiums at 221 Mt. Auburn was demolished for $12m. The City will be reimbursed for this once the owners sell the land for redevelopment.
The Council voted to keep Garden St. one way.
The Council supported zoning amendments to preserve much ground floor retail on Cambridge St. & N. Mass. Ave. Next: to the Planning Board and Ordinance Committee.
The Council unanimously supported my policy order asking MassDOT to improve the intersection by the Museum of Science parking garage (at Museum Way and Charles Dam Rd.) ASAP. This intersection is extremely dangerous since cyclists, pedestrians, cars and duck boats all receive a green light simultaneously. Sadly, it took another potentially fatal accident on Monday to get MassDOT’s attention.

Around Town

I’ve been everywhere by bike. In addition to meeting with neighbors about MFH projects and tree removals, I’ve met with residents for and against synthetic turf at Ahern Field, and pro and con the bike lanes on lower Huron Ave. I’ve also attended meetings about the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority’s Central Square Demonstration Project and the City’s N. Mass Ave. plans.

The City’s Civic Leadership Celebration, Employee Awards, the Chamber of Commerce’s Inspire Awards and the Cambridge Housing Authority’s Workforce Banquet were all inspiring, as were the celebration of Asian and small business month at Sumaio Hunan Kitchen and Vida Coffee.

Eager to learn more about housing, I attended the annual meeting of the Mass. Association for Housing Cooperatives; eager to support innovation, I was a judge for the final round of the Hult Prize [link: https://www.hultprize.org]; and a music lover, I attended the Cambridge Community Chorus’s “A Sea Symphony” concert and the Longy School of Music’s opera “Idomeno.”

Again, we are so lucky to live in Cambridge! What a wonderful time of year!

Very proud to represent you,

Cathie
City Councillor

See past copies of my newsletter here: https://cathiezusy.org/.

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