City Council Agenda Highlights (3/6/17) (2 Responses)
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, on March 3rd, 2017
In:
Council Agendas.
Tagged: Airbnb, Alewife, homelessness, parking, smoking, speed limits, trees.
The agenda for the Cambridge City Council’s meeting on Monday, March 6 is posted online. The Council will not meet again until Monday. March 20, because most of the Council and many of the staff will be attending the annual National League of Cities Congressional Conference in Washington, DC, on Monday, March 13.
Reconsiderations
#1 Citizen petition to amend Harvard Square Conservation District guidelines: Last week we voted to support a 10-citizen petition to amend the guidelines to create a tiered designation system for “significant” and “contributory” buildings in the Conservation District and to consider other changes. Eight of us voted in support of this order, which I sponsored, but Councillor Toomey voted “present” and then immediately filed for reconsideration, placing it back on our agenda this week. In the meantime the Historical Commission met and voted to form a study committee to consider possible amendments to the guidelines, but did not endorse the tiered system suggested in the petition.
City Manager’s Agenda
#2 Rossi Fund for Housing Assistance: This item asks us to vote to officially create a fund in former city manager’s name to provide limited emergency assistance to Cambridge tenants at risk of being displaced. It would open with almost $37K raised when Rich Rossi retired last fall. The Rossi Fund would be administered by the Assistant City Manager for Human Services (Ellen Semonoff), the Assistant City Manager for Community Development (Iram Farooq), and the Budget Director (Jeana Franconi). Its mission is quite similar to that of the Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund, which has raised over $2.2M since its founding by the Cambridge Community of Realtors in 1999. CHAF is a public-private partnership between the city’s Multi-Service Center and HomeStart, Inc.
#3 Parking meters in Porter Square: In response to resident questions, the Traffic and Parking Dept. conducted a survey of the parking meters on Mass Ave. from Shepard to Beech Streets, the majority of which offer 2 hours of parking from 8am to 8pm. There are 13 meters that have shorter expirations; some of the shorter-term meters between Martin and Linnaean may have their terms lengthened after a bit of additional study. With meters there’s always a balance between encouraging turnover to keep spots open for people running quick errands and providing enough time for, say, eating a meal at a restaurants of which there are many in that area.
#4 New speed limit signs: Now that 25mph is the speed limit citywide, look for new signs in locations where roads cross our town lines. This item includes a list of 38 such streets where we are installing signs that say: “Thickly Settled: Speed limit 25mph unless otherwise posted.” We are also considering “Welcome to Cambridge” signs that announce our commitment to Vision Zero at major entry points. At other locations we will continue to electronic sign boards to post safety messages. I imagine that residents of streets that are not entry points may wish to request 25mph signs on their streets, and I’m curious to know how the Traffic Dept. will decide which other streets merit speed limit signs.
Policy Orders
#1 Support for ACLU’s call to withdraw from the 287(g) program: This program trains local law enforcement officers to assist with immigration enforcement, a practice we oppose as a Sanctuary City. The ACLU is asking Gov. Baker to withdraw the state from 287(g). You can read about this on the ACLU site.
#2 Alewife zoning review: This order does not provide enough detail to know what Councillor Cheung seeks to accomplish by asking for an Ordinance Committee hearing on Alewife zoning. We already have a process in place (Envision Cambridge), the first phase of which is to review Alewife planning and which ultimately may suggest zoning changes, as indicated by the planning goals. In fact, the Envision Alewife Working Group is holding a public meeting this Thursday (March 9) at 6pm at Tobin to continue discussing the planning scenarios that were presented last month. The Alewife area was last re-zoned in 2005. More than a decade later, the biggest challenges remain funding and locating infrastructure that improves the area’s connectivity (new streets and that mythical ped-bike bridge across the RR tracks!), reserving open space for stormwater mitigation, community gardens, dogs and public gatherings, and acquiring land for public buildings (future school, library, youth/senior center etc).
#3 Tree removal on Cambridge property in Watertown: There was an outcry recently when 23 large trees growing over a Cambridge water conduit right-of-way directly behind Watertown Town Hall were removed because our Water Dept. feared that roots might be growing into the conduit. Any tree removal quite naturally provokes strong emotion, and the issue is not whether Cambridge had the legal right to remove the trees (we did), but how we might have better communicated our reasons for doing so and whether any roots actually had infiltrated the conduit. In hindsight these trees probably should not have been allowed to grow over the conduit in the first place and for decades, and our right-of-way should have been more regularly surveyed to assess whether there was, in fact, any root infiltration. I sponsored this order to assuage some hard feelings and to try to save two very large trees that remain at risk. Here’s some coverage of the story in the Watertown TAB and a follow-up piece.
#4 Mural to screen construction on Cambridge Street: This asks for a temporary mural in front of the construction site, where the new Cambridge Street Upper School complex will be under construction for the next two years. The idea is to seek private funding for this.
#5 Scams preying on seniors: This order asks the Police Dept. and the Council on Aging to try to determine if senior are being scammed any more than usual. I don’t know if we can stay ahead of all the ways dishonest people can find to exploit others, but more outreach to seniors can’t hurt. The order doesn’t mention our Consumers’ Council, which also tracks such complaints.
#6 Regulating Airbnb-type rentals: We held a Public Safety Committee hearing last week to discuss how to regulate rentals of less than 30 days like Airbnb. The gist of what we’re considering is that short-term rentals would be allowed citywide in houses or apartments that are the primary residence of the host (as established by an affidavit). In addition, so-called “owner-adjacent units” could be rented for less than 30 days. so long the unit is in the same building of 4 units or fewer as the host’s primary residence, and only as a whole unit, not bedroom-by-bedroom. So, for example, if you own and occupy a 3-family house you could have a paying short-term guest in your own home, and you could Airbnb an entire unit in the same small building. The “owner-adjacent unit” would have to be inspected for fire safety and registered with Inspectional Services. Pending state legislation there could be a tax, part of which could go toward affordable housing. The draft ordinance will next go to the Ordinance Committee for more discussion.
Committee Reports
#1 Homelessness: The Human Services Committee, of which I’m a member, held a hearing in mid-January to get an update from the Homelessness Task Force and to hear about resources for sheltering people during extreme cold. Two orders came out of the meeting: 1) to look into creating a Homelessness Trust Fund and 2) to explore creating a warming shelter that would offer a space to get out of the cold but not beds. The Task Force’s August 2016 report is attached with the committee report.
#2 Banning smoking at construction sites: The Ordinance Committee met last month to discuss how to amend the definition of “workplace” so that smoking would be prohibited on construction sites except in designated areas where smoking would pose neither a fire hazard nor a nuisance to abutters.
Public Comment and Viewing Meetings:
Public comment begins at 5:30 pm. Each person is allowed to speak for up to 3 minutes on any agenda item except for communications from other members of the public. You may call 617-349-4280 on Monday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm to sign up to speak, or sign in when you arrive (before 6:00 pm). To submit written comments, please email council@cambridgema.gov and cc City Clerk Donna Lopez at dlopez@cambridgema.gov. Your comments will appear on the public record (under “Communications”) at the next regular Council meeting.
City Council meetings are televised on Channel 22-CityView and live-streamed on the City Council’s website. Recorded versions of all Council meetings may be found on the city’s Open Meeting Portal.
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