Regular City Council

Good evening, everyone. A quorum of the City Council being present. I call tonight's March 23rd, 2026 regular meeting of the Cambridge City Council to order. The first order of business is a roll call of members present.

Councilor Al-Zubi. absent, Vice Mayor Azeem. Present. Present, Councilor Flaherty. Present. Present, Councilor McGovern. Present. Present, Councilor Nolan. Present. Present, Councilor Simmons.

Present.

Present. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler?

Present.

Present. Councilor Zusy? Present. Present. Mayor Siddiqui?

Present.

Present. You have eight members recorded as present and one recorded as absent.

Per the rules, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance and pause for a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation,

Under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Per Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, adopted by the Massachusetts General Court and approved by the governor, the city is authorized to use remote participation at meetings of the Cambridge City Council. In addition to having members of the council participate remotely, we've set up Zoom teleconference with public comment. You can also view the meeting via the city's open meeting portal or on the city's cable channel 22. To speak during public comment, you must sign up at www.cambridgema.gov. You can also email written comments for the record to the city clerk at cityclerk at cambridgema.gov. We welcome your participation and you can sign up until 6pm. Please note that the City of Cambridge audio and video records this meeting and makes it available to the public for future viewing. In addition, third parties may also be audio and video recording this meeting. We'll now go to public comment. Public comment may be made in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 20G, and the City Council Rules 23D and 37.

Once you've finished speaking, the next speaker will be called. Individuals are not permitted to allocate the remainder of their time to other speakers. Please state your name and address for the record and the item you are speaking on. We have seven speakers who have signed up tonight. Each speaker will have three minutes. and Councilor Al-Zubi is present. Present.

All right, our first speaker is Joe Quest-Newbert. Joe, you have three minutes. If you can just turn that mic on, just hit the button until you see the green light.

I think it's on. Yeah. Please go ahead. I'm Jo Quest-Newbert, 1222 Cambridge Street. I'm speaking in support of policy order number four. In addition to being a Cambridge resident, I am a teacher in the Cambridge Public Schools and was one of the educators who, along with my students at Putnam Ave and in tandem with my former colleague, Melody Brazo, fought to ensure that all CPSD schools had all gender bathrooms accessible to students. It was a multi-year project and took much persistence and nearly a decade later there is not a student in our district who does not have access to an all-gender restroom in their school building. It was a hard-won fight and very worth it. I share that history because the work of making our city safe, accessible, and inclusive of trans and gender expansive folks has been ongoing, incremental, and laborious, and Policy Order 4 is a part of that work.

I'm grateful to live in a city that declares itself a sanctuary for trans and gender expansive people, particularly at a moment in history when trans rights and trans lives are under attacks that seem to increase daily. And I also know that to truly be a sanctuary, we need to follow up declarations with actions that actively protect trans and gender expansive people and make our spaces safe and welcoming. Policy Order 4 is a critical step in moving us closer to the action of ensuring that everyone in our community, regardless of gender identity or expression, can meet their biological needs safely in places of public accommodation. I call on the Council to support Policy Order 4 and take this next step towards sanctuary. Thank you.

Thank you. Vincent David is not able to join the meeting tonight. We will go on to Suzanne Blier followed by Josephine Mullen. Suzanne, you have the floor. You have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Sorry. Suzanne Blais, Five Fuller Place. And I'm speaking about two items. One is unfinished business number two, and the other is on the table number one. and on unfinished business number two, this is about the Dover Amendment. And it was one of the most devastating impacts of the recent multifamily housing upzoning. because it would no longer preserve in Cambridge some kind of control over institutional expansion into residential and mixed use areas. The same is true for and I think this is something we really really need to address and I give two specific examples in my neighborhood.

The former home of Pebble Gifford on Hilliard Street is now a Chinese university. and you can imagine any number of universities around the world that would love to have a campus It's now rented, but if these are purchased, it means that they would be out of the... A criteria for taxation, it would be removing critically needed spaces for commercial use as well as residential use and it is a real problem. and in another case, not two or three blocks from me, I was at the Historical Commission meeting, it's for a religious group, current residents that they own, and I asked, are you likely to build or to rethink in terms of dorm rooms for the group of students that they are supporting and they said we're not considering it at the moment.

But any number of religious institutions and we already see them happening, could be popping up in Cambridge. And so I think this needs to be addressed. On the table number one and the parking permit issue and seniors. This is an age group of which I am part. We've got 10 years in which most of us will be gone afterwards, but in the meantime, Many of us live on fixed incomes. Rents are going up. Healthcare costs are going up. Everything is going up. Most places around the country give a discount to seniors. and I think it's really unfair for seniors to have this increase at a moment in time when all of their expenses are really building up. So I hope you'll consider both of these and thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Josephine Mullen followed by Valerie Bonds. Josephine, you have the floor. You have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is Josephine Mullen, 40 Gold Star Road, North Cambridge. I'd like to speak in support of policy order number four. I believe that it's a basic human right that members of the public should have access to safe, clean bathrooms regardless of their gender. I urge the City Council to pass Policy Order Number 4 and I also support Policy Order Number 1. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Valerie Bonds, followed by Emily Dexter. Valerie, you have the floor. You have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Thank you. It says two minutes and 30 seconds, so I hope I have three. There it is. Paying a fair share should reflect people's circumstances and seniors living on fixed incomes with mobility challenges. experienced transportation very differently than young residents. Fixed income does not necessarily mean low income, but fixed income means that the income does not necessarily compare with the cost of living. Most seniors have already paid their fair share for decades through taxes and community contributions. and this modest exemption helps them remain independent in the community that they helped build and many who live here now. are able to take advantage of the resources that the seniors have contributed to. For many seniors, a car functions as a mobility tool.

So maintaining the exemption is less than a financial benefit and more about preserving independence and daily necessities. Cities often balance cost recovery with accessibility and policies that support senior mobility recognize the realities of aging while keeping residents connected in community life. Fair share should not mean ignoring the realities of aging and mobility. Also, I'm very pleased that our leadership is concerned about fairness. and probably would be interested in seeing them supporting corporate fair share when we talk about billionaires and wealthy seniors who are taking advantage of this policy. We should maybe adjust policies, limiting individuals to two vehicles.

We should not punish people for being wealthy we should encourage people to be willing to use their income in a way that benefits everyone in our community. I do believe that the $75 to go from $25 to $50, excuse me, to $75 is just not quite fair at all. Other communities including Boston charges no fees at all to anyone. Cambridge is known for being one of the wealthiest communities in our city. and if we talk about fairness, I look at the exemptions that go to some of our colleges and universities, our exemptions that are given to developers, that fees and exemptions are part of the advantages of being wealthy.

and I do not believe that seniors should be the first demographic that is to be considered when it talks about equity and fairness. Thank you very much. Valerie Barnes, Cambridge Port Memorial Drive.

Thank you, Valerie. We can skip John. Our next speaker is Emily Dexter, followed by Heather Hoffman. Emily, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hello, everybody, and congratulations for those of you for your... Oops, it's on. Congratulations for your election and re-election. I know it's very difficult work to be an elected official because I was on the school committee for four years. So on the agenda, I'd like to speak about committee reports and the Civic Unity Committee. You may already be addressing the 2026 elections, but if not, I suggest that the Civic Unity Committee and the whole council work with the city's election commission, the school department, the school committee, our neighborhood and community groups, and any other departments to maximize access to 2026 voter information, voter registration, and actual voting. Public signs and written information are important, but they're not sufficient. You may even want to consider establishing a short-term resident advisory committee or prioritizing advice from the civic engagement team.

Encouraging residents to vote is particularly important for young people and for anybody who has difficulty getting to the polls or voting by mail if that's still legal in September. It's not clear. This encouragement should apply to both the primary election on September 1, which typically has very low turnout, and to the general election on November 3. An election is a major civic unity event. It gives all of us an opportunity to participate in a major civic event and to interact with our neighbors at the polling station. It's often a very social environment. It's also an event that unites us in a shared affirmation of democracy, regardless of our political affiliations.

Though this is a federal and state election year rather than municipal, political decisions made at the state and federal level have a direct and enormous impact on Cambridge budget and Cambridge laws and policies. This is true particularly for the school department, which is by far our largest department. In fact, state and federal decisions can have even larger impact on our city and public schools than the municipal decisions Made by the City Council, the School Committee, and the City and School Department Administrations. Thank you for your opportunity, the opportunity to speak. Thanks.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Heather Hoffman followed by Gary Mello. Heather, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Hi, I'd like to check first to see if I can speak on the Riverwalk, the late policy order. So Heather- That shouldn't take away my time.

Yeah, we won't take away your time. Don't worry, we'll pause it. In order for Heather to speak on a late item, it's not before us currently, so we would have to suspend the rules. So moved. So, Councilor Nolan has moved to suspend the rules to bring forward the late policy order on the Riverwalk. And so on that motion, we will have to do a roll call.

Al-Zubi? Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern? Present. Present. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons? Simmons, present. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as present.

We are in suspension. We've brought that forward. And so you have three minutes, Heather. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street. It was great to see this late item. I did not know it was coming. And I have been part of talking about a Riverwalk for more years than I can even imagine. There used to be a way to get across the dam by going behind the Science Museum through the public park there and then through the garage. And then they changed things so you can't get through the garage anymore. It was a lovely walk where you got to enjoy the river and enjoy not being in traffic. So I really appreciate this. I hope you pass it.

With respect to the Dover amendment, You know, you don't have to do this. The zoning ordinance is already set up to say, well, if we blow off the really kind gift that the Great and General Court gave us, then we don't get the exemption from the Dover Amendment. So this just seems to be a way of telling all of us you really don't care what happens in residential neighborhoods. And you certainly don't care about having residences in them, no matter what you say. With respect to gender-neutral bathrooms, I think that they are really fantastic to have. I'm glad to hear they're in school buildings, but I can say from my own experiences that they...

do not appear to be accessible to outside groups using, for example, the auditorium where the North Cambridge Family Opera is performing Wheat Patch this coming weekend. You should come see it at the Peabody School and the Renjav Upper Campus. It would be really nice because I have had someone ask about that. and with respect to snow during the last heavy blizzard I was the sole passenger on a bus so I got to talk to the bus driver and he complained vigorously about the poor shape of the bus shelters in Cambridge. He said everywhere else around does better. I would also ask that you revisit

putting reflectors on poles on all of the fire hydrants so that people only have to shovel them out once and they don't get snow dumped on them. It's a public safety issue. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Gary Mello. Gary, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Thank you. My name is Gary Mello, and I live on Franklin Street. Nobody's going to be surprised that I'm addressing the street parking renewal program, which is number one on the table. Got some show and tell for you tonight. This is a turnpike transponder. They don't make these anymore. A new issue is a sticky windshield thingy that the state purchases for 37 cents each versus $75 for this? No. Traffic and Parking's proposed line item for salaries and wages for fiscal 25 was 27% more than the prior year. That's $30,000 more per employee increase. Does Local 25 know about that? This whole sticker nonsense is just that. There is, however, a huge and intolerable problem rooted in poor management. Zero accountability and lack of oversight by the City Manager and you, the City Council, perpetuate wasted time and money.

It's time for a clean sheet analysis of traffic and parking, regardless of how unflattering the result will be. As a postscript, I walked by 344 Broadway today at about 4.15. There were nine victims in a line waiting to pay for, well, nothing. Thanks, folks.

Madam Mayor, that is all that were signed up to speak.

It's 5.50, so we'll leave public comment open and come back. We'll now move. to the submission of the record. There is one minutes of the regular city council meeting held on March 16th. Hearing none, on a motion by Councilor Nolan, to accept this report and place this on file. We'll do a roll call.

Councilor Al-Zubi?

Yes.

Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Councilor Flaherty? Yes. Yes. Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan?

Yes.

Simmons, Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Yes, Councilor Zusy, Yes, Mayor Siddiqui, Yes, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Those minutes are, that report is accepted and placed on file. There are no reconsiderations. We'll move on to the city manager's agenda. There are eight city manager agenda items. Pleasure of the city council. Aname, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler. And poll number seven. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, poll number seven. Pleasure of the city council. Councilor Zusy.

Well, I want to pull a bunch, but I'll say one, two, and eight. One, two, and eight.

Anyone else? Yep. Councilor Nolan? Yep, five and six. Five and six. So we have pulled number one, two, five, six, seven and eight. hearing no one else, we'll do a roll call on the balance.

Councilor Al-Zubi.

Yes.

Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes, Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes, Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes, Councilor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The balance is placed on file. We'll go to city manager agenda item number one, a communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, city manager, relative to recommendations for the block rates for water consumption and sewer use. for the period beginning April 1st, 2026 and ending March 31st, 2027. Councilor Zusy.

Thank you Mayor Siddiqui. Great report. My question was, so the The costs are gonna go up dramatic, well, not dramatically. They will be increasing quite a bit in fiscal year, 30 and 31 and I just wanted to understand better what accounts for the rate increase at that time. Thank you.

Through you, Mayor Siddiqui, maybe I can start. And then we also have Jim Wilcox, City Engineer, and Mark Gallagher, Managing Director of the Water Department, that can also help fill in. So just to take a step back, we always look at our water and sewer rates to try to be predictable, keep them as low as possible. One of the things you'll see in this, The rates projected from this year actually came down from what we projected last year. And again, that's based on these guys really managing the overall budgets. There was also a fairly significant decrease in anticipated capital as part of our capital discussion where we've really tried to be You know, as tight as we can on our capital request as well as the lower interest rates that we got when we sold the bond. So all of those things help to reduce the overall capital.

In terms of the debt service that really directly affect both water and sewer and so the projected rates this year were less than what we had anticipated last year while still really being committed to maintaining You know, water and sewer systems. When we look at some of the outer years, you start to see some of the CSO combined sewer overflow projects being projected. And so you see that capital hitting as well. and I would say that we're always looking at as the years come up what we can do to reduce those. So hopefully we get lower interest rates and some of those can come down and then we'll continue to look at The overall schedule of those projects and then you know also I think folks have you know heard a lot about the combined sewer overflow plan and you know continue to work with MWA on sort of what are you know what is the plan what are the cost of that plan. and what are the mix of funds in terms of who's paying for what.

So we've got projections in here for us to continue doing pretty aggressive sewer separation Stormwater, you know, holding tanks and really continuing to reduce or combine sewer overflows. So that is a big part of that when you look at those outer years.

Zusy, your second question. Thank you, again, for you, Mayor. Thank you so much. I want to just say that I really appreciate this long-term investment in our infrastructure and all of the cities. planning and upgrades. I want to tell you, Councilor Nolan and I are just back from the National League of Cities where Cities all over the country are really struggling to pay for combined sewer overflow improvements and I just felt very, very lucky that we'd done so much planning over the years. I'm glad you were able to borrow money at a lower rate, which lowers the costs, but it made me feel very privileged that that we can make this investment for the welfare of our constituents. Thank you so much, and I really look forward to hearing your and the MWRA's plans.

Four CSOs going forward and I understand that report back will be at the end of April, right? Thank you so much. I yield.

We'll go to Councilor Nolan and then Councilor Flaherty.

Thank you, through you, Mayor Siddiqui. Again, thanks to, I always, believe it or not, look forward to these reports, mostly because water and sewer are critical infrastructure. It's a utility industry. that we sometimes don't think about and yet is critical to so many different areas of the city including public health and we know for sure so much of it is also as we heard related to the combined sewer overflows and the I do have a couple questions and building on Zuzi said another thing we heard a lot about at the National League of Cities and water supply throughout the country is a real concern about PFAS and about every single entity in the country is worried about it because one we don't know the health impact and we know for sure you know one drop of something in fresh pond is the equivalent of the 20 parts per

and a trillion that is viewed as a possible safe level. I do have a question about it, which is, we are doing the granulated activated carbon, we used ARPA funds, it's gonna be 1.3 million going into the future. Do we have a sense that that will be sufficient and will continue to be sufficient as we go forward? Because PFAS are something more and more people are We'll have a Health and Environment Committee meeting at some point and talk about the food waste program we have, but specifically related to water. Are we pretty confident that for how long into the future What we're doing with the GACs are going to be sufficient to ensure a safe water supply at the levels that are set by the state. And this is one where it's interesting that the state levels are at this point higher than what might be proposed at the federal level, which I don't believe they'll ever go through it.

I think we're meeting an extremely high standard and then you know what we're doing now is being extremely effective in terms of what we're seeing in terms of the test results in terms of our frequency of swap outs but Mark if you could talk a little bit about that that'd be great.

Yes, through you Mayor Siddiqui. Yes, Councilor Nolan, currently we are, we do change out all of our carbon once a year. That carbon change out takes approximately three months from start to finish to get all six filters exchanged. And we've been doing that now for three years. And what we have noted is that It's been very effective at removing PFAS and it has been very consistent in been exactly what our pilot study that we did initially back in 2019 predicted for its effectiveness and when we might see breakthrough on some PFAS compounds. So currently Massachusetts being only one of 20 states that actually still has that actually has PFAS regulations in place. Our PFAS current

PFAS regulation set by the MassDEP is 20 parts per trillion, and that's the combination of six PFAS compounds. Currently, when we do a carbon change out for the first two quarters, we get roughly non-detects to trace amounts. and by the end in the fourth quarter just before we change out the carbon we are getting a combined total of approximately around 6.5 parts per trillion, which is below the MassDEP goal of 10 parts per trillion. And if you stay below 10 parts per trillion, We only have to monitor or take samples quarterly instead of every month because we're well below the 20 parts per trillion but also staying well below the halfway point of 10 parts per trillion.

So currently, our PFAS removal with the GAC has been very effective and very consistent, which we're happy to see that the numbers have really improved. have shown that this is almost predictable at this point. Of course, we're continuing to look you know upcoming technologies and breakthroughs on how to you know for PFAS removal or destruction there are some strides in that area you know but they're still a long way from coming into production But currently, yes, we are, you know, we're meeting the mass DEP standard and to note the upcoming EPA standard. which are lower quantities of four parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS. And then there's a health index for combinations of PFAS.

Currently, if that regulation came into effect today, we would meet that regulation as well. So we are already meeting the federal standard that won't come into effect until 2029.

Nolan. Thank you. And yes, there's a lot of talk. And that brings us within compliance under the MWRA waters also at the three or four or five. So we are with the GAC, just to let everyone know we're really meeting standards across the state. And there's a lot of talk at NLC about ensuring that municipal liability doesn't happen depending on wherever. As we take out PFAS, we don't want to be blamed For taking it out and having any kind of liability for the disposal, which we can ensure happens, you know, safely. I have one more question.

Councilor Nolan, I'll come back to you because you asked two questions.

I just asked one about. Was that one? Yeah.

Or was it two? Okay. Well, just one more question and then we have to move to someone else.

The question is about the drought preparations. I had indicated to staff I'd be asking about it because where the statewide is in a critical level three drought, our watershed is. and our own reservoir levels, which I checked earlier today at Hobsbrook, are actually half. Our current levels are half of our 20-year median for this time of year for March. I think it's important for us to understand as a city and for us to continue to communicate the severity and possibility of this continuing I was, as I said to Director Gallagher, I was really happy to see the rain today because I had looked at that. But I'm really curious about what our preparation is in case We don't catch up to prior levels of increasing precipitation in our reservoirs because again if we're at half of our 20-year median for March 23rd then if we don't see a dramatic increase then we may need to move into other I want to understand how the city is preparing and if there's anything we should anticipate to let the community know.

Through you Mayor Siddiqui. So yes, currently we are the state in the Northeast region is in a level three critical drought and that's up from Last month where we were still in a significant drought, but we have been in a state of drought since I believe August of We have been in drought status. We are... We passed the ordinance where it's now, you know, the water ban is in effect. There are fines for outdoor water use outside of the restrictions. All of that information is posted, you know, we put it out in water stuffers, in the billing stuffers, you know, social media, on our website, on the city newsletter, scrolling on our We're getting the word out.

We've had direct conversations with Harvard and MIT. They have obviously the largest green spaces in the city. And we've talked to them directly about what is allowed and what isn't allowed. And I believe our communication is getting out there and it's getting heard. And for example, in 2025, we used 118 million gallons less water than we did the previous year. So our consumption is down approximately 4.3%. which is, you know, somewhat, I believe, a direct effect of A, being, you know, not only because we have water bans, but because we're getting the word out and people are being more water conscious. We've done a lot of efforts.

Part of the water rates going up, our capital costs are improving and continuously working on the water distribution system to cut down on the amount of leakage and unaccounted for water. The federal and state guideline is you want your unaccounted for water below 10% or less currently. For this fiscal year, we're at 7%, so we've really gotten a hold on that. Typically, we've been around 12% over the past few years on average, so we're really working hard to... you know get a handle on unaccounted for water and you know so overall you know we are you know doing a good job on you know minimizing water consumption and just you know The federal EPA recommends that the per capita use was 65 gallons per person per day. And for more than a decade, Cambridge has

has been below 45 gallons per person per day. So overall as a city, we do a really good job on water conservation and getting the word out. The residents, obviously it's important and people take action. So overall, we're doing pretty well on water conservation overall.

Nolan, all set? Councilor Flaherty?

Through you, Madam Mayor. Well, first of all, I just want to say I think the Cambridge Water Department, under Director Gallagher's leadership, does an outstanding job as someone who actually drinks from public fountains and lots of different I'm here to tell you you can taste the difference when you're drinking Cambridge water from pretty much any municipality in Massachusetts. It's outstanding. But my question is this, and maybe it's a It's a simple question with a complicated answer, and it maybe already has been answered. When the sewer rate increases, is that due to set asides for our intending or our contemplated CSO projects? or is it because of the leakage that you just described that's under control now in the City of Cambridge, Director? or is it something else?

Mayor Siek, maybe I'll take the first crack at that. So there's two different things that we're talking about here. One is the sewer rate and one is the water rate. and then they are combined and so you pay a combined bill. So the sewer rate is heavily influenced by What we have to pay MWRA to take our sewage. So on the sewer side, we collect the sewage, but it ultimately goes to the MWRA, and then we have to pay the MWRA. It also pays for staff that manage the sewer system for the city. And it also pays for ongoing operation and maintenance of the sewer system. and as well as the debt for you know existing projects like you know one of the big one we've talked a lot about here is the port So that's on the sewer side. And then on the water side, it's similar in terms of managing the plant, Managing the Reservoir, again, Continued Operation and Maintenance, as well as Capital.

So there's sort of two different buckets in terms of the sewer system and the water system. So I'm not, because you had asked about the sewer, I just want to make sure we're answering the right question, Councilor Flaherty.

Flaherty? I think that answered it. I just, you know, I know when I look at the bill that we all get that sewer seems to increase and I thought it would be more stable than it actually is, but You've explained the drivers of that cost, and I get it.

The one thing I would just add to that is I would say historically, We have paid for a lot of water improvements through the sewer side because when we've done large sewer separation projects like the West Cambridge sewer separation project, All of those improvements were funded by the sewer rate because that was really the driver of the project, but that has... that also funded a lot of water system improvements. And so I think you may see somewhat of a disproportionate increase on the sewer side than the water side. and again that's based on how some of these projects really originated in that they were driven by the sewer side and so we've funded them out of the sewer rate but they've also added significant improvements to the water side.

Flaherty. No, that's fine. Thank you. I think that explains it.

Any further questions on this matter? Hearing none, on a motion by Councilor Zuzi to place city manager agenda item number one on file, we'll do a roll call.

Councilor Al-Zubi?

Yes.

Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty? McGovern, Nolan, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zusy, Mayor Siddiqui, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

City Manager agenda item number one is placed on file and we'll also go ahead and close public comment on a motion by Councilor McGovern. We'll do a roll call to close public comment.

Al-Zubi, yes. Vice Mayor Azeem, yes. Councilor Flaherty, yes. Yes. Councilor McGovern, yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan, yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons, yes. Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes, Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Public comment is now closed. We are going to city manager agenda item number two. This is a communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, city manager, relative to the appropriation of $900,000 from the mitigation revenue stabilization fund and the rescission of funds from two grants in the amount of $2,400,000 respectively to support a new off-road bridge over the Fitchburg Zuzi, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mayor Siddiqui. First of all, I just wanted to say I think it's fabulous that this project is advancing. It sounds like it's been a little bit of a bumpy ride. I had some questions about this earlier that our head of finance, Claire Spinner, clarified that the grants that we're rescinding are... were for funds that we had appropriated earlier, but then we had to return the Connecting for Communities grant for $2 million, and then the $400,000 grant until We actually do the work, right? So it sounds like we'll get the $400,000 later. So that's one question. Other question, or it may be through you, Mayor Siddiqui, to our Transportation Commissioner, Brooke.

I also got clarification from Claire Spinner about the $600 of ARPA funds that were originally dedicated to this project. So maybe you can just speak to those things so that everybody understands What funding we have, whether we'll get the $400,000 later, and what sort of schedule this project might be on now. Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor.

Yes, so first the $600,000 in ARPA funds. While there was a thought to use it towards this project, it was then determined that it would have been as local matching funds to the federal grant. And it was determined that the ARPA funds couldn't be used in that way. So that money was reallocated to different programs. So that's the first part. So the second part is that we had one through the... The Reconnecting Communities Grant under the previous administration. And the way that that grant was working was that the initial portion of the funding, which was $400,000, was made available and we were able to obligate it and that was to start the process of the environmental permitting. and the rest of the funding was not, we couldn't get that obligated all at one time because you had to kind of jump through that first hoop of the environmental work.

Then in the new administration, all of the unobligated funds in this Reconnecting Communities grant was clawed back by the federal government. So that was no longer available to us. But we've had great success in working with MAPC. to identify new funds through the TIP. But we are still working towards that first hurdle of completing the environment. We're about to start working with this appropriation. on that first hurdle. And then we'll be able to get the additional funds, we're very confident, from MAPC once we are done with the environmental permitting. were still in a very good position from a funding perspective because of the collaboration with MAPC.

Thank you so much. And what about the overall timeline? So we're doing the design now. We need the design so it's shovel-ready. Do we have a sense for... I know we don't have funding for the bridge yet. Do you have any sense of a timeline?

I think that I can give kind of an overview and Bill Degnan I think has joined us online and he can jump in as well if he's available. So we are ready to go with the environmental work as soon as the appropriation is done. We should be able to execute the contract very quickly. So that will get us going. And I think it's probably about in that this process will involve the environmental work, which includes community engagement and then the remainder of the design once we can access those funds. So I think it will probably be about 18 months.

Susie? Yeah, that sounds great. And then all we have to do is find the money to build the bridge, which is a big number, right?

but it will be a bigger number but once we have the design, as you said, it would be shovel ready and then that usually opens up a lot of some doors.

Fantastic, thank you. Councilor Nolan?

Just a quick follow-up. Is there anything we should think about in terms of what the decision means for the city, either the finances or the planning or... you know any any chances that we're not going to get the funds eventually you know what how is it that we should think about preparing this financially and psychologically because I think we're also eager for that bridge I personally was very eager for an underpass but that was not technically feasible, so now I'm really eager for the overpass.

So I think we are in a better place in terms of our confidence that we will get the rest of the funding for the design. Maybe then this appropriation seems just because we do have to wait until we finish that first phase. Beyond that, I think that we're going to be well-positioned to be on the lookout for any additional federal funding opportunities that might not be happening right now. but also continuing to work with the MAPC and see if we could get it on the tip, which is the transportation improvement program. So we'll definitely pursue that as well. And as we get further along in the design, we'll be better positioned to do that.

Nolan. And also just to remind everyone, the CRA, the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, did a pretty extensive connection report for this particular area of Cambridge. I hope they're going to continue to be included in the planning and the design, and they also may be able to help with some of the funding. Thank you. I look forward to that. Plus the bridge is going to be redone by DOT. Plus on the other side of the current roadway, there is a whole plan for a bridge over there. So eventually that area of the city will be well served. Thanks so much. I yield.

I don't see any further questions on this matter. We'll go ahead on a motion by Councilor Zusy to place city manager agenda item number two on file. We'll do a roll call.

And adopt.

and adopted.

Councillor Al-Zubi? Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Councillor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councillor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councillor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councillor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes, Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The order is adopted and the communication is placed on file. We'll move on to city manager agenda item number five. This is a communication from Yan Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $5,234,379 from free cash to support snow operations. Nolan, you have the floor.

Thank you. I know this and then the next two are all related to kind of snow operations. I don't know if we want to discuss them all at once. Does that make sense or no?

I can take a motion from you to take

I move that, yes, CM 5, 6, and 7, they're all related to the...

So on a motion by Councilor Nolan to take City Manager Agenda Item 5 and 6 together, we'll do... And 7. And 7, and we'll do a roll call.

Zubi. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem. Yes. Councilor Flaherty.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern. Yes. Councilor Nolan. Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons. Councilor Simmons.

Yes.

Zusy, Mayor Siddiqui, and you have eight members recorded in the affirmative and one recorded as absent.

So we have City Manager Agenda Item 5 before us. City Manager Agenda Item 6 is the communication transmitted from Yuen Huong City Manager relative to the appropriation of $700,000 from free cash to support road repairs related to snow operations. Then finally, we have city manager agenda item number seven, which is a communication Transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to awaiting report item number 26-21 regarding exploration of a potential snow corpse program. So all three are before us. I have Councilor Nolan first. Yeah, thank you.

And this is, I was very happy to see kind of all three of these because we know there's always something at the end of, we hope it's the end of the snow, although we do live in New England and there was an April 1st snowstorm just a few years ago, maybe it was 10 years ago. But I did pull it just because I think it's important for us to understand, to communicate how is it that there's, you know, 5.2 million dollars Obviously, the memo is kind of short on it. The longer memo that addresses the snow core actually has a lot more detail about it. But it's a combination of, yes, there were two snowstorms, but there were only two major, major ones but there was a lot of the pre-salting and pre-preparation I'd love for the staff to be able to explain, what are we doing to ensure that we're being as cost effective as possible? How is it that we monitor the effectiveness both of the pre-treatment but also the plows that go around?

We certainly heard this year, I think the staff did a phenomenal job. I know folks on some smaller streets felt like it took a few days and it did. However, when you have 25 inches of snow, it's really different than if you have six or eight inches of snow. I recognize that. I live on a major street, so I know that those do get cleared first. because it is a major street with buses and many other vehicles going down. But I'd love to understand how is it that this, what seems like a pretty big amount, it's far bigger than anything other than a few years ago. It's also about the same as when we had 120 inches of snow in 2015. So that struck me as when I went back further that it's pretty high. to just explain what we're doing and also as you answer to explain how it is that we ensure that the salting operations we do are as environmentally and ecologically responsible because I know that's a real concern that so many cities do not want just pure salt and I know that we use

A particular version that is much better so and then Commissioner?

Through you, Madam Mayor. So hopefully, Councilor, I got all that and I can try to answer it for you. As far as the snowstorm, so let's go back to 2015. You're right, it was 110 inches, pretty significant cost to the city at the time. and I think if you read through the response, you can see over the years that prices just continue to climb. We did a comparison to what it costs per inch and we did that more because people always ask us, what does it cost per inch? The reality is, you know, it's been 10 years since 2015, 11 years since 2015. 15, and when you look at that over time, it's really about inflation and how much things have gone up. So I think it's about a 40% increase, and if you look at that without compounding interest rates and all this other stuff, It gets us to about the same price.

So while it looks like we are spending a lot more, I think inflation has a lot to do with that. That said, when we get a winter like we did this year, and we have really back-to-back really large storms like that it puts us into a much different mode and I think you saw that this year and I appreciate your comments about I actually think that all of our operations went extremely well this year and not having to deal with big snow for a number of years. We shook the cobwebs off and I think we did a nice job. But it really kicks us into that second phase of what happens with snow, which is our hauling operation. So if you look at the amount of money now that we're spending on just contractors that are getting very difficult for us to find, Those prices have gone up quite a bit. So when we do a large plow operation, you're in roughly the $300,000 to $400,000 range to just get plows on the street.

And then the hauling operation, as we explained in the response, that's $250,000 to $300,000 a night to remove that snow. On both of these storms, we were out for at least four nights. I think the second storm, we were actually out longer than that. The money builds up pretty quickly when we have storms like this. I think in an average winter when we're just most of our... You can see it even this year. Most of our operations deal with just our salting operations. And when we do a salting operations, it's completely in-house with in-house employees. So, you know, you're looking at really overtime costs and the cost of salt. To answer your question about salt, TJ Shea is here with us tonight. He's our superintendent of the streets. Since TJ's come on board, we've implemented our brine program. So brine is really, it's... Essentially water mixed with salt and then we put an additive into it.

It's only roughly 23% salt so it's much less and we can put that out prior to a storm if the conditions are right. So that allows us to bring our salt use down. But the bigger thing that we've done over the years is we've automated all of our salters. which means we've taken somewhat of the human factor out of it. So if you were to go back 10, 15 years ago, on an average storm, we may be putting down 1,000 pounds of salt per lane mile. In most of our assaulting events at this point, we're down to about 200 pounds per lane mile, which is much less than a lot of surrounding communities. And for those of you who have been around long enough, you'll know that in years past, we'd go out on a salting event. We may get very little snow, but if you come around the next day, all the streets were white and all the trees were dead. I don't think you see that much anymore. And we've actually really reduced that. So the Salters, as I said, they're automatic.

Our folks can get into a truck. They set it to whatever TJ sets it for. And when we stop at a stop sign, the Salt stops. As it's going down the road, it does that blend that we set it to. So I think that was all your questions.

Councilor Nolan. I'm happy to have others answer. I have one more question, but I'll just wait and see if it gets asked.

I'll go to Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler and then I'll go to Councilor Flaherty.

Thanks, Madam Mayor, through you, and thanks to the staff for both this response and for all the work on clearing snow this season. This was my fifth year on the council, and I think we had a lot more snow this year than we had in any of the previous five years. I appreciated all the work on it. The response of the policy order number seven, the data and the charts and graphs were really helpful. It was interesting to see the snow cost versus snowfall and sort of the impacts there, as well as the average amount of amounts, Thank you for joining us. and broader goal the policy order of this is the first step towards sort of building out a snow core program like other cities including Boston are considering and you know looking forward to continue those conversations I'll follow up about that offline I had a couple questions about the Data and response here. I just wanted to ask now.

The one was just digging in the chart of complaints versus tickets issued was helpful and looking about how that varied across years. Unsurprisingly, we had a lot more complaints and tickets issued this year, just given how much snow. I was just curious if you could talk a little bit more about it. For this year, in 2026, there were 2,059 complaints. and then 569 citations issued and the report talked a little bit about you know the reason it's not a citation for every complaint is that sometimes it gets cleared sometimes it's I was going to ask for those other... There's 2,000 complaints, about 500 tickets. For those other 1,500, is that because city staff went out and said, no, this actually doesn't... This doesn't meet the threshold. Is it because it melted and was then okay? Is it not, weren't able to investigate all of those 2000 complaints? Just looking for a little more color on that.

Through you, Madam Mayor. So I think, Councilor, I think you hit the nail on the head with all of those things. So we go out, we investigate all of the 2,000 complaints that we have. and you know to be quite honest sometimes it may take a little while for an inspector to go out and take a look at things and in that time frame it could be that I mean there's a there's a variety of things so somebody may say well this isn't wide enough and inspector goes out, they measure it, they say, no, it is wide enough. Could they have done better? Yeah, but they haven't violated anything. or they'll go out, they'll take a look at it where people have complained like right away. I mean, that's the other thing. We had so many C-Click fixes coming in and people have started complaining before snow stops falling. So by the time we get out to a location where somebody may have complained that nobody shoveled their sidewalk, we'll get out there, it's actually been shoveled. Usually it's not, you know, things have melted. Unless we had a really minor storm, it won't be because the things have melted.

And if things are, even if things are iced up, and that violates the ordinance we will give somebody either a warning or a citation but they do a full investigation and it's really if they go out there and they don't see what matches up to the complaint they're not going to give you a ticket for it.

Thank you, that's helpful. So follow up there, like how, if there are, I don't know if we have data on this, but like repeat offenders, curious about it, I think we as councillors hear a lot about, you know, One property is an absentee landlord. They're never clear and curious how many of those are it versus one-time complaints. And then also had a question about Bus stops, no clearance. And I'm just trying to figure out some bus stops are managed by the city. Some are the MBTA. Some are privately owned, I think, even by the advertising company. Does the city clear all of those bus stops? Just trying to understand bus stop clearance a little better.

Through you, Madam Mayor. The first question I think I'd have to get back to you on the number of repeat offenders, but we do have that information. And there's a few, and we know them, and inspectors will go out and they'll constantly try to work with those folks. As far as the bus stops, In general, anything that has a bus shelter on it, the MBTA typically has a contract with a private contractor. So regardless of what the snow is, they'll go out and they'll make a first pass to try to clear that. If we get into a snowstorm situation where we've had say six to ten inches of snow or we have back-to-back storms where there's a big buildup of snow, that's when we get into Our bus stop pedestrian clearing operation and we end up hauling a lot of snow. So that's where the city will come into play and what we do is we go out and we'll clear the entire curb in front of a bus stop and all around that bus stop.

I think the bigger thing, and this is where we got into our discussions years ago and we continue to stay in close contract with the Commission for Disabilities is you know when we first started our bus stop program we would just go and do bus stops and that's all we did and we realized we were on every major route and so we don't we I can't say that we get every single bus stop in the city when we're doing our program But we hit the majority of bus stops, particularly along those major routes where everybody is. And so after meeting with the Disabilities Commission years ago, we said, you know, we can do a little bit more. And so when we do that operation, we're actually clearing every curb ramp at every intersection. So if we're doing Mass Ave from the Allington line all the way down to the Boston line, we're clearing every single curb ramp along that route as well as the bus stops. This year, we actually went a little bit further.

and it was from an efficiency standpoint and we removed probably more snow than we have in the past and it helped to open up you know spaces that we wouldn't normally get to and some of those are like you know handicapped spaces that are at businesses Loading Zones that we got a lot of complaints about and things like that.

Thanks. I'll yield right now. Thanks for this response. I'm looking forward to continuing to build out our programs on this and continue these conversations. Go back.

will go to Councilor Flaherty and then Vice Mayor Azeem.

Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor. So I'd just like to say that I've lived here in this city my entire life. I lived through the blizzard of 1978. And as a kid, I enjoyed it very much. In 2015, I remember it well. As an adult, I enjoyed that. And this past year, I enjoyed it as well. I enjoyed the shoveling and the and the interaction with my neighbors and people that are somewhat excited about it. It's actually a nice community building experience. and I'd just like also to say that I'm familiar with the number of calls that the commission have received through The online reporting system the city handles and I know the responsiveness that His department had and it was outstanding and I congratulate him for that. I think the reason why it costs so much in addition to inflation is because it's worth it. The work they do is worth it.

My question is this and I'm fascinated by it. I think you said, Mr. Commissioner, that you've gone from 1,000 pounds of salt to 200 pounds of salt per lane per mile. Did I hear that correctly?

Commissioner? Through you, Madam Mayor. That's correct, Councilor Flaherty. It's actually a rate that you set the spinner at. So when you see, I guess the best example is if you're driving a highway during a snowstorm, you'll see those trucks that are just... Just laying down salt like there's no tomorrow. That's probably what we were at many, many years ago. Ours is set at a much lower rate. After a lot of research, we have treated salt, so our salt is treated with a liquid blend that helps it stick to the road and helps have it stay around a little bit more. We realized that we could do a much lower rate and still get the same product as folks that are just dumping salt everywhere. So yes, that is correct.

Well, that is fascinating and well done. Thank you very much. I yield.

Vice Mayor is all set. His questions were answered. We'll go to Councilor McGovern and then Councilor Zusy.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you. Thank you, Commissioner, for the report. Just a couple quick things. The senior student program that we have, it looks like you said we had 17 students sign up, which was almost double from last year, which is great. And there were about 103 inquiries. I guess one thing I'd like us to kind of think about, and this sort of goes to, I know Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler's been leading the charge on thinking about how the city can help more. I've always felt a little weird that we leave it up to the seniors to try and negotiate a price with the students. It doesn't seem to be a huge number. of Jobs.

And I'd like us, as part of with the mayor's program, sort of a winter version of the mayor's program, to see if we can't maybe Pick up that cost or have some kind of per hour spending so that folks aren't left to their own devices to kind of figure out what the cost should be. It'll be a little bit more predictability about that. I guess, how do we, is that 103 inquiries? Is that up or down? I mean, how are we advertising this? I find that every year there's always people who don't know about it and ask about it. So what do we do to make sure that folks know that this is available to them? and I'm thinking and this can be both the I know there's the there's the one that the city will go out and shovel and then there's the student one so again just making sure that we're how we're publicizing that and letting people know.

Do you want to take part of it, Adam, though? Because I think it is important, the two different programs, because we do have a pretty active program in terms of you know folks that meet the criteria are low income and unable to shovel and so that is a pretty progressive program and you know is managed by Danahy Park staff and then George Hines is also online and can talk about the other volunteers, the high school senior sign-up program.

Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor, George, are you online, George Hines? Yes.

and Adam, I'm also online so I can help and answer any questions as well.

Perfect, perfect.

George is a panelist now. George, you can unmute yourself.

Cool. So George Hines is the one that handles the inquiries with the student shovelers, and he's the best equipped to answer this. So I yield to George.

Good evening, everybody. Yeah, so, Councilmember Govan, thank you for that question. For young people in terms of a mayor's program style response, I think, The key thing is we need to have the kids on payroll. And since these are one-off unpredictable events, it's a little bit harder to figure out how to do that and maintain a core of kids that are ready to go and already on city payroll for those purposes. Also, snow shoveling tends to pay a little bit better than the $15 an hour that we offer for a mayor's program. We do ask the teens to be mindful when negotiating with seniors that they're often on fixed incomes, they shouldn't be gouging, they shouldn't be charging even what they might charge you know their next-door neighbor who's working full-time you know charge that person a little bit more and then charge a senior a little bit less to kind of offset it and make sure it's more of a community service approach to the work but I'm open to ideas and suggestions, but I think that those are kind of the first two logistical things that come to mind for me when trying to figure out how we can make that work.

And then one thing maybe if I could just add in is that I think it is important there's the snow shoveling exemption program where people can have it done for free and then the student shoveler program is really open to any resident. and so I mean I think the feedback we heard this year was that people were extremely positive with the students they were connected with and found it to George's point that McGovern.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you. We did have a human services meeting recently about services for how we support the disabled community. So again, I'm glad to hear Commissioner that you're talking with the commission and working with the commission. I think we've had some conversation about handicapped spots and things that we can do maybe to help clear those out. Although handicap spots don't belong to any single person, I think if you really look at how they're used, at least in residential areas, there's very often the same person who parks in that spot. and if they qualify for a handicap spot, I would imagine it would be very difficult for them to

I think would be helpful. and I do lastly I do want to thank you and your staff I really appreciate towards the end of the report where you where you lay out, I'm trying to find it, where you really lay out how the operations are prioritized. I think that's really important. I think as much as we can share that with people, I know it's inconvenient and people want the snow cleared up really quickly, but I don't think people always... know how the operations are working and how and why certain decisions are being made. And when you read it, it makes sense that you're doing main arteries and school bus stops and those kinds of places first. And sometimes we just...

have to wait and we're going to be inconvenienced for a couple days because we live in New England and that's our plight. But I think sharing that information and getting that out there to people so that they better understand What's going on, I think would be helpful. But thank you to you and your staff. I yield, Madam Mayor.

Councilor Zusy?

Thank you, Mayor Siddiqui. I also thank you for all your work. That was a lot of snow we had this winter. I, like Councilor Nolan, though also impressed with, we spent almost $7 million on the snow removal. and 2.2 million last year. So that's over three times as much or almost three times as much as we spent last year. I think that Councilor Jeeve and Sobrinho-Wheeler's idea of the snow force is an interesting one, and I was really happy to hear about how we've engaged our mayor's youth program kids. And so they're pretty much our snow force already. And I think I shared earlier, there were tons of kids out around Cambridgeport and I saw one of them photographing the other with all their 20s because they really could rake in a lot of dough that day.

So it was a great opportunity for the teens and a great help for the others. So one of my questions is, Is there, well first let me just comment, I thought Heather Hoffman's idea of Putting flags on hydrants so they're not lost was actually a good one. Because what I found is that our sewer grates and our fire hydrants were all lost to snow mounds. And if there's some way that they could be better marked, maybe we could be more thoughtful about not putting snow where those two things are. But I wonder if there's some way we can get those mayor's program kids also to be like shoveling the bus stops, the hydrants, the crosswalks, the pedestrian ramps, and the sewer grates, like if they could be doing that early on, It could make all the difference in the world. And I know they're not on your payroll. I know that would be complicated to figure out.

But it seems like it would provide a source of income for our kids. and it would be easy work. We've got the labor force and we certainly would be paying less than we would from someone with a big snowplow. Secondly, I was in Montreal over the holidays, and there was a big ice storm there while I was there. And I was impressed, you know, they get tons of snow every winter. And what they do is they have a flag system where you know if the flag is up, then you know you have to move your car off the street and into a garage. And my question for you is, I know we were encouraging people to move cars off of some roads into garages, but did we have enough garages? Were they at capacity? Should we be adding more garages? I'm assuming we're using all municipal garages, but I know there are other...

Commercial Garages. Should we be thinking about expanding our garage resource list if we have another big snow going forward? And so that's through you to Commissioner Nardone or to Deputy City Manager Watkins.

We'll battle for the mic over here. Through you, Madam Mayor. Councilor Zusy, DOT actually deals with the garages, and we do use all of our municipal garages. and they have agreements with some of the private garages. So we can certainly talk to them about the possibility of reaching out to more. I do want to say that this year was, I don't know if they were fully booked up as far as parking. We had an extremely difficult time of getting people to remove their cars from the streets this year. I could give you my theories on why that is. I think people have gotten used to not moving their cars at this point, particularly through our street sweeping program. We had a really hard time getting cars off the street. There's a fine line between when you can announce a snow ban and when you can start removing vehicles.

and if people lag on that at all, particularly in the storms that we had, blizzard conditions, we're not getting cars off the street and it makes it that much more difficult for us to clear snow. So I think over the summer, we'll look at, is there a better way for us to advertise that? I know what Council McGovern mentioned, where do I find some of this information? So getting more information out to people sooner and making it easier for them to find it, I think will help our operations all around. But we can certainly talk to DOT about the garage situation.

Yeah, thank you. I just like to, I'm glad you're going to be looking into it more because it sounds like this sort of severe weather situation is the future. And then just a quick question, what is snow farm restoration?

So unfortunately, in municipal operations, when you start to remove snow from the streets, it's not clean and pristine as you would think it is. Some of it really just has to do when the snow melts or when we have to help the snow melt a little bit, just removing all the debris that's there. But we're also in pretty confined spaces, so... Adam will yell at me every year about all the damage we've done at Dennehy Park and inevitably we do do that type of damage and some of that has to do with fencing around the areas that we're in. Some of it has to do with the pavement because as we get more and more snow, we're using excavation equipment to get on top of piles and it tends to tear up asphalt and things like that. The few spots that we did have to dump snow this year, they got beat up pretty good.

Thank you so much.

Any other questions before we go back to you, Councilor McGovern, from the body who hasn't asked questions? Go ahead, Councilor McGovern, and then Councilor Nolan.

Thank you, Madam. Just a quick follow-up on the garage piece. One of the things I've heard from folks, too, is that... They'll move their car off the street and go to a garage. They have to be out after the snow emergency is lifted. But there's no place to come back to because all the cars that are now off the street and in the garage, those spots are now filled with snow, right? So again, just something, and then they're paying, right, if they have to stay. So again, and just sort of thinking about this, like just the operator, I mean, there's no perfect answer to this, and it's a lot of just, you know, moving chairs on the Titanic, as they say, but... you know there is this this issue too and I'm not even going to get into space savers you know but there is this issue too about you know the spots that

Thank you for joining us. and don't drive them so but just I know that I've heard some some concerns people say well I don't want to move to a garage and then I'm stuck you know if I if I can't park my car in my neighborhood I I'm paying you know the garage rates and what so just something something else to just something that popped in my head thank you

Commissioner, did you want to say anything? No, I think I'm good.

Councilor Nolan. Thank you. Yes, definitely appreciate removing and hauling. If people don't realize, I know it keeps you up at night, but there are like these tow trucks and haulers going around clearing these six-foot drifts at intersections and at bus stops. So I've seen it. I have videos of it if anyone wants to see them when I go out at night in the middle of the night and see it. and I think we have to really appreciate when you have 25 inches of snow and it piles and you're clearing the streets it's going to happen so definite kudos. I will say on the Ms. Yep shelf, if we can do it easily, fine, but the idea of creating another bureaucracy that we have to hire people as employees, I don't think serves the city well, and I think, Hurts those students who are out there making $20 for half an hour of work instead of the $7.50 we would be able to pay them for half an hour of work, not to mention they'd have to sign up for a whole range of other city things. So I am endorsing the idea of

Getting the word out, but also not creating another bureaucracy. We may have difference on the council, but I'm definitely feeling like let's just get the word out. We have 100 people on the list. Send the list. People can hire them themselves. And in Providence, residents who go into parking garages have to pay for the most part. There's very limited spots. If people don't realize that whatever capacity we have in other cities if you're going into garage often you have to actually pay and it's not inexpensive however it's cheaper than getting towed off the street which is why people do it so I did have one question, which is on the citations, there were over 500 citations. Are we successful at collecting on those citations? And this ties into some of what we've talked about as a city. I'm just curious as to how successful we are at not only issuing them,

which we should let people know we did issue a whole slew of citations related to sidewalk clearing and are we successful at collecting.

Through you, Madam Mayor. I mean, it definitely varies from year to year. I would say if we collect 50% of what we cite people for, it's a good year. Typically, it's a little bit less than that.

One thing through Madam Mayor that I would just add is that when we really increased the amount of citations, and this is probably going back 10 or 15 years, We really see it, one, it's about the citation, but it's also about the education process. And so I think what you've seen and what I experienced certainly this winter is that, you know, sidewalks in Cambridge, you know, not perfect and still, continued work to do were in much better condition than they were say 10 or 15 years ago before we really increased it and so one I think there is this sort of repeat offenders question but for a lot of people it's really about that education is really about the significant value of that process.

Right. And thank you. Yeah, thank you. And through you, Mayor Siddiqui, I think it's important for us to realize this is also part of the education. This is part of being a community resident. This is part of our There's some level at which you actually meet your neighbors when you're out shoveling your sidewalk. So it is 100% something I support for us to continue to have them do that. The idea of the Snow Corps is partly, it's not to pay people to do it, but to ensure that there's a ready number of people to who can be hired by residents, that's great. And then the snow core may be used for the ones we're obligated to clear anyway. But I do think it's part of the community responsibility and it's really important for us to I'm glad to hear it and we will be having that meeting about 40 U. We'll be calling you back here to understand how it is that we can do better at that. But again, great report and lots to dig into here.

Thank you so much for the extensive report and for the work of all your team when they're out there in really miserable conditions a couple times. Thank you so much. I yield.

Any further questions around any three of these items? I'll just, a lot of the questions I had or comments I had have been spoken for, but I'll just say that there was also, you go above and beyond what the ordinance says and then Frankly, you're also doing a lot of coordination with, well, at least I saw a lot of the emails with Kristen. Shout out to her for coordinating with, you know, DCR, DOT. So there's a number of bridges. And, you know, they... making sure that those are done are a priority too and so I think that's all part of some of this work and it may not actually be captured in some of the cyclic fix and so forth so

I just want to commend TJ and Commissioner Nardone and Deputy City Manager and City Manager's Office and everyone who coordinated. In some of these snow meetings, and it's truly something to see how well coordinated you are. Obviously, there's always room for growth and learnings after each incident, and I know that you all do that kind of wrap around, okay, what could have been done better and so forth. But given what we were dealing with, I just want to appreciate everyone's efforts. Thank you so much. So I see no other hands on this, so we're going to do a few things. We'll go ahead and adopt all... The appropriations and then place all the communications on file for number five six and seven and we'll do a roll call for all three.

Zubi, yes, Vice Mayor Azeem, yes, Councilor Flaherty, yes, Councilor McGovern, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Simmons, Councilor Simmons, yes, Siddiqui, and you have eight members recorded in the affirmative and one recorded as absent.

Those three Communications are placed on file and those two orders are adopted. For now, I'm going to ask for suspension of the rules to go back to city manager agenda item number one. This was not in our materials, but this should be at everyone's desks and we have to vote on these. And so on a motion by Councilor Nolan to go back to number one to vote on these orders. We'll do a roll call.

Councilor Al-Zubi? Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Council of Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes, Councillor McGovern. Yes. Yes, Councillor Nolan. Yes. Yes, Councillor Simmons. Yes, Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. And you have eight members recorded in the affirmative and one recorded as absent.

We're back to city manager agenda item one, and we have this on your table. Does the city council have any questions about these two orders? Yes, go ahead, Councilor Nolan.

Yeah, it's not a question. It's just to remind people this is the combined sewer rate. And as we discussed earlier, it's going up about 7% combined. The water rate is going up higher. We're kind of in the middle of the state, so Somerville, the combined rate is less than ours. Boston is about the same as ours, so we're kind of in the ballpark, but we are... It includes a significant amount of work on our sewer system, which is something we all have to be grateful for.

Thank you, Councilor Nolan. And the second order is around the discount program. So hearing no one on this, we'll do a roll call on these two orders. There's one roll call. Yeah, it's one order and one roll call.

On the one order, Councilor Al-Zubi. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Council of Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The order for city manager agenda item one is adopted. We are going to city manager agenda item number eight. This is a communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, city manager, Zuzi.

Thank you, Mayor Siddiqui. I just wanted to say I attended this meeting. I always love the town gown reports, and I feel like the report really Well reflects the thoughts of the planning board. They talked about how important it was to be planning with our local institutions to better understand their planning process, their future student enrollment, how they were going to grow their campuses, how they were going to plan for stormwater management, managed their public realm, open space, trees, public facilities, parking. Anyway, they had some really thoughtful comments. So I just wanted to remind or let people know that I've submitted a call for a meeting of the Economic Development and University Relations Committee to further discuss these ideas.

I mean, we are removing the exemption to the Dover Amendment, but we do need to make sure that we are planning in concert with our universities. Thank you. That's it.

Anyone else? Yes, Councilor Nolan, and then Councilor Al-Zubi.

Yep, all the reports are available online. I just want to make sure everybody, they're very extensive reports. I'm vice chair of the University Community Council at the NLC and when I mentioned the town gown reports that we receive there were several cities very interested in using that as a model because it's not something that other University communities always have so I just want to give a shout out to the fact that we do get those and that it is something that we're offering to as a model for and other communities through the NLC that I think it's yet another example of how we're setting the goal. And also through you, ACM, Peters could explain. There's also a summary report that is available online, just so I think we should let people know about that. It's a really good way for us to appreciate and understand how it is that Our four universities, because HALT, International Business School, is included as well, contribute to the city. And there's a summary report, I believe, available online. If that could be explained, that would be great.

Yes, thank you. Through you, Mayor Siddiqui. So in addition to the town gown reports, city staff create two documents. One, a slide deck kind of summarizing all the reports and trends that we present to planning board on that date. And then also a summary report that Councilor Nolan is referring to that really is a tabular and so forth. So that's a useful tool to look at as well.

I just want to appreciate it and thank you for that explanation so that we could look it up and I look forward to continuing this conversation. We understand from the plan and board report. They're pretty much under attack and under threat and we're all working together because we need them and they need us. So very much looking forward to any other future meetings about this. Thank you, I yield.

Zubi. Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor, I have two questions and it might make sense to also hold one of them to the in waiting for the Economic Development University Relations Committee hearing. The first one was related to reading that there was a discussion on stormwater management and parking occupancy as it relates to how we navigate with the institutions. but I didn't really see anything regarding reduction of pressures on housing. I mean, obviously we know we're in a housing crisis. I'm curious to hear if the city feels that There was discussion on this in the meeting or if the city has a response right now on whether the universities are doing enough right now regarding housing.

Is this the city manager?

Thank you. So certainly housing is a major point of discussion during town gowns and we do ask the institutions to comment on their current and future student enrollment and how they plan to house students, including graduate students, and aim for particular targets to keep the pressure out of the housing stock in Cambridge. So certainly something that is discussed and always an ongoing conversation we have with the institutions. Al-Zubi.

Yeah, thank you for sharing a little bit more about that. I'm definitely curious to dig more into that piece, especially as we all know, The second question was in regards to do you have any current updates on the Harvard pilot conversations and the timeline? City Manager?

Yes, through you, Mayor Siddiqui. We are in conversations with Harvard over the pilot agreement. As you all know, last year we did a one year just recognizing some of the challenges that the universities were going through. I'm looking forward to having a little more discussion with the council and I know that we're looking at planning a university relations committee both to talk about town gown in particular, but also we can touch on pilot in that meeting.

Councilor Al-Zubi? Thank you. I will be looking forward to that committee hearing.

Seeing no one else, we can go ahead and place city manager agenda item number eight on file and do a roll call, please.

Councilor Al-Zubi? Yes. Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes, Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

That matter is placed on file. We'll move on to policy orders. Pleasure of the City Councilor.

Madam Mayor.

Councilor McGovern. Two and four. Number two and number four. Anyone else? Yes. Okay, hearing none, we'll go ahead on a motion by Council Member Govern to adopt policy orders number one and three. We'll do a roll call.

Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Policy Orders One and Three are adopted. We are going to Policy Order Two. This is City Council going in support of House Bill 91 and Senate Bill 2556, an act to modernize funding. For Community Media Programming. This was filed by Councilor McGovern, myself, Councilor Nolan, and Councilor Flaherty. Councilor McGovern, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Through you, thank you to you and Councilor Nolan and Councilor Flaherty for co-sponsoring. So, essentially, Cable companies for years have paid fees that have used public infrastructure on our streets. and have paid fees that go to support local cable channels like CCTV and City View 22, et cetera. and what's happening I think in Cambridge as well as across Massachusetts is that fewer and fewer people are using They're using cable for television, they're using streaming services, and streaming services are not required to pay into that fund to support local cable services, local TV, educational programming.

and so these two bills at the State House would work to require that streaming services also contribute to that fund to make sure that these really necessary public access Television is continuing to be funded. So this is a House bill and a Senate bill that's in committee, just like us, to go on in support of our local Television, and local TV access funding. And so that's sort of the gist of what these are about. Happy to answer any other questions.

Thank you, Council Member Govan. Anyone commenting on this? Hearing none, thank you, Council Member Govan, for bringing this forward. We'll do a roll call on adopting this policy rule number two.

Al-Zubi. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem. Yes. Councilor Flaherty.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern. Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan. Yes. Councilor Simmons.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Policy rule number two is adopted. We'll go to policy rule number four, that the city manager is requested to direct relevant city departments and staff to examine and report back on whether the city can require single stall public bathrooms to be gender neutral McGovern, myself, Councilor Simmons, and Councilor Al-Zubi. Councilor McGovern, you have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Again, thanks to you and Councilor Simmons and Councilor Al-Zubi for co-sponsoring. So years ago, actually, Decker, Rep. Decker, when she was a councilor, I believe, led the charge to push the city that when they renovate a building or build a new building that they have gender-neutral bathrooms. But in public spaces and public buildings, we haven't yet taken that step. And many other cities, Philadelphia, Denver, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, D.C., New York, have requirements that in buildings that are required to have public restrooms that they have at least one gender-neutral restroom. You know, in In the climate that we're in today where trans folks and non-gender conforming

folks are really under attack across the country. And I know we don't think that that necessarily can happen here, but anything can happen anywhere. but you know folks should be able to use a restroom that they feel safe and where they feel safe and where they feel comfortable and and so I have been talking with the law department and CDD and ISD about this. They asked that we put in a formal request for them to look into this. There have been some Building Code Changes. So this order would, I do have an amendment, actually, if that can get put up, just to clarify some of the language. Basically, this would just ask for them to report back to us on whether or not we can require all new buildings and places of accommodation in Cambridge that are required to have public restrooms to have at least one single stall bathroom with gender-neutral signage.

So at least we're not asking that current restaurants or current places retrofit or go back and renovate. Anything like that. We're talking about new buildings that are coming forward to make sure that they are have at least one bathroom that is gender neutral. So I think that this is in line with our values in the city. I think this will go a long way to helping many in our city feel more safe and more respected. and I'm looking forward to hoping that it passes.

So thank you, Councilor McGovern, who has moved, who has these amendments before us. These are up for discussion as well. So on the policy order and these amendments, I have Councilor Flaherty, and then I'll go to Councilor Zuzi.

I'm in full agreement with Councilor McGovern. I think it's important. I was struck by the comments from the woman from Gold Star Road, Ms. Mullen. She was direct and to the point, as is Councilor McGovern. I think it's a very important policy order, and I'd like to be added as a co-sponsor to it. So thank you very much, and I yield.

Thank you, Councilor Flaherty. We'll get to adding you momentarily. First, we'll go to Councilor Zusy.

Yeah, thank you very much, Mayor Siddiqui. I wanted to say that I also am sympathetic to this order. I will say that originally I was a little worried because I was worried about it increasing the costs for local businesses that are already under tremendous pressure. It can cost $30,000 to $60,000 to build a single stall bathroom and we don't want to increase regulations on local businesses. That would require such added costs, but I've been convinced that this really isn't going to do that. that instead it's really about sort of changing the signs on the doors and making everyone feel more welcome and included in our businesses. So I support this as well. and I thank you for introducing the order. Thank you.

We'll go to Councilor Nolan and then back to Councilor McGovern. Thank you. I support the amendment. I think it makes a lot of sense. Thank you for all who worked on it, and I'd like to be added as well.

So we'll do that. Vice Mayor Azeem, would you like to be added? Great. So we'll do that momentarily. I'll go first to Councilor McGovern.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to be sure. By doing this in new buildings, I don't know whether there will be an additional cost. If you have a typical place that has a men's room and a women's room with several stalls in it, They're not going to put a gender neutral sign on a stall and make someone go into a men's room. There needs to be a separate facility, a separate room, a separate stall that would be gender neutral. These, from my talking to people, these are things that sort of, because it's new buildings and it's new construction, these are things that can get built in to the cost and it's just a question of just redesigning some things. and quite honestly, I think a lot of places are going this way anyway. You go to a lot of places now and they actually don't even have men's rooms and women's rooms. They have a number of different doors with just the toilet in them and then the sink is kind of outside.

And so I think this is something that's happening. But by putting it into an ordinance and requiring it, we're going to ensure that You know, it does happen. I just don't want to mislead anyone. And if it is an additional expense in construction, I think it's well worth it to make sure that You know, our trans community, you know, feel safe and respected. If something comes back, it is a cost. I don't want my colleague here to think that I was duping them. It may be an additional cost in some instances, but I don't think it's much, and I think it's worth it. Thank you.

Yes, Councilor Zusy.

Yeah, something to consider is looking at the 2012 document that follows the policy order. The state plumbing code notes that variances may be granted for good cause. realize that your policy order is asking city staff to report back, but maybe there would be a clause like that? as part of the ordinance so that if it is too great a hardship that a variance may be granted for good cause. So we'll see what they recommend. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Zusy. And I'll just add that thank you, Councilor McGovern, for bringing this forward. We'll go ahead now that we have the recommendations, the amendments before us. We can do a roll call on those adopting those amendments and adding the rest of the council on to the policy order. I think we'll just, I heard from Councilor Azeem and Councilor Flaherty and Councilor Nolan that they wanted to be added, so I'll just add those three Councilors. and do a roll call.

Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem. Yes, Councilor Flaherty. McGovern, Nolan, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zusy, Mayor Siddiqui, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

We have an amended order before us. We can go ahead on a motion by Councilor McGovern to adopt the order as amended. Do a roll call, please.

Councilor Al-Zubi. Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes, Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes, Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes, Councilor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The order as amended is adopted. We now move on to the calendar.

Madam Mayor.

Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Poll number two.

We have number two, which is unfinished business. We'll go ahead to that. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Thanks, Madam Mayor. This is the updates to the institutional use regulations that were required to make under state law. We discussed this in the ordinance committee, and I believe it was a unanimous vote at that committee to move it forward, so I would make a motion to ordain at this time.

Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler has moved to ordain pleasure of the city council. Yes, we'll go to Councilor Nolan.

Thank you. Yes, I do support ordaining. I also want to make sure we all understand and correct some of the misconceptions in the community. We kind of have no choice but to do this because by ordaining it, we actually are making our ordinances in... In sync with state law, we are not allowed to have differences right now. It doesn't mean in the future we couldn't petition to do it, but I think there was some concern of why are you allowing all this? because state law requires us to allow it. There were some changes made in our underlying ordinance that has meant that we need to ensure, particularly on the religious use, there's a whole federal law that requires us to allow that. We amended that earlier, but this on institutional use, we now are amending it so that it's in... Alignment with current state law in our ordinances. So I just want to go on the record to say that is exactly why we need to do this is good governance in action. And then I will be supporting it. Thank you to ordain.

Thank you, Councilor Nolan, for setting that context up. We'll go ahead, hearing no one else, on a motion by Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler to ordain, do a roll call.

Al-Zubi. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem. Yes. Councilor Flaherty.

No.

No. Councilor McGovern. Yes. Councilor Nolan. Yes. Councilor Simmons.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have eight members recorded in the affirmative and one recorded in the negative.

We have amended Section 4.50 of the Cambridge Zoning Ordinance. Any further questions on this? We are done with the calendar, so we'll go ahead and move on to applications. There are none. There are three communications.

move to place on file.

Councilor McGovern moves to place these three communications on file. We'll do a roll call.

Councilor Azeubi? Yes. Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern. Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan. Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons. Zusy, Mayor Siddiqui, and nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Those three communications are placed on file. We'll move on to the resolutions. There are two resolutions. on a motion by Councilor McGovern to adopt the two resolutions, making them unanimous upon adoption. We'll do a roll call.

Councilor Al-Zubi. Yes. Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem. Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty. McGovern, Nolan, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zusy, Mayor Siddiqui, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Those two resolutions are adopted. We are going to committee reports. There's one committee report from the Finance Committee. Pleasure of the City Council. On a motion by Councilor Nolan to accept the report and place it on file, we'll do a roll call.

Councilor Al-Zubi? Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Councilor Flaherty? Yes. McGovern, Nolan, Sieniewicz, Sieniewicz, Sieniewicz, Sieniewicz, Sieniewicz, Sieniewicz,

That committee report is placed on file. There are no roundtable minutes. We go on to communications and reports from other city officers.

Move adoption and place on file.

on a motion by Councilor McGovern to place communications from other city officers one and two on file. Mayor Siddiqui.

I just wanted to acknowledge it's really helpful to have these reports from the mayor on the school committee so that we can continue that. I appreciate the updates.

Thank you. We'll go ahead and do a roll call.

Al-Zubi, Vice Mayor Azeem, Councilor Flaherty, Councilor McGovern, Councilor Nolan, Councilor Simmons, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Councilor Zusy, Yes, Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Those two communications from other city officers are placed on file. We're now on to late resolutions. So we do have a number of late resolutions and so will do a roll call on bringing these late agenda items, both the resolutions and the policy order, and do a roll call.

Al-Zubi? Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Council of Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern. Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan. Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Zusy. Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui. Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

We are in suspension, so we have late resolutions on the passing of Patricia L. O'Connor, a late resolution congratulating Cambridge Community Center 2026 honorees, a late resolution to the family of Gloria Thompson, Condolences to the family of Yvette Daughton. Late condolences for Leon Breathwaite. I'm sorry if I said that wrong. And then... A late resolution recognizing Eric and Yukiko Toledo for their outstanding volunteer service and commitment to Cambridge youth sports. Are there any resolutions that my colleagues would like to pull and speak about?

Then, chair.

Yes, Councilor Simmons.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to speak briefly about the resolution relative to... Alvin Thompson's wife, Gloria Thompson. Many of you may not know Gloria Thompson, longtime Cambridge resident. serve the community in a number of ways but also was the wife of state representative Alvin Thompson and she just recently passed and just wanted to mark her living with acknowledgment from the City Council. In addition, Mr. Brathwaite, Leon Brathwaite, Long time, again, very long time member of the Cambridge community, a relative of one of our employees down in the in Budget, not Budget, Assessing, Finance Office. And so here are two people who have long and deep roots in the city of Cambridge.

And I think it's important that we take the time to acknowledge their living. Again, Gloria Thompson. and Mr. Leon Brathwaite Sr. Their contributions to Cambridge go long and deep. And again, I think it's important with all of the individual, excuse me, Missy Vette-Dawton, who's a long-time Cambridge resident. It's been very sad over the last several weeks. We've had a number of people Thank you, Councilor Simmons.

We'll go to Councilor Flaherty and then Councilor Nolan.

Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to second Consul Simmons' remarks. Alvin Thompson was a tremendous human being, and his wife, the Braithwaite family. I just want to offer my condolences and second, Councilor Simmons remarks. It's important. to mark these lives as we do. And I respect her efforts and the traditions of this council of doing that. So thank you very much, Council of Senators, for bringing these forward. I yield.

Thank you, Councilor Flaherty. Councilor Nolan.

Yeah, I was just going to want to be, I had started working on the late resolution for Eric and Yukiko Toledo, so I'd like to be added.

They're all unanimous upon adoption. Any other questions on these resolutions? will go ahead and adopt all the resolutions, making them unanimous upon adoption, and we'll do a roll call.

Yes, Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Councilor Flaherty? Yes. Yes, Councilor McGovern? Yes, Councilor Nolan. Yes. Yes, Councilor Simmons. Yes. Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler. Yes. Yes, Councilor Zusy. Yes. Yes, Mayor Siddiqui. Yes. Yes, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

Those late resolutions are adopted. We're going to go to policy order number one on these late agenda items. This is supporting East Cambridge Planning Team's letter in favor of Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk construction at Science Park Project. This was filed by Clarity. Councilor Zusy, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mayor Siddiqui. I would like to make a motion to amend this policy order by substitution with this other policy order that I've shared.

So, Councilor Zusy is moving, has a motion before us to amend the policy order by substitution. It's before us here. Zubi. Hearing no one on this, we'll go ahead and vote on the motion to... There is a question. Yes, go ahead, Councilor Al-Zubi.

Point of information, is this number five under policy orders on the city council agenda? Is that what the replacement is?

Zubi? Yeah, I had submitted a policy order on Thursday, which supported a federal earmark to take Plans for the Boston-Cambridge Riverwalk construction at Science Park to 25% design. I had a draft that we submitted Thursday, and then we got some better information, so I've resubmitted it. I wonder, here it is on the screen. Now it's on the screen.

It's a late policy order.

Yeah, I was just clarifying because on the council agenda there is item five under policy orders and then there's The late agenda items, it is under number one. So I was just clarifying to make sure that- It's the same thing.

It's the same thing. I'm not sure. I think the system is, when it was submitted, it wasn't in the agenda packet. And so that's why it's late. So this is mysterious to me, but we'll figure that out. But this is, you are suspending, you have a motion to substitute the late policy order.

Yes, with this version. Thank you.

Councilor Al-Zubi? Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Councilor McGovern?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The amended substitute is before us. Councilor Al-Zubi?

Yeah. Thank you so much for all of your patience on this. So my aide, Natalie Sandoval, and I heard about this on... We learned on... Thursday that the East Cambridge planning team and the bicycle safety committee and then later we learned that the city of Cambridge and like 20 over 25 other environmental organizations, organizations that promote cycling and walking, all support this project that the Museum of Science has been contemplating for decades. Apparently there have been many, many versions of this project introduced. This one seems to have legs. In 2023, The Museum of Science received a feasibility study from the Federal Economic Development Administration for $2,009,000.

to do a study to see whether it would be feasible to create this river walk. So the idea is we all know that it's very dangerous cycling and walking and it's not particularly This is a proposal to create sort of a A park with islands that will be pedestrian and cycling friendly that will be on the riverside of the Museum of Science. And so the idea is that it will complete the loop of the Paul Dudley-White bike path and that it will provide a unique experience. It will benefit the river's ecology and provide an opportunity To teach people about the river's ecology, they'll be floating wetlands.

They've been working with the Charles River Conservancy on developing a wetland that actually helps to filter the water. and it will just be a safer and more interesting way to connect Boston in Cambridge and Cambridge in Boston along the Charles side of the Museum of Science. And so MassDOT has given this project a number, which is actually So what we're supporting here is DCR, the Department of Conservation and Recreation is taking the lead. They are asking for a $3 million earmark.

to do more site investigation, alternative analysis, robust public outreach and engagement, to develop conceptual designs, come up with cost estimates, and advance a preferred alternative for this parkway, this river walk that would truly be I hope you all will support this effort. I'm hoping we'll get the earmark, and then we would be at 25% design, and as you all know, and as I was talking to folks yesterday, at NLC from like MassDOT last week. We need shovel-ready designs. This wouldn't be quite at shovel-ready, but we'd be at 25%. We'd be so much further down the road.

It just takes us a step closer to completing this visionary project or realizing this visionary project. Thank you. I yield.

Do we have Councilor Flaherty at all? Is there anyone on the Zoom? We'll go to Councilor, yes, Councilor Flaherty, are you set?

I second Councilor Zusy's comments, and if we can obtain the earmark, then we should go forward. It's an interesting concept, so thank you, I yield.

Nolan. Thank you. Love this project. As I indicated to Councilor Zusy, when my husband was at the Museum of Science, this was actively under discussion, so it has definitely been discussed for a long, long, long time. I'd love to be added and I also wonder if we should include the entire delegation instead of just Representative Lynch and Representative Presley.

I think that's an excellent idea and hopefully this resolution will have the support of the full council. My hope is that along with the city manager presenting support for the project, if we can demonstrate that the whole council supports it, I think we're much more likely to get the earmark.

So on Councilor Nolan's suggestion, she'd like to be added. And then we'd also like to change the last order to say for this resolution to So it could be phrased to U.S.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator Ed Markey, and all Massachusetts U.S. representatives.

Unless we want to list all nine names, but I think if we... We'll just do all Massachusetts representatives. Nolan, does that work?

Yes, it's fine. I think it is important they all get it. Yep.

Okay. What we're going to do is do a roll call on adding Councilor Nolan and voting on this amendment.

Councilor Al-Zubi? Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Councilor Flaherty?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Simmons? Councilor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The late policy order has been amended. We'll go ahead and adopt the late policy order as amended and do a roll call on our motion by Councilor Zusy.

Al-Zubi, yes. Vice Mayor Azeem, yes. Councilor Flaherty, yes. Councilor McGovern, yes. Councilor Nolan, yes. Councilor Simmons,

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

The late policy order as amended is adopted. Any announcements from the body? There's a few meetings coming up this week. Councilor Nolan?

I just want to say there are a number of meetings this week. We have the housing, a joint NLTP, we have a Health and Environment Committee meeting. There's, I think, one other government ops meeting. So it's a pretty full schedule. So I don't think I have to list them all. But I hope to see everyone who's on those committees at the meeting so that we can discuss them.

Great. And actually, I hear that the mayor is having a trivia night on Thursday. Yes, I'm having a trivia night on Thursday night at Lamplighter, the East Cambridge location. All are welcome. It's free. So we'll go ahead on a motion by Councilor Nolan to adjourn. We'll do a roll call. Councilor Al-Zubi?

Yes. Vice Mayor Azeem? Yes. Councilor Flaherty? McGovern, Nolan, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zusy, Mayor Siddiqui, and you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.

We're adjourned. Goodnight, everyone.