City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Good evening everyone. Sorry, I was pulling a Mayor Simmons. Great evening. A quorum being present, I call tonight's meeting of November 17, 2025, the regular meeting of the Cambridge City Council, to order. The first order of business is a roll call. Members present?

Zinn, McGovern, Nolan, Siddiqui, Sieniewicz, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Tan, Toner, Watkins, Wilson. Present. Present. Mayor Simmons. Present. absent. You have six members recorded in the present and three recorded as absent.

Okay, just a little housekeeping. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler had informed us that he would be unable to, he's traveling, will be unable to attend tonight. Toner had a family emergency. Mayor Simmons is potentially going to join us remotely, but she has COVID, so we'll see how that So if willing and able, please stand to salute the flag 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.

Pursuant to 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 have also set up Zoom teleconference for 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 cambridgema.gov slash public comment. You can also email written comments for the record to the city clerk at cityclerkatcambridgema.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. Is the portal open? No, so we are having some difficulty with the open meeting portal.

The folks are working on that. We now go to public comment. Public comment may be made in accordance with Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 30A, Section 20G, and City Council Rules 23D and 37. Once you have finished speaking the next speaker will be called. Individuals are not permitted to allocate the remainder of their time to other speakers. We ask that you please state your name, your address, and the item that you are speaking on for the record. Please note that you are allowed to speak on any item that is on tonight's agenda with the exception of communications and awaiting reports. We have three people signed up for public comment, so each person will have three minutes, and I will turn it over to Ms. Steffen.

Our first speaker is Elena Fagoto, followed by James Williamson, then Heather Hoffman. Elena, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

If you can turn the mic on. Push. OK. Good evening, dear mayor, vice mayor, and counselors. My name is Elena Fagotto. I live at 26 Bigelow Street, Unit B, and I'm here on behalf of Mothers of Front Cambridge to support Policy Order 159. So last week, the Massachusetts House Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy moved forward Bill 4744, a controversial energy bill that takes aim at critical policies that Cambridge depends upon. It ends the Commonwealth's commitment to cut fossil fuel emissions 50% by 2030, a target that scientists and economists say is critical to avoiding the worst impacts of global warming. In Cambridge and statewide, Healthy progress has been made towards this target, and we applaud you for that. We're proud of the progress that our city is doing on climate change.

Dropping the commitment will limit future progress and will undermine critical investment in solar, wind power and geothermal. This bill also cuts the must-save program by $500 million and caps it for the next five years, limiting how many residents can take advantage of free or low-cost home insulation and subsidies for electrification. With lowered spending on mass save, customers will have fewer options for reducing their utility bills, and surely cutting mass save subsidies will hurt middle and low income families the most. It disqualifies new residential buildings in Cambridge and other towns with fossil fuel-free building code from receiving mass-save subsidies. It also ends gas bill discounts for moderate-income customers. This is a cruel move at a time when gas bills are rising dramatically, and the Trump administration is level-funding home heating assistance.

However, the bill leaves untouched the GCEP program for replacing gas pipelines, a costly gas company boondoggle that added near $1 billion to our gas bill last year Charging them as distribution charges. Please join other communities and organizations in sending a clear message to the legislature We need real action on out of control utility costs, not attacks on the commitments that are saving us money, growing the local economy, and putting the brakes on climate change. Thank you. Thank you.

Our next speaker. Before we go to Mr. Williamson, Madam Clerk.

Mayor Simmons. Present.

Thank you. Our next speaker is James Williamson. James, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Can you hear me?

We can, please go ahead.

Thank you. Well, first of all, on tonight's only policy order, interestingly, I happened to notice an editorial in a publication that is not exactly my go-to newspaper for political opinions on Friday's Wall Street Journal. There was an editorial, the headline for which was, Climate Reality Hits Nantucket. Of course, Nantucket is the only part of Massachusetts that people on Wall Street are familiar with, evidently. and in this, in the editorial, I'll just read us just a short piece from it. About 80% of Massachusetts's electricity is generated by natural gas and about half of households also rely on gas for heating.

Pipeline constraints and the 1920 Jones Act mean the state must import liquefied natural gas from abroad at high prices during the winter. Massachusetts' wholesale gas prices are 239% of the national average, and its residential electricity rates are 72% higher than in the rest of the country. and then it goes on to talk about the reduction in subsidies and the tax bill that ended subsidies specifically for electric vehicles. I just think it's important to speak to this aspect of CUSAC's bill because it's certainly being presented as if It's addressing what is now a fantasy. In fact, the editorial uses that language.

The fantasy that we're going to be able to reach these emissions goals. Now, So anyway, on the thing I'm most interested in talking about, which is my favorite topic, which is enforcement of rules for bicyclists, the $65,000 in the manager's agenda for enforcement It mentions both bicycling and pedestrians, I believe. As far as I'm concerned and as far as many of my neighbors are concerned, it's really enforcement of rules for bicyclists, that's the missing link in this whole landscape of safety for everybody. But I think what's missing is really safety For pedestrians in this city, specifically from the behavior of bicyclists. And I'd just like to know what exactly is this $65,000 going to be spent for?

And I think we deserve to know. And is it going to help us, the beleaguered pedestrians who are getting run over by bicyclists? And by the way, I think 10% of all money, well, that's the end of my time.

Our next speaker is Heather Hoffman. Heather, you have three minutes. Please go ahead.

Hello, Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street. First off, I will just note that the first speaker pointed out that it appears that the wrong bill number appears in your soul. Policy Order. So I do hope that you will fix that. The one that is listed actually has to do with making it easier to get solar panels. With respect to enforcement, I have to say that I always find the notion of anyone enforcing anything in Massachusetts pretty funny. Every once in a while, I have seen traffic enforcement, but it's rare. And I would love to see it. I would love to see

Pedestrians considered to be users of our sidewalks, not to mention our roads from time to time. I would love to have a hearing about the Thank you for joining us. longer than I care to remember. And the worst part of it is that everything is arranged for the cars and pedestrians and bicyclists are supposed to make do. pedestrians are supposed to cross the street a whole bunch of times because the city thinks that it's cool to have both sides of the street have construction going on at the same time. I hope that that's something that'll get looked at.

With respect to the The little honor roll of litigation where the city pats itself on the back for being so active against the maladministration in Washington. That's lovely. But how about just a little talk about state litigation? Is there litigation against the city? What's it about? Is the city suing anybody in state court? What's it about? I would love to know, because the city is pretty close-mouthed about any of that, and my observation is that its behavior is pretty heinous. With respect to the urban forest master plan, I had to laugh when I read on the second page of the report.

I am a firm believer that our plans are useless if we are not constantly reviewing efforts and hitting goals. Really? Really? Mostly we ignore them, especially this one, and especially the Committee on Public Planning.

Thank you. Mr. Chair, that is all that we're signed up to speak.

Thank you. We will leave public comment sign up open until 6 p.m. There is no submission of the record. There are no reconsiderations. We move on to the city manager's agenda pleasure of the council.

Vice Mayor.

Councilor Nolan.

Number one.

Pleasure of the council. Councilor Zusy. Two. Anything further? On the balance, roll call.

Councilor Azeem? Yes. Yes, Vice Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes, Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes, Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We now move back. Wolfman.

Apologies. Can I do a suspension of the rules? I actually wanted to pull number six.

Sure. Wilson asks for unanimous consent to the suspension of the rules to pull city manager agenda item number six, seeing no objection. Item six was pulled. We now move back to number one, a communication transmitted from Yan Wang, city manager, relative to a federal update, including an update on relevant court cases. Pulled by Councilor Nolan.

Thank you, Chair McGovern. I just wanted to understand if there's any update that would be good for the city to know. So I pulled this agenda item and there was also a question raised of there's and Amicus brief that's being sent out and whether the city has afforded that to our city solicitor early today to see if that was the kind of thing that The council would do, or the city manager would do, it's a relevant case. I'm not sure if it's on there, but I'm happy to yield.

Mr.

Manager? Through you, Vice Mayor. Sure, why don't we, I can maybe provide an update and then we can talk about the litigation tracker and the amicus brief. So thank you all. I just wanted to start and follow up on some of the snap conversations that we were having. Thank you again to this council for the swift action that we were able to take. on the cutoff of SNAP benefits as a result of the government shutdown. I'm really grateful to the City Council for the desire to take action and especially in the face of a lot of uncertainty. I'm also so appreciative again to the Cambridge Community Foundation for their partnership and the funding that they provided through the urgent needs fund. Thank you as well to CEOC, which has been running the operations and coordination of much of this work. Tina Alou and Rachel Plummer and all their staff have really ensured that not only are we giving out Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. that they're eligible for that they're getting enrolled. And so we really use this also as an opportunity for outreach and engagement. Thank you as well to the Cambridge Housing Authority, the Cambridge Public Schools, the Council on Aging for all of their partnerships. for the Cambridge Food Pantry Network, and all of the people that are doing work every day, and Food for Free that's been a huge partner, as well as Spoonfuls in providing a lot of that distribution. Thus far we've distributed a little over 1,500 gift cards through the Cambridge Public Schools and 230 to seniors and disabled individuals. We have 19 outreach sessions scheduled at senior buildings this week and we will be at the North Cambridge Senior Center tomorrow. and at the Central Square Senior Center this Friday. A lot of those details are posted and we've been doing a lot to communicate to folks about these distribution points.

While ultimately the government reopened fairly quickly, we want to recognize that there was a lot of uncertainty and potential for really significant harm to some of the most vulnerable people in our community. and I really believe the actions that we took have no regrets. There is continued federal actions that are undermining the food safety safety net and there is more work that we'll need to do to support access to food for so many families and individuals in our community. I think that this was just great news in terms of responding to a crisis. Really appreciate the way that we were able to come together and there's more work to be done. I unfortunately only have more bad news for us to discuss. and I wanted to follow up on some of the news that's come out on HUD policy changes. I will say that in the meeting that we had internally today, with our housing and homelessness team and the Cambridge Housing Authority. The only words I could come up with are beyond depressing.

We've been talking about some of the federal funding cuts to housing and homelessness since the spring, and last Wednesday, November 12th, HUD produced a 128-page notice regarding the $4 billion Continuum of Care program which is the main source of federal funding for homelessness. These cuts are much deeper than expected and being implemented much faster than expected. Federal continuum of care funding has focused on a housing first approach since 2009. And so for more than 15 years, the vast majority of dollars have gone toward housing and supportive services to transition people out of homelessness and into housing. The current Continuum of Care program houses about 170,000 people across the country. In prior grant years, so for much of this program, 90% of annual appropriations are carried over year to year to guarantee stability, which makes sense since most of the money is going toward housing costs.

HUD is now planning to cut this number to 30%, so from 90% guaranteed to 30%, with 70% of the total funding moving toward other areas, including transitional housing, which is still to be defined fully, and Street Outreach focused on removing encampments, partnerships with the police, those kinds of initiatives. In addition, there are a number of grant restrictions and conditions that we are still assessing, but there are likely to be many that are challenging for us to accept or impossible for us to meet. For instance, there is language that gives HUD the right to reject applicants that previously embraced policies that were in past grant periods a requirement to receive funding. These especially related to provisions on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Again, these are conditions that previously you had to have as part of your grant proposal in order to receive funding, and now if you did, HUD is saying that it allows them to take money away.

The timing is also very challenging since in order to participate in future funding, we need to be kicking off grant processes in the next 30 days, all in the face of changing an uncertain policy. So how does this affect Cambridge? So we operate our own continuum of care and currently receive $6.4 million a year in federal grant money from HUD. Our estimate is that we may only retain 30% of this which would be a cut of 4.6 million dollars. Our current program houses about 214 households and we have a demonstrated retention rate of 96 to 97%, which means very few people who transition out of homelessness are ending up back on the streets. So this is an amazing program that's been incredibly successful. And I just want to call out the amazing work that Liz Menders does on Continuum of Care. She has managed this grant program and all of the incredible partnerships that we have with service providers.

for so many years and through all of the turmoil of this past year, she has been tracking grant conditions, policies, funding streams, and her and her team have been doing an incredible job. I know that this last week has weighed incredibly heavily on them and so many of the people in the city that have dedicated their careers and their lives to fighting homelessness. I also wanted to call out the emergency housing vouchers program which isn't getting a lot of press right now but this was a program that started in 2021 and was funded with a one-time allocation of $5 billion to house 70,000 people across the country. This program and sort of as the months pass, it is becoming clear that it's very unlikely to receive any further funding and is also at risk. In Cambridge, we're currently housing 129 households and receiving about $3.8 million per year through the Cambridge Housing Authority, which has been an amazing partner in administering this program.

While not all of these funding streams are on the same schedule and the timelines are not exact, the expectation is most of the funding will be cut off in the August to October 2026 time period, so essentially a little bit into FY27. and it will likely affect somewhere between 250 to 300 households. We're still working through different ways to respond. This is all becoming more clear as some of the policy details are being released. and we'll work closely with a lot of the other continuum of cares, other municipalities in the state on next steps. We are also looking at legal avenues and there may be ways for us to challenge aspects of the new policy in court. Similar to SNAP, I also want to recognize that we have set aside funding that we could use to mitigate some of this gap, but also that even these two programs just by themselves far exceed the total amount that we have set aside.

There will be more discussions to come, but I wanted to flag that this will be a big area of focus and work in the coming weeks and months. and we will make sure to report back on a regular basis in terms of more that we learn and more that we would recommend in terms of actions that we might be able to take. Again, the timeline, we have both immediate actions that we need to take as a result of the very fast implementation timeline around these policy changes and then the Overall timeline in terms of when funding runs out is next, around late summer, early fall next year. So it's a lot to digest, but happy to take questions about this. And I know some questions also about amicus briefs and other litigation. Thank you all. Thank you, I think.

Councilor Nolan?

Yeah, I think I, I mean, I had heard intimations of this, but to have it be confirmed is quite stunning, and I'm just glad that all of our staff and our community is stepping up, and yet... I think the only question is what further can we do to help the city respond to this?

Pleasure to counsel, Councilor Siddiqui.

Thank you. Through you, yeah, I echo Councilor Nolan's sentiments. You know, I think thinking about litigation and this, you know, I think I From my end, please go forward with anything we can. You know, with Somerville, with Boston, with all the other In this state, I think it's the right thing to do as we navigate. In your conversations with, I think you said CHA. Is there anything you can share? Was it just more digesting it and then are other partners from the housing front going to be getting involved, the other nonprofits and so forth? That's just one question I had. Mr. Manager

Through you, Vice Mayor, I think still digesting. I think there's still a lot of questions in terms of a lot of the money that's being taken away from that guaranteed pool that went toward permanent supportive housing. It's being directed toward a number of different priority areas. I think we still have a lot of questions about what exactly those priority areas are and to what extent those are you know this is ultimately a competitive grant pool and so it's plausible that we could look at that and say there's and many more applications that we could make to try and put together some programs there. But I think it's hard to say whether those are ultimately programs that either we Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The challenge is also that there's a lot of pressure just as a result of the way the federal funding rules exist to at least be I think there's a lot of Siddiqui.

Thank you. And on the SNAP benefit piece, it's my understanding that the benefits will be paid out for December. The government is no longer shut down. which I think last week or whenever two weeks ago it was shut down and so I think at least there's a little bit of positivity there with that said we know how SNAP How recipients, as you've mentioned, the work requirements, there's a lot of changes too, and so people are getting less than they So I do think it's important and thank you to you and everyone involved in the effort in getting Those gift cards out, I think it does mean a lot to a lot of people that we are at least doing something and during this really hard time and so I think

I know there's, as you mentioned, there's a few more, there's events coming up where people can come and, you know, I think it's important to still continue in that effort because, as we know, anything could still change. So anyway, I'll yield. Thank you.

Thank you. Pleasure to counsel. Councilor Azeem.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was curious, you had given names and numbers for Cambridge. Do we know, like have a sense of how much this impacts the region, especially for homeless My expectation would be that if there's quite a lot of people that are ejected from their homes, it could have quite a big effect on how our cities feel.

Yes, I can follow up with more exact numbers. I think we do have those numbers and I think they are in the thousands, but I think we can follow up in terms of the total number. Azeem.

Thank you. Just two quick questions following up.

About 3,500 I think continuum of care in Massachusetts.

So do we have an expectation of what's going to happen to these 3,500 people?

Through you, Vice Chair, I don't think there's... I don't think we have answers right now. I think this is... This is what I think is really shocking to everybody and I think a lot of the media coverage has captured the sentiment well. I mean, within Cambridge, we're talking about hundreds. Within Massachusetts, it's thousands. And then it's almost 200,000 people across the country. And I think... One of the real challenges is it is a real, it's been amazing work to actually see this program roll out Get people into housing, keep them in housing, provide them services, and I think people are being really successful. And then there's not a lot of time, which is one of the challenges in terms of how to figure out where the next steps are going to be.

And I think the resource constraints are going to be really serious in terms of just how much money the federal government has access to versus how much state government or local government can backfill that.

Azeem.

Thank you. I guess just to close then, I would be curious to see what your recommendations are and then obviously We do have a stabilization fund. I would be willing to go further and try to support these programs as much as possible. It seems like particularly important, even if that means tougher conversations, but also It's such a big impact regionally that I wonder what the strategy is going to be across municipalities and hopefully that's an update that you guys can get us as well.

And through you, Vice Mayor, just final numbers. Thank you, Liz. Continuum of care, 3,800 households in Massachusetts. 1,550 emergency housing vouchers leased in Massachusetts.

Okay. Pleasure to counsel. Councilor Wilson.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. And through you to the city manager, thank you for the update. And I understand we are obviously dealing with and living in some really tough times that's going to have us be pushed and some ways to really think creatively about how we can help and support our neighbors. And as you already mentioned, My colleagues have already stated, you know, the food stamps, gift cards and stuff really was essential to so many families that I heard from over the last week, which they're really grateful for. In recognizing that the cutoff for the unhoused is going to be really detrimental to so many, I am curious, as we were talking about numbers for across the of the Commonwealth, what are our numbers here in Massachusetts?

And then as you all are continuing to have conversations, and you're thinking about kind of how the city may be able to step into or tap into a little bit of the stabilization dollars, where might we be with that? And then again, I understand that we're in some beginning We have phases there but is there a need for us to go back to some possibly to do like another appropriation just so that we can make that stabilization pot a little bit more healthier so that we can Tackle any needs that we may have during this fiscal year.

Through you, Vice Mayor, I think these will be the conversations we'll need to have. I think certainly this will all be essentially part of the FY27 budget conversation. What's going to be so challenging is just the scale of the total funding needed. I mean, when we look at the numbers in terms of what we could lose 70% of the Continuum of Care funding would be $4.6 million. Currently, the run rate for emergency housing vouchers is maybe about 3.8. So that's like about $8.5 million a year worth of funding. that's a lot more than we had even in the total amount that we had set aside for federal mitigation and that doesn't and again, this is sort of what I think is so depressing. That's just these two programs and doesn't get into,

If there's further action that we may need to take regarding anything else that is happening, certainly even as we talk about some of the impacts on SNAP, I know that one of the concerns, and I don't think we have specific numbers, and again, these are conversations that are still pretty early, but as of November 1, there's a whole number of families that have been essentially deemed ineligible for SNAP. And they will find out as they go through the recertification process. So a number of immigrants, even ones who are here legally are now no longer eligible for SNAP. and so I think there are going to be continued gaps in the safety net that are getting created by the federal government and certainly we're going to have to have a conversation about What are the actions that we can take? How do we support mitigating some of those impacts? And then the funding will be a big part of the conversation too. Councilor Wilson.

Thank you. And through you, Vice Mayor, I appreciate what you're saying, Mr. City Manager, and recognize that also the Also, the reminder that the recertification for the SNAP benefits will actually deem a lot of people who were eligible no longer eligible. So that just puts another layer of need and emergency in front of us basically. And so I think going back to my question in regards to maybe appropriating more dollars into the stabilization, while we go into a budget cycle for FY27, We're talking about right now during this fiscal year 26. I'm sorry, I don't know the math of what we have left in the stabilization, but I don't know if you could speak to what we have left and just how you may be thinking about... Well, I guess it's...

Just really thinking, understanding that you don't have all the information, but where are we right now with the stabilization dollars that we have already allocated, and might there be a need to actually add on additional dollars during this fiscal year before we get into Africa? Y27. Mr.

Manager.

Through you, Vice Mayor, we set aside $5 million. We have $3.75 million that we haven't appropriated. and I think the challenging piece will be whether we're ultimately thinking about one-time appropriations or ongoing operational funding. So especially for some of these housing programs, These are not one-time costs. And so we're ultimately talking not just about appropriating funding out of free cash, we're talking about building it into the budget. And so that gets us back into A conversation essentially about how we balance the budget, where the tax rate's gonna land, and how we ultimately manage all of our other expenses in relation to new programs. that could include municipal housing vouchers or different ways that we could try to pick up some of these, you know, some of this money that's disappearing. But we'd have to find space in the 27 budget for that.

That's Wills.

Thank you. I think that's enough information for now and I appreciate the sharing and the update of this report. And again, I think as you started off, this is very depressing and a lot of our families, a lot of individuals across our community and the Commonwealth across the nation are definitely going to be suffering deeply. And especially as we go into the winter months, the holidays and different things like that, this is where people are going to be stretched more and more thin. So if there are any areas in which we can be partnering with more and more of our neighbors, for example, just to plug, there's a turkey drive happening at the Cambridge Community Center right now. For anyone who needs turkey meals, all the fixings is happening now from 5 to 8 p.m. But just any other resources that we can possibly have and make sure that we're getting them out to our families.

and individuals, whether seniors or folks with disabilities, and those who are unhoused, just making sure that they have that information and all those resources. I'll yield. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Zuzi.

Thank you, Vice Mayor McGovern. Again, I just want to say this is very sobering news, and it's cruel. It's simply cruel. When our president is having great Gatsby parties at Mar-a-Lago and redoing the bathrooms and building a gilded ballroom, it just is crazy. Anyway, I just wanted to support everything that my colleagues have said. And I hope as part of this, I'll look forward to hearing back from you. I hope a review of existing services is part of this because it seems like we're going to need to have really even greater efficiencies as we deliver services going forward. And it does seem as they will want to engage the churches even more and the community as a whole. Thank you. I yield.

Councilor Nolan.

One more question on, this was sobering and we know it's fresh news and we don't know the impact. Is there anything we're getting inklings of that we may hear about in the next week or so? The Low Income Heating Program. There's so many other ways in which, do we have any inkling about whether there's more coming down the pike just to prepare us?

Mr.

Manager. Through you, Vice Mayor, I think nothing new on that. I think my understanding was LIHEAP was more a concern regarding the government shutdown and now that the government's opened, I think we are okay on that front.

I'm getting an assistant manager seminar if you want to.

Through you, Mr. Vice Chair, we are at the moment still operating in the same emergency place we were. And the question will be, there are a number of senators from states that are not typically been engaged in trying to get more resources to low-income communities. Individuals who are pushing hard for release of and expansion of low-income heating. We don't have information on that yet, but we should know more soon.

Well, there's certainly a lot I could say. But I do think, Mr. Manager, I know this is all still unfolding and relatively new, but I think you're hearing from all of us here that we want to make sure that we're We're trying to be as flexible as we can to figure out a way to maybe pack some of this together. It might be budget increases. It might be free cash. It might be some other avenues. We're going to have to try to find a way forward. We cannot unhouse people. Everything, every outcome is better when you have a roof over your head and you have a place to live.

And so, you know, this is beyond, it's beyond cruel, you know, as you said, Councilor Zuzina. Thank you. Thank you. As this unfolds, I think we're going to have to really continue to have regular updates as you know and really figure out how to do this. I hope we're going to involve also some of the providers. as well as this unfolds more and making sure that we're talking with them because they're also going to be on the front lines with folks who are going to be impacted by this directly. and so including them in the conversation I think would be important. Speaking for myself, I think this is one of those things where This rises to the top of the priorities for me and I think for a lot of us because, you know,

We can't take people's housing away and we can't. It's one thing if the president wants to be cruel, we can't be part of that, right? So we've got to figure out a way forward. So I guess thank you for letting us know. Don't kill the messenger. But I am also optimistic that We do find a way in this city in most cases to, if we can't totally solve the problem, to soften the blow, and I'm sure we will do that. In this case, in this way as well, because we're committed to that. Councilor Nolan?

If we're done with this conversation, through you, Vice Mayor, I had wanted an update on some of the amicus brief, and there was an amicus brief that I believe the Council received I did about whether we should file an amicus on behalf of city officials across the country in U.S. versus city of Boston, and this is about sanctuary policies for cities, and I know the solicitor might have some update on that, and I'm just curious if we could get that.

Madam Solicitor.

Thank you. Through you, Mr. Vice Mayor. So we are aware of the brief in the United States versus Boston, which is a challenge by the federal government to Boston sanctuary policies. I've already... been in touch with the city manager. We are planning on signing on to that. We received the draft brief today and are reviewing it, and we'll be back in touch with the drafters who are out of a and the Georgetown Law Office. And then speaking generally, To the point that Councillor Nolan raised, that this may have been sent to councillors as well, is I think it does come up often that the groups behind different briefs reach out to officials, elected officials, as well as the city administration. And Please feel free to forward to me to make sure we're aware of those opportunities.

And then they also present to each of you an opportunity in those instances to sign on individually in your individual capacity as a city councillor. And then working with the city manager We've been signing on to a number of briefs since January and have been committed to using the weight of the city to help in these causes when we can and show that the city has a real interest and concern and is willing to participate in these briefs. You know, most recently I had The council know a few updates. We had quickly worked with the Public Rights Project to join the amicus brief in the Rhode Island SNAP

and so forth. factual information that the drafters have used. And so in that snap case, we actually had talked about what Council he was doing here to deal with the cutoff of SNAP benefits and how this council had diverted resources to go to the community to help try to make up for the position that the community is in without receiving SNAP benefits. So we've been trying to help out in a variety of contexts. We've also recently signed on to briefs in support of temporary protected status, also a commercial driver's license case that was limiting who's eligible for commercial driver's license based on immigration status.

So anything that any of you become aware of that you aren't sure that we are aware of, we welcome hearing from you to make sure that we can participate as much as possible.

I'm just grateful for that update and grateful for the work of the department and very glad that you are filing the amicus brief. It's really important the weight of the city is behind those decisions. Thank you. I yield.

Nothing further on a motion by Councilor Nolan to place city manager agenda item number one on file. Roll call.

Azeem, Yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, Yes, Councilor Nolan, Yes, Councilor Siddiqui, Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Absent, Councilor Toner, Absent, Councilor Wilson, Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes, Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

Before we go on to city manager agenda item number two on a motion by Councilor Wilson to close public comment, roll call.

Azeem, yes, yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, yes, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Siddiqui, yes, yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, absent, Councilor Toner, Absent. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Yes. You have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We now move on to City Manager Agenda Item Number 2, Transmitting Communication from Eon Wong, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of a grant received from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, Municipal Road Safety Program, in the amount of $64,974. Funds will be used to support high visibility traffic education and enforcement throughout the city. This was polled by Councilor Zusy. Councilor Zusy, you have the floor.

Yeah, thank you so much, Vice Mayor. This is, it's great news that we received these funds. So again, just as I also want to know how these funds will be used. And then I just had a comment overall about these agenda items about payments out from grants that have been received. I feel as though they're confusing because I guess the city is always applying for grants and we receive them, which is absolutely fantastic. But can we anticipate receiving funds? Are these all funds that we receive every year? And I guess sometimes when it comes to funding about human service programs, especially what we really want to know is if money isn't coming in, not that money's coming in again. I mean, I wish as we were hearing about money coming in,

There was some like, we were anticipating receiving this money, or I wish there was a flag if we're worried about receiving this money. I wish the finances were laid out in a way that was more clear to us as to whether we should be surprised, whether we should be... responding at all or not. But anyway, I'm thrilled you got this grant, Commissioner Ello, and would love to know how these funds are going to be used as we all know, as I've canvassed In 23 and 25, a lack of rule following and a lack of enforcement has been the comment I've heard the most all over the city. So eager to hear what you're planning on doing. Thank you.

Through you, Vice Mayor, to Councilor Zusy. I also want to add, we do have Lieutenant Phil McDavitt on the line who's going to help me answer some questions. So thank you for the question, Councilor Zusy. We've actually had 12 campaigns. So this money is actually already spent. It was spent this year. and we've done six campaigns involving crosswalk violations, stop sign, red light violations, obstructing bike lane violations, and improper turns. And then we've done another six campaigns Two for impaired operation, one distracted driving, one clicker ticket, and two speeding campaigns. So it's around the city. And I don't know if you want to drill down any further with that. So we focus in, and the lieutenant has data. We deploy our resources.

according to the data and as far as tickets goes there's not a set number that we have to issue but we are out there issuing tickets for the issues that we have in the city and it's all based on data.

Okay, through you again, Vice Mayor. So what is a campaign? Because it seems like this should be the police department's ongoing work to enforce the rules.

Yes. It is part of our ongoing work, and then there are grant campaigns because of, and I'm going to let Phil talk more specifically about how these grant campaigns, because he manages them. Lieutenant McDavid, are you on?

Yep, can you hear me?

Yes, loud and clear.

Okay, so these funds will be used to supplement the work that we're already doing. It allows the traffic unit to focus without being called for services, and it also doesn't pull officers off the street either. So, for example, our night guys can come in and do it, when the day shift is working and they can cover structure fires while the night guys focus on whatever the campaign is. The Office of Grants and Research are the ones that tell us what the goal should be for that month. So I believe the first one up is Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety, then there's the Drive Sober Get Pulled Over campaigns, Click It or Ticket, Distracted Driving. But we're not locked into just those offenses when doing it. We can still cite any violation that we see on the road. But we just should be out there primarily focusing on those violations when we're out there participating in utilizing these funds.

Yeah, thank you, through you, Vice Mayor. So, again, it just seems like this should be, when I thought you were talking about campaigns, I thought it was like a PR campaign, because I've been encouraging on the blue bike. Stations, that there be things having to do with the rules of the road and the importance of following the rules of the road. So it's great you've got this supplemental money to do this work, but I can't impress Thank you very much. Not the State House, the City Hall door. There's that, remember there's that inscription that Councilor Nolan didn't like because it talks about men but

But it's talking about the importance like there's no point in having rules unless you're going to enforce the rules. So I think it's absolutely critical that we make an extra effort to enforce rules. Thank you so much. I am thrilled we got these funds and I thank you for your work. and I yield.

Pleasure of the council. Councilor Siddiqui.

Thank you. I had a kind of a similar question to Councilor Zusy in that when I first read this I said, oh, you know, where is this happening? and I think the information you provided, Commissioner, was really helpful. Is that somewhere accessible?

Madam Commissioner.

I'm gonna look at Phil. Do we have any of this public? So the... Where we're doing our enforcement?

Is that what you're looking for? Unsure if we put it on the social media, but we do have the dashboard which shows the citation data that we provide.

You looking for more information on location?

No, I think through you, Vice Mayor, to Councilor Zuzi's point, I think we do get questions around enforcement and being able to point, oh, actually, Here's where you can go and here's where it's happening is really helpful. And so having that dashboard, I know where it is. I think I can definitely find it. But just having a little bit more information is always helpful. And my understanding, just to touch back on the question, is that these are new funds that are going to be used.

No, these are funds that were already used, correct, Phil?

So we participated in this grant last year and used those funds. We have been given the grant again. These will be new funds for fiscal year 26.

Just wanted to clarify, because it did say funds will be used, so this is a new grant, and I think in the future, if it would be helpful... I think we were doing is at some point like this is a reoccurring grant like even a sentence in the city managers the paragraph this is a reoccurring grant you know this is what we've done with it in the past I think that could solve some of the, just further query that we may have. Anyway, that's all I'll say. Thanks so much.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, and through you, I just want to echo some of my colleagues in terms of the work, right, and making sure that we are doing the most and the best that we can to ensure that our streets are safe for all. and so while you all are doing this work and it's kind of based on data is it what kind of data are you all looking at is it crash reports is it calls for you know People that are speeding, like what is the data that you all are actually following?

So we do look at, and I actually needed to correct that. So we do look at crash data and, you know, deploy our officers to high impact locations. But I also want to add, we listen to what our community members say. So when Councilor Zusy sends me an email and says, were having an issue at this intersection. I call Phil. Phil will deploy resources. So that's another way that we do it. So, yeah.

Councilor Wilson.

Great, okay, thank you. And as you said, this work has already started, correct? Or is it going to be kicking off?

Yes, yes. This grant is already, Phil, why don't you just talk about this grant and when the next one will start, right? This grant is done.

We're doing motor vehicle enforcement. which is what this grant does. So we are doing that work, but we have not utilized these funds yet until the city council approves them, then we can start utilizing. But we have had this grant for the past three years, and I'm thankful to the council for approving them, and hopefully we can get them approved again.

Wilson.

Yes, thank you, thank you, and yeah, it's grant funding, so definitely, I mean, I'm signing on to approve it. All right, thank you, I yield.

Councilor Nolan.

Thank you. Quickly, Vice Mayor, I agree with, it would be really good to just get a report on what the effectiveness, if we have a sense of how this is used. and also to the question of where it's deployed, it would be good to know if C-Click Fix is used as also a source of information about where it is that these kinds of reports are needed across the city.

Thank you. Councilor Zuzi mentioned also sort of the educational piece. I do think, and maybe this is something that the Transportation Committee can take up next term, I always thought that our job as a city in this area are three main things. It's providing safe infrastructure, it's providing enforcement, and it's providing education. But we know that the police can't be on every corner. and be everywhere. So it would like us to sort of think about some kind of public campaign, courtesy campaign. I was just on Friday, we were driving I was driving with my family down I always get Bow and Arrow Street confused driving down heading towards the river and it was a long line of cars going from Memorial Drive all the way up to Harvard Square nobody on a one-way street nobody could move Anywhere. And the guy behind me was just laying on his horn, laying on his horn, yelling at me to move.

And I had nowhere, literally nowhere to go. And he got out of his car, approached my window, banged my window, kicked my car, scared my kids. and it was, I mean, it wasn't, there was nothing for, you know, for me to do. And, you know, but there was obviously, there wasn't a police officer there because... They were doing other things, right? And so, you know, I do think that some of this is, you know, there's an enforcement piece we have to, you know, that we have to... that we have to do. We have to enforce the rules. But some of this is about people's behavior and how do we sort of create some sort of campaign or something to just get everybody to kind of take a breath and chill because you can't enforce everything because you just can't be everywhere. But I'm glad that we'll appropriate this money and it'll go to that.

But I do think this has to be part of a larger conversation because there's no excuse for doing things like that. Wilson.

I just wanted, Madam Commissioner, just for the record, just to clarify the pronunciation of your name, please. Elo? Elo. Thank you.

Okay. So the question comes on appropriation. approving the appropriation and placing the item on file. Moved by Councilor Zusy, roll call.

Azeem, Yes, Vice-Mayor McGovern, Yes, Councilor Nolan, Yes, Councilor Siddiqui, Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Absent, Councilor Toner, Absent, Councilor Wilson, Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes, Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We move on to City Manager agenda item number six. Transmitting communication from Yan Wang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $302,640, funded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Aging and Independence, to the Grant Fund Department of Human Services Programs Salary and Wages Account, $181,607. and to the Grant Fund Department of Human Services Programs, Other Ordinary Maintenance Account, $106,033. Wilson, and to the Grant Fund Department of Human Services Program Travel and Training Account, $15,000. This was pulled by Councilor Wilson. Councilor Wilson, you have the floor.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, and through you. Hello. I just wanted to pull this because I know I've been talking to some people in the... Office of Aging, and just talking a little bit about some additional needs. And I know that this is for fiscal year 26. and not necessarily 27, but are there any new initiatives under this appropriation that we should be mindful of just recognizing our members of our community who are Aging are seeking additional services and needs and things like that. So if there's anything that you can share in terms of these dollars, which I know, again, it's formality for us to appropriate dollars during this time. but if there are any new initiatives for our seniors or those who are aging.

Assistant Manager Seminoff.

Through you. A couple of things. We've added more funding for food. We don't typically put food money in this appropriation, and we are working right now. I wouldn't say that this is an expansion or new program, but because of some again major cuts at the federal level in the Congregate Meals Program that's funded through Somerville Cambridge Elder Services. We are looking at the potential for cuts in the funding that we receive. And so we're using, we put funding, allocated some of the funding from this grant and that actually is designed both to potentially cover a portion of staff who previously has been covered by Somerville Cambridge Elder Services

and also to actually cover some of the food costs because we very much don't want to. reduce meals at the Senior Center because they serve an incredibly important both social and Health-related needs. The other thing that's in here, which many of you have talked about, There is some funding which relates to our work at the Russell Community and Youth Center, which we've expanded programming on a pilot basis on Thursdays and Fridays. And we will be looking at that again in January. And we have an activities assistant from the senior center who's been assigned to be able to be there to oversee the programming.

And then finally, we use this funding, which isn't really new, but it's to support additional instructors, to support the funding for medical rides, Wilson, and also to support in general some of the workings of both senior centers. Councilor Wilson.

Thank you, through you, Vice Mayor. Thank you for that update and that overview. Sounds like some amazing things that are happening. And unfortunately, we're, again, having to be creative with how we're using our dollars. Definitely making sure that we are providing the resources and the needs for those who are aging and are patrons of these spaces and are there frequently. I was able to visit the North Cambridge site Thank you so much for having me. dollars well spent for sure. And I look forward to hearing, you know, I know the Russell Youth and Community Center space just started. That pilot just started maybe, what, two weeks ago?

So look forward to getting some kind of update and hearing how things are going there. I yield. Thank you.

Pleasure to counsel.

Seeing none, no hands, on a motion by Councilor Wilson to approve the appropriation and place the matter on file, roll call.

Councilor Azeem. Yes. Vice-Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler is absent. Toner, absent, Councilor Wilson, yes, Councilor Zusy, yes, yes, Mayor Simmons, yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

Okay. We now move on to policy orders. There's one, I'm assuming, Councilor Nolan would like to pull that.

Yes, and also, if I could bear the indulgence, if this is not a long conversation, I actually wanted to I'd like to ask the city manager and Azeem Seminoff a question about the charter written item. So I think we can handle this and go to that next or suspend the rules and go to that next.

Why don't we suspend the rules and take the charter item up now because you never know whether it will be a long conversation or not. So on a motion by Councilor Nolan to move suspension of the rules to bring forward the charter right number one. on suspension, roll call.

Councilor Azeem? Yes. Yes. Vice-Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Absent. Councilor Toner? Absent. Councilor Wilson?

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Zusy. Yes. Yes, Mayor Simmons. Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

And I'm bringing forward charter right number one, roll call.

Councilor Azeem.

Yes.

Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Absent. Councilor Toner? Absent. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Yes, Councilor Zusy.

Yes.

Yes, Mayor Simmons. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

Charter right number one that the city managers requested to confer with the executive director of the Council on Aging and other relevant city departments to explore the feasibility of creating a dedicated position or function focused on triaging and directing senior residents to appropriate services and supports. I believe this was filed by Mayor Simmons. It was the chart. Councilor Nolan exercised her charter right. Councilor Nolan.

Thank you. I really appreciate this policy order which identifies that we need to make sure that we're providing services to our seniors. What I would propose is that we refer it to either the Committee on Civic Unity or Human Services for further discussion given that We are providing, I think, a lot of services and I just thought it would be good to hear. My question is, is there a way to fold the intent of this policy order into existing services and would it be useful to just have a further discussion on this type of matter and what services are already being provided and how it is that we might provide them in a more efficient or effective way through either talking across the various departments that are providing services and or if that might mean in the future additional resources I just think it would be useful to have those conversations and would like to hear from city staff if that makes sense

Just before we hear from the city staff, but just in terms of referring this to a committee, I know human services, Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What gets carried over and what doesn't get carried over, and that's a whole other conversation.

So it might be then civic unity, if that makes more sense.

Yeah.

I will turn it to, does the city understand the question or what Councilor Nolan is looking for? Do you need to, Councilor Nolan, just repeat it.

Yes, I think this bears discussion about how this fits into one, our current structure and also given What we've just heard about the real constraints on a budget, if this would lead to an additional position, I think we need to discuss how that fits into all of the discussions that are being held. It's not clear whether that would be in the intent of this or whether it would be an initiative that would I also know that we are trying very much to do that within the constraints of our existing structure. So if that makes sense for... whether we think this is the kind of thing that can be handled within the existing structure.

Madam Mayor, I'll go to you in a second. I guess the question is how are you understanding this? I'm reading it as explore the feasibility so that I would assume that what that means is that if this passes, something will eventually come back to us about Is this, you know, the feasibility of doing this and what it would cost and everything else and maybe then go to a committee to discuss whether or not we should do it. But how do you understand this proposal? Madam Mayor.

Thank you. As the co-sponsor of the motion, I thank you for the opportunity to at least explain where this is going. And it's very self-explanatory. So my colleague is asking the staff to come up with, well, is this feasible? Should we do this or not? And thank you for your inquiry. But that's the whole basis of the policy order. Is this something that we could, should do? And it's very self-explanatory in the preamble where it says the feasibility doesn't ask us to spend any money. It says, can we have a conversation? about creating a position or a function focused on triaging and directing our residents to the appropriate services and support.

The reason why this is put forward is as someone who meets with the senior community on a regular basis, A number of things have come up. The whole problem around scams, which is getting worse every day. Services, we have a wonderful array of services. You're very correct, Councilor Nolan. But some of our seniors don't know how to get services. to those services and so if you don't know how to access those services it's almost as though they don't exist and Another piece of that is for our seniors that live independently, age in place, which we're really trying to encourage, is giving them a way to get that. and information from our senior center so that they can continue to lead age in place. So where I hear my colleagues saying, can it go to a committee first?

I follow what you're saying, Vice Mayor, which is let's adopt the policy order which is budget neutral. It says hire someone Or is it about redirecting someone who's already doing some job that's similar? to make sure that this function happens so people in our senior community can take advantage of the rich resources that we provide, which they're going to need even more as the Washington continues to cut back on services. So this may be budget neutral. It may be a reallocation of resources or a reallocation of someone's position to make sure that there's one person that you can call, I can call, Patty Nolan. And Patty Nolan can tell me, you know, this is where you go to do this.

Oh, you should come in and have this. So it's really not trying to spend money because no one pays more attention. than I about our dollars given What we're experiencing and how much worse it's going to get. So I think it puts the staff in a difficult position trying to defend it when it easily just asks Is this possible? Are we using our resources in a way that our seniors are able to access and get the information they need So that they can enjoy our city, so they can age in place, so they can enjoy the center and the expansion of our centers. So that's all that it asks. And so this ask, in my opinion, in some ways puts the cart before the horse. I would respectfully ask, if the council is so inclined to support the policy order that, by the way, Councilor Zusy was added to.

And Councilor Zusy and I have been spending a lot of time trying to make sure that our senior services are meeting the needs of our seniors. So I want to just say again, this is not asking for a position per se. It is asking to say, do we need someone to do this? And if we do... Is it a reallocation, a redirection, or is it a stand-alone position? So the opportunity that we're asking for through this policy order is to look at that. I yield the floor.

Just a quick housekeeping. The clerk just informed me that Councilor Zusy was not officially added to the policy order last time because the charter rate was enacted first. So if you want to be added, we'll add you now.

Please do. I actually, I think it was a mistake because I was added because it was an omission that I wasn't on the original Policy Order. So please, do add me.

The clerk's shaking her head, so I'm going to go with her, but we'll just do it now to be sure. Okay, so the question, I guess, for the city is, what do you think we should be doing with this tonight?

Through you, Mr. Vice Chair, we would be, if the Council passes this order, we would be happy to respond to the order and at that point the Council can decide whether it wants to refer it to a committee or something else.

I mean, I would think in general that where I do agree, Councilor Nolan, is I think in general any policy order, you know, for the future going into this year where we talk about potentially adding a position if something comes back If a report comes back from the city saying, yes, we could have this position, that we should then refer it to the finance committee or somewhere else given our budget constraints so that we're not just doing all these one-off additions. But given that this doesn't isn't asking necessarily for a position and is budget neutral. It seems like we could, you know, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Councilor Zusy.

Yeah, thank you, Vice Mayor McGovern. Yeah, I just wanted to say, so this policy order, grew out of, we've actually had, we had one official civic unity meeting focused on the needs of the elders, and then we've had two smaller meetings since, and we're about to have a third, right, because there has been An identified need from all the service providers for someone that guides, connects elders to services and that is a navigator. So that person might be at the senior center or it might be someone that goes from senior housing to senior housing. But anyway, I support the intent of this policy order. Again, which builds on a lot of conversations with senior providers and addresses a real need.

And I do think it's... and what it asks is that the city manager and his staff look into making sure that we do a better job providing resources to seniors. So I think that that's the intent of this policy order. So I hope we can approve it tonight with me added to it. because it certainly will serve a real need, a very clearly defined need within the city. And we don't know if it's with the new position or not with the new position or reallocating staff from one place to another place. but it does address a real need that we've discussed over hours of conversations with elder service providers. Thank you and I yield. So I will support this.

Thanks. Given the conversation that this is budget neutral, if that's very clear, because the language of it was not clear to me when I read it. It said explore the feasibility of creating a dedicated position, but since as Simmons, and Councilor Zusy asserted the intent is to be budget neutral and to provide a way for providing services in a more coordinated fashion than under those circumstances. I can support it, and as Azeem Seminoff said, this would be something they could respond to in a way that will ensure that these needs get met.

Okay, so let's, if there's nothing further, let's take care of the housekeeping and on a motion by Councilor Simmons to add Councilor Zusy, roll call.

Azeem, yes, yes, Vice-Mayor McGovern, yes, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Siddiqui, yes, yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, absent, Councilor Toner, absent, Councilor Wilson, absent, Yes, Councilor Zusy?

Yes.

Yes, Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

And on a motion by Mayor Simmons to adopt as amended.

Azeem, yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, yes, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Siddiqui, yes, yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, absent, Councilor Toner, absent, Councilor Wilson, Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

Okay. We now move back to policy orders. There is one that the Cambridge City Council go on record. I'm going to read. I understand that maybe the house number is off, is incorrect, but I'm going to read it as it's written. that the Cambridge City Council go on record in opposition of House 3469 as reported out of committee this week sponsored by Mark Cusack, which would drastically undermine the Commonwealth's climate goals and would undermine its own efforts to address energy affordability facing households and businesses in Cambridge and statewide. This was filed by Councilor Nolan. Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Councilor Siddiqui, pulled by Councilor Nolan. You have the floor.

Thank you, Vice-Mayor McGovern. Yes, to clarify, the original bill number was correct when this policy order was written. but it was subsequently changed. So one of the edits that we're proposing, there are a few different edits based on what happened in the State House over the last few days. is to do the current bill number and just so people know it may change further again because it's now in the Baileywick of the House Ways and Means Committee, which the three edits that we were proposed making is to note that it was moved forward to the House from the House TUE Committee and reviewed by the House Committee on Ways and Means. And to correct, the current bill number is actually H4744, not H3469, which is in the first order.

and that therefore the last ordered should also direct the city clerk to forward a copy of the resolution to not only the Joint Committee on Transportation, Utilities and Energy to Mark Cusack, but also the Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means. Hot off the press two hours ago, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee noted that they were not going to take this up in the next couple days because there has been such concern about this bill. However, it is expected to be taken up in a couple weeks. and there's a lot wrong with this bill. It really throws back the entire, much of the climate work in the Commonwealth back years and years, but the reason it is particularly challenging for Cambridge is one of the rollbacks as we heard in public comment of the Mass Save program, which would take $500 million out of it. Cambridge is one of 10 communities across the Commonwealth that is a fossil fuel-free pilot, and it forbids those communities from actually accessing Mass Save incentives.

which is again completely counter to having the fossil fuel pilot because the whole idea was let's see if people are going to build if they are required to do all electric and it's not an even playing field if people who are considering building in Cambridge can't even access mass save. So that is one of the... It was called Section 94. It was in the bill. It would have been devastating, I think, for Cambridge and the other nine communities that are part of the fossil fuel-free pilot. So not only is this not good for affordability, it's not good for... The economy, because all of the climate work that the state is doing is actually really good for the economy, but it's specifically for Cambridge would harm us individually. We don't know where this is going to go in the State House, but I think standing up for the City Council as a whole, standing up would be a really positive move forward for this to let them know that we really do not support this. Those committees, I think, are online, and if anyone else wants to speak to it.

So before we go on to any other discussion, let's just get the cleanest version in front of us. So any conversation on the amendments? None. On the amendments as proposed, roll call.

Councillor Azeem. Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Absent. Councilor Toner? Absent. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Mayor Simmons?

She said yes.

I didn't hear. You have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent. Any discussion?

This might be one of those times where we all join. So it comes from the whole council, although Councilor Toner's not here, but it would come from eight of us. Does anybody have an issue with not wanting to be on now? Wilson, Councilor Zusy, Mayor Simmons, myself, Councilor Azeem. He's already on it.

Azeem, yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Siddiqui, yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, absent, Councilor Toner, absent, Councilor Wilson, Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Mayor Simmons?

Yes.

Yes. And you have seven members recording the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

On the order as amended. Roll call. Councilor Azeem.

Yes, Vice Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes, Councilor Nolan? Yes. Yes, Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Absent. Councilor Toner? Absent. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes, Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We move on to applications and petitions. There are none. Communications on a motion by Councilor Wilson to accept the 39 communications and place on file. Roll call.

Azeem, Vice Mayor McGovern, Yes, Councilor Nolan, Yes, Councilor Siddiqui, Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Absent, Councilor Toner, Absent, Councilor Wilson, Yes, Councilor Zusy, Yes, Mayor Simmons, Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We now move on to resolutions. There are four. Does anyone wish to pull any of the resolutions? Hearing none, on a motion by Councilor Wilson to adopt all four resolutions, making unanimous upon adoption, roll call. Councilor Azeem? Yes.

Yes, Vice-Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes, Councilor Nolan?

Yes.

Yes. Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Absent. Councilor Toner? Absent. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We now move on to committee reports. There are two, one from the Human Services and Veterans Committee, one from Health and Environment. Does anyone wish to pull either of these? On accepting and placing on file, one and two, roll call.

Azeem, yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, yes, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Siddiqui, yes, yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, absent, Councilor Toner, absent, Councilor Wilson, yes, Yes, Councilor Zusy? Yes. Yes, Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

We now move to communications and reports from other city officers. There is one on a motion by Councilor Zusy to place on file.

Wilson, Sieniewicz, Simmons, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Tan, Toner, Watkins, Yes. Yes. And you have seven members recording the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

All right. We now move on. I believe there is one late resolution on suspension. Roll call.

Azeem, yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, yes, Councilor Nolan, yes, Councilor Siddiqui, yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, absent, Councilor Toner, absent, Councilor Wilson, yes, Yes, Councilor Zusy. Yes. Yes, Mayor Simmons. Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recording the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

I'm bringing forward the late resolution. Do we need a separate roll call?

Yeah.

Roll call.

Azeem, McGovern, Nolan, Siddiqui, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Tan, Toner, Wilson, Zusy, Mayor Simmons, Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

This is a late resolution by Mayor Simmons acknowledging the passing of Karen Moore. Mayor Simmons, do you wish to comment?

No, I think it's self-explained, sorry. And I would like my colleagues to unanimously adopt it.

On a motion by Mayor Simmons to adopt the late resolution making unanimous upon adoption, roll call.

Azeem, Yes, Vice Mayor McGovern, Yes, Councilor Nolan, Yes, Councilor Siddiqui, Yes, Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Absent, Councilor Toner, Absent, Vice, I'm sorry, Councilor Wilson, Yes, Councilor Zusy, Yes, Mayor Simmons, Yes. Yes, and you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent.

Any late policy orders, Madam Clerk? I do not have any. Announcements?

Mr. Chair?

Mayor Simms.

Any announcements?

Councilor Zusy?

There's a meeting on Thursday at CRLS about our urban forest master plan, 6 to 8 p.m.

Okay. Any others? No. Councillor Siddiqui?

Not again an announcement, but a question. Do we have a regular city council meeting on December 1st, or is it a roundtable?

As of right now, it is scheduled as a regular meeting.

Thank you.

No other announcements? On a motion by Councilor Nolan to adjourn, roll call.

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

Councilor Nolan?

Yes. Councilor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Absent. Councilor Toner? Absent. Councilor Wilson? Yes. Yes. Councilor Zusy?

Yes.

Yes. Mayor Simmons? Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative and two recorded as absent. Thank you, everyone. Good night. Thank you.