Focus on Development

Development, university expansion, and the skyrocketing costs of housing are destabilizing our neighborhoods and changing the character of the city. I am working to counter the destructive effects of these trends, and to create a regulatory and policy framework that allows expansion only when it benefits and protects the surrounding community.

Too often, neighborhoods find themselves on the defensive, reacting to institutional development proposals with too little time and information. I am committed to ensuring that Cambridge residents have the time and resources they need to help plan and shape development in their neighborhoods.

As Co-Chair of the Ordinance Committee, I fought to protect the Riverside neighborhood. I listened to the concerns and goals of Riverside neighbors, and worked tirelessly to complete a zoning process that achieved neighborhood objectives and was able to get votes needed for passage.

Since taking office in 2001, I have sponsored or co-sponsored initiatives that:

• Support neighborhood downzoning efforts. (One of his most successful endeavors was working with the Tobin-Danehy community to downzone their neighborhood to prevent a new development from overwhelming them.)
• Promote affordable housing by ensuring the maximum amount - 80% - of Community Preservation funds is earmarked for housing.
• Called on the Community Development Department (CDD) to assist the Agassiz Neighborhood with resources and assistance in negotiating with Harvard and Lesley.
• Ensured that the CDD raised neighborhood concerns to bidders for the Air Rights at the Porter Square MBTA station.
• Rezoned all the former-MDC land in Cambridge as open space in preparation of taking them over as parks.

I support:

• Requiring full compliance with "Green Building Standards" (LEED) for new or renovated city buildings, and in any construction requiring a variance or special permit.
• Improving traffic and parking policy. I led the charge against truck traffic, and continue to work to implement an effective truck ban and a crackdown on commercial vehicle scofflaws.
• Increasing the number of trees in Cambridge by investing more in both planting and maintenance while creating strong incentives for owners of trees on private land to maintain tree cover.
• Increasing maintenance for city’s parks and playgrounds.
• Converting the MDC Stables on the Lower Basin to a public access point for canoeing, kayaking, and crewing.