Notes from CNA Community Meetings
February Annual Meeting
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
7:30pm
Zoom
Meeting Agenda
1) Brief CNA announcements
- Year-in-Review
- Treasurer's Report
- Working Against Racism
2) Board elections
- Three seats are up for elections. Candidate bios are here.
- Anyone who lives, works, or has kids in schools in Cambridgeport is eligible to vote. (No prior participation required.) You must be present on the Zoom call to vote.
- You can vote for up to three candidates.
3) History Cambridge: Year of Cambridgeport
We are excited that History Cambridge has chosen our neighborhood as its first yearlong neighborhood focus. Come learn about what that means!
4) Charter Review Committee Updates
Per ballot initiatives passed in 2021, Cambridge is reviewing its current Plan E Charter. The Committee will recommend changes they believe will improve and modernize Cambridge’s structure and governance. Come learn about what they are working on!
5) Preserving the "Crosswinds" Mural
David Fichter, a muralist from the Port, will talk to us about his work preserving this mural on the side of the Middle East building.
January Community Gatherings
Two options, so you can join for either or both.
Both are drop-in when you can, leave when you want.
Saturday, February 4, 2023
2:30-4:30pm
In person: LBJ common area
150 Erie St.
Masks encouraged. Stay home with any symptoms or exposure.
Thursday, February 9, 2023
5:00-6:30pm
On Zoom
Register here for the link.
The CNA board is ready to reschedule our community meeting in response to the death of Sayed Faisal. We know this is an extremely significant event for many in our neighborhood and want to make sure the CNA is lifting up community concerns and supporting you as best we can. Based on feedback, here is our first step:
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All Cambridgeport community members are invited to join us to talk, connect, and brainstorm.
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While you’re welcome to just come to talk and connect with others, we are hoping to learn from you. Bring your ideas, especially if you have suggestions for what the neighborhood needs, how we can come together during this time, or what changes you hope for in the future.
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This will be an informal gathering, with small conversations and no presenter. Feel free to drop in and leave at any time.
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We will not have any information or answers to share - there is an ongoing investigation, and so no one can currently say anything with certainty. (If it would help you to read news articles, we always recommend Cambridge Day for local coverage. Be aware that no one can confirm accuracy right now.)
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As such, we respectfully request that city representatives do NOT join us. We’d like to keep this as a space for connecting neighbor to neighbor.
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Based on what we learn from you at this meeting, we’ll plan next steps for the CNA as a whole. If you have thoughts but cannot attend either gathering, you can also always feel free to email rsrbowie@gmail.com.
November Community Meeting
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
7pm
Zoom
We'll start with some announcements:
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Central Square Advisory Committee
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Working Against Racism group
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Peter Valentine's house
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Proposed changes to the 47 bus (hopefully - not confirmed yet)
Next, we've got a meeting focused on supporting our older adults.
First, we'll hear from Phil Fonseca from the organization Friendship Works. "Our mission is to reduce social isolation, enhance the quality of life, and preserve the dignity of older adults in Greater Boston. We accomplish this by recruiting and training volunteers of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds who provide friendship, advocacy, education, assistance, and emotional support." There is a need for volunteers of all ages and abilities - join us to learn more!
Afterward, we'll hear from Susan Pacheco of the Cambridge Council on Aging. She'll be talking about the services and activities they provide for older adults in the city, and opportunities for engagement.
Looking forward to seeing you on Zoom!
October Community Meeting
Tuesday, October 18, 2022
7pm
Zoom
We'll be hearing from:
- Christina Giacobbe, the director of the city's new Community Safety Department. Her team will manage a pilot program this fall in which an Alternative Response Team will be dispatched instead of fire, police, or traditional EMS in response to certain 911 calls without scene safety concerns. She'll tell us about the new department and answer questions.
- Patrick Barrett, who will be telling us about proposed plans for the Middle East in Central Square. They just had their first Historical Commission hearing on October 6, and you can see the proposed plans on the CHC website here. He'll talk about the plan and answer questions.
- We'll also hear updates on I-90, the lot at Brookline & Watson, and the CNA's Working Against Racism group.
May Community Meeting
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
7pm
Zoom
State House Update: We'll be hearing from Representative Jay Livingstone and Senator Lydia Edwards! They'll share their highlights of what's been happening in state government, and will have time to take your questions.
March Community Meeting
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
7pm
Zoom
A conversation with Cambridge's new police commissioner, Commissioner Christine Elow. She will introduce herself, her history, and her vision for the police department, and then have time for questions.
We will also hear updates on the I-90 project and on the work of Black History in Action for Cambridgeport and the restoration of St. Augustine's Church.
Annual Meeting/Board Elections
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
6:30pm Mix and mingle
7:00pm Meeting
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7:00 CNA board elections
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We have 5 candidates for 4 seats:
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Valerie Bonds
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Rebecca Bowie
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Brittany Butler
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Tien-Tien Chan
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Neil Miller
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Anyone who lives in, works in, or has kids in schools in Cambridgeport can vote, but they must be present on the Zoom call when the ballot is sent out.
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Mass Audubon will be speaking to us about their new location on Magazine Beach and hoping to learn more about what you want to see there.
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Cambridge's Community Development Department will be presenting on their open space planning project, its goals and next steps, and taking questions.
December Community Meeting
We'll start with a candidate forum to hear from the two candidates for MA State Senate: Anthony D'Ambrosio and Lydia Edwards. The election is December 14.
Around 7:30, we'll hear updates about voting for Cambridge Participatory Budgeting and our Working Against Racism group.
Around 7:45, we'll meet State Rep. Mike Connolly, who represents the district we will be joining in 2023. He'll introduce us to the new district and answer questions.
CNA Candidate Night 2021
Thursday, October 14, 2021
6:30 Mix-and-mingle (with neighbors, not candidates)
7:00 Event
Neighborhood Development & Zoning in Cambridge
with Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission
Thursday, April 29
6:00pm
Zoom
Watch the presentation here.
Sullivan will outline the effect that municipal intervention had on the originally unconstrained organic growth of Cambridge neighborhoods, beginning with sanitary and fire codes in the late 19th century and continuing with the adoption of zoning, slum clearance, urban renewal, and comprehensive planning in the 20th.
Join us to learn more!
March Community Meeting
Monday, March 29, 2021
5:30 Social time
6:00-7:30 Meeting
1. Welcome and updates
- Robin's ranked choice park vote
- MBTA new fare collection system
2. Updates from the State House
Speakers: State Senator Joseph Boncore, State Representative Jay Livingstone
3. Missing Middle Housing Petition
Speakers: Allan Sadun & Bill Bohem, ABC
4. Cambridgeport History, part 2
Speaker: Kit Rawlins, CHC
Annual Meeting
Thursday, February 11, 2021
5:30-6:00 social time/meet the candidates
6:00-7:30 meeting
Zoom
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Social time/meet the candidates
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Introduction to the CNA
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Annual board member elections
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Neighborhood & Central Sq updates
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Cambridgeport Open Space Study
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Black History in Action for Cambridgeport
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Cambridge City Growers
November Meeting
Thursday, November 19, 2020
5:30-6:00 social time/meet your neighbors
6:00-7:30 meeting
Zoom
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5:30-6:00 Social time/meet your neighbors
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6:00-6:20 Neighborhood updates & MIT dorm conversation
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6:20-6:30 I-90 project updates
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6:30-6:45 MBTA Forging Ahead information
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6:45-7:15 River Street reconstruction updates
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7:15-7:30 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion committee projects
September Meeting
Thursday, September 24, 2020
5:30-6:00 social time/meet your neighbors
6:00-7:30 meeting
Zoom
5:30-6:00 Meet your neighbors!
6:00-6:15 CNA introductions and updates (CNA members)
6:15-6:25 Starlight Square (Central Square BID)
6:25-6:35 Supporting Cambridge businesses (Cambridge Local First)
6:35-6:45 How to help get out the vote (MassVote)
6:45-7:15 Proposed Vassar St Dorm (MIT)
Annual Meeting
Tuesday, January 28, 2019
6:30 set up and mingle
7:00-9:00 meeting
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
1) CNA board elections
Anyone who lives in, works in, or has kids in school in Cambridgeport can run and can vote.
2) Central Square Updates
Speakers:
Michael Monestime (Exec. Dir. of the Central Sq. Business Association)
Wendell Joseph (CDD Neighborhood Planner, member of Central Square Advisory Committee)
Bill Deignan (CDD Transportation Program Planner, lead on River Street Project
Clifford Schorer (Developer of 544 Mass Ave)
Dec. Feedback Session
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
6:30 set up and mingle
7:00-9:00 meeting
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
Students from Boston Architectural College will share their site analysis, zoning, research, and design diagramming for several crucial sites in the neighborhood of Cambridgeport. The goal for the meeting is to get feedback, suggestions, opinions, stories, guidance, and all other input from the community, because we are hoping to use their work as a basis of a neighborhood "comprehensive plan" that is a graphically rich document of the community's desires and needs in the face of inevitable and accelerating development. Students have been focusing on the Central library/parking garage parcel, the MIT parcels, and the KIMCO parcels in great detail and investigating probable outcomes. They have taken much observation, analysis, and conversation with the community into account, and they are also compiling responses to the CNA board's previous polls and studies to inform their work. Please join for a lively meeting of conversation and discussion (not a presentation) with the students that are helping to represent, visualize, and analyze the exciting possibilities that we want in our neighborhood! We, the community, are their clients so this is our time to review their work and make sure they are on the right track!
Inner Belt Presentation
Thursday, November 14, 2019
6:00 - 7:00 MIT Boathouse drop-in
6:30 - 9:00 Inner Belt
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
6:00-7:00: MIT representatives will be available to share plans to renovate the MIT Pierce Boathouse (409 Memorial Dr) and temporarily occupy a portion of Magazine Beach. Attendees will have an opportunity to review drawings and ask questions of MIT, the designers, and the contractor.
6:30-7:00 Informal showing of a 1967 map of the highway plan and the homes that would have been taken. At the end of the meeting the plan will also be available for further discussion.
7:00 Join us to learn about the history of the Inner Belt:
Bob Simha, for forty years Planning Director at MIT, will describe the history of how MIT became the developer of the Johnson Apartment building as part of its housing
plan for Cambridge during the period 1969 to 1975. Steve Kaiser, a resident of Hamilton Street for 54 years, will discuss his ongoing history of the Inner Belt in Cambridge, with a presentation on the planning for Brookline Street, the role of Tip O'Neill in helping to stop the Inner Belt, and a focus on one Cambridgeport resident – Henrietta Jackson – active in both Save Our Cities and in efforts by City officials to oppose the Inner Belt. Q&A will follow.
Sept. Community Meeting
Thursday, September 19, 2019
6:30 refreshments
7:00-9:00 meeting
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
1. Updates from the State House
Speaker: State Senator Joseph Boncore
2. Soliciting feedback on Alberico Park
Speaker: Gary Chan, Neighborhood planner, CDD
3. Grand Junction, River St., I-90
Speaker: Gary Deignan, CDD
4. Cambridge Public Library STEAM lab
Speaker: Muna Kangen, of CPL
5. Misc. updates: St. Augustine's, Memorial Dr., Eversource
6. Conversation with our neighborhood sergeants
Speakers: Cambridge Police Department
June Community Meeting
Thursday, June 6, 2019
6:30 refreshments
7:00-9:00 meeting
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
April Community Meeting
Thursday, April 25, 2019
6:30 refreshments
7:00-9:00 meeting
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
March Community Meeting
Thursday, March 14, 2019
6:00-7:00 Eversource open house
7:00-9:00 meeting
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
6:30-7:00 set-up and refreshments
- Representatives from Central Square's proposed adult-use marijuana retailers will be available to share information, answer questions, and hear concerns
Come meet Western Front LLC (567 Mass Ave), and Revolutionary Clinics (541 Mass Ave).
7:00-9:00 meeting
- Updates from the state house (Sen. Joseph Boncore, Chairperson, Joint Committee on Transportation)
- Updates on the BU rotary (Rep. Jay Livingstone)
- Presentation: Regional vision for improved and more livable streetscapes, and recent developments in the city for improved walking and cycling safety (Cambridgeport residents Bob Sloane of Walk Boston, Steve Miller of Liveable Streets, and Randy Stern of Cambridge Bicycle Safety)
- Discussion: strategies and plans for making Cambridge streets more user friendly for all residents
1. Central Square Library: How can it be a more welcoming place?
Speakers: Jason Yee, Manager of Branch Services
Joy Kim, Deputy Director of the CPL
2. Discussion of Central Sq. Business Improvement District: What does the BID mean for us?
Speakers: Michael Monestime, Ex. Dir., Central Sq. Business Association
3. Cambridgeport Committees: Let’s plan for our future!
(See preliminary descriptions here.)
1. Eversource Open House to learn about changes to Putnam Ave site.
2. Envision Cambridge zoning proposals
Speaker: Jeff Roberts, Director of Zoning and Development, CDD
January Annual Meeting
Thursday, 1/17/19
7-9 pm (Set-up and mingle from 6:30-7:00)
LBJ Apartments Common Room 150 Erie Street
Pre-meeting workshops: Mass Ave development and BU rotary redesign.
1. Board member elections
2. Mass Ave development
Speaker: Kevin Crane, Attorney
3. BU rotary redesign
Speaker: Jeff Parenti, DCR
4. I-90 Update
Speaker: Henrietta Davis
5. Envision Cambridge proposed action steps
Speaker: Melissa Peters, CDD