Sherman Street Drainage Improvements
The Walden Square Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) Project is located in the vicinity of 99 Sherman Street. The City has designated this area for redesign to help reduce the amount of storm water that goes into the city drainage system in order to prevent flooding during heavy rain events. The I&I project at Walden Square encompasses three parcels of land with the first parcel being the surface parking lot at Danehy Park, the second being the roadway at Sherman Street, and the third being the surface lot at the Walden Square Apartments.
Remote Board of Zoning Appeal Meetings
Due to statewide emergency orders limiting the size of public gatherings in response to COVID-19, and in accordance with Governor Charles D. Baker's Executive Order of March 12, 2020, temporarily amending certain requirements of the Open Meeting Law, as well as the City of Cambridge Temporary Emergency Restrictions on City Public Meetings, City Events and City Permitted Events Due to COVID-19 dated May 27, 2020, meetings of the Planning Board will be held with remote participation until further notice. Meetings will be closed to in-person attendance.
Multifamily Citywide
In March 2024, the City Council passed Policy Order 2024 #37, which asked the Community Development Department “to work with the chairs of the Housing Committee to create zoning language that effectively promotes multifamily housing, including income-restricted affordable housing with the goal of having viable housing for everyone especially lower-income residents.” A series of Housing Committee meetings will be held to discuss the proposal throughout the summer and fall of 2024. Additional information will be posted here as the proposal is developed.
Half Crown-Marsh NCD Decennial Review Public Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the Commission will hold a Public Meeting on Monday, June 16, 2025 at 6:00 PM to consider the following matters under Ch. 2.78, Article III of the City Code and the Order establishing the Commission. The meeting will be held online with remote participation only. The public may participate online via the Zoom platform from a phone, tablet, or computer. Join or register at https://tinyurl.com/HCMJune25 or call (301)715-8592. Webinar ID: 852 9386 5157
1. HCM-696: 989 Memorial Drive, #291, by Craig Whitaker: Replace four windows
2. Minutes
Half Crown-Marsh NCD Public Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the Commission will hold a Public Meeting on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 6:00 PM to consider the following matters under Ch. 2.78, Article III of the City Code and the Order establishing the Commission. The meeting will be held online with remote participation only. The public may participate online via the Zoom platform (https://zoom.us/) from a phone, tablet, or computer. Register at https://tinyurl.com/HCMOct2024 or call (301)715-8592. Webinar ID: 859 6940 9390
1. HCM-660: 1001 Memorial Drive, by Herbert Rothfarb: Erect wooden fence and add new retaining wall base at sidewalk. Continued from August hearing.
2. Minutes
Baker-Polito Administration Announces Plans for Continued Reopening
The Baker-Polito Administration announced that Massachusetts will reopen some outdoor Phase 4, Step 2 industries effective May 10th and put plans in place for further reopening on May 29th and August 1st. The Administration continues to take steps to reopen the Commonwealth's economy with public health metrics continuing to trend in a positive direction. This includes drops in average daily COVID cases and hospitalizations. Massachusetts remains first in the nation for first vaccine doses and total doses administered per capita, among states with more than 5 million people. The Administration will also relax the Face Coverings Order for some outdoor settings, effective April 30th.
City of Cambridge Announces Winning Projects for 11th Participatory Budgeting Cycle
Seven projects in total were selected after a record number of ideas were submitted and more than 10,000 Cambridge residents age 12 and older voted how to spend $1 million on capital and operating projects to improve the community. In order of ranked votes, the following seven projects won $1,060,000 in fiscal year 2026 funding:
1. Improve Parks with Shade Structures and Seating ($250,000)
2. Build a Pollinator Garden in a City Park ($75,000)
3. Funding for High School Clubs ($150,000)
4. Slower Speeds for Safer Streets ($250,000)
5. Mobile Center for Hard-to-Recycle Items ($75,000)
6. Welcome Baby Boxes for New Parents ($60,000)
7. Electric Vehicle Chargers ($200,000)
RESCHEDULED Defying the Crown in Early Cambridge: The 1664 Petition Campaign and Grassroots Constitutionalism
This event was rescheduled from May 22 and will now take place on May 28.
The new king Charles II sent royal commissioners to New England in 1664 in order to pressure colonists into compliance with his metropolitan agenda. When these royal commissioners tried to claim full authority over local courts and militias, Cambridge inhabitants were among the first to act in defiance. Their grassroots petition campaign drew on the experience of the English civil wars and pointed the way forward to the American Revolution.
Adrian Chastain Weimer is a Professor of History at Providence College and is currently a Long-term Fellow at the John Carter Brown Library. She is the author of A Constitutional Culture: New England and the Struggle against Arbitrary Rule in the Restoration Empire (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023) and Martyrs' Mirror: Persecution and Holiness in Early New England (Oxford University Press, 2011).