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This week's selection: Arthur Rimbaud, "The Drunken Boat," "Vowels," "Eternity," "Memory," "To a Reason," and "Dawn." Reading Interests: We concentrate on Great Books in the following areas: a long novel over the summer, two sections of poetry and short stories, a book of the Bible, a Shakespeare play, an ancient and modern drama, a work of science, a smaller work of fiction, an even smaller work of fiction, and a rotating mix of politics, philosophy, and religion. Authors read in the past five years include Dickens, Keats and Yeats, O'Connor and Munro, Ecclesiastes, Sophocles and August Wilson, Darwin, Austen, Duras, The Federalist Papers, and Arendt. How to get the print book: Copies of the reading are set aside at the Main Library. Visit the Main Library at 449 Broadway during current service hours and a staff member can help you get a copy. How to register: Registration is required. Click the registration link below to register. This is a hybrid event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event. For more information, contact Drew Griffin (dgriffin@cambridgema.gov)

Envision Cambridge is the City’s current citywide plan, a roadmap to the year 2030, setting out a course of action to promote sustainable and inclusive growth. It establishes a framework for growth management that builds upon and complements existing patterns of development, while meeting the needs of today’s community and future generations. Prior to the establishment of Envision Cambridge, the comprehensive plan for Cambridge was composed of a set of documents: The Zoning Map and the Zoning Ordinance, the City’s growth policy document, Toward A Sustainable Future, and the major area-wide planning studies across the city.

Interested in a career that positively impacts your community? Whether you’re interested in manual labor or management, many government roles offer competitive benefits and job stability. Attend this job fair on Wednesday, October 29 at the Central Square Library, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. to connect with representatives from state and local government agencies, explore job openings, and expand your network!

The dance extravaganza with DJ spun music is a special opportunity for the entire Cambridge community to celebrate the start of summer. After dark, colorful lights will be launched, adding to the magic of the evening. New this year, the Cambridge Play Streets initiative and Central Square Business Improvement District will be providing free interactive activities for families at the corner of Temple Street and Mass Ave.

Join us in the Lewis Room at the Central Square Branch for an introduction to mindfulness meditation followed by a guided practice session with instructor Zeenat. If you are curious or would just like to be in community, stop on by! Registration is required to attend this event! Biography: Zeenat Potia teaches meditation in Buddhist and secular spaces, and has taught at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center since 2014. She practices vipassana at CIMC and the Insight Meditation Society, and has over 15 years of meditation training, including extensive silent retreat experience in the Early Buddhist tradition. Zeenat is committed to healing and recovery through trauma-sensitive mindfulness. She is an instructor for Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare’s Mind the Moment program and works directly with corporations, non-profit organizations and universities in the delivery of secular mindfulness programs. Learn more at: www.zeenatpotia.com

Welcome to the River Street Construction Webpage! This is the place to find current information and updates related to construction of the River Street Infrastructure and Streetscape Project. The project includes utility and surface reconstruction of the following streets and public spaces: • River Street from Memorial Drive to Massachusetts Avenue • Carl Barron Plaza (the major public space at the intersection of River Street/Western Ave/Mass Ave in Central Square) • The MBTA bus stops and busway at Magazine/Green/River Street adjacent to Carl Barron Plaza • Pleasant Street and Tubman Square between Pleasant Place and River Street • Green Street between Magazine and Pearl Street • Magazine Street between Franklin and Green Street • Blackstone Street In addition, the project includes the following nearby neighborhood streets which are due for reconstruction under the City's Five Year Sidewalk and Street Reconstruction Plan • Fairmont Avenue / Fairmont Street / Rockwell Street / Laurel Street / Kelly Road

JAS is holding a community meeting on June 30, 2026 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Lesley University Hall Room 3-094 (1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge) to provide updates to the community on their plan to develop affordable housing at 1826 & 1840 Massachusetts Avenue in Porter Square. To RSVP, please visit the link here: https://justastart.tfaforms.net/f/MassAve. To see the meeting flyer, please click here.

City Manager Yi-An Huang is seeking volunteers to serve on a new Working Group to help guide the Mass Ave Partial Construction Project on Mass Ave, from Waterhouse Street to Alewife Brook Parkway. The Working Group is anticipated to be made up of 15-20 members, representing a diverse set of interests along the Mass Ave corridor to ensure that each perspective is heard and that there is adequate representation reporting back to the larger community. The Working Group will include residents, business owners, institutional representatives, and a variety of people that use the corridor to live, work, walk, bike or take the bus.

16-28 Porter Street is a 12,920 square foot vacant lot located in the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood, a location surrounded by many amenities such as Twin city Plaza, Gold Star Mothers Park, and the Lechmere MBTA station. It was acquired by the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) in April 2026 with financial support from the Cambridge Affordable Housing Trust (CAHT). The site is expected to be developed under the provisions of the Affordable Housing Overlay.

Just A Start Corporation (JAS), a local non-profit affordable housing provider, purchased 1826 and 1840 Massachusetts Avenue, two surface parking lots, from Lesley University in late November 2024. Located in the Neighborhood Nine neighborhood, the site is in close proximity to the many amenities of Porter Square including restaurants, retail and the MBTA station. JAS is planning to create new affordable housing at the sites under the provisions of the Affordable Housing Overlay (AHO).