I know you’ve all been waiting for it … the Official Amateur Planner 2017 Cambridge City Council endorsements!

I’ve lived in Cambridge for 6 years now, served on the Bicycle Committee for most of that time and gone to more council and zoning meetings than I care to admit. I’m making these endorsements based on two criteria: bicycle safety and progressive development policy (with a bit of transit thrown in). A bit of background:

1. Bicycle safety has become a hot button issue in Cambridge in recent years as more and more people have embraced cycling to work, and our infrastructure hasn’t kept up. There is some talk that the recent activism, especially among younger voters, will change the makeup of the electorate in Cambridge this year. Nominally, all candidates are for safe cycling, but in reality, some are more than happy to sell out to the interest of the minority of people driving in Cambridge. After several “pop-up” lanes were installed this spring, there was a bit of “bikelash” in Cambridge, with some City Councilors calling for a moratorium until we could figure out how to make bike lanes not impact—well, something. They’re not sure. Let’s call it “easy parking and the free flow of traffic.” Most insidious: the Harvard Square Business Association trying to kill bike lanes because cars. Councilors Simmons, Toomey and Maher supported this. they’re off the list. (They also got their comeuppance: hundreds of cyclists, three hours of public comment and a meeting that ran until after midnight; I doubt they’ll be pulling this sort of stunt any time soon.) Craig Kelley, based on several interactions, is kind of wishy-washy on safe cycling infrastructure, and while he often touts himself as a cyclist, he often veers in to the vehicular cycling realm. Sorry, Craig. For others, and for new candidates, I’ll defer to the Cambridge Bicycle Safety group’s list.

2. Development. Here, most candidates fall in to two camps, the Cambridge Residents Alliance and A Better Cambridge. Both are nominally aligned with allowing more development, but only one—A Better Cambridge—actually follows through. There are a few arguments against additional density and development, none of which hold water:

• Gentrification. In Cambridge, this has already happened. So new luxury housing is not going to “improve” neighborhoods and increase existing rents, despite what CRA may say. This is, in general, grade-A horse manure.
• Road/transit congestion. This too is a red herring. Cambridge itself is not that congested, most people bike, walk and take transit to work. It’s the getting to Cambridge part. More local housing will mean more bike/walk/transit commutes, and the answer is not to build less housing, but to improve connections to Cambridge. Yet the CRA won’t take a position on reducing parking minimums.
• Open space. There is an argument for keeping some Open Space. But for an organization like CRA, open space becomes “parking lots.” This needs no further explanation. (Apparently they have softened it to “it can be redeveloped for affordable housing”—good idea—”but only if the parking is replaced.” Just, no.