City Council - Regular Meeting

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Meeting Title: City Council - Regular Meeting
City: Cambridge, MA
Date Published: 2025-09-08

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AI Disclaimer: Summaries and transcripts above were created by various AI tools. By their nature, these tools will produce mistakes and inaccuraies. Links to the official meeting recordings are provided for verification. If you find an error, please report it to somervillecivicpulse at gmail dot com.

Time & Speaker	Transcript
Denise Simmons	A quorum being present, I'll call tonight, September 8th, 2025, regular meeting of the Cambridge City Council to order. The first order of business is a roll call of the members present.
SPEAKER_24	Clerk Crane, would you please call the roll call? Councilor Azeem.
Burhan Azeem	Yes, I'm present.
SPEAKER_24	Present. Vice Mayor McGovern. Absent. Councillor Nolan. Present. Present. Councillor Siddiqui.
Sumbul Siddiqui	Present.
SPEAKER_24	Present. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler.
Sumbul Siddiqui	Present.
SPEAKER_24	Present. Councillor Toner. Present. Present. Councillor Wilson. Present. Present. Counselor Zusy. Present. Present. Mayor Simmons. Present. Present. You have one member recorded as absent and eight recorded as present. Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Denise Simmons	Please, if you can, rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we're going to pause briefly for a moment of silence, remembering Mary Lino, long-time Cambridge resident, former employee of the City of Cambridge who recently passed away. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
SPEAKER_24	Vice Mayor McGovern.
Denise Simmons	Thank you. Pursuant to chapter two of the acts of 2025, adopted by the Massachusetts General Court and approved by the governor, the city is authorized to use remote participation at meetings of the Cambridge City Council. In addition to having members of the council participate remotely, we have also set up Zoom teleconference for public comment. You may also view the meeting via the city's open meeting portal or on the city's cable channel, channel 22. To speak during public comment, you must sign up at www.cambridgema.gov backslash public comment. You can also email written comments to the clerk for the record at cityclerk at cambridgema.gov. We welcome your participation and you can sign up for public comment until 6 p.m. Please note that the City of Cambridge audio and video records these meetings and makes it available to the public for future viewing. In addition, third parties may also be audio and video recording these meetings. Our first order of business is public comment. Public comment may be made in accordance with the Massachusetts General Laws 30A, Section 20G, and the City Council Rules 23D and 37. Once you have been called, please come to the microphone. If you're in person, state your name, your address, and the item that you're speaking to. Please note, public comment can only be made on items on the agenda. Once you finish speaking, the next speaker will be called. Individuals are not permitted to allocate the remainder of their time to other speakers. Given that we have 25 speakers as per our rule, each speaker will be given two minutes. With that, I'm going to turn public comment over to Naomi Stefan. Ms. Stefan, the floor is yours.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Our first speaker is Andrea Saltzman, followed by Denise Gilson, then Alice Killian. Andrea? Andrea has not joined us, we will go to Denise Gilson. Denise, you have two minutes, please go ahead.
SPEAKER_30	Good evening. My name is Denise Gilson. I'm the executive director for the Harvard Square Business Association. I am here tonight to speak in favor of policy order number 116, which establishes a formal policy that clearly defines the city's role and financial responsibilities in supporting large-scale events hosted by Cambridge-based nonprofits and not-for-profits like the HSBA. This council has long supported appropriate pedestrianization, which requires the curation and programming of city streets, allowing for outside dining events, celebrations, and festivals. These events require thousands of dollars in funding. Over the years, the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the organizers who have been primarily the business associations. We appreciate that the city clearly understands the value of business associations as proven by the recent $25,000 appropriation by this council to study the feasibility of creating a Porter Square North Cambridge Association, something that Councilor Toner in particular has championed. I am also here to support policy order number 117 that offers a new and creative way to fund the events outlined in order number 116. For nearly three decades, the city has funded the Cambridge Office for Tourism, which is a private 506C organization, much like the HSBA. Given that the Office for Tourism now has an additional funding source that amounts to nearly $2 million annually through the TDMD program established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, redirecting taxpayer dollars to assist the business associations, including the new hoped for Porter Square Association in creating events that draw foot traffic to our districts throughout the city makes good sense. It is a prudent, effective, and appropriate use of taxpayer dollars. Cambridge is competing with newly established lifestyle centers and re-energized business districts outside the city in ways that we never had to before. It is time to recognize that policies established 30 years ago need to be looked at in new and fresh ways. Policy order number 116 and 117 exactly do that. These orders sustain each other. Supporting one and not the other will not get the job done.
SPEAKER_29	Please email the remainder of your comments. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Alice Killian, followed by Carol Ann Barrett, then Matthew Stewart. Alice, if you can unmute yourself, you have the floor. Two minutes.
SPEAKER_03	Hello, my name is Alice Killian and I'm here to speak in reference to policy order 108. I'm the junior warden at St. James's Episcopal Church, which is mentioned in the policy order. For as long as I've been attending St. James's, we have had people sleeping on our porches, but last summer something changed. Previously, if our unhoused neighbors slept late and we had to ask them to move, a staff person or lay volunteer would ask them. Sometimes the porch would need to be swept afterwards, but not always. Starting last summer, we saw an increase in porch use by groups. There were more personal possessions left behind and sometimes pieces of large cardboard also from makeshift weather shelters. We also saw evidence of drug use. In response, we assembled a team of volunteers who would take turns every morning to ask any people who were still sleeping on our property to leave. The volunteers would then help the people clean up by bringing garbage bags and brooms and safe sharps disposal boxes. Because the volunteers had day jobs, they didn't always have time to build community with our porch neighbors. didn't have time to talk to them or have conversations or listen. This summer, our church hired a community engagement associate to connect with our unhoused and housed neighbors and also our tenants. Looking forward, I can imagine a situation in which income inequity grows and social problems in our communities become increasingly complex. How are we going to approach these issues? We can build fences. We can hire ambassadors like our community engagement associate. We can support public services such as the care team. We can partner with public organizations such as the police department and the city. We can work together as much as possible. And when it is not possible, we can do what we can alone to try to make life better for all of us. And as the Book of Common Prayer says, we can ask God to grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other's toil.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Your time has expired. Please email the remainder of your comments. Our next speaker is Caroline Barrett, followed by Matthew Stewart. Caroline, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_42	My name is Carol Ann Barrett. I live at 44 Clarendon Avenue. I've been a resident of Cambridge for 43 years and I'm also a member of St. James's Episcopal Church. I'd like to speak about policy order number 108. I'm glad the St. James's porches are available to people and personally do not want to back away from offering periodic respite to people in need. Serving unhoused neighbors is part of St. James' calling and service. Parishioners have been working with resources within Cambridge to address this complex problem. We have long-standing relationships with First Step, the outreach team from Bay Cove Caspar. We have a working relationship with the Cambridge Police Department, especially Lieutenant Chris Ponte who oversees the team that works specifically with the unhoused. We hope to build a similar partnership with the care team. I myself spoke today with Vanessa, the administrator coordinator of the team. Right now, the team provides 51 hours of daytime support for people experiencing mental health and behavioral challenges. That's 51 hours out of 168 weekly hours. I encourage the council and the community safety department to consider additional funding for this 24-7 service. All of these teams are doing great work around the city and none of them is ignoring our property or activities on it. I hope city experts like the groups I just mentioned can be the ones to determine where resources are most needed and not only Cambridge residents who request help and think the police should step in. I'm interested in what the city does in response to similar complaints around the city. We've seen firsthand the power and value of building relationships across the city with the condo owners and with our unhoused neighbors. We're doing everything we can in the mornings to do checks, including on city-owned sidewalks and tree wells. We have told unhoused folks on our porches about our expectations and rules. We have also issued no trespass orders against individuals when warranted.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Carolyn, thank you. Our next speaker is Matthew Stewart, followed by Jessica Scully, then Rebecca Bjork. Matthew, two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_13	My name is the Reverend Matthew Stewart and I'm the priest at St. James Church at 1991 Massachusetts Avenue. I rise to speak in favor of policy order 2025, number 108. For starters, the leadership of our church support this policy order as it will be amended. We work with the Cambridge Police Department and we're happy to do so. They do a great job. And there are concerns that our congregation has had around how things have sort of evolved. And so for me, what I want to name is concerns about how the word unsafe has been used without interrogation. Many of us progressives a few years back read the book White Fragility. about how white people have very little ability to tolerate discomfort. We, and I, am one of these folks. Sometimes if I feel uncomfortable, I assume that's wrong, that we have a right to feel comfort at all times. And maybe we say we're feeling unsafe, and that's not really the case. I think as a culture, we're coming to terms with this around issues of race. To some extent, I feel bad for people named Karen these days. But we don't have these same conversations around the young house. We don't have these conversations around issues of class in the same way. And so I hope in this time when the housing crisis has no end in sight, it might get worse before it gets better, and with rising sentiment against the unhoused, I hope we can have a nuanced and measured position as a city that differentiates between situations that are truly unsafe, because there are those. I'm not discounting that. But also be careful about taking action when more resource people say they feel unsafe, when actually they're just uncomfortable with the situation they're in.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Jessica Scully, followed by Rebecca Bjork, then Siobhan M. Jessica, two minutes.
SPEAKER_08	Good afternoon, Mayor Simmons and members of the council. I'm Jessica Scully. I'm the board chair of the Harvard Square Business Association, and my address is 4 Humboldt Street. On behalf of the HSBA, we're pleased to support policy order number 117. Cambridge has invested in visitor engagement for decades, and our community has benefited. In 1993, the city developed a formal tourism function, and by 94 to 95, it had a defined mission. a public board and clear deliverables, from serving as a central clearinghouse for information to operating the Harvard Square visitor kiosk. Those early actions reflected a thoughtful municipal approach, pair city support with accountability, and measure outcomes that matter to residents, small businesses, and visitors alike. And today, the landscape has evolved. The Cambridge Office for Tourism now has a stable significant revenue stream through the TDMD, to carry out destination marketing at scale. At the same time, our neighborhood 501c6 organizations, the Central Square Bid, the East Cambridge Business Association, the HSBA, and the Kendall Square Association do the day-to-day work that keeps streets welcoming and commerce vibrant. These are the tangible block-by-block services that help businesses stay open, hire locally, and grow. This policy order does not diminish the value of citywide destination marketing. It simply realigns municipal dollars to strengthen the on-the-ground partners who deliver neighborhood vitality, while the TDMD resources continue to fund the broad marketing. And practically, this means three things. Equity and impact. We can distribute the city's tourism allocation equally among the four district organizations. Coordination. The four organizations will continue to coordinate with the Cambridge Office for Tourism. and accountability, require annual operating plans and quarterly reports that the council can measure. On behalf of the HSBA members and neighbors and in partnership with our peers, I respectfully urge you to adopt this order and direct a timely report back so we can move forward together in this fiscal year. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Our next speaker is Rebecca Bjork, followed by Siobhan M, then Susan Miller Havens. Rebecca, two minutes.
SPEAKER_11	My name is Rebecca Bjork, and I live at 20 Concord Ave, Unit C. I'm a 27-year resident of Cambridge and member of St. James' Episcopal Church. I am here to speak on Policy Order 108. First off, I want to thank you for reviewing our proposed edits and bringing them as amendments this month. I support the PO and we are very happy to continue working with city staff and resources as we have been doing for years. We do, however, need to be centered in any conversations or decisions about city actions on our private property. Last month, you were told our garden is littered with trash, needles, and feces during the day. This is just not true. In the past, we did have issues with items occasionally being present until someone reported them to us due to limited staffing. For the past year, we have had a proactive practice of daily checks for items by parishioners in addition to staff. People who reported items they found in the garden and elsewhere on our property at the last council meeting neglected to mention that they were reporting items found last year and that we heard their concerns and changed our practices to ensure that this no longer happens. You have also heard that our garden is dangerous and that there are major safety concerns. I, of course, want our space to be safe, and so I have talked to CPD about this issue, and the overwhelming message I have heard from multiple officers is that our property is not an area they consider a hot problem spot. While we have had some fights between unhoused people, they consider those flukes rather than patterns. People have also claimed that we enable rather than help people. We believe that everyone deserves love and welcome with no strings attached. We offer care and compassion to everyone, even those whom others perceive as not wanting help. People who in reality welcome help and care, but on their own terms and at their own pace. They have agency just like the rest of us. We listen without judgment, and when people talk about wanting to take next steps in recovery, we do what we can to facilitate that. However, the case managers and clinics that are already working with people who sleep on our porches are better resourced to do that work. I see our role as providing compassionate listening. Feeling heard and loved rather than judged is something we all need, no matter what our struggles are.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Siobhan McDonough, followed by Susan Miller-Havens, then Stephen Barrage.
SPEAKER_40	Siobhan McDonough, I live on Walden Street. I'm a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the United Auto Workers. Off the top, I appreciate what we've heard from the Reverend and the parishioners here today. I fully support them. But I'm here today to speak about policy order 10, to protect our neighbors from the lawless federal government and deceptive surveillance contractors. Every day, we see new signs of our authoritarian federal government. We see raids today on communities across Massachusetts. We've seen how they occupied LA, DC, Chicago, and how they're threatening the same in Boston. All of this is enabled by the military and surveillance contractors who arm them, equip them, and spy on our communities. Flock Safety is one of those surveillance contractors. The Illinois Secretary of State just announced that Flock violated state law by secretly sharing license plate data with federal border patrol agents. This behavior puts everyone in our communities at risk. You may have seen Flock say they're pausing info sharing programs with the Trump administration, but you must remember, you cannot take these private surveillance contractors at their word. In May, Texas cops used Flock data from across the country to track a woman accused of getting an abortion. Flock responded in June by saying that all surveillance data sharing was a, quote, local decision, and there was, quote, not a backdoor into Flock by federal or out-of-state cops. Now, just a few months later, in response to the Illinois investigation, Flock apologized that they, quote, didn't create distinct permissions and protocols in the Flock system to ensure compliance for federal agency users. The bottom line is this. Private surveillance salesmen will tell you what you want to hear in order to get you to buy their products. They don't care about our communities. They don't care who gets hurt by ICE and DHS abuses. They just want to line their pockets. Please vote yes on policy order 10 to protect Cambridge from the Trump administration. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Susan Miller Havens, followed by Stephen Barrage, then John Reynolds. Susan, if you can unmute yourself, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_07	Thank you. I'm Susan Miller Havens, and I'm here to speak on Order 108. I'm a resident of 7 Beach Street on the second floor overlooking the garden at St. James Church. I'm one of the founders of the psych department at the Cambridge Hospital where we served multiple addictions. I want to thank those counselor members who've spoken to us about the intertwining issues of drugs and the unhoused. And I know this city is not the only one that is affected by this. I also want to thank the police commissioner Elo for her support and kindness demonstrated by many police who've answered our calls these last nights. Well, I'm encouraged by this order and hopeful that mediation will eventually succeed. I asked the council to request the city manager to fund the care team at night. We need them at night to minister to those in need as well as include in that order the 2010 landmark requirement that there be no trespassing after dusk so that the police can continue to enforce what they have been doing. I and other residents have provided the church with a folder of photos and videos that we've taken at night demonstrating the severity of the drug program between 9 and 7 a.m. However, I'm dismayed that no one from the church has been willing to come to bear witness at night. I've been out there at 3 a.m. with the police. As a psych nurse, I know what I've seen is not overblown. Drug dealers serving the addicts in the garden is unsafe. I ask that you pass this order and include specific nighttime funding along with a latitude for police enforcement. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Steven Barrage, followed by John Reynolds, then Cheryl Hamlin. Steven, two minutes.
SPEAKER_36	My name is Steven Barrage. I live at unit 316 at 7 Beach Street. I don't want to relitigate whether or not it's safe or how much drugs or how much mess. I think you've heard a lot of testimony. You've gotten a lot of letters the last time we were here. So I don't want to relitigate that. But I do want to encourage you to pass this policy order. We need it. We need integrated services to work with the unhoused. We need public health and public safety services to work with them and to work with the residents. We need to make this particular neighborhood as safe as possible and to provide the kinds of services needed by the various groups that interface with each other. So I ask you to pass this. I also want to note that the leadership of the church and the leadership of the condo association met last Friday all day for a mediation session, and we reached a tentative agreement. It's tentative until the lawyers put the words together and we sign it, which hopefully will be as soon as possible, but they're lawyers so we don't have total control over that. Once that is in place, we believe that we will take together steps to ameliorate the issues to some degree but that doesn't solve the issues we still need the city to help us provide services and as susan just said to the extent we can get some services there at night one two three four o'clock in the morning we think that would be very helpful so with that i thank you thank you our next speaker is john reynolds followed by cheryl hamlin then joe yuen brown john you have two minutes
SPEAKER_41	Good afternoon. John Reynolds, 7 Beach Street, also a resident of Cambridge for a very long time, since 1975. I'm glad that Reverend Matt feels comfortable in his working environment at the church where it's safe for him in the daytime. His children are not out walking, stumbling over needles in the morning. Safety is different things for different people. If under your bedroom window at 3 in the morning there are very loud drug transactions going down, that might not feel safe to you either. I don't think that Reverend Matt or Rebecca are present to observe those and to listen to the racket. Yes, Rebecca and her team are great about cleaning up the site the best they can, but it's really hard to find needles, and you know the kids find them better than anybody, because they're down there at that level right where those needles are. So safety is in the eye of the beholder, and I'm glad that some of the people feel really safe in that community, but others of us feel much less safe. I certainly subscribe to everything that was said by Susan and by others here. I think it's really important to note, as Steven just did, that this is a cooperative undertaking between the condominium and the church. I think the counselors are probably aware that the condominium leadership and the church leadership concur in our plea that the city pass the order number 108. This is not a contest between the two of us. This is a cooperative undertaking. And Steve pointed that out relative to the matter of the mediation, which was constrained only to the porches. But we're working with you and the Order 108 to advance the cause relative to the garden, and we really need help, particularly at night. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Cheryl Hamlin, followed by Joe U.N. Brown. Cheryl, you have two minutes.
SPEAKER_21	Hello, my name is Cheryl Hamlin, and I'm in support of Order 108. I'm a resident of Beach Street, directly overlooking the Garden of Note in this order. It is true that residents have been woken from loud and disruptive behavior during the night with some frequency, and there's good evidence that this is a meeting place for drug users and drug dealers. The rule that predates the condo building and was in place when we chose to make this building our home clearly states that the garden is off limits to the public between 8 p.m. and dusk. Unfortunately, St. James Church has in the past been unable to enforce this as no one from the church is ever present during the night. So this order is asking for more cooperation with the police to allow them to do their job in creating a safe environment at the Garden at St. James. From what I've seen, the police department, especially the social justice section, are very well trained, they're kind, they offer services. What would be very helpful, as has been mentioned, is more funding for the care team so they can be present at night as well. They're currently unavailable at night. Fortunately, we do have an agreement. We all agree that this order should be passed so that we can move forward, and I very much look forward to continuing to work with the church and the city of Cambridge to help create a safe, livable neighborhood, including the unhoused, and to make services available for all who need them. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Joe U.N. Brown, followed by Alex Marthews, then Sarah Radigan. Joe, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_15	I'm Jo Yuen Brown, and my husband, Charles Brown, and I live in Unit 215, St. James Place. I'm speaking for Policy 108. Could you bring the mic closer to your face? Sure. Thank you. Every night, my husband and I walk in the neighborhood for health reasons, sometimes as late as 10.30 PM. Nightly, we see gathering of unhoused, in the porches of our neighboring St. James Church. I want to emphasize it's not just a gathering of individuals. Many a time we encounter a group of cyclists descending on the porches together. Yes, sometimes it feels a little bit scary. The porches are inevitably jammed to visitors. The church intentions is good, I must applaud that, but I must emphasize that their process needs improvement, and they need improvement with the help of the city. I have seen, despite what's described here, I have seen urination, defecation, I've seen needles beyond the garden, on the pavement of Mass Ave, and also at the crosswalk of B Street. Now, all this drives fears. Yes, it says that maybe the word fear is overused. But no, feeling is an emotion. And repeatedly, polls have shown that despite data on crime, many have chosen and voted the way at the presidential election because of fear of crime. And also, the fear for me is that I have heard that at St. James Church before St. James was built, that garden was ridden with drug uses and crime. Do we want history to be repeated? Now, my next point may sound a little hyperbole to some of people here, but let's not forget.
SPEAKER_29	Unfortunately, your time has expired. If you can please either give us that copy or email the remainder of your comments to clerk at cambridgema.gov. Our next speaker is Alex Marthews, followed by Sarah Radigan, then Elon Levy. Alex, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_04	Hello, this is Alex Matthews of Digital Fourth at 28 Temple Street in Belmont. I am commenting in favor of policy order number 10 to pay more attention to the question of deployment of flock safety cameras in the light of new information that has emerged since the city council made its decision. The key thing I want to bring to your attention is that it has been very recently reported that Flock is now offering ways to use its network, not just to investigate based on suspicion of involvement in that actual crime, but to generate suspicion. What I mean by this is this. There is a camera, for example, that is proposed to go up at the corner of Ringe and Fresh Pond Parkway, just by the public housing. There are new features being offered by FLOC, such as linked vehicles or convoy search or multiple locations search, all of which promise to uncover patterns of movement of vehicles. that are based on what an AI algorithm flags as being suspicious. Doesn't have to be connected to a crime. There's nothing that requires it. And Flock itself, as a private company, is not accountable to us for the algorithms that it runs. And so what we're doing here is allowing the deployment of cameras outside public housing that would swing the government's eye of suspicion towards random civilians whose travel patterns just happen to fit what the algorithm detects as being anomalous.
SPEAKER_29	Alex, please email the remainder of your comments. Our next speaker is Sarah Radigan, followed by Ilan Levy, then Jacob Brown. Sarah, two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_32	Good evening. Thank you, Madam Chairman. My name is Sarah Radigan from Trilogy Law, LLC, and I'm an attorney representing 4850 Park Avenue, LLC, the owner of the property at 4850 Park Avenue. They have a request for a curb cut approval, and I wanted to just provide a little information for city council members There's information that was relatively new arriving to the applicant, and we wanted to be sure that you were aware of it. This is an application to actually relocate and extend, broaden a bit the curb cut located at this property. The clients are Billy and David Rothfuchs. who are longtime Cambridge residents born and raised in Cambridge and local builders. And this will allow them to create four off-street indoor garage parking spaces in a new two-family dwelling unit to be constructed on the site. There were a number of public outreach efforts, and there are, at this moment, 13 letters of approval that have been received. We realize these are not in the agenda packet, but many of them have arrived since the cutoff on Wednesday. We wanted to be sure that you are aware of those. But there is quite a bit of support for this, and we thank you and welcome your support. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Our next speaker is Ilan Levy, followed by Jacob Brown, then Ruth Riles. Ilan has not joined. We will go to Jacob Brown, followed by Ruth Riles, then Patrick Barrett. Jacob, you have two minutes.
SPEAKER_00	Hi, my name is Jacob and I live on Magazine Street here in Cambridge. I'm here to support policy order number 10 to protect our neighbors and community from the illegal actions of the federal government and the data brokers and surveillance contractors that seek to assist them. Cambridge is to me a really special place. It fulfills the best of the promise of American cities. Whenever I talk to my neighbors, I see block parties around, I see families that have spent decades here, and I see new residents and communities coming here to put down roots. It's interwoven in a way that acts as a direct counter to the alienation and hatred that are the pillars of the federal government's worldview. One of the most chilling parts of the Trump administration to me has been, and its embrace of authoritarianism, has been its war against cities. The military occupations of Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Chicago are completely terrifying, and the rhetoric posted by federal officials and agencies makes it clear that Trump is targeting the cities for their shared humanity and their proud communities of color. I love city life, and I think Cambridge exemplifies a lot of the best parts of it. We're a city that proudly upholds these values, so why should Cambridge give the federal government more tools to attack those parts of our community through the contract with flock safety? ICE and DHS rely on surveillance data to tear apart our communities and cities using racism profiling that just today was greenlit by the Supreme Court. Flock is an active collaborator in these schemes, and like many tech companies that rely on collecting their data, they just want to sell those data to the highest bidder without any regard for personal liberties. Flock have attempted to distance themselves from Trump, saying that they're pausing sharing information with the Trump administration, but their actions reveal that they're still supporting the efforts of ICE and CBP. In July, California police violated state law to share flock data with the federal government and in August, Illinois cut off flocks access to their cameras because it came out that flock had lied to local officials about sharing data with CBP. It is clear that flock are comfortable selling out our communities to the Trump administration to the point that it will cover up its role in doing so to protect its access to our data. I ask you to please vote yes on policy order 10 to keep surveillance tools out of the hands of the Trump administration and to protect Cambridge's ideals as a city for everyone. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Our next speaker is Ruth Riles, followed by Patrick Barrett, then LaQueen Battle. Ruth, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_31	I've forgotten the numbers I wanted to speak on. It's right there. 116, 117, and 108. And I'm just asking for help in the Porter Square area, in the Porter Square Shopping Center, and up at St. James, and trying to get ahead of some of the drug problems we're having, the homeless issues we're having. And I appreciate the council and the police and the care teams' support. in doing the right thing to prevent us becoming some of the problem areas, like the problem areas we've seen in the city. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_29	Thank you. Our next speaker is Patrick Barrett, followed by LaQueen Battled and Michael Monestime. Patrick, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_39	Thank you. Can you hear me?
SPEAKER_29	Yes, we can. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_39	Thank you. Patrick Barrett, I'm here tonight to support policy order 117. I am a hotel owner and the program that's in place by the Office of Tourism came about during the pandemic. We look at it as more of a lifeline and potential to reach out to a broader audience. To date, I can't say that the Office of Tourism has even set foot in my building, let alone talk to us or explain how the funding is being used. It's a bit curious to me, I haven't gone for so long, that I look to organizations like the BID, the Harvard Business Association, East Cambridge Business Association, to provide us with sort of a guiding light in terms of how we're supposed to activate our community. And retail, I would say, is tourism. And I think the antiquated model that they've been using, their antiquated website that gets a fifth of the traffic that most of our websites get, I think there needs to be someone, I think we need to look into and reevaluate what the Office of Tourism does. And I think no better place to start than with the agreement that we have right now, which again, just all it does is really make hotels more expensive for people coming to Cambridge and sends a good portion of that money to Boston. That seems like a really strange outcome to me, and after four years of it, I can't really say what it's done for us. The last thing I want to say is I don't know fully well the issue that's going on with the church, but I go to church on Sunday. My wife drags me there. I try to do the best I can. I have never in my life heard a reverend refer to people who are concerned citizens as a bunch of Karens. That is... beyond the pale. I really hope you support those people. They're dealing with the same issues we're dealing with all over the city. They sound compassionate, they sound caring, and they deserve to be heard. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is LaQueen Battle, followed by Michael Monassim, then James Williamson. LaQueen, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_27	All right, hello, my name's LaQueen Battle. I live on 86 Otis Street and I'm a CHA resident. It's a pleasure and honor to be here tonight. I'll try to be really quick. I'm talking about agenda items two for funding for our firefighters and agenda item number seven. I'm currently working as a CNA and a home health aide and I'm very grateful for the job readiness programs that have provided people like myself as well as migrants here in Cambridge and throughout Massachusetts. These programs provide a strong pathway to stable employment and meaningful community contribution. Once certified, the participants do have the opportunities to grow professionally and work alongside firefighters and EMTs, assisting in emergencies and being the first to help residents and the community in need. Also, on solemn occasions like the anniversary of 9-11, these programs do remind us of the importance of uniting to support our community in times of crisis. I am grateful for the opportunity to earn my CNA and my home health aid credentials in Massachusetts and proud that the City of Cambridge does continue to offer free and community-oriented CNA training programs through the Cambridge Learning Community Center. both accessible to English and non-English learners. For participants, these programs provide financial security, career growth, and a sense of belonging with Cambridge's diverse community of over 120,000 residents. For the city, they ensure that the quality of elders and families while using pressure on the growing healthcare system with our growing elderly population. It is an honor and a privilege to be here today, and I would also please encourage the funding for these programs that do provide people like myself of low-income background, despite what this pandemic economy and the job employment population does and show for us. Please, please, please continue to encourage funding for these programs and funding for our firefighters. Thank you so much, and God bless you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is Michael Monestime, followed by James Williamson, then Heather Hoffman. Michael, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_38	Good evening, Mayor Simmons, Vice Mayor McGovern, and members of the council. My name's Michael Monestime. I'm the president of The Bid. I'm also a proud resident at Fort George Street, and I'm here to support Policy Orders 116 and 117. Policy Order 116 matters because Cambridge thrives on its cultural events. Porch fests, block parties, fairs, markets, these aren't extras. They're part of our civic identity and economic life. Clear City policy on roles and financial responsibilities will help nonprofits like ours plan better, budget smarter, and keep delivering events that bring people together. Turning to policy order 117, former counselor Alana Mallon in her role as chair of the mayor's arts task force often described tourism, economic development, and the arts as a three-legged stool. Her point was simple. When these areas are aligned, Cambridge thrives. Arts and culture are not extras. They're central to equity, resilience, and civic life. Tourism flourishes when Cambridge's creative energy is visible and economic development benefits when that energy brings people into our squares. filling storefronts, and activating public spaces. Today, the Office of Tourism has stable TDMD funding for citywide marketing. City tourism dollars then should strengthen the neighborhood organizations like Central Harvard, East Cambridge, and Kendall that create the experiences visitors and residents actually encounter. And tourism is not just international travelers, it's also families and neighbors from across Massachusetts who come here to shop, eat, and explore. Investing locally ensures Cambridge stays vibrant, square by square. Together, these two orders strengthen public-private partnerships and ensure Cambridge remains warm, resilient, and joyful. They are a reminder that Cambridge works best when we plan ahead, invest locally, and build a city that people are proud to call home. Thank you.
SPEAKER_29	Our next speaker is James Williamson, followed by Heather Hoffman. James, you have the floor. If you can unmute yourself, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_35	Can you hear me?
SPEAKER_29	Yes, we can. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_35	Thank you. James Williamson, North Cambridge. By the way, the problems that have been discussed, which are horrifying to me, and I do observe in Porter Square, are bleeding up all along Mass Ave to Arlington if we don't have rules, we're going to end up with law and order. If we don't have rules, we're going to end up with law and order. I want to speak to the two things that Michael Modestine just spoke to. The first is the idea of having some a standard for distributing support, public support, taxpayer dollars to organ groups that are doing major public events. I think it's a mistake to put the threshold as high as 1500. I think that support should go to people who are organizing smaller events, maybe say up to, if you have 300 people at an event, I think you might need some support from city departments and you deserve to be, you know, you might well deserve to get support. So I'd lower the threshold and I'd also include, make it clear that this includes community groups, neighborhood organizations, not just nonprofits. And I'm getting on a bus. Excuse me. Thank you. The other thing is on the other one, I understand that there's money for the office of tourism from this joint entity that isn't explained but should be uh between boston and cambridge and um cedar i have an issue with the office of tourism being the kiosk building nobody seems to have paid any attention to the way they slapped on that neon sign that says kiosk as if we needed to know that the kiosk was a kiosk i'm running out of time i think the money should go to the people not the businesses
SPEAKER_29	Madam Mayor, I'm having a technical issue right now. Give me one second.
Denise Simmons	I could sing. Maybe not.
SPEAKER_29	Nicole, can you unmute Heather, please? Our next speaker is Heather Hoffman, followed by Charles Franklin. Heather, you have two minutes. Please go ahead.
SPEAKER_19	Hello, Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street. First, I just have a comment about the various items, including the committee report having to do with civic engagement. Had I been there in person, you wouldn't have been able to read my t-shirt, but it has a cartoon on it. And the caption is, we want to include you in this decision without letting you affect it. And that is my experience of too much community engagement in Cambridge. You need to change that. People who are not the official people often have something worth hearing. With respect to large family friendly events, I agree with James that that's probably too large a threshold. And I think that those events matter a ton to making Cambridge a place that lots of us want to keep living in. So I hope that whatever you decide will encourage those events and make them possible. With respect to accessibility, once again, I will point out that you are talking about only people who have mobility problems and that's very important, but there are also people who have other accessibility challenges that matter a whole ton for getting around and that's people with low and no vision. Please include us. And finally, with respect to litigation, I do hope you will get a report on the city of Cambridge and a discussion of how the city has or has not complied with the temporary restraining order. Thank you.
SPEAKER_24	The next speaker is Charles Franklin.
SPEAKER_23	Good evening, Council. Welcome back. 162 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Charles Franklin. I'm going to speak in favor of Policy Order 9, which requests that the city work to inform the community at large about the work of the Micromobility Commission. I would like to thank Councilor Nolan and her co-sponsors in particular for pointing out that micromobility shouldn't just be for the able-bodied. As we continue to reimagine the streetscape, we cannot leave the community of the mobility-challenged and disabled behind. They are our neighbors. We should take care of them, just like we would want others to take care of us. As we continue to reimagine... build and redesign streets going forward as long as we do these designs considering mobility assistive devices and other forms of micro mobility then i believe that we can have a good equitable use of our streets thank you madam mayor that's the final speaker signed up thank you madam clerk pleasure of the city council on a motion by the vice mayor to close public comment discussion
Denise Simmons	Hearing none, roll call, Madam Clerk. Ayesha's here now, thank you. Didn't see you. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and public comment is now closed on the affirmative vote of nine members. We now move to the submission of the record. I'm going to pull number three. but on number one, which is the regular meeting minutes of May 19th, 2025. Number two is the council regular meeting, June 9th, 2025. I'm pulling number three. And number four is minutes of the city council special meeting, August 4th, 2025. What is the pleasure of the city council? On a motion by, I'm sorry? On a motion by Councilor Nolan to accept the minutes and place them on file. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the minutes of the May 19th, June 9th, and August 4th have been accepted and placed on file. On the minutes of June 16th, 2025, I just want to amend those minutes to add public comment. So I'd like to, if Council Wilson will make a motion to add public comment to the minutes of June 16th. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, a motion by Council Wilson. All those in favor say aye.
	Aye.
Denise Simmons	Opposed? The ayes have it. And the minutes are amended to place the minutes on file as amended on a motion by Council Wilson. All those in favor say aye.
	Aye.
Denise Simmons	Opposed? The ayes have it. And the minutes are amended and placed on file. We now move, there's no reconsideration. We're gonna move to the city manager's agenda items. What's the pleasure of the city council? Madam Mayor. Councilor Tona.
Paul Toner	Number nine.
Denise Simmons	Number nine. Pleasure of the city council. Councilor Zusy and then Councilor Nolan.
Catherine Zusy	Number eight.
Denise Simmons	Council Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Number one and number four.
Denise Simmons	Any other items? Hearing none, we are going to pull number one, number four. Council Nolan pulled number one. Council Nolan pulled number four. We have Councilor Zusy pulling number eight and Councilor Toner pulling number nine. If there's nothing else, I will entertain a motion. I will just do a roll call on the balance on a motion by the Vice Mayor to take up two, three, five, six, and seven.
SPEAKER_24	Madam Clerk. Councilor Azeem. Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Counselor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Counselor Siddiqui? Yes. Yes. Counselor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Counselor Toner? Yes. Yes. Counselor Wilson? Yes. Yes. Counselor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.
Denise Simmons	And the consent agenda items of the city manager have been adopted by the affirmative vote of nine members. Now to the non-consented agenda. These are the items that members pulled off. The first one was pulled by Council Nolan. It reads as follows. A communication transmitted from me on Wong City Manager relative to a federal update, including an update on relevant court cases. Council Nolan, the floor is yours.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you, Mayor Simmons. Through you, I pulled this so that we could have an update from the city manager on this range of cases. I will also note that the city and all of us, I hope, breathed an incredible sigh of relief with Judge Allison Burroughs ruling on both the Harvard University case as well as the American Association of University Professors case, which showed very clearly that their contention that civil rights had been broached, that First Amendment rights were broached, that the law had not been followed by the Trump administration in seeking to take away a lot of that funding. We know it's not over. There's always a case for appeal, but it's a hallelujah movement that when you stand up and you do things, and I just want to also express before we hear from the staff that just this list alone shows how busy our staff is, and yet that ruling by Judge Burroughs shows how incredibly important it is to actually take on these cases because it is the way that we can stand up for the rule of law and for ensuring that not only our city, but our state and our country and the world understands that it's something that has to move forward in the court cases, but we are really just protecting public safety and democracy. So with that, I'll yield through you for the city manager to go over.
Denise Simmons	Mr. City Manager, the floor is yours.
Yi-An Huang	Thank you so much, through you, Mayor Simmons, and thank you, Councillor Nolan, for pulling the item and for the quick note on the case regarding Harvard University. I would encourage the council as well. I know there is so much happening, but to the extent that there are specific issues that you're hearing about from the community or that you're interested in, we're also happy to get that in advance and we can highlight. our updates on that. We do try and provide updates on the major issues, especially as there are big developments. And so tonight we'd like to update on our approach to federal funding uncertainty as we go into the fall regarding federal funding coming to the city. And then the second is the recent announcements in court decisions on immigration and ICE actions, especially in the region. and then also happy to turn it over after questions for a broader update if there are questions about other court cases that are currently happening and especially the ones that the city is involved in. On federal funding, we've been tracking the larger federal grants that we receive from the government, which are at risk based on both the imposition of grant conditions that we may not be willing to accept, or potential withdrawal of federal funding in future budgets. The city received from HUD grant awards for the continuum of care homelessness grant for FY26 in the amount of $6.3 million. This is one of the larger federal grants that we receive. And as a result of the King County versus Turner lawsuit that we were a plaintiff in, HUD was enjoined at this time from withholding grant funding to the city. As a result, we've entered into grant agreements with the designated nonprofit providers who conduct the leasing payments and supportive services for individuals who come out of homelessness under these grants for the July through September period. And so the discussion that we had prior was that we would advance this funding even though there was some risk that we may not be reimbursed for it. Those subawards for the July through September period were about $770,000, and we do expect to be reimbursed for those. In order to ensure that individuals being served are not subject to eviction or disruption of services after September 30th, we are anticipating on extending those grant agreements for this next quarter, October 1st through December 31st. This would obligate an additional $1.4 million, which again may or may not be reimbursed by HUD depending on the outcome of the current litigation. The current litigation essentially has enjoined HUD where they have to continue to fund us, but if there is a different or negative decision in the case, HUD may be able to take that funding away. The city has also provided funding to approximately 25 nonprofits through the emergency solutions grant and the public services CDBG grants. While we await the outcomes of lawsuits about grant conditions for those grants, we've entered into grant agreements for July through September, again, for that first three months of the fiscal year, totaling $140,000. We are planning to extend those grant agreements as well for an additional three months from October through December. That would be another $140,000. So to summarize, there's about $1.5 million of additional federal grant funding that we are proposing to continue providing to these critical programs and community partners. recognizing that pending litigation, we may not be reimbursed for them, and we would ultimately likely try to address this through the federal funding stabilization fund that the council approved and that we established. We are planning to provide additional details and a formal appropriation request likely for the September 29th council meeting, but we wanted to provide a heads up tonight just on where things are and how we're thinking about approaching that next quarter. I would say that given the federal budget discussions that are likely to happen this fall, we will likely get a better sense of where we are by the end of the year and then we can have more explicit conversations about how we approach the January through June period in 2026. On immigration and ICE actions, I know that we are all having conversations across our community and there's tremendous concern and anger over federal actions on immigration enforcement. Recent announcements about an increase in activity in our region is worrisome and there are reports at this point of dozens arrests over the weekend. While there are directed ICE actions within Cambridge, we have received notification from federal officials in advance and we expect this to continue and we have continually emphasized that notification is important to ensure that our police department knows that any detentions that may be happening in our city are federal officials and not unauthorized individuals. And there have been a total of six notifications and interventions by ICE in Cambridge this calendar year. I appreciate the efforts of the city council to strengthen our welcoming cities ordinance and we continue to ensure that our local police are here to build community trust and safety and are not supporting immigration, civil immigration enforcement. Further, we have not yet seen an uptick in federal actions in Cambridge at this point, though I would say that the overall focus for ICE actions has not been within Cambridge, but has been greater regionally, especially in gateway communities. A bigger concern in the medium to long term is the dramatic increase in ICE funding that was part of the recent federal budget reconciliation bill which tripled funding for ICE enforcement and deportation operations. It is a tragic reality that we are at this point only at the beginning of the ramp up of deportation efforts and it's important that we all continue to speak out against these policies that are not actually focused on violent criminals, but deporting peaceful and productive members of our communities and our country. We've spoken out together, I know the council has spoken out, the city with other municipal leaders, through Metro Mayors with Boston, Lynn, Chelsea, and 10 other cities, argued that ICE actions without notifications, targeting people based on what they look like, and violently breaking into vehicles are not just making our cities less safe, but these are also unconstitutional. Earlier this summer, a district court in California addressed this in response to what the judge called a mountain of evidence of indiscriminately rounding up individuals without reasonable suspicion. The judge ordered federal agents not to rely on factors like race, ethnicity, language, or performing a particular type of work. The appeals court supported this order and refused to intervene, but today, the Supreme Court issued a decision with no rationale provided that lifted that restriction. Broadly, this is incredibly worrisome because it seemingly legitimizes racial profiling in indiscriminate detentions, but also because it shows the Supreme Court has begun a pattern of overturning the ability of lower courts to issue injunctions and preserve the status quo while these critical decisions, these critical constitutional questions are being litigated. So while these cases are still not decided, it indicates this deeper concern and particularly that the Supreme Court believes that these federal actions are constitutional and will likely continue. This is really a substantive change over the last months that shows an erosion in the ability of our judicial system to pause executive actions for review. And we continue to have a lot of concern over many other decisions that are currently being litigated. On the more positive side, we have seen some court decisions that we support, including the overturning of federal government's actions withholding grants to Harvard University that Councilor Nolan raised, as well as the termination of temporary protected status for individuals from Haiti and Venezuela. That was determined over the weekend that those actions to end that program were not were not legitimate, but both of these cases are likely to be appealed, but these are at least positive developments for now. So I think those are the major updates on things that I've been hearing about. Happy to receive questions and maybe we'll pause there and then I can also turn it over to the law department for any updates on pending litigation.
Denise Simmons	Council Nolan, do you want to, or anyone from the floor want to ask any questions? I see Council Siddiqui has her hands up on the city manager's earlier presentation. Let me just see if Council Nolan yields the floor.
Patricia Nolan	Yes, that's fine. We may have a question later, but I'm happy to yield.
Denise Simmons	Council Nolan yields. Council Siddiqui, the floor is yours. Sure.
Sumbul Siddiqui	Thank you for this overview of the litigation so far. On the last aspect of your comments around ICE, I think there are a lot of questions in the community given various articles that are coming out, just everything that we're seeing. And I think the biggest question, which is a hard one, We've already done things to strengthen our welcoming city ordinance, but are there other things that we're doing to prepare for what's coming ahead? It's a broad question, but whether that's more trainings or something, but do you have some insight into how we're going to be preparing for some of this unknown around the increased funding, the Supreme Court decision, the potential increase from the six incidences that we've seen? Thank you.
Denise Simmons	City Manager?
Yi-An Huang	Through you, Mayor Simmons. Thanks for the question, Councillor Siddiqui. I think we have taken a lot of actions to prepare, particularly on the city side, for if ICE officials were to show up within city buildings or departments. I think we'll issue this week just a reminder of the guidance. I appreciate the efforts from the Law Department in particular, and we've set up We set up essentially an on-call line for departments to be able to call so that they're not making these decisions in real time in front of federal agents, but they can get legal support. I wish there was more that I could say about the broader deportation efforts that are ongoing. One of the biggest challenges is these are enforcement activities that are happening regarding laws that are on the books. And it's a shift in priorities that don't accord with our values. And further, especially with this Supreme Court decision that happened today, we're seeing some constitutional boundaries that we really don't agree with being crossed. I think in many ways, I feel like we were going into this year seeing the courts as the primary place where we had an opportunity to call out unconstitutional actions and to challenge them. The worry is that what we're seeing is a reluctance from the judicial system to really preserve some of those injunctions. That's part of what I think I've appreciated. The law department has taken on a lot of additional work to look at how the city can participate and be either a plaintiff or an amicus in many of these cases. But it seems like there are really limits to where the courts can make an impact. I think this does end up getting to the ways that we collectively can speak out and I think organize, particularly as we think about next year's midterms. I wish there was, I wish there was more that we could do operationally, but I think there are real challenges to how we ultimately interact with federal agents regarding some of the actions that they're taking. So we will continue certainly to think about this. I think this is on our minds constantly, and I know in a lot of the conversations I'm having with members of this body, and we continue to be open to new ideas for how we can support our community beyond simply spreading awareness and keeping people updated on what we're doing.
Denise Simmons	Council Siddiqui.
Sumbul Siddiqui	Thank you, Ian. Through you, I think, yeah, I think the reminders are important, and I do know that we funded this year, expanded our partnership with De Novo, so I do think that's a part-time position that the city allocated, and, you know, they... you know, take on various immigration cases, including deportation defense. But checking in with them, I'd say I'm seeing, you know, I'd be curious what they're seeing. Is the part-time position that we have sufficient? Can we do more if we need to do more? But those are the things that I just wanted to share. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Councillor Siddiqui, also Floor Council. Wilson, Floor is yours.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor, and through you. Thank you for the presentation, the update, Mr. City Manager. And a question that I have, and you mentioned this in regards to notifications, like just somehow being notified that maybe ICE is in the area or to pick up someone. Can you go a little bit deeper into maybe what does that look like? Do they know specifically who they're looking for? Do they know kind of the vicinity in which they will be in? What kind of notification are we receiving?
Yi-An Huang	um the city manager through mayor simmons i think we do have the police commissioner available but i would maybe just start to say for the most part it is more just notification that they are going to be in the city they usually don't give us any specific information, but I can let Commissioner Elo just provide a little bit more context in terms of the notifications we received. We haven't seen an enormous amount of activity within the city, but I think she can talk through some of the data.
SPEAKER_22	Right through you, Madam Mayor, to Councillor Wilson. So our shift commander and our emergency communications received calls from agents from ICE asking about people that we have arrested and information about the arrest. We have like six interactions, and I can go into more detail about what they wanted. But Basically, there was one where we had somebody in custody, they wanted to know were they still in custody, and we referred them to our welcoming ordinance. They knew from the fingerprints through NCIC that we had them. They ended up coming out to our station and picking them up when they were released. They also went to another apartment where they were looking for an individual. and they had a photograph that they showed to a resident. That resident called us. We went and just took a report. We did not engage with ICE at that time. And other times that they called and just asking us for information about people that we had in custody, and we just referred them to our welcoming ordinance. But I can go into detail if you'd like, more specific.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you. Madam Commissioner, if it's okay to go a little bit deeper, just if it's appropriate to, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
SPEAKER_22	Sure, through you, Madam Mayor. On September 6th, our shift commander received a call from an ICE fugitive task force. looking for information on a previous arrest that we made. We advised them. This was an OUI arrest. We sent them to our welcoming ordinance. They then asked some questions about freedom of information and if they could do any walk-in requests for public records, and we referred them to the legal department. On August 20th, our shift commander received a call to get information on a person in custody. And actually they called ECC. ECC relayed the call to us. We then said to ECC that we cannot, we referred them to our welcoming ordinance and didn't answer any questions. On June 4th, ICE also called us to inquire about the status of somebody that we had arrested, and they actually wanted to know, did we know why they were under arrest and all of that, and we said we were aware of the warrants, and again, referred them to our welcoming ordinance that we do not answer questions. On May 10th, that was the arrest where we arrested a young woman for shoplifting. ICE got her fingerprints through the NCIC system, and they waited outside for her to be released and picked her up. On February 23rd, ICE called our shift commander. They were looking for an individual that we had arrested on February 20th. for a violent crime. And we, again, said that we don't have any information and we cannot share. But they did tell us that they were going to be in the area of Essex Street where this individual lived looking for them. And that was it. We didn't have any more interactions with them. On February 19th, This is when we took a report from New Street where a resident said that ICE knocked on the door, showed a picture, and said, would you let us in so we can get this individual? We didn't see ICE or interact with ICE, but we took a report. And that's all for 2025.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you. Thank you so much to you, Madam Mayor, to the Commissioner. I appreciate those updates, and I think that that's really important for us to just kind of know, first off, they're seeing people are in our custody via the fingerprints or some other closed mechanism like that. And then we have been alerted that there's ICE in the area. So I think just for the community's sake, just as, again, another friendly reminder, what should people do if they notice that ICE is in the area, in the community, maybe just driving around or what have you? What should members of our community actually do?
Denise Simmons	Commissioner?
SPEAKER_22	Through you, Madam Mayor. I would say it's okay to either call 911 or the non-emergency line. Let us go out. What we had said through a welcoming ordinance is that we'll go out, we'll kick it up to supervisors and our leadership team to go out and identify and find out what's going on. They have been calling us when they're coming in, so I would hope that if they're going to be here that they let us know first. But if people see, we want to know. We would like to know where they are and see if we can get any information on what sort of operations they're engaged in. So they should call 911 or the non-emergency number.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I yield.
Denise Simmons	Thank you. Council Wilson yields the floor. Vice Mayor, the floor is yours.
Marc McGovern	Um, thank you. Just a quick, quick follow up. Um, and I appreciate, um, madam commissioner, um, that you are, you are indeed referring them to our sanctuary city ordinance and, and standing by that. Um, that's good. I'm not surprised, but it's good. Good to know. Um, so of the, do we know, so we know of six. calls or notifications from ICE. We know the one where the person who was arrested from shoplifting was coming out of the police station and was taken into custody. Do we know about the other five?
SPEAKER_29	Commissioner?
Marc McGovern	Specifically, what questions are you asking? Well, I'm just wondering, a notification that ICE is coming in doesn't necessarily mean that ICE actually took someone into custody right so i'm just we we again and this is where as much information as we can share with people the better because there are lots of rumors you know there's you know i've heard people say that you know ice is all over the city um you know it i got a call actually from my son who was concerned that ice was out in front of his work he works in a restaurant with a lot of um a lot of immigrants who work there and uh it turned out that it was an enterprise rental car and somebody was renting a large SUV, right? And so people are just, they see these cars on the road and everyone's obviously so scared and so anxious that they make assumptions. So I guess I'm just curious as to, one, just making sure we're getting the information out there, but do we know Even in the specifics about why ICE was searching for certain people, right? I mean, are we seeing in Cambridge that they're abducting students like they did in Summerville or in Framingham with a high school student on his way to a volleyball game? Or are these legitimate warrants? I mean, just so we can... understand the level of concern and what we're seeing in our community.
SPEAKER_22	Commissioner? Through you, Madam Mayor, I appreciate the question. Every interaction that we've had with them, it's involved somebody who has been under arrest. And I would say for one, the shoplifting, there was shoplifting and assault and battery. So they were trying to make the connection to a violent crime. So I want to say everybody that we've had contact with has been involved in a crime and we're not seeing anything of picking children up off of streets or anything like that.
Marc McGovern	Thank you. And through you, Madam Mayor, just the last question. I mean, I have no idea. I mean, up until this year under this new regime, you know, I don't Is six ICE notifications more than what we typically see? Is it in line with what we typically see in other years? I mean, is this really an uptick? I just have no idea because we never really talked about it much before.
Ayesha Wilson	Commissioner?
SPEAKER_22	Through you, Madam Mayor, I want to say, and I want to get back to the specifics. I want to say last year we had four ICE interactions. So if this year in September we've had six, there's a slight uptick.
Marc McGovern	So more and we're not even through the year yet.
Denise Simmons	Mr. Vice Mayor, can I just ask you a pause? When you say this year, I'm throwing off now. Are you talking about the fiscal year?
SPEAKER_22	2025, from January to calendar.
Denise Simmons	Are you going from January to December, or are you talking about July to July?
SPEAKER_22	I'm talking calendar year from January 2025 to right now in like calendar year 2024, I wanna say we had four ICE detainers. Thank you for the clarity, Vice Mayor.
Marc McGovern	Yeah, so two more and we're nine months in, so it will be higher, it already is higher. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Vice Mayor yields the floor.
Denise Simmons	Councillor Sabina Wheeler-Flourish, yes.
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler	Thanks Madam Mayor, through you, and thanks for this update, and as others have said, thanks for providing details on these and for letting us know that they are referring folks to the Welcoming Community Ordinance and that that is having the desired effect that is being followed. That's great to hear. I had a couple follow-up questions. Some of my other questions were asked by the Vice Mayor and Councillor Wilson. One follow-up question I had was talking through the six instances and the details there were really helpful. One follow-up question there was reporting around workers at a restaurant in Central Square who were detained by ICE. There's an article in Cambridge Day from July 12th. Just to clarify, because that wasn't listed in one of the events, those folks, they worked at a restaurant in Cambridge. They were not actually picked out by ICE in Cambridge. Is that right?
	Yeah.
Denise Simmons	Commissioner?
SPEAKER_22	Through you, Madam Mayor, I think you're referring to the Phoenix. And the information we have is none of them were picked up in our city.
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler	Gotcha. Thanks.
SPEAKER_17	That's helpful to have on the record. Do we know where they were picked up? Just out of curiosity. Through you, Madam Mayor. I do not know where. Gotcha. Thanks. Thank you. That's helpful.
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler	And then the other question I had was just clarifying. So these are the six instances where ICE reached out to the city of Cambridge, to Cambridge police, and asked for information or let them know where they were going to show up. Are we aware of any instances where ICE hasn't notified beforehand or they showed up? I'm just thinking of the case in Somerville of Ramesa Ozturk where she was abducted. I don't think Somerville police or anyone was notified that beforehand, but people knew. Are there any instances like that that we're aware of, of just ICE showing up without notification ahead of time? And I understand we maybe just don't know even, but just curious if there are any that we know of.
SPEAKER_22	Through you, Madam Mayor, we do not have any information that we've had ICE come without our knowledge. And I do want to add one thing because I read something. We are going to have all of our officers we've ordered so that they can all have placards on their back that read they're Cambridge police. I think Chicago is also doing that.
Denise Simmons	Council Sabina Mila.
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler	Great, thank you. And then just the last question is, I have been asked by a few folks, the people we do know who were detained in Cambridge, including the person from the shoplifting arrest who was let out on bail and was picked up. Do we have any idea of where they are now, where they've been transported? Has ICE provided any of that info?
SPEAKER_17	Commissioner?
SPEAKER_22	Through you, Madam Mayor, I do not have any of that information.
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler	Council Serena Wheeler. Great. Thank you for this update. This was helpful. And I'll yield back for now.
Denise Simmons	Council Serena Wheeler yields the floor. Council Nolan, then Council Azeem. Council Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you. Yes, this is a follow-up to the beginning of this. I'm grateful for my colleagues for asking many of those questions, which are roiling the community as we hear that ICE is ramped up in the state. I want to go back to some of the funding issues which we will then possibly have and almost certainly will have a huge impact on us as we enter the next year. We heard about some of the grants for this quarter and for the next quarter. There's a number of other funding that comes through the state, even if it doesn't come directly to us, the CBDG and others. Do we have any sense of future grants, what we're hearing? I know it's been a topic before and I know we may not know for sure, but I think that's a huge risk for us because while some of the court decisions say that some of the conditions under which we were being asked to sign, which were not in line with our local ordinances, we didn't have to sign. But just as with Harvard, this case is only about grants that had already been awarded. future grants which would be in the billions of dollars for Harvard but the millions of dollars for us are in a very different category because if they haven't been awarded it would be very easy for an administration who wants to take it out on a city like Cambridge which is standing up and which is standing firm for the values that we cherish and keep our residents safe. Do we have any sense of how that funding discussion is going either at the state level the federal government is now undergoing once again they have to pass another budget by September 30th and they're undergoing But if we heard anything from our congressional delegation or at the state level, at the state level about anything that we should be aware of going forward. Mr. City Manager.
Yi-An Huang	Through you, Mayor Simmons, I think we haven't heard anything at this point. I think it feels like it's still pretty early in terms of where those discussions are. I expect those will be the really important conversations in terms of the future funding streams and whether entire programs remain in the federal budget or are substantively cut. I know one of the hard parts about predicting a lot of this is that during the First administration, a lot of these programs were not in the president's budget request, but ultimately were still funded through Congress. And so the question of whether or not Congress will continue to fund things like CDBG or ESG or these programs that really are affecting cities and states across the country, not just us. These are not sort of blue state programs. They're programs that are really happening in almost every community across the country. I think we don't know to what extent Congress will be pressured to or will accede to the administration to make some of these further cuts. So I think it's just a little early to say, though I expect we will have much more clarity as we get into the fall.
SPEAKER_29	Councilman Noem.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you. I hope you're right. I do think there's wind projects across the country that are on hold. There's an 80% completed good jobs in America in Rhode Island that was just put on hold. stranding possibly billions of dollars of investment in something that brought decent jobs to this country. And that eventually could affect us with our moving forward on much of our provision of various clean energy And that's just one area. Then there's also, we know that in 2026, Medicare and Medicaid funding in this state is likely to be cut in half. So while that's a year out, I think we have to be thinking right now about anticipating something, and this Congress has not shown the guts and the will to actually do enough to protect the American people, unlike, I think you're right, during the first administration. So I'm just... Not to be a downer, but I think we really do have to keep a sharp eye on it. I know you'll keep us informed, but I also want to make sure we keep our eye on that because it's been critically important in so many areas. I only mentioned two of them, but there's many others as well. We've already heard some about housing. Thank you, Mayor Simmons.
Denise Simmons	With that, I yield.
Burhan Azeem	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just had a quick question. Based on all the analytics we have about, like, the number of times that we think that, you know, ICE has been in the city and what has happened, I was wondering if there was just a public page we could create just to post some of these, if that would be a doable initiative. I also see a lot of these posting on all of our social media of, like, is this what's an ICE talk? Is this happening? How much have people been in Cambridge? And it feels like we have some of those numbers. And if it's possible to post anything publicly, I think it'll just provide ease of this actually did happen and this didn't happen.
Denise Simmons	City Manager?
Yi-An Huang	Through you, Mayor Simmons, I think we can look into it. Maybe we can follow up with you just to think about how we would structure this. I think some of the challenges, a public page that's static just gets out of date very quickly. And I think maybe to your point, there's a question from the community and similar to what the Vice Mayor was saying. A lot of people are trying to figure out how do they engage more in real time and say, is this something that's actually happening, or I have this question, what's the answer? We can think about how we can create more of that forum, or even if what you're looking for, what you're sort of thinking about is more just, okay, well, these are the actual documented interactions. We can also think about whether there's some regular reporting that we end up doing, and we can post that for sure.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Z?
Burhan Azeem	thank you madam um from my opinion i think a static page would be plenty to start with right even if it's updated on like a weekly basis or something so not something super urgent i just think that that level of like here's what we know happened and everything else especially if we feel like our data is comprehensive like there's not high stuff that's happening in the city that we don't know about at some point like i think that that would be very reaffirming and then you know, all the more ambitious things of like, you know, could it be more frequent or more detailed or all those things? Like, I think those are bonuses, but I think even a slow static place would do a lot.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Azeem, are you yielding? Further discussion? Councilor Turner.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. Actually, just to piggyback on Councilor Azeem, if you've given us the stats right now for this year, if we had something that said there's been six interactions this year, I'M LEAVING HERE THINKING OF SIX INTERACTIONS AND IF YOU JUST UPDATE IT WHEN THERE'S ANOTHER INTERACTION, NOT EVEN A WEEKLY THING OR MONTHLY THING BECAUSE AS COUNCILOR ZIMA MENTIONED, THERE'S BEEN STUFF ALL OVER SOCIAL MEDIA. EVERY TIME THERE'S A BLACK livery van that goes by or something, oh, ICE is in the neighborhood, and it would be helpful, even if it's just some sort of simple text from the public relations officers in the department so that we know if something has changed since this report you just gave us so we can stay on top of it. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	City Manager, you want to respond at all?
Yi-An Huang	No, thank you. Through you, Mayor Simmons, thank you for the thoughts. We'll definitely take that back and then I can come back to give you a sense of what we'll put up.
Denise Simmons	Any more discussions relative to Council Wilson?
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. And through you, I just wanted to, I really appreciated what Councilor Azeem and Toner just mentioned and really think like along the lines of also emphasizing the know your rights and tools and tips for the community could also be shared in that space. But I just also want to kind of center us around or ground us in the fact that, you know, just less than a year ago, this was all like disbelief. right like we weren't in that space of thinking something like this would happen or could happen and now here we are and we're talking about the numbers and the people and you know what does it look like for us to have someone detained in our custody and then we're releasing them and then boom they're picked up right um so just like you know i think It's, we're in some troubling times right now, and this is not going to shift anytime soon, at least for not the next three years at the minimum. But it is very important for us as a community to be completely cognizant of what's happening and what's going on. And for now, like right now, seriously, to be community, to be about community and to really think about If you see not just the black car driving down the street, but really taking that extra step of, you know, yes, notifying the police department or notifying others to say something looks a little funny or suspicious. Could we, you know, and I don't want y'all's phones to now just be blowing up with everything, but I guess at this point you have to anticipate that because... This is kind of the climate in which we are in. And we want to make sure that members of our community, whether they live here, work here, go to school here, whatever, that they feel safe, right? to go to school, to go to work, to do their day-to-day things, because Cambridge should be a safe space. But we recognize we're under the federal government. So I just wanted to leave us with that and just hope that we can continue to protect. And while these numbers may seem, and I think to the Vice Mayor's point, are we right in par? Is this a smaller number, larger number? Where are we? the number could be increasing if we're not vigilant enough. So just to be mindful and to take care and protect your neighbors. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson deals the floor. Mr. City Manager, you want to pivot over to our solicitor for additional information?
Yi-An Huang	I think we're probably okay. We continue to provide an update on lawsuits that we're either involved in or are of special interest, given a lot of the topics that we've been focused on and that are affecting our community. So welcome any questions, but also happy to move on if we're good on that front, and we'll continue to provide those updates.
Denise Simmons	Very good, thank you. So motion by Councilor Nolan to place city manager's agenda item number one on file. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. And city manager's agenda item number one is placed on file. We move now to number four. This was pulled by Councilor Nolan. Reads as follows. Transmitting communication from Yan Wang, city manager relative to the appropriation 120,000 received from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Jail Diversion Program to the Grant Fund Police Department Other Ordinary and Maintenance Account, 120,000 grant funds will be used to continue the co-response program with one clinician through June of 2026. Councilor Nolan, the floor is yours.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you, Mayor Simmons. I pulled this just to understand where we're at with the co-response model and I know there's been discussion on the floor to ensure that the police department is working very closely with the care department and that the co-response model is not inhibiting any kind of further collaboration and ensuring that we are at the city department which is the community safety department and the police department with the co-response having similar not completely identical but very similar goals of moving forward with a non armed police response. I know this is co-response, but there are times when, you know, we all want and we established and spent millions of dollars establishing a community safety department, which you all believe in, can help offload some from the police department. So I want to understand how it is that this grant is working in conjunction with the care and community safety department.
Denise Simmons	Mr. City Manager, do you want to lead off or just commission or just going to take it over?
Yi-An Huang	Through you, Mayor Simmons, happy to defer to Commissioner Elo just to provide a brief update.
SPEAKER_22	So through you, Madam Mayor, to Councillor Nolan. So this is a continuation of the grant that we had for the co-responder. This is separate from CARE, and we are continuing to collect data. I think we had this for a two-year grant. I also have Dr. Jamie Barrett, who's on the line, who might want to say a little bit more about this, but this is a continuation of the grant that we applied for. We're continuing to collect data on a co-responder model just to evaluate it. Can we bring up Dr. Jamie Barrett though and see if he has anything he wants to add to this?
Denise Simmons	Dr. Barrett, are you there?
SPEAKER_02	I'm here.
Denise Simmons	The floor is yours.
SPEAKER_02	Through you, Madam Mayor, to answer the question that Councilor Nolan posed, co-response works very closely with community safety and with care. One thing to note is that co-response only goes to police calls. So if we did not have co-response, it would be patrol answering the calls that co-response is dispatched to. The Family Social Justice Section actually works probably almost daily with community safety, just to talk about cases that cross over or to make sure that we're not replicating efforts and that we're coordinating our responses. One thing to note is that co-response is an armed police response. So for every co-response call, there is an officer who is armed.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you. Through you, Mayor, thank you to the police department and Dr. Barrett. Yes, I understand co-responses with the armed police. I also know that there was some tension around this when this was set up and that there was not the robust and communication that we might have wanted with all the various city departments when this started and the council as well as the The safety department just wants to name that and to make sure that we are now moving forward in a collaborative way so that we can be drawing on all the resources of the city in the most appropriate way for those incidents because there are so many incidents as we know when a co-response model is not what we want to send because we don't want an armed officer and there are other times when an armed officer is appropriate and yet you also want a social worker. So I wanted to to be assured that we are in a better place in terms of both the communication and the collaborative work across departments. And with that, I don't have any further questions, Mayor Simmons, so I yield.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Nolan yields the floor. Is there any other questions or discussion on this item? Hearing none, Councilor Nolan moves the appropriation. Is this a roll call vote?
SPEAKER_24	Madam Clerk. Councilor Azeem.
Burhan Azeem	Yes.
SPEAKER_24	Yes. Vice-Mayor McGovern? Yes. Yes. Counselor Nolan? Yes. Yes. Counselor Siddiqui?
Burhan Azeem	Yes.
SPEAKER_24	Yes. Counselor Sobrinho-Wheeler? Yes. Yes. Counselor Toner? Yes. Yes. Counselor Wilson? Yes. Yes. Counselor Zusy? Yes. Yes. Mayor Simmons? Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.
Denise Simmons	And the appropriation is approved and the matter placed on file on the affirmative vote of nine members. We move now to number eight. This was pulled by Counselor Zusy. Reads as follows. A communication transmitted from Yanwang City Manager relative to the appointment of Stephanie Alexis, Sally Bambasset, Christina Turner, and the reappointment of Elizabeth Aguilo, I apologize if I said that wrong, Warren Murphy, and Michelle Lauer as members of the Community Benefits Advisory Committee for the term of three years. Excuse me, Councilor Zusy, the floor is yours.
Catherine Zusy	Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. First, I just had a question about the second group, the people that would be Oh, so they're both appointed for three years and a reappointment for three years. So I have some questions about this because I'm still confused about the role of the committee and I thought policy order number five is really important and it seems like we should define the function of the committee and how we're going to determine development mitigation and who will be involved in those conversations before we define the committee itself. I know some of these people and I know they're outstanding people. It seems like it's social service heavy. But we've also talked about development mitigation funds may be spent to build parking, cultural space, open space, and sometimes to fix up the homes of nonprofits. So wouldn't it be important to define the role of the committee before determining who should be on the committee? Because if this committee is gonna be determining how development mitigation funds are spent, then we might want some people with more business expertise. We might want bankers or businessmen or lawyers or investors or university professors on this committee. The committee might require a different set of skill sets. So I don't know. I'd love to hear through you, Madam Mayor. I'd love to hear your response. to that query, and I also, I'm sorry, Madam Mayor, I don't know how to proceed with this, because it seems like we should have a report back on policy order number five before we elect our committee.
Denise Simmons	Well, Council Susi, this is information only from the city manager. It's not looking for our approval, but you can certainly ask for additional information. So why don't we start by getting a response from the Assistant City Manager for Human Services and we can go from there. So if you will, I'll give the floor over to Ms. Seminoff, Assistant City Manager for Human Services until January. And I don't know why you're leaving, but we'll talk about that later.
SPEAKER_10	Through you Madam Mayor, thank you. You're welcome. Let me start by saying there is an ordinance that this city council passed which actually both defines the membership, the specific members that the city manager is supposed to appoint and which defines what it is that the committee is supposed to do. i do understand that there is interest potentially on the part of the council to first of all there was a council order requesting some changes to the ordinance to begin with as well as there's now obviously a new council order talking about both community benefits and mitigation but at this very moment there is an ordinance which lays out exactly what the membership should look like. So when the city manager made these appointments, he's making them to the current committee under the terms of the ordinance. And I think it's actually quite useful to have a full committee. I think it could make sense for the council to reconsider who it wants, what are the nature of the appointments. But the council is very specific about what the membership of the committee should be. There are four residents. There are three. There's one business person. There's a university person. There's a philanthropic person. And so if the council were to change, want to make changes to the ordinance, it might well want to make changes to who are the people who make up the committee. But at least right now, there is an existing ordinance And there's work for the committee to do. We're hoping to come before too long to the Human Services Committee of the Council to talk about the report that we presented here back, I think, in May. And I know that the request was for there to be City Council wanted a Human Services Committee meeting, which I think will happen, to talk about that report. So I think as the City Council considers whether it wants to change the ordinance that currently exists, Certainly when it does that, looking at what should be the membership would make sense, but right now you have an ordinance which defines who should be appointed, what are the characteristics, and the city manager made the appointments based on that.
Catherine Zusy	So if we change the ordinance, then we may end up with, we already, I mean, we can't really change the committee, can we? Can we uninvite people from their three-year terms? Again, they seem like qualified people, but these people have, a lot of them have expertise in nonprofit and social service management, which would be great if that is where all of our development mitigation community benefits money is gonna go, but it may be going to other things as well. I'd love to hear from my colleagues as well, but it just seems, It seems premature to be selecting committee members if we may be changing the ordinance, changing the role of this committee. I know historically, I mean, just in the last few years during COVID, you presented a great report about how you had partnerships with different social service organizations, and you delivered amazing programs. But then we're talking about going forward that money may be used for other purposes as well. So I guess I'll stop there, but I'm eager to hear from my colleagues. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Zusy Yusuf, Councilor Turner.
Paul Toner	Madam Mayor, thank you through you to Council Zusy. I appreciate the issue she's raising and the concern she's raising, but until we pass that policy order, you know, I hope it passes, and we have a report back. I mean, this is a standing committee that needs replacements, and all we're doing is adding people to it. And I don't think anything about that policy order that myself and my fellow Councils have proposed, and again, I hope it passes, changes the need for who's on the committee because this, my understanding, this committee will just be dealing with the community benefits. So if anything goes into the community benefits pot, they would be involved with that. If money is going to, I mean, personally, if there's a lot of development on North Mass Ave, Ms. Watkins, I hope it goes to dealing with this Al Wifebrook Parkway mitigation stuff. We need hundreds of millions of dollars for that. So this committee is only going to be dealing with monies that do go into a community benefits segregated fund, if I understand that correctly. I yield, Madam Mayor.
Denise Simmons	Council Tony yields the floor for the discussion. Vice Mayor?
Marc McGovern	Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you, and just to follow up. The process, if we're going to be changing the ordinance to expand what the community benefits fund are used for, I mean, that's not going to happen in one human services meeting, right? We're going to have to have a meeting. We're going to be bringing people together. There has to go through the ordinance process. This is not something that is going to happen quickly. So I wouldn't want to do anything to hold up appointing people to continue to do the work that they have to do. I mean, this may take several months before we get to any specific changes. And again, Madam Mayor, as you pointed out, We have no authority over this anyway, so I think we should just take a vote and place it on file.
Denise Simmons	Vice Mayor yields the floor for the conversation discussion. Hearing that, Council Zutty, do you want to ask any more questions before we vote to place this on file?
Catherine Zusy	I still have some concerns, so I think I would just abstain from supporting these appointments, not because these people aren't extraordinary, but because I think it makes more sense to pass policy order number five and really think about how we're going to be distributing development mitigation funds going forward, including community benefits, before we appoint people to that council. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Council Sousa yields the floor. Hearing no further discussion, Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. Through you to Assistant City Manager Seminoff, I just had a quick question in regards to the appointments. Could you just speak to, are folks rotating on and off maybe annually for a three-year term?
Denise Simmons	to the Assistant City Manager, Ms. Seminoff?
SPEAKER_10	Through you, Madam Mayor, because of the way in which the appointments were made, it doesn't happen necessarily annually. People are appointed for three-year terms, and so you can see that the cycle of this is we have three people One person had to leave the committee recently, and so this appointment is off cycle for that, but the three people, so that we have, I think we would have had four people rather than six people being appointed right now, but for the two people who, one a little bit ago and one recently, who needed to step down. So there is turnover in the committee. Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you. That's all for me. Thanks.
Denise Simmons	Further discussion? I'll entertain a motion to place on file. I have a motion by Council Wilson to place this item on file. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Oppressed? She's abstaining. So all those opposed. The matter is placed on file on the affirmative vote of eight members, one being recorded as abstaining. We now move to number nine. This was pulled by Councilor Toner. It reads as follows. A communication transmitted from Yanwang City Manager relative to the amendments to the Cambridge Tobacco Ordinance. This was pulled by Councilor Toner. Councilor Toner, the floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. The reason I pulled it is I think this is where we get ourselves in trouble a lot of times is we start talking about things that the broader community doesn't know about. And at risk of being accused of being pro-tobacco, I'm not. I mean, I started smoking when I was 13 years old and wasn't able to kick the habit till I was 29 years old. And I grew up at a time when your mother could send you up to the store when you were 10 years old to buy a pack of cigarettes. So it's good that we have placed some restrictions on it. I do get a little uncomfortable with, for instance, the nicotine-free generation policy. I mean, at the age of 21, I believe you should be able to make the decisions yourself. Because if you're going to start talking about you can't buy cigarettes after the age of 21, well, maybe you can't buy fried food or soda or... At the same time, we're having conversations about, when can I start smoking my marijuana openly in a nightclub? Or there'll probably be another ballot question about having more potent drugs available. So... I know this is just to refer it to a committee, but I hope that when this gets referred to a committee, we're going to send a letter to every retail shop and liquor store and anybody that sells tobacco products so that they have an opportunity to weigh in. And forgive me if I'm getting the name wrong, but I think it's the Andala Coffee Shop around the corner where you can smoke hookah outside. Do they know that we're talking about maybe saying you can't smoke hookah pipes outside? I just want to make sure everybody that's impacted by this is involved in the conversation. It would be great if we lived in a world where people didn't do things that aren't healthy, but there's an awful lot of things that people do that aren't healthy that we can't restrict. I do think the age of 21 is an appropriate point where people can make their own decisions. I just wanted to raise that point so that when we go forward with this, everybody's involved in the conversation. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I yield.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Toner yields a floor pleasure at the City Council. Councilor Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you, Mayor Simmons. I agree, as Councilor Toner said, we should certainly let people know this is to refer to committee. It is the Health and Environment Committee, of which I'm chair. I'm happy to hold a meeting at some point. It probably, at this point, won't be until November because we already have four meetings set up, including one starting tomorrow. I also share some of the concerns about a blanket prohibition. I am probably in the distinct minority of it's bizarre to me that we don't let 19, 20, and 21-year-olds buy anything when we have other ways in which they can go into the Army and do many other things. That doesn't mean I'm seeking to change the age back to 18, but many of these are controversial. I don't think it's just the stores that are selling them. I think it's also the entire community of people across the city who would want to know if it is that, particularly if we're considering something like Brookline has, which is the tobacco-free generation. But my understanding is not that people flood into our Health and Environment Committee meetings, but we can certainly let them know once that meeting is set up to ensure that people can attend. And if it makes sense for us to have a meeting, if we're discussing things particularly prohibiting certain kinds of sales to small businesses across the city, to do it at a time when it's most appropriate for them to be able to come, like later in the day at four or five time frame instead of in the middle of the day when we know it's much more challenging for certain kinds of folks to come. So again, I'm happy to refer this, and then I think we would need to have a discussion. We know that the health department came here to talk about it. It is a health decision, but it's also a freedom decision of folks being able to choose what it is that they're imbibing in. I say this as a daughter of two lifetime smokers, both of whom died early from their two-pack-a-day cigarette, and that for every single year, I can remember my sisters and I gave our parents completely failed gifts that they were supposed to use to try to kick the habit of smoking. So this is not someone who is not deeply aware of the dangers, having a sister who also died of lung cancer. It is deeply troubling, but there's many things to discuss around this issue. Oh, and what I will say is remind people this is about tobacco, but tobacco is included in vaping products, which is an increasing public health threat that is quite challenging for. And that's included, I think, as we update this, and that is something that we really have to make sure that we are aware of. And it's, as all of us who served on the school committee know, it's right through our schools as well. And we do need to make sure that we can take that really dangerous product away from our youngest residents.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Nolan, you have the floor for the discussion. Councilor Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. Through you, I would love to hear from the folks who are at the table. Yeah, if they can introduce themselves and maybe speak to the ordinance a little bit and share whatever thoughts you have.
Denise Simmons	Please introduce yourselves and share what thoughts you have.
SPEAKER_12	All right, through you, Madam Mayor. I'm Sam Lipson. I'm the Senior Director of Environmental Health at the Cambridge Public Health Department. I've been around long enough to remember when the city council passed the current form of ordinance in 2015. I remember a lot of those discussions. There was a very lively conversation about what city parks people could smoke in, and in the end, Cambridge chose to not universally ban smoking in parks. And I think a lot of that was a response to civil liberties concerns that were raised. I thought that was a good and reasonable outcome that has not been reached in other communities. But what we've seen in the ordinance over time is that because it runs through city council and it's not a regulation, a public health regulation, it can be very cumbersome to make small changes. And we are the only community in Massachusetts that does not enforce tobacco and nicotine through the Board of Health. And so we tend to be much less limber and nimble in keeping up with model code that's not a mandate from the state, but it is promoted by the state and the tobacco control advocacy community. By having a separate regulation that would govern only the retail sales of nicotine and tobacco and have that be enforced through the public health regulation, we would be able to make quick changes, changes of definition, terminology that would allow us to keep up with the obstacles that are put forward by the tobacco industry to try to get around the way the rules are written. It would allow, however, the city council to retain control over citywide policies, things like nicotine-free generation, or if we were to have caps on the number of permits that were to be granted, or restrictions on zoning in areas where they should or shouldn't be sold. This feels like an appropriate separation. So that's the center of the proposal.
Denise Simmons	Thank you. I don't think your mic is on.
SPEAKER_43	I'm Assistant City Solicitor Paul Kawhi, and I'm really just here to do whatever the council wants. I can yield the floor to Derek Neal of the Department of Public Health if you wish, unless you have any other questions.
Yi-An Huang	Paul's now the most popular person to sit before the council.
Denise Simmons	If we could have Chief Neal come forward. Good evening, Chief Neal. Anything you'd like to add about this proposal?
SPEAKER_01	No. We've just been in limbo for a few years on this, and I'm scheduled to speak to the legislature at the end of this month. And they specifically want Cambridge to represent the state. We are a member of the 14 largest cities. And I just think this is something that we should get in front of from a policy standpoint. I do totally understand the... The civil liberties part of it. But a lot of us are dying before our time, particularly those from marginalized communities and people of color who are disproportionately impacted by smoking. So just those are my only comments. Sam has done a tremendous job. way before my time on this. So just want to really show a lot of gratitude to Megan for pushing this forward. So I'm glad that we're here beginning this conversation. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Chief Neal yields the floor. Is there questions of Chief Neal before he leaves? No further discussion on this item? Hearing none, this is going to be referred to the Health and Environment Committee. So we can do this on a voice vote. So on referral to the Health and Environment Committee, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And the matter is referred to the Health and Environment Committee on the affirmative vote of nine members. Thank you. We're now going to move to the policy order and resolution list. What is the pleasure of the city council?
Paul Toner	Madam Mayor.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Turner.
Paul Toner	Can I pull four, five, seven, eight, and ten?
Denise Simmons	Four.
Paul Toner	Five. Seven.
Denise Simmons	Five. Seven.
Paul Toner	Eight.
Denise Simmons	Eight.
Paul Toner	Ten.
Denise Simmons	And ten. Pleasure of the city council. Councilor Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Number nine.
Denise Simmons	Pleasure of the City Council. On the balance, let's entertain a motion by the Vice Mayor to move adoption of one, two, three, and six. Am I correct, Madam Clerk?
Ayesha Wilson	Madam Mayor, sorry, number three.
Denise Simmons	I wasn't fast enough.
Ayesha Wilson	One, two, three.
Denise Simmons	So one, two, and six on adopting one, two, and six. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and one, two, and six on the policy order list has been adopted. We'll now go back to the items that were pulled. I'm just gonna read them, make sure I got them all. Council Wilson pulled number three, Council Toner pulled number four, Council Toner pulled five, seven, eight, and 10, and Council Nolan pulled number nine. Going back to the non-consent policy order list pulled by Council Wilson reads as follows. Number three, that the city managers requested to consult with the appropriate city departments including the city solicitor's office to establish a formal policy that clearly defines the city's role and financial responsibilities in supporting large-scale public events hosted by Cambridge-based non-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Council Wilson, the floor is yours.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you. I just pulled it because I would like to be added. Do we have our... I am a little curious about the... No, sorry, not for that one. Just wanted to be added to this one. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	So we're going to be amending number three to add Council Wilson. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, on the amendment. All those in favor say aye.
	Aye.
Denise Simmons	Opposed? The ayes have it. On the policy order as amended, is there any discussion? Hearing none, on the policy order as amended, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And the policy order number three is adopted as amended by deferment of vote of nine members. We now move to number four. This was pulled by Councilor Turner. Reads as follows. That the city managers requested to work with the appropriate city staff to ensure that effectively, immediately, and for each fiscal year in which the Office of Tour continues to read, to receive, excuse me, TDMD funding, that the city shall redirect its municipal funding to distribute those funds equally among the Central Square Business Improvement District, the BID, the East Cambridge Business Association, the Harvard Square Business Association, and the Kendall Square Association. Councilor Toner pulled this item. Councilor Toner, the floor is all yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I didn't know if you or Vice Mayor wanted to speak to it first since you were the proponent.
Denise Simmons	Do you want to speak to it? I think what you heard on the floor from, she's not here now, the head of the Central Square, excuse me, the Harvard Square Business Association was pretty clear. But let me just add, this policy order is focused on ensuring that our city's fiscal support for promoting Cambridge is aligned with how the work is actually being done today. Okay. Across neighborhoods, across organizations, and across sectors, we have several dynamic place-based business associations, the Central Square Bid, the East Cambridge Business Association, the Harvard Square Business Association, and the Kendall Square Business Association, and they are each doing essential work to drive for traffic, support local businesses, and create events that enhance our civic and cultural life. Their efforts aren't just good for residents, they make Cambridge a more vibrant and attractive destination for visitors as well. At the same time, the Office of Tourism continues to receive over 1.5 million annually from TDMD to carry out its mission and we recognize the value it brings. This order simply says, let's rebalance our municipal dollars to reflect the broader landscape. Let's support all the organizations that are actively contributing to our city's vitality and appeal. This is not about taking away from anyone. It's about lifting up those who have been doing the work. By spreading our funds more equitably, we reinforce a more collaborative, neighborhood-driven approach to economic development, and we make sure that every corner of Cambridge has the tools to thrive. I respectfully ask for your support with the Vice Mayor. With that, I will yield the floor. Council Tom, the floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. We've received information from other parties on this issue and I'd like to try to write it at this time for future discussion.
Denise Simmons	Council Toner exercises his charter right. When the charter right is exercised, it closes off discussion. Discussion can be taken up at the next regular meeting. We move now to number five. This is pulled by Council Toner. It reads as follows. That the city manager is requested to work with the community development department, the city assessor, and all other relevant departments to develop a comprehensive policy for future private development projects in the city. This is pulled by Council Toner. Council Toner, the floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I want to thank you and Councilor Azeem and Councilor Nolan for co-sponsoring this. And I apologize to folks at the summer meeting or whenever we took our contentious vote for making it sound like a threat that I was going to bring a policy order, but I felt like I had to follow through and bring my policy order. And I bring it out of a sense of, you know, as somebody who's been on the council now for three and a half years, the Biomed East End House issue was the first time I, as a councilor, had to deal with the process of someone seeking the ability to do something more under zoning and dealing with community benefits and mitigation dollars. And I think everybody involved, including everybody here on this council, thought we were doing it the right way, because apparently that's traditionally how things had occurred. If somebody wants to do a project, reach out to the neighbors, they reach out to counselors, they talk about what they want, and then they formulate the process and we go through with the ordinance. And it got contentious at the end, and a lot of people felt that it wasn't transparent and they didn't know how this happened, so on and so forth. So I drafted this policy order. I did discuss with the city manager and assistant city manager Peters to see if they were okay with it. They said they thought they could work with this policy order and get back to us before the end of the year. JUST TO CLARIFY, BECAUSE A LOT OF THE PIECES ARE ALREADY THERE, BUT I DON'T THINK THEY'VE BEEN CONCISELY STATED OR PUT IN ONE PLACE SO THAT ALL THE COUNSELORS AND ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC KNOW THIS IS HOW THE PROCESS SHALL WORK GOING FORWARD. SO I HOPE WE CAN ALL SUPPORT THIS AND BY THE END OF THE YEAR HAVE A REPORT BACK WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE CITY MANAGER. NOT JUST ABOUT COMMUNITY BENEFITS, BUT YOU KNOW, As I said, on North Mass Ave, if there's a lot of future development, we have a big price tag to deal with cleaning up Alwyfbrook Parkway and the CSOs, the sewer overflows there. So we need to find the money somewhere, and maybe that's where it goes, and it doesn't go to some nonprofit. And I just also felt that, at least the way the conversation was going, there were a lot of people thinking that they're gonna make the decision about where the money goes and who gets the money and stuff. And it's like, no, we really need to be clear up front so we don't have this argument again. and figure out how much money is going to infrastructure, how much is gonna go to nonprofits, if it's going to nonprofits, how much goes to the impacted immediate community and how much goes into a fund for folks all around the city. So that's the intention of it and I hope my colleagues will support it. Thank you, Madam Mayor, I yield.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Turner yields the floor. Councilor Nolan, the floor is yours.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you Mayor Simmons and thank you to Councillor Toner for working on this and yourself and Councillor Azeem. We all lived through a pretty difficult and challenging time having had an incredibly contentious process around a development project which was similar in some ways to another very contentious development process when there was a zoning petition from Cabot Cabot and Fords and Alewife I mean that was gave me an inkling of how it could become contentious and yet there's been a couple other that we went through that no one raised any questions about whether it was 585 Third Street and the entire incredibly beautiful constellation and also the substation and the the building under construction right now so It's kind of been all over the map, and this brought to the floor lots of people in this community felt hurt across the board. There was very challenging and divisive conversations going on, and we couldn't even talk to each other, all of us, because of open meeting laws. So it became something that all of us were committed, I think, during those meetings, say we have to improve this process. And this policy order, as it lays out, is to try to do that. I think part of it is the terminology that we say, well, it's community benefit, but then there's the community benefit advisory fund. Is that the same thing as a community benefit? There's mitigation funds. When I said to people, this is contract zoning, that's different from community benefits, it's FOR MYSELF AS A COUNSELOR, I THINK SOMETIMES IT'S HARD FOR US TO UNDERSTAND. THERE'S COMMUNITY BENEFITS, THERE'S CONTRACT ZONING, THERE'S NEIGHBORHOOD MITIGATION, BUT THEN THERE'S THE CITYWIDE IMPACT THAT ALL OF THIS DEVELOPMENT IN ANY AREA AFFECTS THE WHOLE CITY. lays out is we need to we need to understand the process we need to define it and we need to have conversation about ensuring that clarity is in the process so that we can all understand as we move forward have just guidelines to understand if the city staff will be deciding who is the community group that will negotiate if that should be more transparent than it has been in some of the other issues in the past so I WAS VERY, VERY HAPPY TO WORK ON THIS AND COSPONSOR IT, AND I HOPE VERY MUCH THAT WE CAN MOVE FORWARD SO THAT WE CAN BE IN A BETTER PLACE ANYTIME THERE'S FUTURE, AND WE ALL HAVE TO HOPE THAT THERE WILL BE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THIS CITY EVENTUALLY ONCE THIS SLOWDOWN GOES OVER. SO THAT'S, THANK YOU, MAYOR SIMMONS, I YIELD.
Denise Simmons	COUNCILOR NOLAN YIELDS THE FLOOR. COUNCILOR ZAIN, DID YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO THIS AT ALL? NO. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION ON THIS ITEM? COUNCILOR SADIKI, THE FLOOR IS YOURS.
Sumbul Siddiqui	Thank you, through you, I definitely support the development of a process that kind of answers some key questions around contract zoning. I think there's been a lot of conflation of, various issues. I will say I think the Community Benefits Advisory Committee should play a role in the process regardless of if nonprofits are being funded or not. I think they are a conduit for nonprofits and a piece of engagement on the city side. I also think engagement shouldn't solely be a responsibility of the developer. You know, I think we, as we've mentioned in this meeting already, we're in the process of amending that and, you know, I think engaging further with that community, that committee, and, you know, I think thinking about their, they already have a methodology that There's a report, there's a methodology that they've used in the past. There's a lot of discussions, I think, happening around that. But I agree with just some more clarity and kind of norms among us too on how this actually all comes together and works. I also want to just think about the role of the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority they're not called out in here but I think they're very relevant to this as they do they get involved in capital projects in our city they fund our non-profits and so I think there should just be more collective conversations on all these pieces so I'm you know happy to support this and look forward to putting all the pieces together thank you
Denise Simmons	Councilor Siddiqui, you have the floor for the discussion. Councilor Susie.
Catherine Zusy	Thank you, through you, Madam Mayor. I think this is definitely a step in the right direction, and I'd love to be a co-sponsor for this policy order. I also, I'm eager, I hope as part of this discussion, and hopefully this, there'll be a some sort of committee meeting also where we'll discuss these things, but I'm eager for more of the history relating to community benefits. I understand in Cambridge Port when University Park was proposed on the Simplex site that Geneva Mellon Fund was a leader of the neighborhood association and a member of the planning board. And she was able to advocate for affordable housing, two parks, and a better street layout. So it would be really good to understand what has been done in the past. Also, it would be good to have better clarity about how community benefit funds are calculated. because that needs to be transparent and there needs to be consistency there. There should be an impact analysis on the area in which the project is proposed and there should be distinctions between capital grants and operating funds allocation. Ultimately, we can't rely on the community benefits funds to pay for operating funds because organizations have to be able to support themselves. But all of these things should be part of that discussion, and maybe part of that discussion should also be more about if the Community Benefits Committee is going to have a broader role to make determinations relating to, again, things like CSO improvements, again, open space, parking, cultural space, building repairs. Again, we might think about having people with other different types of expertise on that board. I have heard complaints that there were beneficiaries of community benefits funds on the current community benefits board, and some people felt that was highly, highly inappropriate because members of the board were advocating for their own organizations. So I look forward to hearing more about this and to engaging further in this discussion. Thank you, and please add me to the PO.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Zusy puts a motion on the floor to be added to policy order number five. Is there further discussion? Hearing none, on amending the policy order to add Councilor Zusy as a co-sponsor, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. and the policy order is amended. Any discussion on the policy order as amended from anyone? Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you. If I can just add my thoughts to the... Thank you. So, you know, I really want to appreciate my colleagues in this order here. I mean, this really is... unprecedented in terms of how we engage in dollars of this size, right? It's been a long time. I think there was maybe some dollars that had came in some time ago and maybe pre-pandemic or something like that. And this kind of discussion, this level of engagement was not there. So there's elements of this whole process that I just want to appreciate because this has actually allowed us to open our eyes, not only to needs of nonprofits, but to what community process and engagement ultimately looks like. And it also... I think as council members to really think about when when new development is coming into our communities, kind of I think as a city, so to our city leadership, but also to us as counselors, just where we need to be prioritizing dollars and what communities and what does this look like. So how much control or how much say we actually have as a body, but also thinking about how how how do we ensure that more of the community is able to participate in the conversation so i i want to again appreciate my colleagues for putting this bringing this forward and um i will support it and and you know look forward to our community benefits uh committee meeting to happen soon uh just so that we can just talk more through those you know mechanisms and really think about like a little trip down memory lane right to really understand why it was established and kind of what has it been able to do thus far and kind of where we are today and what's the opportunities for the future uh again especially recognizing that there will be some open opportunities especially in the north um L wife North Mass Ave areas. So with those dollars that are potential right to come in, we want to make sure that there's some good setup for success, not only to our nonprofits, but to some of the things that even Councilor Toner mentioned. So Yeah, so I appreciate it. I will support it. And I just want to appreciate the complexities around what we experienced through this process. And it wasn't pretty by any means. But what it was is it allowed us the opportunity to dive deeper and to be in this place where we can have more community engagement and really define more of how we do better as we move forward around these community benefit dollars. Thank you, IU.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson, you have the floor for the discussion. Hearing none, just briefly, thank you for saying how did we get there, Council Wilson. The idea behind the Community Benefits Program had to do about impact mitigation. The impact, the community where the work was happening, how do we offset that? And what was happening, certain neighborhoods were getting more development and others, and everyone was saying, well, how will I ever get my turn if I'm not in that particular area? This is a real watered-down version of it, and we'll talk about it more when we have the hearings. So this was an attempt, this community mitigation fund was an attempt to put the funds in one place and then have a process through which those dollars could be equitably or fairly, got to be careful which word you use, distributed in the community. I think what might have been a part of this process is we adopted it in good faith, but we never go back and look at it. And so it says to me, not just about the community mitigation funds, but we have to be a little bit more intentional as a body to look at prior work to make sure, and I don't know what that is, maybe that's something that comes up in government operations, but some place we do have to establish some process where we take a look back to say is this doing what it needs to do? So this is our opportunity to do it. Maybe through that process we'll learn and establish a system-wide process to evaluate programs and processes and procedures that we adopt. We do the good work, but we have to go back and make sure it's always doing what it was intended to do. So I certainly will yield the floor. Is there any more discussion on this matter? Hearing none, on a motion by Council of Toner on the policy order as amended. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the policy order is amended and adopted by the affirmative vote of nine members. We'll now go to number seven. This was pulled by Councilor Toner. Reads as follows. That the city manager is requested to confer with the election commission, the city solicitor, and the city clerk, and report back to the city council no later than September 15, 2025. City council meeting on the policy order regarding the deadline for the charter change. Councilor Toner, this is pulled by you. The floor is yours.
Paul Toner	I didn't know if you wanted to speak to it first.
Denise Simmons	I will, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you to my colleagues. Earlier this year, the council voted to move forward with a proposed change to our charter by placing a question on the ballot this November. Since then, both our city staff, our legislative partners, particularly Representative Decker and Senator Domenico, have been working incredibly hard to shepherd this process through the necessary legal and procedural channels. But as we sit here tonight, we still don't have the final ballot language in hand and as time is quickly running out, the Election Commission has made it clear that there is a hard mid-September deadline to finalize and transmit ballots for printing. That's not a soft target. That's a line we must meet in order to comply with the vote by mail laws to ensure early voting can happen properly, and most importantly, to avoid confusing or disenfranchising voters. Councilor Toner and I brought this order in because We need to know, do we have what we need to move forward? What are the legal and logistical consequences if we don't? And is there a viable backup plan, such as a special election if this slips beyond our control? We owe it to our voters to do this right. That means understanding our deadlines, our options, and the risk of pushing too close to the edge. I urge my colleagues to support this order so that we can get a clear-eyed update by next week's meeting and make the decision based on the facts, not assumptions, and not wishful thinking. I yield the floor to my colleague, Council Tona. The floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor, and everything you said I concur with. For me, I remember during our discussions about co-chaired with Council Siddiqui, I kept hearing that we needed to, like, have some answers by June so we could get this stuff to the printers and here we are in September. So I wanted to give the opportunity to the solicitor, the city manager, and Director Ford just to update us on where things are at and what hard things we're up against and if there is a possibility, if we don't do it on the ballot in November, is there a way that we as a city could take up this vote in a different way separately? Because I have to say my real concern is that if there's some slip up in the process, we all know we have some litigious folks that live in the city of Cambridge, and I wouldn't want someone challenging that ballot process, because I know we as a council unanimously recommended going forward with these changes, so it's not even about them being controversial amongst us, but I would not want us to, you know, in an effort to force it through to get ready for November, find ourselves in a situation where we make some sort of error that people could challenge the charter of the city going forward. So if we need more time to take the vote, is there a different way we could take the vote if it can't happen in November? I'd love to open it up to the city manager, the solicitor and director Ford and Elliot to be able to answer some of these questions. Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Marc McGovern	Madam Mayor, before they do that, Vice Mayor. I guess before I came into the meeting tonight, I got a call from Representative Decker, who updated me to say that she anticipates that this will be signed and ready to go by the end of this week and shouldn't be a problem to get it on, shouldn't be a problem to get it to the Election Commission in time. So I just got that call five minutes before I came in, so just so folks know that. So it should be all settled by the end of this week.
Denise Simmons	Very good. Does anyone want to be heard before we hear from our solicitor, Councilor Nolan, Siddiqui, and Wilson?
Patricia Nolan	Thank you. Happy to hear from folks, as very glad to hear from Vice Member Govan about that. I had heard that the Senate engrossed this today, so now it's back in the House and this should be done. When we hear from the staff, it would be really good to know what preparations have already been made since we know this has been in process since last June and we knew this was going to be done. There was no question whatsoever about the material other than the pro and con argument. So anything that could have been done earlier while the timing isn't exact, it would be really good to know if every single step that could have been done in advance was done. including ensuring that reaching out, I know we have, and I don't know if it makes sense we have to move to bring it forward, but we do have a draft pro argument from the solicitor that would be appropriate for us to approve tonight. I don't even know what part of the agenda it's on, but it's really important to do that. I will also remind us all that I'm very excited about this. This is something we've worked on for two years. I'm glad to hear from Vice Mayor and from Rep. Decker that she has helped move this forward, and I know that Senator Sal DiDomenico has also been involved. And another one of our state senators, Senator Brownsburger, was actually on the dais this morning when it was being engrossed. So the whole team is working on it. And also in terms of timing, when the last time we had a ballot question, which was also related to the charter, which was for the November 2nd, 2021 election, The deadline that we were told, which Councilor Siddiqui and I worked on the pro-argument, was that the deadline to have the copy done was September 20th, and we voted that policy order for that to move forward on September 13th. and that ballot was printed in time. So in other words, we're on the same timeline as we were during that. We, of course, want our state delegation to continue to push it forward and for the governor to sign this and realize how timely it is. But it did want to also assure us that since this is a very similar timeline, we have two extra days before the election, November 4th instead of November 2nd. I also believe there's a state law that you have to wait up until a certain amount of time to provide an opportunity for people to come forward, maybe to write the con argument. I can't remember what that timing was, but that was part of what we learned in 2021 when we were doing this. So I hear the trepidation. I understand there's some concern and there's gonna be a scramble. And I really appreciate that the Election Commission is working on this, and I really hope that any steps that could have been taken before this, like telling the printer it's coming whenever that is, that reaching out and having a con argument be put in place. I hope all that was done a month ago, because we've known this has been coming for the last three months. And I'm really excited and hopeful that this will be in plenty of time, because I think we owe it to the voters. We've been working on this now for three years.
Denise Simmons	Council Nolan yields the floor. Council Siddiqui.
Sumbul Siddiqui	Thank you. Through you, I just wanted to add, I know that Rep. Decker and Senator DiDomenico, they've conferred with the Secretary of State as well, and, you know, as long as this kind of what we're being told happens, then there shouldn't be an issue. So, again, we have to see what gets done, but that's what we're being told. And I will say some of the timeline... issue that happened here was due to an error, right? And so I'm not going to throw anyone under the bus. I'm just saying that factually speaking, the legislature did their job in that they passed what we were supposed to pass, but then we had to go back and amend the right thing. There was some process there. Things do happen. So we are where we are. To Councillor Toner's point, there's things that... you know i wish things were moving faster and i understand where the position the election commission is in um around you know there's a lot of deadlines and there's so much to do before an election but i do think i'd prefer not to wait given all the work that has been done And so what we're being told, I'm fine passing this PO, but I do think I am hopeful from the conversations from our delegation that we're very close. So just wanted to say that.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Siddiqui yields the floor. Let me just say, this policy order's not asking to slow it down. It's to get a definitive answer. Having had some conversation with the Election Commission, they have been doing their due diligence to make sure that the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. And they're not just, the ballot initiatives are one thing. There's still the election itself. So they're working hard to make sure they make their timelines. And speaking for myself, Councilor Thornton, if I can, it's just saying we have a direct by policy order. This is the way we converse with our staff to say this is something we need for you to make sure you do. So I'm hoping that people will support it. Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. If it's appropriate to suspend the rules and just bring in communications and reports from other city officers two and three so that we can just have those conversations as well since we're on this topic.
Denise Simmons	I think that's very prudent because we have the staff here. So there's a motion by Council Wilson to bring forward I think it's communication number two and three. Yes, and three. So on a motion by Council Wilson to suspend the rules on suspension, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. We're in suspension. I'm bringing communications and reports from other city officers, number two and number three. On a motion by Council Wilson, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And communications two and three are before us.
Ayesha Wilson	Council Wilson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And through you to our solicitor, if there's anything more that you would like to add, just kind of given the situation and the conversation, I know that we have a favorable argument that's also been shared. That's in communication number three. But we also have the... transmitting the memo regarding the voter guide for the ballot question. If you have anything that you would like to speak to, but before we do that, I just want to say that I'm in favor of it and recognize that the challenge that we had before us, folks were working very diligently and again, not to throw anyone under the bus, but I think the Office of Rep. Decker and Senator DiDomenico are working really hard to make sure that this gets passed and I do believe with my conversation with Rep. Decker also this afternoon, that this will come before us. That'll be completed and signed by the governor by the end of the week. So, through you, Madam Mayor, to Madam Solicitor.
Denise Simmons	To Solicitor Beyer and Veloso. Veloso. Veloso. The floor is yours.
SPEAKER_05	Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor. So we had the same update that several of you have received today that it was engrossed by the Senate and it looks like it could be signed into law by the governor before the end of the week. THE ELECTION COMMISSION STAFF, ALONG WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE AND MY OFFICE HAVE BEEN WORKING TO TRY TO GET DUCKS IN A ROW IN ANTICIPATION OF THAT. SO THAT RELATES TO THE COMMUNICATIONS FROM OTHER CITY OFFICERS, TWO AND THREE. THREE IS THE REQUEST FROM TANYA FORD ON BEHALF OF THE ELECTION COMMISSION LOOKING FOR THAT argument in, you know, for the proponents argument for the voter guide about the ballot question. And communication number two is we in the law department drafted an argument that the council could adopt as that proponent argument to go in the ballot guide. If that's acceptable to the council or if there are any amendments, and if we can do that today, then that can get back to the Election Commission, which is one of the steps that has to happen for all the deadlines that the Election Commission is trying to meet. We also, the Election Commission, and with support from my office, have been working on reaching out to potential... residents to write the opposition to the ballot question argument. We made a number of contacts and were not able to find anyone who was aligned with that position and interested in writing the opposition, but the The Election Commission has a special act, which is what establishes this guide that goes out on ballot questions. And it does say in there that if there isn't someone who is interested in writing the argument in opposition, that the Election Commission can write it themselves. So the law department is going to support the Election Commission, just as we have here with the council. with a possible opposition argument for the Election Commission to review and approve if it chooses to do so. We've also been working with the Election Commission on what the actual text of the ballot question will look like, the text for the question, and then there's a summary of what the question is for, what the ballot, what the charter would do. So that allows the Election Commission to work with its printer to have a proof of what the ballot will look like approved and then eventually to print the ballots. The Election Commission and Director Ford, I believe, is on the Zoom, so she can speak as well. You know, they have a lot of... a lot of work between now and election day and then even after election day. And there are a lot of variables because they have to work with outside vendors who work with printing the ballots, setting up the voting machines. doing all the mailings. We're talking about the ballot guide that gets mailed, but there's also a voter guide with information like where you go to vote. And then there's the early voting information and the mail-in ballots. So with all of that, they're working very hard to see that this can, if this is passed this week by the legislature and the governor, that it can make it on the ballot. There will be some variables that the election commission can't control along the way. But we are hopeful that if it happens this week on Beacon Hill, that it can be on the ballot for November's election. And I would turn it over to Director Ford, if she has anything to add.
Denise Simmons	Director Ford, are you with us? Yes.
SPEAKER_05	Yes, I'm here.
Denise Simmons	Floor is yours.
SPEAKER_26	Through you, Mayor. So in talking with our ballot printing vendor, they need an approved ballot by Friday in order to print Saturday. That's pretty much a hard stop for them. because we also have the ballot question mailing, which has been referred to as the voter guide, but there is a voter guide and there's a ballot question mailing, which are two separate things. The voter guide goes out every election just before the election so that we can provide voters with information about the upcoming election and deadlines, things of that nature. The ballot question mailing as prescribed by our special act goes out to every household with a voter with the information, the ballot question, ballot question information, the pros and cons, and the concise summary from which we've received and been working with the law department. And that's something that needs to go out prior to EV ballots being mailed to voters. We had planned on our deadline was October 6th to begin mailing ballots to early voters. People have already started calling. So September 29th would have been the date to mail out the ballot question mailing to everyone so that they would have the information before they received their ballot. Because if we recall back in 2021, We scrambled and we mailed out the ballot question due to our special act, the time that we're allowed in there. We mailed out the ballot prior to mailing out the ballot question mailing, so people didn't really know what they were voting for. So these are concerns at this point, if the legislature is able to Approve this and have the governor sign early part of Friday and we can send, we've been working with the vendor. They have information, but we also have an objection to candidacy for school committee. And the vendor also cannot print, has to print all ballots. They can't print just the ballot question and the school committee. All three ballots would have to be printed at the same time. So that also creates a delay. So this is a situation we're in right now. We don't want voters not to be able to get the ballot question information. It's very important for them to receive that. And it takes eight to 12 days for the vendor to print and mail. So that would bring us to the beginning of September 22nd, the week of September 22nd. There also has to be ballots mailed to another vendor for testing for the Audemars machine for those who may be disabled or may need assistance to mark their ballots. And those memory cards have to be tested and returned to us before vote by mail. I mean, before early voting in person. at the end of October. So these are all of the things that we're kind of concerned about at this moment. We do have the hearing for the objection tomorrow, but I don't know what the end result will be. Hopefully it'll be finalized tomorrow. If not, I guess we'll have to go from there.
Denise Simmons	Commissioner Ford yields the floor. Pleasure, the City Council. Council Wilson, do you have any more follow-up on that, or do you yield the floor for further discussion?
Ayesha Wilson	Madam Mayor, thank you. I just want to thank our city staff for the work that they are doing to complete this and to be very diligent and timely. I recognize that this is a lot of work. I recognize the major steps that go into this process. I just want to say that I appreciate you all. I truly believe that we'll have this stuff by the end of the week so that we can actually move forward so that we can ensure that this is on the ballot since that was our, this body's intended goal when we voted for that. So thank you. Thank you so much, I yield.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson yields the floor for the discussion. Councilor Toner?
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to clarify, I think the staff has done yeoman's work and also I think the legislature has done everything they can to get it through. the intention of this policy order is just like, you know, when is the deadline deadline so that we know whether we can move forward or not? And, yeah, I hope it goes on the ballot, too. It's just I am concerned about if there's a slip-up somewhere, then we put ourselves in jeopardy. So hopefully they get signed on Friday, and if everybody says that's the last, last day we get it done, great. But I don't want anybody to think that, and my co-signing this, that I was blaming staff or members of the legislature for their work. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Council Tony yields the floor. Further discussion on this item? Councilor Nolan. Thanks.
Patricia Nolan	I'm really appreciative of all the work that's gone into it and all my colleagues who have worked with the legislature. I don't, again, back to in 2021, we were a week later than we are now we were kind of at this time and we had a whole other week to get this in so and the election was two days earlier than it is this year so again it'll happen by friday but And the timing I'm hearing, it's the 8th now. It has to be printed by the 22nd. That gives two weeks before October 6th when ballots go out. So it seems like there's enough time for this to be done unless I'm missing something because there's... a number of weeks in there and we already know i mean the the entire charter the special act will be printed as part of the ballot so we are we already know my understanding is we know everything except at this point assuming the policy order and thank you so much for uh bringing that forward as um council wilson brought it forward it's a great argument i'm happy to to pass it unchanged. I think it's a very good summary of all the discussions we've had over the last three years. So then the only thing left is the con argument, which will be drafted by, so we know exactly what needs to be printed. All we need is the act. Am I missing something through you, Mayor? That's... The only text that we don't know is the con argument, which if we have no one in the community who will be doing this, then the law department with the election commission is 100% in charge of it. And once we pass this tonight, you need no council action whatsoever after this. It's the legislature, so you don't need any action from us even next week. So I just wanted to clarify that, that we can send so much of this already now to the printer.
Denise Simmons	Councilman Nolan, are you yielding the floor? Councilman Nolan yields the floor. Although I wanted the answer to that question. I was going to say the city manager is primed to speak. City manager?
Yi-An Huang	I think through you, Mayor Simmons, I would just note, I think first to Director Ford's note on 2021, I think there was some non-ideal process in terms of when the ballot question information went out versus the actual ballots. And I would say I think part of this is just to recognize that there is a lot of complexity in our elections system. And I think the bar for whether we get it right is much, much higher than given the compliance requirements and the level of scrutiny that is on our elections department. We can certainly see some of the challenges that some of our neighboring communities have seen with elections. And so I think we do take the process very seriously in terms of fully enfranchising everybody who has an opportunity to both understand what they're voting on and to have the opportunity to have their voices heard. I think what we've said is that given the tight timeline and if this is going to be passed this week, if we can get an approved ballot by Friday this week, we feel like the timeline is very tight, but can be doable. I think this also is, premised on everything going right. And so a lot of what we typically have is a little more built in time. So if something does happen that's unexpected, or as Director Ford was noting, if we have ballot testing that's happening with a vendor and something comes back funny, we have time to actually go and fix it and address it. I think the concern is if not everything goes perfectly, then we are gonna be in a position, especially with the pressure of early voting, that we may not be able to get everything out timely. And I think that is actually one of the deeper challenges in terms of, I think, Councilor Nolan, you mentioned the deadlines that are set in terms of how many days before the election something has to get approved. I think we're actually still from a ordinance perspective working out the different timelines because I think the actual deadline is like 35 days before the election, but when you actually think about the process of getting early information out and early ballots and people needing to receive those and have time to bring those back, to the election commission, some of those timelines don't really work and we actually have ordinances that are in conflict. And so I think that's some of why we're here, why I think this is important for us to come back on Monday and we can provide a full update, presuming that everything has been passed, signed by the governor, and we can say, you know, we got this out to the printer and we feel good and we're on track. Again, pending everything going basically perfectly.
Denise Simmons	Thank you, Mr. City Manager. I just want to support you in that. I concur. You're right. We've done all our pieces, but there's always that one thing that you don't plan on, the mail. I just looked up and saw congratulations, so there's the message up there. We're going to get it done. I think it's important that the policy order go forward so that we do get a definitive answer on Monday. Because you're right, Counselor, we've done our part. The Election Commission has to chew gum, walk, and skip. It's just a lot of stuff that has to come together. And I just want to make sure that we are in the right place, because I'd rather do it right than do it quick. So I'm hoping that my colleagues will support this policy order and if there's no further conversation relative to this item, what I would do is I would ask that I would entertain a motion to adopt the policy order and then we'll do a roll call on communication number two, which is what our solicitor has brought forward so that she can continue the work. And I don't think you need a roll call on number three, but you let us know. Very good. So if we're good with that, I would on a motion by Councilor Toner to adopt policy order number seven. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and policy order number seven is adopted by the affirmative vote of nine members. On communications from other city office, letter number two, I would like to entertain a motion to adopt the order that's before us. On a motion by Councilor Nolan to adopt the order, we'll do a roll call on that, Madam Clerk. And then we'll place number three on file.
SPEAKER_17	Two is adopted.
Denise Simmons	Oh, to end place, I see, I'll leave a half of it. All right, to adopt and place on file. To when you're ready, we'll do a roll call on number two.
SPEAKER_24	Councillor Azeem. Yes. Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern. Yes. Yes. Councillor Nolan. Yes. Yes. Councillor Siddiqui. Yes. Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler. Yes. Yes. Councillor Toner. Yes. Yes. Councillor Wilson. Yes. Yes. Councillor Zusy.
Catherine Zusy	Yes.
SPEAKER_24	Yes. Mayor Simmons. Yes. Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative.
Denise Simmons	Communication from other city offices. Number two is adopted and placed on file by the affirmative vote of nine members. And number three, I'll entertain a motion to place number three on file. I motion by Council Nolan to place communication number three on file. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And number three communication is placed on file by the affirmative vote of nine members.
Patricia Nolan	Mayor Simmons?
Denise Simmons	Yes, Council Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Given the urgency of this, I want to move suspension of the rules in order to reconsideration on the two prior votes related to the communication as well as the policy order on the proponent argument in favor of the city charter, hoping the same will not prevail.
Denise Simmons	On a motion by Councilor Nolan to move suspension of the rules, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, the rules are suspended. Voting reconsideration, hoping the same will not prevail, roll call.
SPEAKER_24	Councilor Azeem? No. No. Vice Mayor McGovern? No. No. Councilor Nolan? No. No. Councilor Siddiqui? No. No. Councilor Sobrinho-Wheeler?
Paul Toner	No.
SPEAKER_24	No. Councilor Toner?
Paul Toner	No.
SPEAKER_24	No. Councilor Wilson? No. No. Councilor Zusy? No. No. Mayor Simmons? No. No. And you have nine members recorded in the in-negative. And reconsideration fails.
Denise Simmons	So the item will go forward this evening. We can now go to number eight. This was pulled by Councilor Toner. Reads as follows. The city managers requested to work with all relevant departments to seek input from the community as well as direct outreach to condo owners and short-term rental operators and develop additional recommendations based on the discussion in the ordinance committee. This was pulled by Councilor Toner. Councilor Toner, the floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to say that I'm supportive of this policy order, but again, I do appreciate the committee meeting that was held where the issue was discussed, and I'm thankful that out of that committee meeting, we are going to have further discussion. In the last order, you talked about reaching out to all relevant departments in the community. I think the number was that there's supposedly about 600 people that do Airbnb and only 150 are following the rules and registering and stuff. So I definitely hope that we'll do direct communication to at least the people who've registered and are legally doing Airbnb so that they can have their voices heard. I know a lot of people that have, you know, this has been very beneficial to them and they're especially retirees and their income. So I want to make sure that we don't harm them in any way as we go forward because it sounds like most of the issues are about a few bad actors who don't take care of their property or noise violations, et cetera. So I want to avoid us overstepping and harming people. But other than that, I just wanted to make sure that we do do the outreach to the people most impacted. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I yield.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Turner yields. The floor for the discussion. Councilor Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you, Mayor Simmons, and thank you, Councillor Toner. Yes, that is the intent of this very much, to make sure that we reach out to all the short-term rental operators. What's interesting is only the ones who are actually legal are going to get that, because two-thirds of the ones in the city aren't even legal, and those are the ones we- understand should not be allowed to even be operating. And the whole intent of this effort is to enforce those rules. And this is not an effort to suggest that those who are operating would not be able to continue to. One question that was raised is whether there should be some limit on particularly going on vacation for 180 days seems like you're not really on vacation, but it really is about enforcement and particularly to call out what we also ask for in the policy order is to make sure we reach out to condo owners and not have the burden on them to have to prove that it's not okay to do an Airbnb because if you're in a condo association, the condo owners did reach out to us and say this is really important that we keep it the way it is. So certainly that's what I would support here and definitely support those operators in the city who are operating legally and to assure them that we want to have better enforcement and and an inability of folks in the city to be able to use it that way. And yet we also understand that for the hundreds that are now operating that aren't really owner-adjacent, owner-occupied, they should not be there, and they will then be revert back, hopefully, to long-term rentals in the city, which would be better for everybody.
Denise Simmons	Councilman Nolan yields the floor for the discussion. Vice Mayor?
Marc McGovern	Just real quickly through you, Madam Mayor, we did have the ordinance committee meeting, as the policy order points out, and what was discussed there was the need for this policy order to direct the city to come up with language and recommendations about some of the things that we talked about in that meeting. One of the other things that came up is that, Councilor Nolan, correct me if I'm wrong, that if we are going to change or add a day, like a limit, a 90-day limit or a 120-day limit wherever we land, that we actually have to refile this ordinance because that would be considered a significant change. So I don't think anything is gonna happen really quickly on this. We'll probably let this expire and then have to refile. But we needed to file this policy order to instruct the city to do that, come up with that language and do that. So that's another reason why the order is here.
Denise Simmons	Vice Mayor Yolza. Floor, Councilor Zuzi. Floor is yours.
Catherine Zusy	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I also support this policy order. It seems like we need to require short-term rental operators to only list Cambridge registered units. Otherwise, I don't see compliance. So I feel like this is a step in the right direction, and I look forward to hearing back from the city after connecting with more of the community. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Zusy, is the floor for the discussion? Hearing none, on a motion by Councilor Nolan, to adopt the order. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. Policy order number eight is adopted by the affirmative vote of nine members. We move now to number nine. This is pulled by council. Nolan reads as follows, that the city managers requested to work with relevant departments and multi-member bodies to report back to the city council and inform the community of the work of when The recommendations coming from the Micromobility Commission will be available. Councilor Nolan, the floor is yours.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you, Mayor Simmons. Just quickly, I pulled this to let all of us know. There's been a commission, a state commission on micromobility that's been operating for several months. Honestly, I was a little surprised to hear about it, and I know I reached out to several people, both the council and also within the community who are very active, who didn't realize it. And while it is a state level commission, As we all know and as we've heard in many meetings over the past, the state actually controls a lot of what we do, that some of what we can and cannot regulate is really based on state law. And there's so many things in that, as was pointed out in public comment and is in the policy order. This is about e-bikes and e-scooters and different levels of mobility. It also affects the mobility of many residents who use different methods of transportation because they are differently abled. It's really important for us all to know and understand the city has been involved. They have sent a list of, I think, 10 questions to the state commission and tend to go to the September meeting to ask them. However, many members of the community don't know of the city's involvement and also may have additional questions that they want to make sure get addressed at the state level. The policy order asks both for a report back, but also, I think crucially important, inform the community of the work of the commission so that they would have a chance before the recommendations come out in December to be able to interact with the commission. And that could be in City View, that could be in our weekly newsletters, all of us. Just make sure that people in the community know this is such a critically important thing. A week doesn't go by when we don't hear about somebody concerned about, can't you control those things? And we can't because of the state not allowing us to. So this is put forward in the spirit of thanking the city for being involved and also hoping to broaden the effort so that everyone in the community can understand how critically important this issue is. And it's only going to get more critically important as more people use these devices. So thank you, Mayor Simmons, I yield. And I thank the co-sponsors, Councilor Azeem, Councilor Toner, and Vice Mayor McGovern, who have also been very involved in this effort.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Nolan yields the floor. Councilor Azeem, the floor is yours.
Catherine Zusy	I'd love to be added to this policy order, please, and I also think this is an important policy order, and maybe we should have a Transportation Committee meeting about this topic in late November, or earlier, I guess, before the final meeting of the state, so I'm really grateful to all of you for bringing to my attention and to others too that the state has been having these special commission meetings. So I will try to set up a meeting. Thank you. I yield.
Denise Simmons	Council Zusy puts a motion on the floor to be added as a co-sponsor. On the motion, is there discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and the policy order is amended. Any discussion on the amended policy order? Hearing none, on a motion by- Madam Mayor. Oh, Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you. I just wanted to add here, I appreciate my colleagues bringing this forward and also want to recognize our former colleague, Joan Pickett, and her work, and Council Pickett's work on this. As she really started to lead the conversations through her chairing of the transportation committee and recognize this as being an issue, being a challenge, being something that we needed to be mindful of and was working towards creating policy and stuff around it. So just in the spirit of Joan, I just wanted to just lift her up and bring her into this space with us. And also, as folks are back to school, our college students, everyone, just be safe. I mean, just be safe out there. I'm seeing more and more folks just flying down these streets. And we have so many members of our community with all different abilities. Folks are not wearing helmets. Folks are not slowing down, being mindful of whether it's cyclists or other pedestrians, people who are walking or going out for a jog. those who may be in a wheelchair or anything else. So please just, I think on the spirit, I said this earlier today, of just kind of taking care of our neighbors, just being mindful of each other in the spaces that we take up and that we use, and just to slow down. Thank you. I yield.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson yields the floor for the discussion on the amended policy order. Hearing none on a motion by. Council Wilson to adopt the policy order as amended. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The policy order is adopted as amended. We move now to, I think the last one is number 10. This was pulled by Council Turner, reads as follows. The City Manager is requested to consult with relevant departments about the implications of deploying license plate meters and provide recommendations as to whether adjustments and plans for deployment should be made in light of changes since approved in February. This is pulled by Councilor Tona. Councilor Tona, the floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Madam Mayor. I didn't know if Councilor Nolan or the other makers wanted to speak to it first.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Nolan, do you want, or any of the other makers of this policy order would like to speak?
Patricia Nolan	Just briefly, I think it lays it out. As residents across the city have been getting notices about FLOC being deployed and just some questions were raised about how it is that we're ensuring in light of the changes we've made to our own welcoming city ordinance and also what has since been learned that there has been more coordination and cooperation or collaboration potentially with FLOC with federal but also other state agencies. We thought it was important to bring this forward and what the order says just so people understand it's that the city managers requested to consult with relevant departments about the implications of deploying the license plate reader and provide recommendations basically take it into into mind we did want to In speaking with the ACLU who does support this we all got a letter earlier today to say this is They believe it's an important thing for the city to look at how it is that we're moving forward We did think would make sense to add a whereas which everyone should have on their desk Because it makes the point that Boston conducted a pilot using flock which is the same system Cambridge will deploy and chose not to share data and to prohibit sharing their database out of concern for potential harm so the the There is an amendment to add that whereas, and then I hope this policy can pass and we can have the city come back to us with some either recommendation or report in a timely manner. Thank you, that's it.
Denise Simmons	Mr. Sands, you had the addition, or do people have it all? Does anyone have a copy on their desk? Okay, everyone has a copy. Any questions on the proposed amendment? Council, Sobrinho-Wheeler.
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler	Thanks. I just wanted to speak both to the amendment and the whereas. I think the additional whereas is helpful in calling out that it's not just Cambridge that has concerns about this. Other cities that had previously adopted this technology also are raising the same concerns now that it's become clear that this data can be accessed. And the real concerns about sharing with ICE and other organizations, including Boston, has raised grave concerns about this. Other things that were pointed out to us by the ACLU when we talked to them this morning is that Flock is different even than some of the other surveillance technologies companies out there. They keep ownership of all the cameras and are just leasing them to the cities that use them. These are not owned by the city. These are not controlled. by the city they are just things that are leased and have a possession and that data goes into a national database that is accessible to cities all over the country and does raise concerns. If someone from Texas came and got an abortion in Cambridge, it seems like the cities in Texas would be able to access that data here in places where that is illegal is just one example of a case to my understanding that is really concerning about this. So I just wanted to flag that additional info. I'm glad to be a co-sponsor on this. I yield back.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Sabrina, will you use the floor for the discussion? Hearing none, so what's before us now is a proposed amendment by Councilor Nolan. So this is on the amendment. All those in favor say aye.
	Aye.
Denise Simmons	Opposed? The ayes have it, and the policy order is now amended. On the amended policy order, is there any discussion?
Paul Toner	Madam, I just wanted to raise some, just to be clear, this is, we're not going to forego implementing. This is to clarify whether we think we need to make any adjustments going forward is the intent of the policy order. I just want to make sure that that's clear. And I also- I don't know, city manager, I didn't want to put you on the spot or if the commissioner's still available. When we've had these discussions in the past, we were told that we control the data and we're not sharing with anybody. So I just wanted to, is there some, can somebody reassert that? Or is there a question as to whether FLOC has access to the data?
Denise Simmons	Mr. City Manager or to the solicitor, I don't think our commissioner's here with us anymore. Is there anyone available to speak to this? Mr. City Manager, the floor is yours.
Yi-An Huang	Through you, Mayor Simmons. Thanks for the question, Councillor Toner. I think it continues to be the policy and approach of the police department to be really careful at entering into these agreements and to try and secure as much of our data in a segregated way as possible such that they don't end up in the large pool that is accessible. I think we probably do want to examine the policy order and follow up before we give a more detailed response just because a lot of these pieces of technology ultimately do evolve over time and we are learning a lot very quickly about what the federal administration is doing and how they're interacting with vendors, with federal agencies. I think I think at normal times I would say I feel really good about our policies and approaches and that we're being very careful. I do think a lot of the rules are being changed in real time on us and so I think it is worth us looking at this policy order and digging into this a bit more before we come back and say we believe this is exactly how it works.
Paul Toner	through you, Madam Mayor. I don't need to amend it, but I just would hope that in the end, whatever comes back, there's a clear statement that yes, we do not share the information or we have full control over the information so that we can give that secure answer to our residents. Thank you, Madam Mayor, I yield.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Toner yields the floor. Any further discussion? Hearing none. On the order as amended, is there any discussion? Any more discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor. Don't throw me off. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and the policy order is adopted as amended. This concludes the policy order section of the City Council agenda. We will now move to the calendar. First item on the calendar is a charter right. This item, on August 4th, I exercised my charter right on this item. I'm going to read it. The city manager is requested to coordinate with the Community Safety Department, the Cambridge Police Department, and other relevant parties to ensure that the oversight used at the garden area between St. James Episcopal Church and Beach Street Condos is actively monitored. So I had an opportunity to talk to a number of people on both sides of this issue and at that time I was asked to give both parties an opportunity to discuss it. I exercised my charter right. It's come to our attention that they have indeed had an opportunity, as you've heard in testimony earlier this evening, that they've had an opportunity. to do arbitration, to have a conversation. They're well on their way. It is their belief to some agreement. And so within coordination with the parties, with some of the parties to this, what's going on here, there's an amendment. I think everyone has it. to the original policy order. And so what I would like to do is bring this forward as amended. Do we have it on the screen for everyone? So I'm going to bring a motion forward to amend this policy order. I would like people to give it a look. So on the amendment, please look at it so we can call a vote on it, and then we can have a vote on the policy order as amended. So the amendments are before you, so I'm going to move that we amend this original policy order with the highlighted areas in the red. Is there any conversation about that?
Marc McGovern	Vice Mayor. I mean, just, I don't think this has to be, you say, it says other relevant entities. I don't think this has to be amended further, but just to the manager who's still here, I hope that that includes the service providers that are working with a lot of these unhoused folks, like the folks from 240 Albany and maybe some of the other shelter providers and whatnot.
Denise Simmons	The city manager is certainly here, so he's hearing this information. I don't think we have to change it. I don't think you need to bring that in either. Do you? Just nod in affirmation. There you go.
Marc McGovern	And then lastly, I also think, I can say more about this later, but I also think including having some conversations with the people themselves, the unhoused folks themselves. We often talk about folks that we talk about but are not often at the table, and I think that often happens.
SPEAKER_21	Yes, I say that a lot.
Marc McGovern	So talking with those folks as well directly about what they need and including them in the conversation is important.
Denise Simmons	Well, I can say from what I've observed through conversations that people are very interested in being fully engaged on all levels, the property owners, the condominium owners, and I would I would expect that other service providers as well as the people that are in question would be engaged. So to my colleagues, Councilor Nolan.
Patricia Nolan	Just a very quick thank you, Mayor Simmons, for bringing forward these edits, which I intend to support in full. And I also just want to note, I think everybody here has been some challenges. While we cannot prevent the insulting and public comment, I want to raise out that I understand every person involved in the church is trying to do their best to be compassionate. And all of the condo owners are living with a situation that they find very troubling and difficult to deal with. let's make sure that we have the grace to understand that this has been a challenging situation for everyone. Not the least of which, as Vice Mayor McGovern said, is for the folks who are in a situation where that's the only place they feel like they can safely go at night. But it ends up being very disruptive for people living there, and yet the church has tried to do what it can to step up. So I just want to go on record that I know we all appreciate that. It's been a very difficult situation. I'm very glad to hear that the that the mediation went well enough that this is now going to be able to move forward in a way. And again, the work's not done, but I really appreciate your working with all sides on this, Mayor Simmons, and we'll support this.
Denise Simmons	Thank you, Council Nolan. Council Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yes, I also want to just echo the gratitude for the policy order, but also for the amendments that are shared here. I also want to give my thanks to those who spoke in public comment on both sides, but also to those who welcomed me and greeting me and walking around the area and talking more. about and just physically seeing, you know, whether it's video, photos, or what have you, but being in that space was also eye-opening and just being able to see kind of from your view, right, from your vantage point, just some of the challenges that you all are experiencing. And I, too, want to appreciate that it sounds like through this mediation you all have come to a bit of a meeting of the minds around kind of some next steps. Not to say that that's going to resolve everything 100%, right? We all need to do some more work. So I think through this policy order is a great step forward for us. But also, and I think to Vice Mayor's point around just really thinking about what does services look like across the board. And I mean, this isn't just for this community. This is like across our city and making sure that we have services that beyond the hours of nine to five, right? And that we need to look at overnight support and care and just really honing in on that. Our police department, they're a great resource and they do what they can do and what they need to do. but also their view is where they're at, right? And we need other holistic services and supports to be in place as well. So look forward to even hosting a public safety committee meeting further on these relevant issues. And again, I look forward to supporting the amendments and the policy order as a whole. Thank you, IU.
Denise Simmons	Council Wilson deals the floor. Vice Mayor, the floor is yours.
Marc McGovern	Thank you, Madam Mayor. After we adopted the amended policy order, I was going to make some other comments, but I'll make them now while we're having this conversation. I, too, want to thank you, and I want to thank the folks for engaging in the mediation. Getting to a resolution quickly most sometimes mediations take take some time, so I Appreciate that I also want to thank the church for their ongoing support For folks who are unhoused and one thing I would I would just as a suggestion You know I live in Central Square. I'm I'm I understand that you know the challenges and But one thing that I have found, and this gets back to sort of involving the folks who are unhoused in the conversation, is that part of building community also includes those folks who are unhoused, right? They are part of the community. They are more than just unhoused people. They're more than just folks who are struggling with substance use addiction. maybe something the church and the Condo Association can do is actually, and maybe you've done this, so if I'm speaking on a turn, I apologize, bringing these groups together, get to know people. I know a lot of the unhoused people by name in Central Square, and if I can ever say to them, hey, you need to chill out for a minute, and they know who I am, and they know we can have a conversation. We know each other. They feel part of the community. If the space is going to be shared moving forward in some capacity, you know, there is some benefit in getting to know each other, right? Because these folks all have stories too. None of them want to be in the situation that they're in. No kid ever says I want to be homeless or an addict when I grow up. You would be amazed at the talents, the education, the stories that folks who are unhoused in our community have. and you realize that it could be anybody that's in that situation. So I hope as this moves forward that the conversations are not just between the church and the condo association, but people get to know each other because they're gonna be around, right? And I think there's a big benefit to that. So I would like to put that out there for folks to consider. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Thank you. Any further discussion? Council Zusy.
Catherine Zusy	Thank you through you, Madam Mayor. Again, I was just, thank you all for your testimony and you've been dealing with, it's a difficult situation, but I'm just so grateful that the mediation led in one day to, you were able to step forward and I am hoping that with the support of the police and the care team that peace prevails at night. It seems it's essential. We all need to be able to sleep well at night. So I have compassion for the unhoused, but I also have great compassion for the people in the condos that can't sleep at night because of crazy behavior. So I feel like this is a real step forward and I'll be looking forward to the report back in October and I hope things are much better. Thank you, I yield.
Denise Simmons	Council Susie yields the floor. Any further discussion on the amendment? Hearing none, on the amendment, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and the policy order is amended. On the policy order as amended, discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and the policy order is adopted as amended and thank you. For those of you that stayed for the vote, thank you for staying. We're gonna move now to applications and petitions. Pleasure of the City Council. On a motion by the Vice Mayor to adopt the applications and petitions, I believe there are four. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the applications and petitions are approved. Next item is communications. There are 36. What's the pleasure of the City Council? Place on file. On a motion by the Vice Mayor to place all 36 communications on file. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it and the communications are placed on file. We now move to resolutions. We have lost my count. 12. Thank you. There are 12 resolutions. What's the pleasure of the city council? Number six. Number six. Get there. Pleasure of the city council. Hearing none. I have a motion by Council Toner to adopt the resolution to making them unanimous upon adoption. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. And all the resolutions with the exception of number six are adopted and made unanimous upon adoption. We move back to number two, number six, which is pulled by Councillor Turner and says condolences on the death of Elizabeth Camacho. Councillor Turner, the floor is yours.
Paul Toner	Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to add Councillor Nolan to the resolution as a sponsor.
Denise Simmons	on amending this number six policy order to add Councilor Nolan. Any discussion? Hearing none on the amendment, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. The resolution is amended. On the resolution- Mayor Simmons? Yes.
Patricia Nolan	Just want to note, Councilor Toner, I talked earlier. We will be adding some details to this resolution just so the council is aware because they were not available by the time this came out, so it's relatively short so that no one's surprised. I know it's not often the practice of that, but I wanted to- to make that clear, that there will be more details as we get more information from the family of this tragic accident that happened to a neighbor in West Cambridge, Lisa Camacho. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	Thank you, Councilor Nolan. That's not necessarily unusual. Something happens very quickly. You want to acknowledge it. You don't have all the full information. You put something down as a placeholder, so I certainly think that's going to be fine. So on the amendment... on the policy, on the resolution as amended. We did that too great, so she started talking to me off. All right, the next item before it are committee reports. What's the pleasure of the council? Committee reports, pleasure of the council? On a motion by the, I'm sorry?
Patricia Nolan	One of them has an order.
Denise Simmons	And I think it's number? Two. Number one, no. Number 2A, I see that. So the Vice Mayor makes a motion to accept the committee reports and place them on file and to adopt the underlying order. All those in favor say aye.
	Aye.
Denise Simmons	Opposed? Ayes have it, and committee reports are adopted, and the underlying order adopted by the affirmative vote of nine members. We now move to communications and reports from other city officers. We've already discharged number two and three, so only one is remaining. What's the pleasure of the city council? On a motion by Council Wilson to place on file, all those in favor say aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. And communication number one is placed on file. I think that brings us to... Are there any late resolutions?
SPEAKER_24	There is one late resolution, Madam Mayor. It's a resolution submitted by Councilor Nolan. Congratulations to the Sacramento Community Garden on its 50th anniversary.
Denise Simmons	Now, just so I'm sure, do we have to suspend the rules to take up these late resolutions? Yes, I suppose so. So on suspension of the rules in order to take up late resolutions, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Late resolutions are now in front of us on this late resolution offered by Councilman Nolan. Do you want to? explain it or talk to it, Councilor Nolan?
Patricia Nolan	Thank you. I was made aware of this through DPW's work with the garden that there will be some recognition as of September 14th. It will be celebrating its 50th anniversary. It was one of the first community gardens it came out as a result of some successful advocacy from the neighborhood to have this space which had been slated perhaps for some other use to be used as a community garden and it's in conjunction with it this if people don't know that area of town with Sacramento field is and this is was an aqueduct for an industrial site that Ran through and I think the 1850s and 60s and so we now Sacramento field but then separate from that there's this community garden that has a long history of bringing folks together and Once I was made aware of it I said it would be appropriate and to bring it as a late order because September 14th is before our next meeting
Denise Simmons	Hearing none, on adoption of the late resolution, making it unanimous upon adoption. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it, and the resolution is adopted, making it and made it unanimous upon this adoption. We do not have any late policy orders, so we will go right to announcements. Are there any announcements, Councilor Azeem? You sent the mail in to everybody. You don't have any announcements?
	No.
Denise Simmons	Come on. I don't want to steal your thunder.
SPEAKER_24	Yeah, because he's embarrassed.
Denise Simmons	Councilor Azeem just recently became engaged, and we just want to congratulate him, and we wish you all the best, and we want to know about all the details, and we're going to ask you every week. Anything else you want to share with us?
Ayesha Wilson	No?
Denise Simmons	Okay, well then congratulations. Applause for Councilor Azeem on his... his new life change. Okay, other announcements? Council Zusy.
Catherine Zusy	Mayor Simmons, I'm pleased to announce, I'm actually thrilled to announce that the latest phase of work has begun at Magazine Beach Park. There was a groundbreaking today. This is something that has been in the works since 2019. Good things take time. And what it will do is it'll turn a sunken parking lot into an acre of usable park land between the swimming pool and the river. And there will be a dock added and an outlook to look out on the river. And I think it will really add a lot to the park. So I'm thrilled about that. And also there was a great article in the Globe today. I think it was yesterday, about St. Augustine's and Black History in Action for Cambridgeport. And I was thrilled to see Chris Menjopra and the church and the community to receive such attention for the restoration of that building. And then I just wanted to announce on Saturday, Bread and Puppet will be performing on the Cambridge Common at 4 p.m. And there's a Meet Your Neighbor Day at the EMF parking lot from 12 to 3 on Saturday. Thank you. Thank you.
Denise Simmons	And just if I may add, Council, so the Meet Your Neighbor Day is something that we have sort of done citywide for a number of years. And so please go to the city's website, and there will be a list, I believe, of all, not all, some of the Meet Your Neighbor Day activities over this weekend coming up, the 13th. and the 14th and some people even go into a week after. So I would say look at your updates on the city website about these events. Are there any other? I will mention that Danny Park Family Day is coming up September 20th. There's flyers about it. What I really enjoyed about this particular flyer is that it's multilingual. So you go onto the QR code, you can get the information in the language that you're most familiar with. I thought that was extraordinary. And it also has on the back where you can take buses to the park, which is something that I had not noticed before, but I think that is fabulous that we're doing that. Are there other announcements? Oh, wait, okay, yes, please.
Patricia Nolan	Thank you. Just a reminder, I'm sure you might all have it on your calendar, but it's actually tomorrow from two to four, there's a Health and Environment Committee meeting, a public hearing to discuss the ongoing work to mitigate and reduce the combined sewer overflows within Cambridge and also the surrounding areas, and also address extreme weather events. We'll have a presentation from DPW and also from the Charles River Watershed Association, the Mystic River Watershed Association, and Save the Elwhife Brook, and then there'll be discussion from the council to think about any further action that the council may take or just questions and comments that we may have. I think it's a pretty important meeting given the interest of this in the city.
Denise Simmons	Thank you, Councillor Nelson. Councillor Nolan, are there other? Councillor Wilson.
Ayesha Wilson	Thank you, Madam Mayor. On that note of committee meetings, I'll be chairing the Public Safety Committee this Wednesday, September 10th at 3 p.m. here in the chamber. This will be in regards to the policy order that was shared by colleagues regarding a review or discussion around the 18-hour standoff that happened with CPD on August 2nd. So-
Denise Simmons	look forward to that discussion and um hosting folks here in the chamber thank you thank you council wilson other announcements well i'll i'll end with one last announcement hopefully this particular viewer will be watching i want to say happy birthday to my wife i didn't spend any time with her today Hopefully she'll forgive me. Please give her a round of applause for having a happy birthday by herself today. Thank you so much. Happy birthday, Ms. Maddie. Are there any other announcements? Otherwise, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. On a motion by Council Wilson. I'm sorry? Did you say you wanted to stay longer? On a motion by Council Wilson to adjourn. All those in favor say aye.
	Aye.
Denise Simmons	Opposed? The ayes have it and the meeting is adjourned.