Last week I collected more than enough provisionally certified signatures to see my name on the ballot for City Council in November. I stood outside Fresh Pond Market on two afternoons, and the conversations I had with neighbors and customers convinced me more than ever that I made the right decision to run. Huron Village has felt under siege the past couple of years, caught in the pincers of the massive sewer separation project and the Alewife development boom. It’s been especially hard on small independent retailers like Fresh Pond Market, Magic Beans, Easy Chairs, Half Crown Design, J. Miles, Marimekko, GrayMist, Matthew Feldman, Bryn Mawr Bookstore, Mobilia, Susi’s Gallery, Esterika, Crate Escape Too, and the Full Moon and Village Kitchen restaurants, which together anchor and sustain our little “village.” People are beginning to realize that it’s time to pay more attention to local politics, and to vote for candidates who will put the city on the path to more sustainable growth planning and steer clear of the special interests feeding the growth machine.
It’s been 20 years since the end of rent control, and galloping gentrification continues unchecked, leaving many longtime tenants as collateral damage. The Housing Committee held a hearing last week during which a parade of victims shared heartbreaking stories of being asked to vacate on short notice without explanation (like those in 111 units at 295 Harvard St) or informed their rents would increase exponentially after a change in ownership (like those in 15 units in three buildings at 33-42 Harding St). Mike McIntosh, an artist and disabled veteran who has lived in one of the Harding Street buildings for 15 years, was told his rent would quadruple after his unit was rehabbed. McIntosh reminded the committee that “having a place for everybody used to be the Cambridge ethos.” He said he has seen East Cambridge’s Brazilian and Portuguese community shrink, as lower income tenants are displaced, and he blames speculation driven by the Green Line expansion. “It’s legal but it’s wrong,” he said about the way his new landlord, Boston Investments, is treating him and his fellow longtime tenants. One of them is 76-year-old feminist author Ti-Grace Atkinson, who testified that she has been asked to vacate at the end of July after living in the building for 18 years. Boston Investments acquired the Harding Street properties on June 15. On July 2 the firm’s managing partner, Tony Madan, donated $1,000 to Leland Cheung’s reelection campaign. (In February 2015, Madan donated $500 to Cheung, putting his second gift over the legal limit.) Councillor Cheung was not at the hearing to hear Madan roundly criticized by the respectable tenants he would like to replace with higher-paying ones, but as Atkinson said, “if the owners don’t want to be spoken badly of, why don’t they behave better?”
295 Harvard St: All 111 units are to be vacated by 8/31
The Housing Committee expressed sympathy and outrage but acknowledged that the city’s has limited recourse without changes to the ordinance that would protect tenants. I think our 20-year experiment with an essentially unregulated rental economy should be pronounced a failure and a moral hazard, and new laws written that would put the brakes on galloping gentrification. The small percentage of affordable units included in new development are not enough to maintain more than token socio-economic diversity, and they do nothing to protect tenants like Atkinson who live on modest fixed incomes and do not qualify for housing subsidies like Section 8. Councillor Dennis Carlone suggested extending the inclusionary requirements to larger rental buildings being gut-rehabbed as a way to claw back some affordable units within the existing housing stock, rather than relying solely on new development. Berlin just passed new rent stabilization laws — about two-thirds of Cambridge residents are renters, it’s time for the pendulum to swing back to protect them. Time is short and new ideas — and greater political will — are urgently needed. In the meantime Housing Committee Chair Denise Simmons shared this list of resources for tenants facing displacement.
On a brighter note, I found an affordable way to install solar panels on my roof, something I’ve long wanted to do but haven’t been able to swing financially. Last week I met with Nataly Cahn of Yehola! solar sharing and am now committed to becoming a “sun host.” Yehola, a Boston-based start-up, will install the panels on my south-facing roof at no cost and will give me 25% of the power I generate annually for free. I have the right to purchase up to another 25% of my solar production at a favorable rate. The remaining power is Yehola’s to sell to its “sun partners” (other users). I stand to save up to 20% on my monthly electric bill, and would continue my contact with Mass Energy/New England Green Start program to source the rest of my power through renewable sources (thank you, Mothers Out Front). Yehola sounds like a great alternative for cash-strapped homeowners like me. However, if you have the capacity to invest in installing your own or rented panels and a suitably sunny roof, I encourage you to take advantage of the installation discount offered by Neighborhood Solar through the end of July. Cambridge is one of 50 semifinalists nationally to win the $5 million Georgetown University Energy Prize for increased efficiency. The more of us who convert to solar and renewables, the better our chances of winning.
Cyclists on Memorial Drive
Finally, since it’s Sunday and (when I finish this post) I plan to pedal over to Memorial Drive for a ride on my campaign cargo trike, I want to acknowledge the work of the People for Riverbend Park Trust, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Younger residents may not realize that summer Sundays without traffic are the legacy of Isabella Halsted, a lifelong resident who died in 2006 at age 99. The Cambridge Art Association has mounted a fine exhibit of artwork inspired by Riverbend Park, which the Trust plants and helps maintain along the Charles River between Mt Auburn Hospital and Western Avenue. You may support the People for Riverbend Park Trust by sending a tax deductible donation to 21 Gibson St, Cambridge, MA 02138.
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