As the Co-Chair of the Government Rules and Operations Committee for the Cambridge City Council, I will be holding a hearing on Monday August 29th at 5:30pm in the Ackerman Room of City hall to discuss the appropriate way the City should determine mitigation derived from large building projects in the City of Cambridge. Historically, mitigation from large building projects has been designed to directly benefit the neighborhoods that were being impacted by the project itself.  Over the last few decades,…..

In 2009, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration directed the city of Boston to conduct a risk analysis of alternative Non-Radioactive Hazardous Materials (NRHM) transport routes through the city. The City of Boston has prepared an evaluation of trucking routes and has concluded that transportation of hazardous materials through the streets of downtown poses too great of a risk to public safety, and such materials should instead be taken around the downtown area through alternate routes. Yesterday, the Massachusetts Department of…..

More than four hundred people have signed an online petition sponsored by the City of Somerville asking for a definitive plan for the Green Line Extension to be adopted. The recently-announced multi-year delay in the project, which will push back the estimated completion date as far as 2020, has increased the importance of obtaining a strong commitment from MassDOT, the MBTA, and the Governor about the future of the project. If you are interested, please take a moment to sign…..

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has announced that the Green Line Extension, which was trending towards completion in October of 2015, is now expected to be delayed until 2018 at the earliest, and possibly until as late as 2020. In its annual State Implementation Plan (SIP) Status Report, MassDOT has declared that it will formally petition the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the Green Line Extension’s implementation, for a delay. This comes as very disappointing news. The…..

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has proposed a new transportation project that is drastic, unnecessary, and should it be implemented, will hurt the cities of Cambridge and Somerville. The Grand Junction Railroad, an 8.5 mile-long stretch of rail that runs through Cambridgeport, Kendall Square, East Cambridge, and the Brickbottom area of Somerville, was purchased from CSX by MassDOT roughly one year ago. Just months after purchasing the track as a part of a much larger deal with CSX, MassDOT…..

As many of you know, the state’s potential expansion of commuter rail service from Worcester to North Station via the Grand Junction Railroad has raised a large amount of concern in our community. I share many of the same worries that my neighbors have expressed about the potential impact of more trains coming through East Cambridge and East Somerville. While it appears that expanded use of the Grand Junction Railroad could bring additional noise, pollution, traffic, and safety problems with…..

There have been some important new developments this month in the path to constructing the Green Line Extension. Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation approved a landmark deal between the MBTA and Pan Am Railways that sets the stage for the construction of the Green Line Extension. This agreement brings the track, right of way, and other land that the MBTA will need to complete the Green Line Extension under its control. The Green Line Extension will provide…..

For Ms. Morales’s third grade class, Friday, March 4th was a chance to honor the birthday of Dr. Seuss and the legacy that he has left for generations of children to cherish. To celebrate, we read The Sneetches and Other Stories, a collection of tales with simple messages of compromise, respect, and fairness. Dr. Seuss’s rhymes demand the reader’s full attention! They were a great group!