The Council met on Monday and received reports regarding idling vehicles and inspecting multifamily buildings, approved funding for hybrid taxis and passed policy orders regarding lighting at construction sites, a recent court case involving the City, and encouraging the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Council will meet next Monday.

The City of Cambridge Green Building/Zoning Task Forces meets tonight, Wednesday June 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, 4th Floor Conference Room. Information on this Task Force is available at http://www.cambridgema.gov/cdd/cp/zng/grnbldg/index.html.

 

The GAC will next meet on Tuesday, June 24 and our guest will be Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Hass.

 

Also on June 24, a number of organizations are sponsoring Tools for a Greener Office: Making Offices More Sustainable and Cost Effective at the University of Massachusetts-Boston from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. More information on this event is available at www.massrecycle.org/greenoffice.

Upcoming GAC Events

The 2008 Government Affairs program is sponsored by Genzyme.

June 24, 2008

Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas will address the June GAC Meeting and Luncheon

Noon, Chamber Board Room

If you plan to attend please RSVP to Terrence Smith, Director of Government Affairs at tsmith@cambridgechamber.org or by phone at (617) 876-4213. 

 

 

The Council met on Monday and received reports on how the City addresses vehicle idling and on the City’s inspection program for multifamily buildings, approved funding for the Hybrid Taxi Program, and passed policy orders regarding lighting at construction sites, a recent court case involving the City, and encouraging the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 

City Manager Agenda Item 1 is a response to a Council order regarding enforcement of State law banning idling stopped vehicles for more than five minutes. According to the report, the Cambridge Police department enforces this law and in the current year has written five citations. According to the City Manager, in most cases when an officer either observes or responds to a complaint about an idling vehicle, the officer will inform the driver of the law and ask the driver to shut-off the engine. In most cases the driver complies. The result is that the environmental impacts of idling vehicles are lessened by the vehicle no longer idling.

 

City Manager Agenda Item 3 is a report on the City’s program to inspect multifamily, defined as three or more unit, buildings. The Massachusetts State Building Code requires periodic inspection of multifamily buildings and specific inspection of fire escapes in those buildings with fire escapes. 

 

City Manager Agenda Item 5 appropriates a $15,000 donation from Whole Foods to support the Hybrid Taxi Program. License Commission Chair Richard Scali discussed this program at the April GAC meeting. The Manager also reported that the Council will be asked soon to appropriate additional funding for this program from the recent sale of a taxi medallion.

 

Policy Order 2 asks the City Manager to report back to the Council and to the Council’s Cable TV, Telecommunications and Public Utilities Committee on how to limit local construction lighting to minimum required for safety.

 

Policy Order 4 asks that the Mayor schedule a special meeting, which may in part be in Executive Session, to discuss a recent court case where the City lost a discrimination suit filed by a former City employee. It has been reported that the City is planning to appeal this ruling.

 

Policy Order 17 asks the Governor and the Cambridge delegation to the legislature to support legislation targeting a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 by 2010 and an 80% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050.