The City Council Ordinance Committee meets tonight on three issues; revisions to the City Sewer Ordinance, expansion of responsibilities of the Human Rights Commission to include architectural access issues, and an addition to the Zoning Ordinance that would limit development rights of abutters when to a protect a solar system is installed on a property.

 

The Council meets for the last time this term next Monday, December 17.

 

Cambridge Leaders 2008 is scheduled for Wednesday January 23 at the Hotel Marlowe from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thanks to Comcast and Alexandria Real Estate for sponsoring Leaders 2008.

 

The 2007 Government Affairs program is sponsored by Genzyme.

  

Mark your calendar for Wednesday January 23 for the 2008 Leaders Event. Meet your elected representatives and senior officials from state and local government. We may also have some special guests. The Hotel Marlowe will be our host and the time is 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Registration and additional information are available on the Chamber website at Cambridge Leaders 2008.

 

 

The Council met on Monday for the penultimate meeting of the current term. The Council heard a report from the Neighborhood Safety Task Force, which had as one focus job development, and passed the long-discussed Leaf Blower Amendment to the Noise Ordinance. The City Manager requested and the City approved appropriation of grant funds for a hydroelectric feasibility study. The Council passed policy orders asking for a Housing Panel to study the City’s housing policies and asking for a LEED Task Force as recommended by the Planning Board.

 

Report from the Neighborhood Safety Task Force

The Neighborhood Safety Task Force, chaired by the Mayor and City Manager, has met most of this year to study the problem of violent crime and particularly youth violence. Monday the Task Force presented its final report and recommendations to the City Council.

 

The Task Force, requested in a Council Order passed in 2006, included representatives from police and crime prevention organizations, the business community, churches and community organizations, the Cambridge Health Alliance, the Cambridge School Department, youth services organizations, the court system, educational institutions, the City Council, and City departments and agencies. Abt Associates, Inc., a Chamber member, donated the services of Michael Shively, Ph.D. who served as facilitator and co-authored the Task Force report.

 

The Task Force was divided into three sub-committees; Employment, Community Response, and Policing. Additional representatives from the community participated in the sub-committee meetings. The report provides several recommendations including a transitional employment program, short and long term recommendations for policing, and several suggestions for community building.

 

The employment recommendation will result in requests for partnerships with Cambridge employers. The Task Force recommended, and the City plans to implement, a program which will provide short-term City employment and additional workforce development services to address employability of disconnected 18-35 year old residents. The program will include a combination of a short-term City job, training and development assistance, case management, job placement assistance and follow-up support. The City Manager stated that full-time jobs with the City will not be part of this effort as the City is not expanding staffing. Several Councillors discussed linkages with employers in the City as partners in this effort.

 

The Council amended the Noise Ordinance adding a section regarding the use of leaf blowers in Cambridge. The new section of the Noise Ordinance, 8.16.081 Leaf Blowers, limits dates and times when leaf blowers can be used, specifies what types of leaf blowers can be used in Cambridge, and allows some use of leaf blowers outside of dates specified in the ordinance by those who meet certification requirements established by the City Manager.

 

The final version has significant elements originally suggested by the Cambridge Leaf Blower Task Force while responding to issues raised by the Council, the general public and property owners. The Ordinance shall be in effect on September 15, 2008. The City manager’s transmittal is at City Manager Agenda Item 18 and the amendment language is at 8.16.081 Leaf Blowers. The date the Ordinance goes into effect is based on the end date of current City contracts for landscaping services.

 

The City Council appropriated $46,000 is funding from a Massachusetts Technology Collaborative grant for a Stonybrook Hydroelectric feasibility study. The funds will be used to study the feasibility of a small scale hydroelectric energy project within the conduits of the municipal water supply system. The appropriation request is at City Manager Agenda Item 8.

 

In response to concerns by residents in some neighborhoods the Council adopted Policy Order 9, an order asking the City Manager to convene a Housing Panel. The purpose of the panel will be to discuss the City's overall housing policy and suggest zoning changes to prepare Cambridge for the future housing market. The panel would include property owners, City staff, Planning Board members and the public. Among the things the panel is asked to look at is zoning changes to “protect neighborhoods from over development.” 

 

In September the Planning Board recommended that a task force be formed to review a City Council proposal to add the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System to the City’s Zoning Ordinance. Policy Order 11 asks the City Manager to form this task force.

 

The proposal that has been before both the Planning Board and the City Council would require developers of projects of 25,000 square feet or larger to demonstrate that they would be rated at certain levels using the LEED Rating System developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC). The Chamber has expressed its concern that adopting LEED, which is designed to assist in making design choices, as a regulatory requirement would be both difficult and would not necessarily meet City goals and objectives. The Planning Board has expressed the same concerns.