Housing, Transportation & Climate

Cambridge and the rest of Greater Boston face housing, transportation and climate challenges. These issues are impacted by local, regional, and state forces.  We must engage other cities and towns in the region, our state legislative delegation, and organizations like the Massachusetts Area Planning Council to develop regional solutions to our housing, transportation, and climate challenges.

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We must incentivize new buildings and the retrofitting of older buildings to meet the climate challenges we face.   We must provide better transportation infrastructure for all  and incentivize alternative modes of transportation to reduce carbon emissions. 

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I support transit-oriented development to increase density near centers of public transportation. I support efforts to develop more housing stock for residents of all income levels. I support thoughtful zoning laws to allow for more multi-family homes to be built in our neighborhoods while scaling development to reflect the surrounding area.   I support efforts to create safe, multimodal transporation, such as bike and bus lanes.  However, there must be better community engagement and planning to mitigate any harm to residents and businesses in the area.

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As Councillor, I sponsored or co-sponsored policy orders to create an advisory group to begin planning for upgrades to zoning on north Massachusetts Avenue and a framework that Cambridge can use to work towards a more diverse regional real estate development industry. I supported efforts to eliminate the mandatory parking minimums with new construction and city efforts to purchase new parcels in the city for potential affordable housing.  I supported efforts to create community advisory committees to engage a broad array of residents and businesses and to carry out an economic impact study of new bus and bike lanes to provide access to safe transportation while addressing concerns of businesses and residents. I supported reasonable and practical amendments to the recently adopted Building Energy Utilization Disclosure ordinance to address our climate challenges.