Final Recap and Preview for What's to Come

Was it worth all the fuss?

A week after the surprise election of David Maher as Cambridge mayor, few people seem to care. The election wasn't covered in either the Boston Globe or the Herald. I spoke to about a dozen people in Central and Harvard square on Sunday and few cared or even knew about the election.

Of the few residents who followed the election, most were still frustrated by its lengthy process.

"Well, it's about time," one woman said, preferring to remain anonymous. "I hope the council can stop with the b.s. and get down to business finally."

City Councilor Craig Kelley said that Maher has a tough road ahead of him.

"We are facing a lot of budget cuts this term," Kelley said, "especially in schools and public works. It's his job to figure out how to make those cuts as painless as possible and explain to the public what the impact will be."

Maher's next step at this week's council meeting is to appoint the City Council Committees. Committees include: housing, finance, veterans, traffic,health and environment, etc.

To read more about the committees and who should be appointed, check out Robert Winter's blog about Cambridge Politics. He really knows his stuff. At last week's meeting, it was Winters who finally explained the rules to the clerk after Maher's mix up.

http://www.rwinters.com/

Globe articles

This article should give you some good background about Cambridge politics.

Before last week's elections, Cambridge City Council was basically at a stand-still. Two months had past since they were supposed to have elected a new mayor. Even though the position is mostly ceremonial--the mayor is head of the school committee and that's about it-- it is a pay increase of $30,000. Needless to say, councilors weren't too keen to drop out of the race. This seems to be politics as usual for Cambridge and the people of Cambridge aren't too happy about it.

The Globe reports one woman saying: “This is just typical Cambridge politics. Maybe some day they will develop a sense of shame.’’

read full Globe article:


http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/08/nobody_wins_in_cambridge_mayoral_impasse/

Cambridge Chronicle

The Cambridge Chronicle had some good coverage of last week's meeting:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1650252135/City-Council-in-60-seconds

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1650250325/David-Maher-picked-as-Cambridge-mayor

New Vice Mayor

City Council also voted in a new vice mayer, Henrietta Davis. Davis defeated Counselor Cheung 5-4.New mayor Maher got off to a rough start, confusing the rules of the vote. There was about five minutes of confusion before the mayor and the clerk figured out what to do. Counselor Simmons, the former mayor, laughed into the microphone, "Congratulations on your first meeting."

New Mayor of Cambridge

After nearly two months of delays, Cambridge City Council finally voted in a new mayor this evening, David P. Maher. Maher defeated Henrietta Davis in a 6-3 vote.

More to come after the meeting!

Agenda for Tonight's Meeting

The agenda has been posted for tonight's city council meeting:

	City Council Agenda of Monday, February 22, 2010
		Hearing Schedule Reconsiderations City Manager's Agenda This links to the City Manager's Agenda. View a summary of agenda items, and link to the related City Manager Reports. Calendar Awaiting Report List Applications and Petitions Communications Resolution List View a summary of the ceremonial and memorial Resolutions. Policy Order and Resolution List View a summary of the Policy Orders and Resolution List, and link to the full text of the Policy Orders. Committee Reports Communications and Reports from City Officers Miscellaneous

Cambridge Firefighter Reneau Cherant will be honored for his assistance in Haiti relief efforts.
Among other issues, it looks like tonight's meeting will discuss possible renovations to the historic St. James Church, public outreach efforts for the Accelerated Bridge Program(a statewide program to improve bridges) and the appropriation of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They will also discuss the cleanup efforts after the February 10 oil spill on the Charles and a possible competition among local software designers to design a Cambridge iPhone app.