Dan Totten

My partner @liceagayara.bsky.social and I just early voted at the Cambridge public library. While waiting on line to vote for Ayah Al-Zubi @votealzubi.com #1 for Cambridge city council (we have rank order voting), Ayah Al-Zubi walked by on her way out and told Yara 'I love your keffiyeh' 💜💙🍉

Next Monday, 6pm at the BTU School there will be a hearing about safety improvements on Hyde Park Ave

We're calling for folks to come early and sign up to testify to ensure we don't have another tragic injury on Hyde Park Ave!

broke: sewer socialism

woke: sewage socialism (this is a good video, and you should follow Ayah)

Climate change is happening NOW, which means more flash floods. Cambridge needs to get more proactive in addressing our sewer overflows, which expose residents to dangerous untreated wastewater. I support better infrastructure in Alewife Brook + other climate solutions to address this. #mapoli

Yes to this in my back yard :)

Screenshot from The Harvard Crimson: "Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine A. Elow said that federal immigration agents have contacted CPD six times this year related to enforcement actions. While the department has refused to cooperate due to its sanctuary city laws, ICE has arrested at least one person in Cambridge this year." "'We have to push back against the Trump administration and support our residents, while also advancing on key issues in our city,' Al-Zubi said. 'In our campaign, we believe these two are interconnected.'"

Affordability goes to the heart of our values. What kind of Sanctuary City are we, if we force our most vulnerable out? Standing up to Trump is one part of the fight. Keeping our community inclusive, affordable, and dignified is the other.

Make no mistake, these issues are interconnected.

Screenshot from The Harvard Crimson: "Challenger Ayah Al-Zubi ’23 has proposed the construction of new social housing in Cambridge, an idea garnering support across the field. Social housing is a form of publicly funded development that includes mixed-income units, some affordable and others even reaching market rate." "'What we would need to do to make that happen is leverage our triple A bond rating and create a revolving loan so that our city can invest directly into housing that we know can sustainably remain affordable,' Al-Zubi said."

Social housing just makes sense. It creates truly mixed-income communities. It's self sustaining. And it can add hundreds of new homes across the city, including many that are deeply affordable. Projects that are publicly owned & democratically controlled.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025... #mapoli

Endorsement alert: Endorsed by UAW region 9A MAP CAP Council Image of Ayah Al-Zubi on a green background, with the logos for the UAW and the Al-Zubi campaign

Ayah standing with UAW workers Evan MacKay and Siobhan M, who are both holding UAW signs.

I’m proud to accept the endorsement of @uaw.org Region 9A. I will forever stand in solidarity with the labor movement family as we fight for the dignity of all workers.

Boston DSA is extremely proud to endorse Ayah's campaign for a dignified and affordable Cambridge for all! #cambMA #MAPoli

Cambridge is one of the most progressive cities in America. Yet residents are crushed by housing costs, groceries, childcare.

That’s why our campaign is here: to make our city dignified and affordable for all.

Join the movement: votealzubi.com

RSVP to Ayah Al-Zubi's Launch Party | Partiful Come join us for community, music, and food to celebrate the launch of Ayah's run for Cambridge City Council.

It was an easy decision not to run again for council once I learned that @votealzubi.com was in. She’s got the courage to challenge our unelected and unaccountable city manager’s fiscal austerity. This year I’m all in for Ayah! She gives me hope.

Join us at the launch party:

tinyurl.com/al-zubi

Join us at our launch party for community building! RSVP: tinyurl.com/al-zubi

OPPOSE POLICY ORDER #3 PEOPLE SURVIVING POVERTY OUTSIDE IN CAMBRIDGE NEED CARE, NOT COPS! PO #3 TARGETS A SPECIFIC GROUP OF OUTSIDE SLEEPERS AND ASKS FOR "ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT TOOLS" ACROSS THE CITY.

IT IS APPALLING THAT MAYOR SIMMONS WOULD INTRODUCE THIS ORDER LESS THAN ONE WEEK AFTER TRUMP'S EXECUTIVE ORDER CALLING ON CITIES TO CRIMINALIZE HOMELESSNESS!

THIS COMES JUST ONE MONTH AFTER THE COUNCIL'S UNJUST DECISION TO CLOSE A 58-BED HOMELESS SHELTER. IF OUR NEIGHBORS HAD SHELTER, MAYBE THEY WOULDN'T BE SLEEPING OUTSIDE!

TELL THE COUNCIL TO VOTE DOWN THIS CALLOUS PROPOSAL • EMAIL <COUNCIL@CAMBRIDGEMA.GOV> AND CC <CLERK@CAMBRIDGEMA.GOV> • AND/OR SIGN UP TO SPEAK 8/4 AT 5:30: http://bit.ly/Aug4Comment (CASE SENSITIVE LINK) ZOOM COMMENT AVAILABLE

The people of Cambridge need care, not cops! Cambridge DSA opposes Policy Order #3, which requests "additional enforcement tools" to target specific outside sleepers. Voice your opposition at the 8/4 Cambridge City Council meeting at 5:30 pm!

Sign up at bit.ly/Aug4Comment

tweet from Cambridge Police "Incident Update- CPD Peacefully Resolves 18-Hour Standoff - Broadway at Windsor St. Read more in this incident: camb.ma/4fkqrMc" images of militarized cops, cop cars, and an apartment building

The Cambridge Police (still exclusively on X, naturally) are furiously spinning this debacle. After hours of antagonizing community members, they teargassed a low-income apartment building with NO WARNING. An elderly resident & a baby were sent to the hospital, and dozens suffered while CPD watched.

tweet from Cambridge PD, retweeted by City of Cambridge: Incident Update- CPD Peacefully Resolves 18-Hour Standoff - Broadway at Windsor St. Read more in this incident: https://camb.ma/4fkqrMc

"peacefully" uhhh?????????? y'all used chemical weapons on like hundreds of residents

oh my god. around midnight last night, CPD flooded an occupied, 61-unit apartment building with tear gas and pepper spray to try to force one guy out.

it didn’t work! the guy’s still there! but they did make a bunch of people sick and displaced instead

I'm so excited to support my friend Ayah's campaign. She is the real deal and gives me hope for my beloved hometown.

VOTE AL-ZUBI #1 for Cambridge City Council "Dignity and affordability for all" (Image of a woman in her 20s smiling at the camera, in front of a green patterned backdrop.)

Join our campaign that believes in dignity & affordability for all. Amidst the Trump fiasco, we’re bringing hope, action, & joy to our local community in Cambridge.

To donate, volunteer, request a yard sign, or even pledge your #1 vote now because you’re a superstar, visit www.votealzubi.com

Newsom calls CEQA reform his biggest housing win yet. Is it true? The California governor signed two CEQA reform bills into law, calling them "the most consequential housing reform that we’ve seen in modern history." Will they actually hold up to reality?

Pretty sad when you are a Democrat & your "biggest housing win" is to weaken the state's most important environmental law.

Could launch a social housing program, build a million affordable homes, pass strong rent control, invest in community land trusts etc. Instead, top achievement is deregulating

My name is Siobhan. I am a Cambridge resident and a member of Boston DSA. I'm here in my personal capacity to share my thoughts, including some serious concerns, regarding the proposed changes to the City Charter. I think some of these things are steps in the right direction. Giving the City Council greater authority over the budget and city personnel relative to the unelected City Manager would make our city more democratic. Overshadowing this, though, are significant issues. To start, there is good reason state law says the Council does not have the legal authority to extend its own terms on its own. M.G.L. ch. 43B, section 10(a) says that only a popularly-elected Charter Commission can change the "terms of office of the legislative body." Even if the state legislature would permit this deviation from statutory democratic procedures, doubling Councillors' terms would fundamentally make the Council less democratically responsive because Councillors would not face their constituents as often. It would also raise the bar for election to the Council, potentially locking out dissenting views and narrowing the scope of community viewpoints represented on the Council. The City Solicitor's report notes that this change could even force a civil rights lawsuit because it "perpetuates unfairness towards minorities and candidates with less resources."

I have heard the rationale that the 2-year terms do not give enough time to legislate in between campaign seasons. In my view, the solution to this is not to give yourselves more job security, but to legislate publicly and transparently for your entire term in a way that improves the lives of your constituents. Additionally, as you know, Cambridge residents currently have virtually no say in the city's executive branch. This proposal's ceremonial elected mayor hints at a solution, but in function, this elected leader with little power seems like they would just serve as window dressing to hide the unelected City Manager's control over city government. Ultimately, I am here because I want a more democratic Cambridge. I hope you will heed these concerns and not continue down this path in opposition to responsive democracy.

i plan to speak at this morning’s special cambridge city council meeting, where they’ll consider amendments to the city charter. while some proposed amendments are positive, i am strongly opposed to councillors doubling their terms. my planned comments:

We are 10 years into the failed YIMBY project, and it’s clear that the for profit real estate industry is not coming to the rescue to deliver housing for the working class.

Disaster capitalism won’t deliver the housing we need. Social housing will.

my name is Siobhan. i'm a Cambridge resident, a UAW-unionized attorney, and a member of Boston Democratic Socialists of America. i'm here to speak on the closure of Kennedy Longfellow. this is a time of pain for our communities, and especially for the students and staff affected. i think it's important to remember that pain—for all those families and educators—is a political choice. we're told this is necessary, that there isn't enough money to keep the school open and thriving with the resources it needs. somehow, in Cambridge and across the country, there's never enough money for students and teachers, but there's always plenty to keep the police well-funded. this is especially galling here, in the shadow of Harvard and MIT's frightening consolidation of wealth. ultimately, we need a radical change in our political priorities that commits resources to educating students instead of arresting them and the members of their communities to cater to wealthy private institutions.

i recognize that some of this is outside the immediate control of the school committee, but i implore you to remember all of these political choices that brought these students and educators to this awful position. you are now faced with another political choice—will you be the ones to stand up and do right by them? will you meaningfully engage families and teachers of K-Lo to actively include them in the process of transitioning students to other K-5 schools? will that process be transparent and center the needs of the most vulnerable students? will you commit to no staffing cuts, and to compensation to staff for their work in the transition? will you overhaul the controlled choice system? i hope you will. these steps won't correct all the political wrongs cambridge students and educators have suffered, but they would be the start of a better path. honor your promises.

i was one of several @bostondsa.org members to speak at tonight’s Cambridge School Committee meeting on the closure of Kennedy Longfellow School. here are my full comments on this latest move to deprioritize students’ and educators’ needs

DCR Will Start Tearing Out Pavement for Memorial Drive Narrowing Project In 2025 - Streetsblog Massachusetts A long-planned project to improve riverfront paths and reduce the width of the Memorial Drive highway in Cambridge from 4 lanes to 2 lanes will get underway next year. “We plan on advertising for cons...

ICYMI: @massdcr.bsky.social will start tearing out pavement for a highway narrowing project on Memorial Drive in 2025 - mass.streetsblog.org/2024/12/13/d...

There are numerous examples of Denise allowing someone to veer from the agenda when she agrees with what they have to say, or when it is something innocuous!

First speaker was Dan Totten, who spoke against Garden St., and then tried to say he stood in solidarity with "the MIT student being expelled," but the Mayor talked over him so we couldn't hear him say something about going outside to join the demonstrators. Not only was this weird…

I asked my senator this exact question and he said they’ve already done everything they need to do. Lol

Not feeling great :( would have joined virtually but there wasn’t exactly much to talk about. Thanks for keeping us updated!

BlueBikes, Bluesky, can’t lose

Broadway Bicycle School is a worker owned co-op, worth exploring!

We should eliminate all vehicular traffic on Prospect St between Central and Union. Establish safe lanes for biking and pedestrians as well as a free trackless trolley/bus that does round trips every 15 minutes