City Council support of protecting and strengthening Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

POR 2026-169 FIRST IN COUNCIL September 14, 2026 City of Cambridge COUNCILLOR ZUSY MAYOR SIDDIQUI WHEREAS: Through regulations, legislation and executive action, the Trump Administration has been working to dismantle the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), one of America’s most successful bipartisan conservation and good-government laws, threatening historic structures; and WHEREAS: Over 600 public, private and nonprofit organizations and Tribal governments and over five million Americans overall, these include state and local governments, preservation, conservation, and Main Street organizations, professional associations of archaeologists, architects, landscape architects, anthropologists, historians, museum professionals, and private businesses involved in the cultural resource management industry. They have responded by proposing to strengthen Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) which requires federal agencies to identify affected historic places; assess potential harm; and consult with Tribal Nations, state and local officials, property owners, experts, and the public about ways to avoid or minimize harm to historic properties; and WHEREAS: At stake are not just landmarks and museum pieces, but the physical fabric of America itself. They include Tribal sacred landscapes, the nation’s battlefields, churches where movements for civil rights and social justice took root, factories, farms, mills, rail depots and shipyards that powered the nation’s economy. They include Main Streets, courthouses, neighborhoods, schools, parks, bridges, archaeological sites, cultural landscapes and downtowns that give communities their sense of orientation and identity; and WHEREAS: America’s historic places are not obstacles to America’s future. They are among the things that make America worth building; and they generate billions of dollars of economic activity; and WHEREAS: Weakening Section 106 is not an abstract policy debate. It threatens irreplaceable historic places, Tribal rights, local economies and livelihoods. • It will give Federal agencies discretion to decide whether to notify the public or provide opportunity for public comment before approving development projects; • Allow developers to secure Federal approvals without first meaningfully exploring ways to avoid or minimize harm; • It will eliminate the right of state and local governments to be notified when Federally approved development threatens historic places within their jurisdictions;

• It will eliminate the Federal government’s requirement to consult with Tribal Nations or seek their expertise about their sacred places before approving projects that may damage or destroy them; • It will exclude entire categories of historic places from meaningful consideration, including cultural landscapes, and places like the Grand Canyon, because they are no “geographically compact” or centered on a built structure. WHEREAS: The Executive Branch is avoiding the law with the demolition of the East Wing and erection of the proposed White House Ballroom, plans to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building white, plans to build a 250’ granite arch near Arlington Cemetery, and threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the Cambridge City Council goes on record in support of protecting and strengthening Section 106 of NHPA and shares a copy of this policy order with Gov. Maura Healey and Cambridge’s Federal Senators and Representatives. A true copy; ATTEST:- Paula M. Crane, Interim City Clerk

City of Cambridge City Council support of protecting and strengthening Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.