A report on 105 Windsor Street

Acknowledgements: Thank you to student interns Aayan Ahmad and Ethan Maggio, and Council Aides Dan Totten and Sukia Akiba for their work in compiling this survey and report. With appreciation to staff at the Cambridge Historical Commission as well as the offices of the Clerk and City Council for their generous time and assistance.

Introduction: During the summer of 2022, Councillor Zondervan’s office hosted two students from the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program (MSYEP) who created and executed a thorough community survey regarding the future of the long-vacant schoolhouse on the city-owned property at 105 Windsor Street. At the time of the survey, the city had recently appropriated $4.5 million dollars towards design and renovation of the space into a yet-to-be determined new use.

The goals of this project were to (1) develop survey and outreach skills of MSYEP students, (2) raise community awareness about the upcoming renovation, and (3) hear directly from residents of the neighborhood, and from CHA residents in particular, about their needs and their perspective on what the building should become. The survey results reflect a wide range of preferences and needs, but a community-serving use is clearly much preferred to city offices.

Designing a multipurpose space could help build consensus, especially considering that 83% of respondents selected more than one preferred future use. Methodology: The students approached the work of surveying the community from a number of different angles to maximize participation and sample quality. Strategies included clipboarding on the street, attending neighborhood events, leafleting individual doors, posting flyers in common spaces, and targeted outreach to community leaders.

The many approaches resulted in a diverse sample of 227 respondents. While this is certainly not an official or scientifically rigorous study, the qualitative data is rich and the raw numbers tell an interesting story about the preferences of the neighborhood. 2 This image circa 1950 depicts the building at 105 Windsor Street when it was in use as the Lawrence D. Mahoney Recreation Center and the Francis P. Sullivan American Legion Post No.

388 (Courtesy of Cambridge Historical Commission) Here is how the sample (N=227) breaks down across various demographics: Location Lives in the port 129 57% Doesn’t live in the port 98 43%

Lives in Cambridge

201 89%

Doesn’t live in Cambridge