POR 2024-126
Asked the City Manager to work with the MBTA to prioritize addressing housing affordability in the redevelopment of the Alewife garage
POR 2024 # 126 by adding an additional “Whereas” to read: “WHEREAS: The community has consistently advocated for a new commuter rail stop at Alewife, most recently in Envision and the Alewife Zoning Task Force, with a bridge connecting the Quad and Triangle areas and an easement from the MBTA has been in place since 1989, a stop is an urgent and necessary step that would help the city and state meet our common goals of greater transit equity, climate action, and environmental justice, as well as contribute positively to the neighborhood community and” and by adding the words “and adding a commuter rail stop” to the “Ordered” after the word “affordability” and before the word “in”The clerk's words, from the minutes of Sep 23, 2024, p. 9.
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Voted yes (9), unanimous
Burhan Azeem
Marc McGovern
Patty Nolan
Sumbul Siddiqui
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
Paul F. Toner
Ayesha M. Wilson
Cathie Zusy
E. Denise Simmons
O-1
This City Council recently learned about the MBTA’s plans to redevelop the Alewife garage and passed POR 2024 #110 asking for the City Manager to keep the City Council apprised of any updates; and
In resident surveys conducted by the City, housing affordability is consistently ranked by most Cambridge residents as their top concern; and
The Alewife redevelopment presents a unique opportunity to help address Cambridge’s affordable housing challenges by providing significant additional transit-oriented housing as part of a mixed-use space in proximity to a major public transit hub; and
If redevelopment plans at the Alewife garage were to prioritize parking and commercial space over addressing the region’s housing affordability challenges, Cambridge could see traffic and housing prices exacerbated in the city; and
The City has long recognized Alewife as a potential site for significant additional housing in Cambridge, including the largest affordable housing development in Cambridge—the Rindge towers—and in the recent Alewife Quad rezoning; now therefore be it
ORDERED: That, building on POR 2024 #110, the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with the MBTA to prioritize addressing housing affordability in the redevelopment of the Alewife garage.