TheCambridge Record
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POR 2026-107

S&S Restaurant “Thank You” Celebration

How it started
May 18, 2026 · Proposed by Councillors Flaherty, Simmons, Al-Zubi, Azeem, McGovern, Nolan, Sobrinho-Wheeler, Zusy, and Siddiqui: a formal request from the Council to the administration. Introduced late, under Rule 36A: added after the agenda was published, so it reached the floor only on a suspension of the rules.
What happened
May 18, 2026 · ✅ Order adopted as amended (voice vote, 9 present)

Present and voting at this meeting (9)

  • Ayah Al-Zubi
  • Burhan Azeem
  • Tim Flaherty
  • Marc McGovern
  • Patty Nolan
  • Sumbul Siddiqui
  • E. Denise Simmons
  • Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
  • Cathie Zusy
Adopted by voice vote. A voice vote records the outcome, not individual positions. No member's yes or no is on the record (though a member can ask to be recorded in the negative in the minutes). Showing the members who cast recorded votes at this meeting. Rule 6 requires a roll call for spending over $50 or on any member's request; state law requires one for every vote when a member participates remotely. · photos: City of Cambridge · roster: PrimeGov roll calls, May 18, 2026
What’s next
No response on the docket: nothing has been filed back under this request's number. Answers sometimes arrive as other items; this ledger tracks only this one.
The document Agenda item attachment · 1 page

The legendary S&S deli, located in historic Inman Square, has been a neighborhood staple since 1919 and has recently announced that it will be closing its doors after 107 years in business; The S&S has always been a family business, and its current owner Gary Mitchell has worked there since he was 12-years old, learning that the iconic name of the deli evolved from his great grandmother’s Yiddish welcome to customers, saying “Es and es,” a maternal expression for eat and eat; The City of Cambridge wishes to appropriately honor and celebrate the multi- generational service the S&S has provided to thousands of local families, workers, students, and visitors, who have long appreciated its generous portions, welcoming community atmosphere, and comforting menu; now therefore be it ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to work with all relevant City departments to temporarily close Hampshire Street to through traffic, while maintaining full access for emergency vehicles, for a three-hour block on the afternoon of June 14, 2026, to allow for a proper outdoor celebration of the S&S and its remarkable legacy.

📊 From here the report is project tables and figures, which don’t survive text extraction faithfully. Read them in the original PDF.
🗓 The meeting where this was taken up: May 18, 2026