Wolf Plans New Approach To Residency Requirement For Cambridge Employees

Cynthia C. Abatt works for the City of Cambridge in the department of Human Service Programs--but she commutes to work every day from her South Shore home.

If some city councillors have their way, commuters like Abatt will be fewer, and more city jobs will be filled by residents of Cambridge.

Councillor Sheila T. Russell originally proposed a measure to require all city employees to live in Cambridge. Those newly hired people who live outside the city limits would have one year to move into Cambridge.

The council voted against this proposal, 5-4, on September 27. But the movement for a residency requirement isn't over. The city's ordinance committee plans to take up the matter again early next month, continuing a debate that strikes home for many present and potential city employees.

The original proposal failed because of concerns about how it would effect lower income employees and fears that it would decrease the pool of applicants for the city's top-paying jobs.

Councillor Alice K. Wolf, who heads the ordinance committee, says she plans to propose a new measure that would incorporate an "affirmative action kind of principle."

She says she hopes to create a plan that encourages the hiring of Cambridge residents for city positions, while not directly excluding residents from other areas.

Issues of economic conditions and family conflicts, "will not be factors...we will try to take an affirmative action approach. Residency will not be a requirement, just a goal," Wolf says.

Wolf's plans for a compromise may ultimately help ease the tension between the desirability of hiring Cambridge residents and the high cost of living in the city.

As a city employee, Abatt says she understands the city's motivation to hire its own residents. But she says living in Cambridge would be difficult for some city employees.

"It is not affordable to rent or purchase houses in Cambridge," Abatt said.

Don A. York, a Cambridge resident who works in the city library system, says, "It would make sense to have the employees live in the city and have a familiarity for the area."

York acknowledged that the high cost of living in the area is a "drawback."

"It may be difficult for Cambridge to find people to take low paying jobs," York says.

Another concern raised by opponents of a residency requirement is that it would prevent the city from considering top candidates from outside Cambridge for important jobs.

But, according to Wolf, "It is possible to give good consideration to Cambridge residents without undermining ability to hire who is best for the job."