Cambridge Council Moves To Restrict Public Comment

Cambridge City Council meetings, notorious for endless hours of public comment and community participation, may soon see a new format.

A task force, led by Councillor Sheila T. Russell, has proposed changes including replacing public comment at the beginnings with limited comment throughout, moving more agenda items to separate hearings and rerouting concerns to a computerized system.

Councillor Katherine Triantafillou said the task force's proposals are meant to make meetings run more smoothly and effectively.

"All of this is intended to use our time more efficiently in terms of focusing on policy matters," she said.

The task force's recommendations will be voted on next Monday, but already the council has adopted one measure, the creation of once-a-month roundtable discussions.

Today's meeting regarding growth management in the city will be the first meeting held in the roundtable format.

"It's major that we're doing this," Triantafillou said. "To be able to have one meeting a month to be able to devote to policy...will bode well to the council and the community."

Triantafillou said she hopes meetings will no longer be slowed by issues such as traffic signs, which will now be directed to the computerized system.

Russell described the computer system as more efficient.

"You can do something in 48 hours instead of 10 days," she said. "It sounds good, but it doesn't get your name in the paper. It also gives the political side of it an airing and cuts down time at the council meeting and paperwork."

But the proposed change involving the format for public comment remains controversial.

Rather than beginning the meetings with up to 10-minute speeches from community members, the task force has proposed beginning meetings with the city manager's agenda and allowing speakers multiple chances to comment in two-minute intervals later in the meeting.

Bill Marcotte, a staff member who serves as a housing organizer for the Eviction Free Zone, expressed disappointment over the changes in public comment.

"In reality people have lives and jobs," Marcotte said. "To go to the meeting at 5:30 and not be able to speak until 6:30...is very disappointing."

If approved, the task force's changes will take effect for a six-month trial period, after which the task force will re-evaluate the format.

According to Triantafillou, the current format for public comment has only existed for three or four years.

Over the last few months, the task force developed the new proposals. But Triantafillou said very few members of the community came to the task force meetings, which were open door.

They're just "not a real sexy topic," Triantafillou explained.

Russell said she believes the changes are important.

"I'm going to hang tight in there and try to get it passed as is," she said.