City Council Hopefuls Face Off

Candidates for Cambridge City Council blasted the records of incumbents at a forum held at the Cambridge Senior Center last night, citing failing schools, high and unreliable property taxes, and a rat infestation in one part of the city as evidence of the need for fresh blood.

Nine members, elected biennially, serve on the council. Eighteen candidates—including all nine incumbents—are running in this year’s race. If the incumbents are re-elected, Cambridge will have been represented by the same council since 2002.

“Somehow when I see the council I don’t feel represented,” Lawrence Adkins, the current president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, told the 72 assembled residents last night.

“Everyone has their peak and I think we’re sliding down the hill.”

Accusations that the council, which controls the city budget and appoints the city manager, had ceased to represent residents became particularly apparent in the portrayal of recent arguments with Harvard about local development.

Both Adkins and Councilor Marjorie Decker claimed credit for the outcome of lengthy negotiations with Harvard over the University’s development of a Riverside property into graduate student housing.

In exchange for developing the property, the University agreed in 2004 to construct 328 units of affordable housing and a public park. Construction is set to begin this year.

“I put my heart and soul into those negotiations,” said Vice Mayor Marjorie Decker, who has served on the council for six years.

But Adkins suggested that the agreement would not have occurred without neighborhood efforts.

“The representatives of Cambridge should do our work for us,” Adkins said, “We should have the opportunity to speak to them directly.”

The forum, televised on the local cable network, gave the candidates several minutes to introduce themselves and outline their vision for the next two years.

As usual in Cambridge politics, this year’s candidates are an eclectic mix of Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans.

“What does it mean when the mayor returns your call?” asked current Mayor Michael A. Sullivan, “It means you live in Cambridge and I’m your representative.”

Pointing to the dismal record of the nearby Fletcher-Maynard School, both incumbents and challengers bemoaned the city’s record on education.

“We’re not achieving for our children,” said Sullivan, “And at $20,000 a pop we should be.”

Craig Kelley, a former marine, said before the meeting that progress couldn’t be achieved with the council’s current “misspending.” He advocated altering the “staffing ratios,”—decreasing the administrative staff and redirecting money toward teachers and the classroom.

But a debate about how to deal with the rat problem in area IV—in which candidates debated the merits of trash cans provided by the city or education about trash disposal—proved to be the point when candidates showed the most internal discord.

Nonetheless, Steve Iskovitz, Cambridgeport resident and a councilor candidate in 2001 called this year’s race “a pretty bland election.”

“I think it’s shaping up to be pretty much politics as usual,” he said.

—Staff writer Natalie I. Sherman can be reached at nsherman@fas.harvard.edu.