Craig Kelley

Craig A. Kelley has made transportation innovation, affordable housing, climate change, and education his top priority issues for his Cambridge City Council re-election campaign.

Kelley is currently serving his seventh term as a city councilor and is the chair of the Council’s Public Safety Committee and co-chair of the Council’s Ordinance Committee.

During his past term on the city council, he wrote and led the passage of new housing legislation that makes it easier for people to create auxiliary dwelling units in their homes. Kelley said that this provision will open up more moderately sized and priced housing options in Cambridge.

“Right now, we are sort of flooded with relatively expensive, relatively luxury places. And this would be a counter to that,” Kelley said.

Last year, Kelley also championed the passage of zoning legislation that legalizes and regulates short-term rentals like Airbnb.

Outside of his work on affordable housing, Kelley has pushed micromobility – modes of transportation provided by light vehicles like electric scooters – to the forefront of his campaign. Kelley and his wife have been car-free for more than a decade, and he believes that micromobility devices help to eliminate congestion and promote pedestrian and cyclist safety.

“We have to move away from this backwards looking and thinking about transportation that everyone is going to own a car, get in their car by themselves, and drive by themselves to wherever they're going. That's going to choke us,” Kelley said. “The city that figures this out is going to have a big jump on the rest of the world in how it arranges its public spaces.”

Kelley also said that – amidst the rise of a new digital age – he believes that technology can be utilized to improve interactions between the people of Cambridge and the city government. He said he hopes to update the way in which the government manages its communications and workflow, in order to more efficiently tackle major issues.

“The city that runs well and uses these new digital tools, I think, is a city that will also be better able to address these other challenges like climate change, housing affordability, transportation equity, [and] educational equity,” he said.

Another core element of Kelley’s platform involves planning for and preventing climate change. He said he hopes to accomplish this by investing in resiliency-based infrastructure projects, changing zoning practices for battery storage and building drainage, and promoting educational outreach, according to his campaign website.

When asked about the challenges that the city council faces, Kelley pointed out that much of it is institutional. He said that holding elections every two years inhibits collaboration and progress.

“It makes it very difficult for us to honestly, openly, transparently, talk about meaningful, challenging issues because we know that whatever happens, we're going to be competing against each other in a relatively short period of time,” he said.

Looking forward, Kelley said he recognizes that Cambridge has the potential to influence how cities around the world address the most pressing issues.

“If we can help figure out models of meeting the challenges from affordable housing, to effective transportation, to climate change resiliency, we can help other people get to that same place,” he said.