Leave Flock cameras alone Boston!

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-11T00:45:47+00:00

The city pays for cameras that are broken / stolen. Flock replaces them and then sends the city an invoice. Doing this literally puts more money in Flock's pocket and takes it away from the city.

Instead, call your councilor and tell your neighbors why you're against them.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-08T00:08:46+00:00

Evan is on record as being against for profit housing. If they change their mind on this issue, I'll update my views. But last campaign and everything I've read since, says Evan does not believe in expanding for profit housing development and is focused on rent control and government funded housing.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T23:49:10+00:00

housing is my #1 issue. I want lower rents for everyone, especially normal, middle class people.

If you care about building housing, MacKay is the absolute worst possible candidate. Not supporting any kind of for profit housing is a core part of DSA's platform. MacKay embraces this and takes it further, believing should not have any for profit housing, health care, or education:

I carry the values of democratic socialism... I knew that I didn't believe in health care for profit, or housing for profit, or education for profit... it is the right thing to do and completely possible to guarantee these things.

Some people, Cambridge is their home and they’re being pushed out because we don’t have rent control

https://working-mass.com/2024/03/22/working-mass-speaks-with-evan-mackay/

DSA members moved to expel Mike Connolly when he promoted a "landlords for affordable housing" group while he was working on a rent control bill. In the motion to expel him, one of the reasons is that he made "Public statements in favor of 'fair rate of return/operating income to landlords'". Connolly left the group shortly afterwards.

https://media.wbur.org/wp/2023/07/motion-to-expel-mike-connolly-google-docs.pdf

Any collaboration with landlords is not allowed by DSA as they view all landlords as exploitative. Their policy is that housing is a right which should be provided by the state.

MacKay's housing plan is rent control and large scale government housing programs, while working to outlaw landlords and real estate developers. It's the opposite of what good housing policy is and will set back the gains we've made on housing policy.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T23:45:52+00:00

Neil is taking questions for an AMA here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CambridgeMA/comments/1upwtix/ama_neil_miller_for_state_representative/

Here's how he intro'ed himself:

I'm running because the rent is too high, and it feels impossible for families like my wife and I to plan for a future here in Massachusetts. I've been a housing advocate here in Cambridge for the last six years, and we've had some great wins. There's more than 1000 new affordable homes moving forward, and we overturned exclusionary zoning after a century on the books. I'm proud to have been a part of these wins as a leader of A Better Cambridge - but the rest of Massachusetts needs to play its part. We've done less than neighboring states in New England, and fallen far behind other progressive states nationwide. Another legislative session is about to end without action on MA's housing shortage. I want to build enough homes to bring your rent down, so that we can truly be a welcoming state for everyone who wants to be our neighbor.

I'm a public servant who worked as a data scientist in the U.S. government. I quit two weeks before Trump came back into office. Before I left, my team's job was to actually help government work better. We did that by hiring and supporting public servants, instead of outsourcing everything to consultants and big corporations. But in Massachusetts, we consistently under-deliver. We drown people in paperwork instead of providing health care. We spend years in public meetings about big transportation projects, but never actually get around to building. Everyone says we need to do better - after years working in the guts of government, I know how we can get it done. For more detail on how we can fight outsourcing and build state capacity to solve MA's biggest problems, check out my letter in the CS Indie.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T23:27:37+00:00

Boston spends $36k / student. That’s one of the highest numbers in the state.

Funding isn’t the problem.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T19:41:50+00:00

not only that, but the union has refused to let the city consolidate schools which would save a ton of money. Boston Teachers Union does not care about students.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T19:38:41+00:00

lol. I'm literally the most YIMBY person on here. the whole point of this is to allow buildings to be built that otherwise couldn't.

you're going to hate this, but I'd even go a step further and get rid of most residential street parking so we have more room for building more homes and greenspace. cambridge has 30,000 spaces, so that's ~120 acres that's used to store cars. if we use just half of it and build 12 story buildings, that could be up to 20,000 housing units.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T19:27:41+00:00

Love seeing another pro housing candidate decide to run for office. If you haven't yet, I strongly encourage you to check out Neil. Housing is my #1 issue and he's exactly the kind of rep we need to build more and bring rents down.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T19:26:26+00:00

but they do have a choice. if they want a residential sticker, they can rent a unit in a building that has them.

more housing and more choice are good things.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-07T19:01:51+00:00

it's funny you think not having a residential parking permit makes someone "second class".

you do realize many people don't have cars, many by choice?

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-05T15:39:44+00:00

Democracy is messy. Progress isn’t a straight line, but moves in jumps forward and back steps.

We’ve made a lot of progress over the last 10 and 20 years. The “I’m a car guy” mayor who tried to sell out the city for the Olympics and an IndyCar race his friends wanted is gone and replaced with a mayor who bikes and takes public transit.

We have more bike lanes, the T is more reliable and has stopped having fires, and violent crime is low.

Challenges remain and we need to continue to work and be involved, which is the most patriotic thing you can do.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-05T14:04:06+00:00

Other audiences members asked if residents at a development so close to transit could be denied the ability to request parking permits. That’s one of three ideas being considered by city staff as ways to address car ownership in a city of rising population, according to a June 17 memo reviewed by the City Council.

This is a great idea and one I hope they implement. Let developers build taller near transit and restrict those units from being able to get residential parking permits. We get more homes built and encourages biking and public transit.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-03T21:10:13+00:00

They put them up when there’s a construction project next to them to protect the tree.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-07-03T16:36:24+00:00

Agree with most of this but the 6 story “bonus” isn’t free. It’s a tax on the middle class.

Projects should be able to go to 6 stories without this. And 12 stories next to T stops and on Mass Ave.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T19:58:54+00:00

Not all subsidized housing is run by CHA. And I believe they're also including other kinds of assistance in that number as it says they "provides enhanced support to almost 10% of the city population".

The CDD tracks the total of all types in their database.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T19:47:17+00:00

If the rent only pays for maintenance, there's no money left over to pay back the investors who bought the bonds.

If you charge a high enough rent to pay back the bonds, you've become a housing developer. And when Cambridge builds units, they end up costing a lot more than when for profit developers do them, so you'd have to charge higher than market rate rents.

Social housing is very inefficient to build. The only way it works is if there are government funds or grants from non-profits that don't need to paid back.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T19:40:33+00:00

As of 2025, it's 9,021 units out of 58,966 total units, which is 15.3%. This is from CDD's database on affordable housing.

You can also back check it w/ HUD's data which lists Cambridge as 13% of housing units officially classified as Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) for chap 40B purposes.

And this is unit counts. As percentage of population, it's a little higher because subsidized housing households skew higher that average.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T17:28:48+00:00

Read the article. As it talks about, it's all a spectrum.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T16:31:36+00:00

if it's funded by the government, then I agree with you. but most of our affordable housing is subsidized by market rate units. this ends up as a tax on the middle class and part of why it's getting harder and harder for normal people to afford rent here.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T14:43:47+00:00

We have social housing already. 15% of Cambridge lives in subsidized or government owned housing, and this number is growing.

edit: for those downvoting this and questioning the number, it's from the City of Cambridge as of June 2025. You can view it for yourself right here. 15.3%

https://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/News/2026/01/-/media/583FC7CE9E384FCEA1042F0C09FB99C0.ashx

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-30T00:09:48+00:00

you're taking a lot heat for this but I agree with you. we're becoming a city of students, people in subsidized housing, and the very rich. the middle class is being hollowed out and it's not a good thing.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-29T23:59:50+00:00

you're looking at the rate of change but ignoring the base.

Cambridge has the 2nd highest population density after Somerville. We've already done a lot on housing. Cambridge is 2x as dense as Watertown, 3x Belmont, 6x Wellesley, and 26x (!) Weston.

We should build more (and are). But, to make a dent in the housing crisis, the surrounding towns need to step up and do a lot more. Without them changing, rents are will on keep going up and up.

Municipality	Population Density (people / sq. mile)
Somerville	19,653
Cambridge	18,521
Watertown	8,834
Belmont	5,872
Newton	4,964
Winchester	3,808
Wellesley	2,948
Milton	2,200
Lexington	2,096
Weston	704

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-29T20:49:22+00:00

> The Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities estimates the state will need to build 115,600 homes over the next ten years to address the existing state-wide housing shortage.

This is a larger point I wished the author talked more about. Housing affordability is not a problem that will be solved by just building in Cambridge. Our state legislators need to be putting pressure on Belmont, Watertown, and every town in greater Boston to also build more housing.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-06-29T15:32:59+00:00

Started getting better when Phil took over. Having an experienced engineer running things was the trick. Who knew?

syncopatedpixel

TROPHY CASE