Candidates Questionnaire - Sam Seidel
1. Many residents feel that their
property taxes are too high, and that because of this
they cannot afford to buy a house or rent an apartment to stay in Cambridge. How can we make sure that property taxes keep the
city affordable while providing the city with the tax base it needs?
Housing prices continue to increase
while more and more people of all incomes find it harder and harder to live
here. The average cost of a single-family home in Cambridge last year was $847,000. I believe the city
should take a short-term and a long-term approach to the housing crisis. In the
short-term, the city should focus its efforts is in increasing programs like downpayment assistance for qualified buyers. Cambridge already receives over $100,000 in federal
money annually for downpayment assistance through the
ADDI program. The city ought to match that amount, either through direct budget
outlays, or through tapping into the affordable housing portion of the city’s
Community Preservation Act money. This investment, in coordination with an
aggressive policy of protecting “expiring use” properties, begins to address
the immediate needs in the housing market.
At the same time, Cambridge should engage the other major housing
“partners” in the city – the major employers, the universities, and the
non-profits – in an in-depth discussion about the needs that all these entities
face with regard to housing.
The personal property tax burden in Cambridge has become yet another aspect of an
“unaffordable Cambridge” for many homeowners. The decision on the
part of the city to reassess multifamily homes in such a way that doubled tax
bills is wrong-headed and must be re-examined. Many of the units that now are
being assessed at much higher values (and therefore carrying a much higher tax
bill) are rental units that comprise the “affordable market” in the city. The
city is running down the wrong road, having created an incentive for owners of
multi-families to convert to condominiums, instead of encouraging them to hold
these units as rental opportunities.
The tax structure in the city needs
to become more progressive, meaning that people who are trying to hold
properties as “affordable” by keeping rents low should not be penalized on
their tax bill.
We must find ways to reverse this –
whether we use tax credits tied to the rental units or some other mechanism –
the current situation is untenable.
2. How can we make public transportation
better in Cambridge and what can the City Council do to encourage
residents to use public transportation?
Public transit is a key component to
building a “green Cambridge”. A strong public transit system, one that
recognizes both bus and rail as connectors of people and places, reinforces
many important themes of dynamic healthy communities: getting people out of
their cars, lowering overall fuel emissions, improving air quality, and many
others.
There are a variety of approaches
that make sense when thinking about public transit. First, we should examine
the “nodal” approach. That means that every T stop (rail) is viewed as a
transit node, a place of heightened activity where shopping, recreating and living
all take place in walkable environments. It implies
that we increase the intensity of uses at these nodes. I support this concept,
and I think Porter
Square
is a very good example of it. The existence of the T has continued to increase
activity around the T over time. It’s a good approach, and it will happen through the zoning code.
In conjunction with this, we ought
to examine parking requirements for new developments within a 1/4 of a mile of
a T stop. If we want to encourage people to use the T, then we ought to look
for ways to discourage people from using their cars. We can seriously consider
limiting parking permits on any newly permitted development as the way to do
this.
We also should make full use of the
monies available in the recent transportation bill for bike trail improvements.
Bicycles, while not “public”, are nevertheless one of the healthiest ways to
get around town, whether traveling to work or to the store. Having accessible,
well-constructed bike trails that connect up nodes of activity will be a step in the right direction.
3. What can the city do to make sure that
future negotiations with the city's unions are fair to workers?
Whether the issue is overtime hours,
health benefits, or pay, unions help make sure that working men and women are
able to meet their needs in good jobs that have good wages. The city needs to
partner with unions to achieve the goals we all hold important. First, the city
should understand and recognize union efforts to organize workers, and the city
council should not be hostile to these efforts. Secondly, the city needs to
recognize that working men and women face the same cost pressures that every
other family faces, and cost of living adjustments should be strong part of any
agreement.
I support the living wage law that
governs Cambridge employment. I believe it has been helpful
across the board, and sets a standard for other communities to follow when it
comes to employment.
In addition, I will look closely at the process of hiring,
making sure that employees are not “left off the books” – hired as
subcontractors when they rightfully ought to be protected under all the
provisions that full employees receive. We should not outsource our costs in Cambridge.
We also need to make sure that the
city is meeting all its pension obligations to its employees. If commit
yourself to working for the city, then you should feel confident that the city will be there for you in your retirement years.
Unions can show us many good things
about good jobs with good pay, and as a City Councilor, I look forward to
advocating for the issues, and to learning from my colleagues about all they
care about, and all they’ve accomplished.
4. Cambridge is one of the centers of high-tech innovation in the
country. What can the City Council do to encourage innovation and take
advantage of new technology while keeping the city affordable for its
residents?
Cambridge should always be a leader in the high-tech
field. I believe the City Council needs to engage the technology sector in Cambridge, as well as the universities, to understand
their goals for the future. From this, we must forge a strategic vision for Cambridge.
The city should encourage MIT in
particular to continue to house its early spin-off work here in Cambridge. We must encourage young entrepreneurs that Cambridge is a good place to do business, with good
services and strong infrastructure. We do this in part by maintaining Cambridge’s “cache” as a community where knowledge is
valued and recognized. That will
come through effective management of the city’s operations. We must insist on a
well-run government.
We also should make forward-looking
investments, like creating a system of wireless internet access for the city.
Such systems increase the likelihood that energetic, insightful idea-creators will identify Cambridge as a place where new ideas can be developed
and can grow.
Start-up companies can be fostered
through the use of tax credits, but we need to be careful how we set up such a
system. A strong commercial sector can relieve the tax pressure on the
residential sector, as was the case in the 1990s, when commercial tax revenues
held the lion’s share of the burden in paying for city services. But if
commercial taxes are deferred too long, then the residential sector will again shoulder the burden.
A strong commercial sector will have implications for the housing market –
there is no doubt about that. Like our strategic discussion on the economic
future of the city, I will work to initiate a conversation between the
city and the major housing “partners”, including the universities and the large
employers in the city, to determine what the long-term needs are for housing.
The city should not be expected to shoulder the burden of creating housing
options alone. Fostering economic growth is important to Cambridge’s competitive advantage. The consequences of
that should be shared by everybody.
5. What will you do to take advantage of the unique educational
resources provided by the Cambridge's universities while preventing university
development that threatens working families?
The universities must be part of a
comprehensive collaboration for our schools. We must commit itself to making Cambridge schools the very best they can be, and the
universities can play a big role. It can begin with teacher training for
current teachers in Cambridge schools. It can extend to math and science
education in the classrooms and in the labs. And it should continue through
innovative internships for high school students in university settings that teach
responsibility as well as specific learning skills in individual subject areas.
I will work to make sure that Cambridge remains a place that utilizes all the
creativity generated from our universities. Whether in the arts, architecture,
business, sports, music, technology, our universities are one of our greatest
resources. The students that flood into this city every fall give energy and
vibrancy to this city that cannot be compared. They bring their many talents
and enthusiasm, their commitment and their curiosity, and we as a community
must be welcoming to all they bring to table. They augment our commerce, our
politics, our culture and our communities, and we must acknowledge them as
positive contributors to our community.
The universities are also major
players in the housing market in Cambridge, and any comprehensive approach to housing
in the city will have to engage the universities as important
and vested interests in decisions made. When Harvard builds housing, it is a
double-edged sword for the community. On the one hand, there are local impacts
that affect neighborhoods. Land is taken off the tax rolls for the city. At the
same time, universities are providing housing for faculty and staff who otherwise would be competing on the open market for
housing, freeing up other units for other affordable options for non-university
residents. I will work to ensure that the city takes a
comprehensive approach to its housing needs and opportunities.
6. What can City Council do to ensure
that future development is not environmentally harmful?
Green design must be a key factor in
any new development. Whether we’re talking about energy efficiency, use of
alternative forms of energy, or stormwater
management, new buildings in Cambridge must set the pace. Many of the large-scale
commercial development are already seeking LEED certification on projects, and
Harvard has committed itself to a Green Campus Initiative which incorporates
much of this. This includes their redevelopment of the Blackstone Powerplant on Memorial Drive, which will be transformed from an early 20th
century building into a building befitting of the 21st century and
beyond. The city must make equal commitments, including seeking LEED
certification on all new city-owned property as well as all refurbishing of
existing properties. The City Hall Annex is a good example of a project done
correctly. Furthermore, we must continue on the path of sewer separation
throughout the city, so that our greatest natural resource, the Charles River, can be returned to a condition where it is
possible to fish and swim on any day of the year. Cambridge has made good progress here, but it must
continue.
Furthermore, I believe the city
ought to encourage innovative methods of stormwater
management, like the constructed wetlands at Alewife that seek to use natural
processes to treat stormwater runoff, rather than
allowing simply to happen underground in concrete pipes. I also support the
community groups who have fought so hard to include the restoration of parts of
the Alewife reservation through a coordinated effort involving the city, the
DCR, and the developer on the old Arthur D. Little site in north Cambridge. These are exciting, proactive efforts to
make Cambridge a green city. I supported them in the past,
and I will continue to support and encourage them as we
go forward.
Respondent: Sam Seidel
Address: 48
Maple Avenue, Cambridge MA 02139
Phone: 617-547-1067
E-mail: info@samseidel.org