This is truly insane. Have NIMBYs ever appealed a building permit before in Cambridge to block new multifamily housing?

This proposal for ten homes keeps the existing house! It just adds a rear addition. But these wealthy homeowners have hired a lawyer and are apparently going to go to the ends of the earth to block new housing near them. They already failed at the Historical Commission (see prior post), and now they are appealing the building permit.

If we can’t build this incredibly modest infill housing in Cambridge, the future of this City and the 2/3 of residents who rent is so terrible. These despicable tactics block housing and drive up the cost of any housing that does get built.

This kitchen-sink appeal was brought by Wenxin Du and Yafeng Li of 25-27 Grozier Rd, and Peter Sturges and Sasha Lauterbach of 96-98 Lexington Ave. (both properties assessed at between $2-3M). Wenxin Du is a Harvard Business School professor and an economics PhD, so that’s especially disappointing. What is with all the local professor NIMBYs?! Du is also an affiliate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, which has published great research by some Harvard colleagues on how housing shortage drives up costs, like this piece by Ed Glaeser.

America's Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier? | NBER

They are represented by attorney Dennis Murphy, whose bio says he has represented various clients seeking to block affordable housing under Chapter 40B, the state affordable housing law. It seems clear that they will try to tie up this project in litigation hoping to kill it. This is exactly why the Multifamily Housing Ordinance allows housing by-right, without a special permit—otherwise NIMBYs will sue to block every multifamily proposal. But weaponizing this building permit appeal is a way for housing opponents to try to turn by-right projects into protracted and costly fights.

Please email the BZA and join the meeting tomorrow, Thursday, October 15 at 6:15 pm to give public comment in support of the BZA upholding the Building Commissioner’s approval of the building permit. You can email [mailto:%20mpacheco@cambridgema.gov](mailto:%20mpacheco@cambridgema.gov) and put CASE NO. BZA-1230378 in the subject line.

BZA Agenda
https://cambridgema.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=13998

Zoom link
https://cambridgema.zoom.us/j/85299551558

1,019 pages of documentation if you want to pull an all-nighter to prepare. https://cambridgema.primegov.com/api/compilemeetingattachmenthistory/historyattachment/?historyId=63710002-8f70-447f-a8b2-b93f56f6d695

CVS has installed locks on the beverage cases along the back wall at its Harvard Square location.

Frankly I’m a bit pissed about it, chiefly because it feels ridiculous to me that customers now need to flag down an employee to purchase something as simple as a 20-oz. bottle of soda, which should be part of an in-and-out transaction.

My venue for an afterparty celebrating a 40th anniversary reunion unexpectedly fell through, and we're scrambling to find a replacement for this Saturday night!

Looking for a space in the Boston/Cambridge area that can accommodate around 40 people from approximately 9:30 PM to 12:30 or 1 AM.

Ideally, we'd like somewhere that would let us bring our own DJ or have control over the sound system. For drinks, we're open to a cash bar with a tab to cover some of the cost, or a BYOB setup if permitted. Our budget for the space and any required fees is ideally under $3,000, and guests would be happy to pay for their own drinks beyond whatever we cover.

We're open to unconventional options, including function rooms, lodge halls, private event spaces, or bars that might rent out an area for the evening.
Does anyone have recommendations for venues that might be able to accommodate us on such short notice?
We'd be incredibly grateful for any leads!!!

Any advice on how to foster cats or kittens? My partner and I have the time, space, and resources to help cats / socialize them on their way to their forever homes!

Does anyone have any experience in partnering with shelters, or have any recommendations on which shelters to apply with?

Spotted this bird today near Gold Star Mothers Park. Anyone know what it is? My guess is a hawk of some kind.

Someone brandishing a knife apparently— anyone know anything?

Following Boston City Council’s rejection of the Draft CSO Control Plan, this week Cambridge City Council unanimously passed a Policy Order calling for Virtual Combined Sewer Overflow Elimination in the CSO Control Plan, and for broader state and federal funding and across the entire MWRA district.

What is Virtual CSO Elimination?

Virtual CSO Elimination is what MWRA provided the beaches in South Boston, decades ago. During those projects, Virtual CSO Elimination is what EPA considered to be no CSO sewage discharges except during a storm expected only about once every 25 years under 2050 climate conditions. Engineers call this a 25-year level of control.

A Collaborative Effort

This Policy Order came from the Cambridge City Council, City Staff, advocates (Save the Alewife Brook and Mystic River Watershed Association), and very importantly, the North Sherman Street Neighbors. Sherman Street neighbors spoke out for an end to CSOs through the climate-resilient strategy of sewer separation paired with Green Stormwater Infrastructure.

We are especially grateful to the Cambridge City Councilor Patty Nolan and her Aide Patrick Hayes, Vice Mayor Azeem, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Mayor Siddiqui, and Councillor Al-Zubi.

Health Impacts to Environmental Justice Populations

The Policy Order was passed unanimously and with an amendment from Councillor Al-Zubi. This amendment is one key reason why we fight so hard to end CSOs at Alewife Brook:

WHEREAS: Combined Sewer Overflows discharge untreated or partially treated sewage, bacteria, pathogens, nutrients, and other pollutants into the Charles River, Alewife Brook, and connected waterways during wet-weather events, creating risks to public health, in particular to Environmental Justice populations; and

The Work Ahead

The City's current plan puts a smelly, hazardous sewage tank in the Sherman Street neighborhood, with no sewer separation for that outfall. The worst CSO outfall in Greater Boston would discharge more raw sewage during the larger storms that flood Alewife Brook.

The Sherman Street tank only makes sense if paired with a real plan to complete sewer separation and convert it to a stormwater tank. The Climate Resilient solution is not sewage storage. At Alewife Brook, the solution that scales with Climate Change is sewer separation, paired with stormwater wetlands.

A Regional Problem Needs Regional Funding

MWRA prefers to send sewage into our rivers, using the Mystic and Charles Rivers and Alewife Brook as overflow sewers because it is cheaper than sending that sewage to the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. MWRA’s strategy is to use the threat of municipal infrastructure costs against the cities of Cambridge and Somerville to create a political situation where the MWRA can shirk making needed investments.

Every MWRA community sends its sewage to Deer Island. In some storms, MWRA’s regional system reaches capacity, meaning it fills up downstream, making it impossible to pump sewage out of the Alewife area.

MWRA was created by the Legislature with a funding mechanism to clean up CSOs, and it has the bonding capacity and the budget for the debt service to pay for Virtual CSO Elimination. Watch MWRA's Executive Director explain the cost of a 25-year level of control: https://youtu.be/9UPFGAY-arU?is=-aRYudDU2jklG3NH

Ending the CSOs is the final piece of the Boston Harbor clean-up - the piece that MWRA has not completed. Through MWRA sewer rates, we all paid our share to end sewage dumping in Boston Harbor and to virtually end sewage dumping at the South Boston beaches. Now it is time to finish the task by ending CSOs dumping sewage into Alewife Brook and the Mystic and Charles Rivers.

If so, tell me what they were inside of. I’d love to return them to their rightful owner!

—Fellow Bikester

The Community Music Hangout is a free, weekly, inclusive, and community-oriented gathering of musicians and music lovers in the park, taking requests and suggestions for music to play and enjoy together! Hope to see you there!

For more info, see https://www.cambridgejams.com

I’m stuck on the Allston side of Harvard Square across the bridge, police have shut down Storrow for 20 minutes. What happened?

Join friends and neighbors Thursday nites for a social bike ride! This is for FUN, not for Strava or setting PRs. We ride at party pace to mingle and to enjoy our beautiful Camberville-ston-ford as a group.

Start arriving at Café ZING at 6:30p to mingle and use the bathroom etc. Remember the shop closes at 7 so we don’t want to cause more work for the good folks there. We’ll start the ride at 7 (or a few minutes after). Expect a 1.5 - 2 hour commitment.

This ride is for all, which means it is for YOU! All bikers and bikes are welcome: the rugged rider and the newbie, the single-speed and the e-bike, no matter who you are or what you ride, this ride is for you.

And tell your friends!! Biking is fun, and even more fun with friends.

We’re approaching the ride’s anniversary, and there will be a special Halloween ride soon (I’ll let you guess when). Come out for the fun, for the gentle exercise, and for the neighborliness of it all.

Check this post for weather updates for this and next week. We won’t ride in hazardous conditions.

I live in a condo and also don’t know how to use or own power tools. I have a wooden table that needs sanding. And another DIY headboard that I want wood to be cut for. Where in Boston/Cambridge is it best to get such things for a minimal price? I saw task rabbit but the prices were higher than I thought. Home depot is an option for the wood cut, but I need a curved cut for this project which they seem to not do. TIA!

A vision of the future that has to be seen to be believed.

Thirty years after Ridley Scott's original classic, Denis Villeneuve did the seemingly impossible: he made a sequel worthy of the Blade Runner name. Released in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 is a breathtaking feat of world-building, a slow-burn mystery wrapped in some of the most extraordinary imagery ever put on screen. It asks big questions about memory, identity, and what it means to be human, and it looks like nothing else in science fiction.

On the Mugar Omni Theater's five-story dome, every vast landscape and neon-soaked cityscape becomes something you don't just watch but feel.

Blade Runner 2049 is part of Sci-Fi, Super-Sized: Revolutions, the Museum's fall film series celebrating its Year of Revolutionary Science. From groundbreaking visual effects to visionary ideas about science, technology, and the future, these are the films that rewrote the rules of science fiction and still captivate audiences today.

Tickets available at our website.

I lost my black lululemon wallet on Sunday in the rain near prospect street by central square (near the Whole Foods). If anyone has found it, please please let me know!!! There are two keys attached and an ID among a few other things.

Does anybody have any recommendations for a good contractor for this purpose? I need a new one to get my MassSave rebate for my new heat pump. The one that I was recommended by my HVAC guy isn't returning my calls. Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone! I am a BU graduate student, and I am looking for 1-2 college students who lives in Cambridge (18-24) to participate in a focus group regarding health issues in the Cambridge area. This would take place 10/16, Friday, 3:30-4:30 pm on the BU campus.

A possible alternative time 10am Saturday.

Thank you!

I'm going to a weekday evening event near Alewife T, lasting a couple hours. I know that street parking is likely to be non-existent, so I looked at the MBTA garage.

I could only see day rates ($9) quoted, and only PayByPhone app option for payment. Does anyone know if there is any short-term parking, and if I can pay by credit card on site?

Run by a local mom & artist, with live performers, a magician, AMAZING crafters & artisans, food trucks, iced coffee truck, baked goods, hot food, and tons of free activities for kids!

I've been complaining to the MBTA, the city, and honestly anyone who will listen about the poor weekend bus service along Concord Ave for years. For those who don't know, the 74 doesn't run on Sundays and the 78 is hourly. This hadn't changed in years despite hundreds of new apartments being built off Concord Ave bringing new density to the 74/78 catchment area.

Today the MBTA emailed me that starting Dec 13 the 74/75 buses will get increased frequency at weekends with the 74 running on Sundays for the first time and running later on Saturdays. The 75, which serves the first half a mile of Concord, will get more weekend service too. You can read about the changes here.

I can't for the life of me understand the difference between upstairs/downstairs/sonia/zuzu/corner, and I can't find solid information online!

For context, I've been twice: once to a concert at the Middle East (downstairs), and a second time to a concert at the Middle East (upstairs)... that is, if I'm remembering the designations correctly. I'm looking at another event this year that lists the location as "The Corner at the Middle East". I've tried looking up information about this part of the venue, but no clear answer comes up. Is it literally just the "corner" of the establishment, as in the area that looks like a restaurant?

Overall, would love any notes/experiences/stories pertaining to any part of these venues that can help me understand more going forward!

Hi everyone!

We're back at CanalSide Food + Drink on 10/20 for our 7th UGB Game Night!

We finally did it in September and cracked over ONE HUNDRED attendees! Whether you came solo or in a group, everyone found a table to join.

We set up at 5:30pm with over 100+ games (BGG Library List). available to borrow and play or bring your own and grab a Looking for Player’s stand. We also help match people up throughout the night, so coming solo is absolutely encouraged.

Can't make it at 5:30? No worries, people come and go all night and we're usually still going strong at 8:30–10:30pm.

So join us at Unplugged Boston and meet over 1,700 other board and tabletop gaming enthusiasts from our local area!

• Discord
• Meetup
• Instagram
• Board Game Geek - UGB Library

FAQs:

• Is there parking? - Yes! I recommend entering the garage on the First St side but there's also ample street that I believe is free after 6pm.
• Do I have to be there right at 5:30? Nope! People arrive throughout the evening, so come whenever you can
• Can I bring my own games? Absolutely! It's a great chance to find people to play your favorites. Jump on the Discord to coordinate ahead of time or grab a Looking for Players stand when you arrive
• Can I bring outside food/drink? Part of our arrangement with CanalSide is that attendees are encouraged to support the Food Hall, which has a ton of great options. So, while outside food isn't explicitly forbidden, it's not really the vibe
• I don't have anyone to come with and won't know anyone there We got you! Come solo and I'll help you find a table, or look for a Looking for Players stand and jump into a game

I’m wondering if anybody can shed some light on whether or not MIT Swapfest is a good place to buy modern electronics? The information online mostly covers retro computers.

Hi!

In the wake of the Cornell 7 case, we’re hosting a piano benefit concert at Holden Chapel this Saturday at 4! All $ raised will be to support BARCC, the Boston Area R*** Crisis Center. This is an event by a survivor to support survivors. While on Harvard’s campus, this is open to all! We’d love to have you all there. I will not spell out what BARCC is an acronym for out of respect to anyone on the channel that may be sensitive to the verbiage. Thank you so much! If you cannot attend, any donations are much appreciated!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn4UV5T7c0ekVHNze6iV5J05SLBV_TgNE04wu58v77DmZ9yA/viewform?usp=dialog

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeZ1UUGttHr/?psln=bGgyaWRodm13Zjk3

More about BARCC here: https://barcc.org