3 min read February 2023 — City of Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui sat down for an interview with Invest: to talk about the city’s commitment to affordable housing, the construction of bike lanes and expansion of the Green Line to increase connectivity with Boston and Somerville, and lastly, the city’s greater focus on renewable energies and sustainable infrastructure.
What were some of the highlights for the city of Cambridge over the past year?
One of the city’s priorities is affordable housing. We recently adopted an amendment to our incentive zoning ordinance, which will increase funds for new, large, nonresidential developments from $21.02 to $33.34 per square foot of gross floor area. This housing contribution goes directly to the Affordable Housing Trust to mitigate the impact of these developments on the need for affordable housing in the city. Additionally, we are the first city in Massachusetts to invest in a local solar project using contributions from our electricity aggregation program as we are always looking for new ways to add renewable energy to our Cambridge Community Electricity Program (CCE). CCE is a city-run program that provides businesses and residents with an alternative to our basic electricity supply. Since we launched in 2017, participants have saved over $30 million while contributing to our local solar project, which was a 540-panel installation that was added to one of our schools. It was paid for and is collectively owned by the participants of the program. Finally, the city’s cycling ordinance requires that the city install 25 miles of separated bike lanes by 2026. Since 2020, eight miles have been built, which is important to establish connectivity to Boston and Somerville. We are proud of Cambridge’s commitment to separated bike lanes.
We also celebrated the opening of our new creative center, called The Foundry, which is a 50,000-square-foot space, located in Kendall Square, providing space and programs for the visual and performing arts, entrepreneurship, technology, and workforce education.
What are some of the industries that have grown over the last few years?
Biotech, software development and life sciences-related fields are top of the list as more than 20% of adults are working within these areas. This is why Kendall Square has become a hub for life sciences and biotech. We have seen employment numbers in scientific research and development grow by nearly 80% over the decade and this accounts for one-fifth of the jobs citywide. Furthermore, three of the nation’s Top 20 venture capital-funded firms are located in Cambridge. While these achievements are important, they do lead to a rapid rise in home values, and Cambridge becoming an expensive city to live in.
What are some of the challenges regarding traffic and congestion?
The challenge with bike lane infrastructure is that you are taking space away from parking; however, people do support it and it’s our responsibility to make sure our residents are heard and supported regarding some of the traffic mitigation challenges that have arisen based on constructing these bike lanes. Additionally, it is worth keeping in mind that we are one of the most walkable cities in the country and we are densely populated, which is why we want to prioritize micro-mobility. After all, with density, issues related to transportation also arise, so one of the purposes of the bike network is to decrease the reliance on cars. Therefore, having six subway stations, commuter rail spots, and 29 bus routes is important to us.
What is your outlook for the city of Cambridge over the coming few years?
There are a lot of opportunities and challenges, especially in responding to climate change. We are in a unique position to try things. It is so easy to say, “here is why you cannot do this,” so I think we need to get more in the frame of mind of starting from “yes.” We are building a new school and seeking to upgrade our other school buildings as there is a lot of desire for that. Furthermore, at the city government level, we have a huge focus on equity and antiracism initiatives. We have work to do around recruitment, hiring and retention as well. Also, as someone who grew up in an affordable housing space, for me, it is crucial to look at how to create more opportunities for residents to live here and for that we will need to be creative to address the current housing market that is extremely stratified.
Finally, we are doing more on electrical vehicles and the Green Line Extension, which was again important to establish and strengthen the regional connectivity between Cambridge, Boston and Somerville. We need climate-friendly infrastructure while ensuring that people can get to work, their homes and wherever they want to go in a manner that does not require cars because our residents are demanding a shift to renewable and sustainable systems.
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