If you are in favor of a particular cause, be very much afraid if the Cambridge Machine says they are going to help you.
The record is too extremely bad.
The Cambridge Machine has announced the creation of a new “protective” group. It has a generic name, but the membership is focused on Central Square and Kendall Square.
Their blog has the usual lovely goals including, however, the following:
“We need continuing comprehensive urban planning efforts to improve the quality of life and work for Cambridge residents.”
“Comprehensive urban planning efforts” translates into the usual fine print.
Delegate more and more power to the Cambridge City Manager’s appointees.
Delegate more and more power to the back rooms.
The Cambridge Machine cannot understand why the decisions of the Appeals Court, the Superior Court Judge, and the Superior Court jury in Monteiro v. Cambridge should be implemented.
The decisions clearly provide grounds to fire the Cambridge City Manager without golden parachute and without legal danger to the City of Cambridge. The only thing borderline is whether he can be fired without pension.
The Cambridge City Manager fired a department head, destroyed her life, because she filed a civil rights complaint.
After getting an excellent opinion from the Trial Judge, the City Manager and City Council fought that case beyond reason.
The Trial Judge said “reprehensible.” The Trial Jury awarded $3.5 million penal damages on top of $1.1 million real damages, a multiple so major it communicated very real disgust.
The Appeals Court panel responded to the appeal by refusing to grant it a formal opinion. The Appeals Court panel communicated its disgust: “ample evidence [of] outrageous misbehavior”.
The Cambridge City Council has responded by, at no time, suggesting that the Cambridge City Manager be fired.
The strongest response attempted got four votes out of nine asking him to apologize.
What is likely to happen to any city manager appointee who seriously stands up to the Cambridge City Manager?
What is any “comprehensive planning effort” appointed by the Cambridge City Manager likely to amount to?
I can show you too many zoning initiatives written by the Cambridge City Manager and his friends with great words and secret fine print making the great words nonsense, with a lot of Cambridge Machine support.
And The Machine claims to be defending the world and proposes delegating to the Cambridge City Manager?
The usual con game.
