Cambridge, MA, USA, City Council to devote special meeting to discussing the election.
1. Statement of context.
2. Clearly biased analysis of election.
3. Will the Cambridge City Council act in a manner which resembles the City Council it claims to be?
4. Three relevant photos.
1. Statement of context.
The Cambridge City Council, on Monday, November 29, 2021, will devote an entire meeting to discussing the just completed election. Such an action, to my recollection, is unprecedented.
Three recent blog posts are relevant. All but the third were blog transmittals of formal letters to the Cambridge City Council.
A. “Cambridge, MA, USA City Council Funds Major Environmental Destruction at the Magazine Beach Recreation Area on the Charles River,” October 16, 2021, at: https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/cambridge-ma-usa-city-council-funds.html.
B. “Cambridge, MA, USA City Council Proud of Environmental Destruction?,” October 21, 2021, at: https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/cambridge-ma-usa-city-council-proud-of.html.
C. “First Term Cambridge, MA, USA, City Councilor Fired by the Voters,” November 4, 2021 at: https://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2021/11/first-term-cambridge-ma-usa-city.html.
The Cambridge City Council has a distressing record of unanimous very terrible votes associated with unanimous votes yelling at the other guy. The latter unanimous votes are bragged about and tend to lie to the voters about records belied by the former unanimous votes which are kept as secret as possible.
2. Clearly biased analysis of election.
The Monday meeting is conducted under conditions that formal votes will not be taken and public comment will be prohibited.
The City Council had referenda passed greatly increasing its powers. I hope that it will take appropriate actions to undo the most terrible “achievements” of the term coming to a close.
The voters have spoken in a manner which last occurred about a decade ago.
About a decade ago, the judicial system provided written actions with explanations that put the Cambridge City Council in a position to fire the then City Manager Robert Healy for malfeasance in office, WITHOUT FEAR OF RETALIATION IN COURT because the opinions gave them just cause.
Instead, Healy was allowed to finish his term in honor and the City Council named the Police Station after him. The court action came in response to Healy taking action against the Administrator who headed the Cambridge equivalent of a police review board. The trial court decisions and memorandum called the actions “reprehensible.” The appeals court panel responded to Cambridge’s appeal with an opinion which the panel explicitly refused to call an opinion because, AS IT STATED, it did not want to dignify the appeal by calling its opinion an opinion.
The formal name of the court case is Monteiro v. Cambridge. The respective court decisions may be read at:
A. Trial Court opinion: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/judge-issues-decision-denying.html.
B. Appeals Court Panel non opinion opinion: http://charlesriverwhitegeeseblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/appeals-court-decision-in-monteiro.html.
Then, as now, I roundly condemned the City Council outrages. Then, as of now, they ignored my condemnation, but as stated in item 2.B. this time publicly communicated their “lack” of action.
After the Monteiro outrage, as in this election, the electorate fired one member of the city council who most embodied the outrage. That time, in the second following election, another city councilor was fired in an action which may or may not have followed on the initial firing.
Under the distinctive at large system of voting in Cambridge, the actions taken by the voters then and now are about as extreme as would be considered possible.
My first communication, 1.A. above, ADDRESSED IN THE HARD COPY MILIEU to the Cambridge City Council, concluded by calling for the voters to stack their ballots in this year’s election in a manner which would result in what just happened.
3. Will the Cambridge City Council act in a manner which resembles the City Council it claims to be?
4. Three relevant photos.
