Hello hello. As a proud @SunriseBoston member and Cambridge resident, I'd like to share a little
on why I support this Cambridge zoning campaign and how I see it as one small piece of the puzzle that is the solution to the regional housing crisis (1/14) https://twitter.com/ABetterCambMA/status/1352235207739518977

First of all, I want to express how much I respect @mikeleyba and other anti-displacement organizers. Mike brings up a lot of good points & I absolutely agree that we need rent control and stronger tenant protections. (2/) https://twitter.com/mikeleyba/status/1352377909181378567
I also recognize that there is a lot of work to do for groups and individuals in Cambridge (and also @SunriseBoston!) to support Black and brown-led organizing, whether for housing or racial justice or other issues (3/)
I understand that this petition does not address affordability for people already living in Cambridge (and we do need other ordinances to do so!), but rather it opens up the potential for more people of all incomes to live in Cambridge, which is something I'd love to see. (4/)
Before we go deeper, a bit about me & where I'm coming from. My family of 5 moved to the US from Thailand when I was little. We didn't have much money to our names and ended up moving around a good amount as my parents tried to find better work. (5/)
And what types of places did my parents move us to? Small apartments in relatively wealthy cities so that my brothers & I could access the services that come with such a city, especially good schools (how we fund education is a topic for a different thread...). (6/)
These apartments were market-rate, and while they were always a bit too small and a bit too expensive, we would've never been able to live in these cities if not for the existence of apartments, as they were still significantly cheaper than renting single family homes. (7/)
I want Cambridge to expand its housing supply so that there are more units that families and young people can move to. Cambridge has good schools, transit access, job access, etc that should be available to more people. (8/)
Looking at how different neighborhoods are current zoned and built, this petition will mostly impact the wealthiest, least inclusive areas of Cambridge. We should def be building more apartments in these areas, to allow more people of all incomes to access good services. (9/)
Zooming out to the regional level, transportation is the biggest source of emissions in MA. I'm working to build a future with a liveable climate and reduce pollution locally, and how we build our cities is inherently tied to that. (10/)
More people are moving to the Boston area every day & congestion is getting worse. If more people can live in Cambridge rather than the suburbs, that means more people can walk/bike/ride transit rather than drive. (11/)
The way congestion and traffic flow works is that just taking a few cars off the road has a maximizing impact beyond those few cars. It improves travel times for people who *need* to drive, and less cars stalling in traffic = less emissions. (12/)
Yes, the biggest source of emissions in Cambridge is from buildings, and transpo is a smaller share. However, allowing more people to live in Cambridge greatly impacts regional emissions, including reducing emissions on highways that go through EJ communities. (13/)
Anyways, thanks for reading & I want to reiterate how this petition is only a small piece of the housing puzzle. I'd be down to continue convos with folks about this (maybe offline tho?), since I know I have lots to learn and unlearn about housing
(14/14)
