Good Grief.

Via the Chronicle: After fifth try, councilors fail to select Cambridge mayor

City Councilors agreed Monday night that voting for the next mayor of Cambridge can be "messy." And after completing the fourth and fifth round of voting, no one has been chosen to fill the seat just yet.

Councilor David Maher still leads the pack with four votes — one from himself and three more from Councilors Leland Cheung, Sam Seidel and Tim Toomey. Councilor Henrietta Davis inched closer to the top with three votes - one from herself, and two more Denise Simmons and Craig Kelley, who switched his vote from Ken Reeves. Reeves, whose seniority on the Council allows him to serve as interim mayor for the time being, earned a total of two votes.

Councilors will have a chance to vote again during their next meeting on Feb. 8.

For round-by-round recaps, go here, here and here. For another viewpoint, you can read former Council candidate Minka vanBeuzekom's advice to blow up the mayoral selection process in her open letter to the Chronicle.

Nominate Someone for the CNA Board!

The deadline for nominations to the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association Board of Directors is on Wednesday, February 10th, two weeks prior to the CNA annual meeting on the 24th. Please consider tossing your hat in the ring, or nominating a motivated neighbor!

Some of the initial, potential nominees include Leslie Greis, Cathie Zusy, Elizabeth Torrey, Drew Phelps and myself (Jeff Beam). Here are the rest of the details:

The CNA annual meeting and election for four expiring Board of Directors seats will be Feb. 24, 7 pm at usual meeting place at community room of Woodrow Wilson Court, on Fairmont St., off of Magazine St. Anyone interested in being on the Board must be nominated and seconded by Feb. 10 (14 days prior to Feb. 24). Nominations and seconds of nominations can be sent to billaugustUSA@aol.com

Also on the agenda for the annual meeting:

• A presentation on aging in Cambridge and senior citizen issues, by Elaine Thorne of Cambridge CDD
• Invited speakers regarding City planning pertaining to Charles River preservation and enhancements
• Cambridge Community TV will send a representative to discuss CCTV's community and neighborhood media services. Very important agenda item:
• Jeff Rosenblum on Western Ave reconstruction, which can mightily impact the whole look and feel of the neighborhood

Lastly, an appeal in the name of fun from Bill August: "Any ideas for fun Annual Meeting stuff, we could use it (music, food, awards--annual meetings are supposed to be fun)!"

Town-Gown Presentations on Tuesday

This year's Town-Gown presentations regarding Cambridge College, Harvard, MIT and Lesley University will be this Tuesday. We took a closer look at C-port neighbor MIT's report in this post, and the full report can be viewed there (or, as always, in the Neighborhood Resources link at the top right of the blog). The other reports can be viewed in the announcement below.

The details, per the city announcement:

The City of Cambridge Annual Town Gown Presentation to the Cambridge Planning Board will be held at the Cambridge Citywide Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Avenue on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 7:30pm. The meeting will also include an opportunity for public comment. The 2009 Town Gown Reports can be viewed on the Community Development Website. These reports describe current activities of the institutions, including data about student population, institutional housing and future development plans.

For more information about the Town Gown reports and presentations, please contact Clifford Cook at 617-349-4656 or ccook@cambridgema.gov.

C-port Scene: Cold Reception

After a week's respite from below-freezing temps, this morning the winter freeze returned in force. Some solace can be found in some of the beautiful sites around the neighborhood when winter strikes. Today's entry in the C-port Scene series comes from Flickr user Craig Stevens (used under Creative Commons), and captures the view from Memorial Drive across the river during a similar stretch of cold last winter. Bundle up for the below-zero wind chill out there.

Contribute your photos to the series! Upload them to Flickr and tag them "Cambridgeport," and be sure you've granted permission under Creative Commons.

Four Weeks of Anarchy

So the first time, it was an interesting insight into our fair city's quirky mayoral election process. A week later, we had to stifle a laugh. But seriously? We're going into February without a Mayor?

Per the Chronicle, "councilors stuck to the same votes they cast the last time around. Councilor David Maher lead the pack with four votes, followed by Ken Reeves with three votes and two for Henrietta Davis. A city councilor requires at least five votes from fellow councilors to become the mayor."

This may indicate one of two things:

1. We should not be generally encouraged that leadership will emerge from the current Council that will be able to wrangle votes on actual issues.
2. Between the City Manager and the Council, there is little reason to keep the Mayoral position around

Maybe if Marjorie Decker moves on to Gallucio's Senate seat they can break the stalemate?

Photo by Colleen Bryant, courtesy of City of Cambridge website

Climate Change at Central Square Library

From the folks at Cambridge-Somerville for Change:

Cambridge-Somerville for Change’s Energy and Climate Team and Green Decade Cambridge will host "Copenhagen and Beyond," a forum on Jan 26th, 7:00pm at Cambridge Central Square Library, 45 Pearl Street to discuss the recent U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen. Key speaker Cambridge City Councillor Henrietta Davis, one of the National League of Cities’ two official representatives, will highlight her experiences at the conference and discuss what our cities can be doing to stop the coming climate emergency. Kate Anderson, Senior Policy Advisor to Senator Kerry, will also discuss the Senator’s proposals on energy and climate change.

RSVP by following this link.

Be Careful Out There

Following the recent lewd acts and assaults around the Central Square T, the Chronicle brings news of another alarming attack last Wednesday near Pleasant and Western in Riverside.

At 12:19 a.m., officers responded to a report of an armed robbery on Western Avenue by Pleasant Street. They found a 39-year-old Cambridge victim with a head wound and blood covering the right side of his face and head and soaking through his clothes and sneakers.

The victim told police he was walking on Western Avenue from Central Square when a car pulled over in front of him as if to park. Three men got out on the sidewalk in front of him.

Vote!

Some simple math: depending how you see it, today's Special Election comes down to one of two equations: 60>59, or 41>40. Both have a big impact. So don't forget to vote. See the Election Commission's website for voter info.

He is watching.

Anarchy, continued.

This does not bode well for the Republic.

City Council, after failing to elect a Mayor from among their ranks last week, resumed the deliberation at last night's meeting where they, um... failed again. This is all pretty hilarious to many of us, but honestly, what if there's an emergency intersection honorary square-naming in the next week?

Kidding aside, David Maher will likely seal the deal at the January 25th meeting.

Neighborhood Association Annual Meeting

Bill August passes along notice of next month's CNA annual meeting and Board of Directors election:

Happy New Year and happy New Decade! The Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association annual meeting and election for four expiring Board of Directors seats will be Feb. 24, 7 pm at usual meeting place at community room of Woodrow Wilson Court, on Fairmont St., off of Magazine St.

Please feel free to run for Board of Directors position, or to nominate someone who is interested. Anyone interested in being on the Board must be nominated and seconded by Feb. 10 (14 days prior to Feb. 24). Nominations and seconds of nominations can be sent to billaugustUSA@aol.com

The agenda on Feb 24 will also include presentations on aging in Cambridge and senior citizen issues by Elaine Thorne of Cambridge Community Development Dept.; and we have invited speakers regarding City planning pertaining to Charles River preservation and enhancements. Cambridge Community TV has also expressed interested in sending a representative to discuss CCTV's community and neighborhood media services.