The City of Cambridge FY18 Online Annual Report is now available for viewing. Copies of the print companion can be picked up in the brochure racks at City Hall. The report highlights a number of the City's accomplishments this past year in affordable housing, capital projects, family engagement, STEAM expansion, transportation initiatives, Vision Zero efforts, and more.
This year we celebrated a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to create affordable housing -- the approval of our 1000th inclusionary housing unit.
Other specific highlights include the opening of a new family shelter and a Winter Warming Center for persons experiencing homelessness. Residents again had the opportunity to vote on project to improve Cambridge through the Participatory Budgeting Process, and they were also able to invest in our infrastructure improvements through the City's minibond program.
Reducing speeds to 20 MPH safety zones in City squares was a significant part of our Vision Zero Action Plan released this year. For the seventh consecutive year, serious crime in the City dropped to unprecedented levels in 2017. Cambridge Fire Department launched a new Bike Team that has been able to provide rapid EMS (Emergency Medical Services) and emergency response through crowded venues at special events.
In June 2018, City officials joined leaders from other communities and state and federal government to break ground for the Green Line Extension project, which is extending the MBTA’s Green Line transit service to the north/west, from a relocated Lechmere Station in Cambridge, to a spur ending in Union Square in Somerville, with the main line going to College Avenue in Medford.
Volpe Site Redevelopment.
Also this year, the City Council adopted new Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning for the 14-acre site of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Transportation Systems Research Center in Kendall Square, the culmination of intensive collaborative work involving the City Council, Planning Board, a Volpe Working Group process led by the Community Development Department, and a vigorous MIT-led community engagement process. The zoning will enable the reconstruction of the Volpe Center facility along with up to 1.7 million square feet of new commercial development; 1,400 housing units (including approximately 280 inclusionary and 20 middle-income units), retail, and other active uses at the ground floors; about 2.5 acres of open space; and a community space. As the future developer of the site, MIT has agreed to provide approximately $200 million in public benefits.
For more information, visit CambridgeMA.Gov/fy18annualreport.
Link to FY18 Annual Report Print Companion (PDF)