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FIREHOUSE FACE-LIFTS Cambridge’s firehouses are getting a big upgrade. In January, Cambridge’s City Council announced that it will dedicate more than $1 million in total to repairs to the Lexington Avenue Firehouse, the River Street Firehouse, and the Lafayette and Inman Square Firehouses. This follows the city’s 2018 efforts to spend $25 million on a renovation of the 85-year old Fire Headquarters on Broadway. Also in 2018, the City Council decided to dedicate $2 million to restoring the city’s fire stations—so the city is finally making good on those two-year-old promises.
GREEN STREET When Green Street Studios closed last fall, the larger Boston community jumped at the chance to resurrect the space, which had been an affordable dance hub in Central Square for 28 years. Major figures in the square offered assistance, like lawyer Patrick Barnett and Executive Director of the Central Square Business Improvement District Michael Monestime. Citing the lack of a long-term solution, Green Street’s leadership did not accept the deal. Managing Director Leah Thiffault and Board Chair Stephen Ursprung said in a statement that “clients would immediately be uncertain about GSS’ long-term viability.”
DEBTS REPAID The Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) will return security deposits to all of its tenants by the end of March and cease its security deposit program indefinitely, Cambridge Day reports. CHA currently has close to $300,000 in security deposits, but they are spending about twice as much money per year to keep the accounts active. “We have very good tenants,” Andrew Kerivan, asset manager at CHA, told Cambridge Day. The Boston Housing Authority does not charge security deposits. FARE-FREE Free buses in Cambridge might be in the near future. The City voted in late January to have City Manager Louis DePasquale look into free-fare programs for the busy 1, 68, and 69 routes. “Somerville should definitely explore a similar pilot program, especially along Broadway where we recently installed a bus lane,” City Councilor Matt McLaughlin told The Somerville Journal. “Any costs associated with such a pilot would be worth reducing congestion on our streets.” A similar program has been employed in Everett. The largest concern city councilors face at the moment is whether the costs of such a program would outweigh the benefits.
HIDDEN TRANSACTIONS Charles Lieber, the chair of Harvard’s department of chemistry and chemical biology, was arrested in January for lying about his financial ties to the Chinese government. Lieber was accused of taking money from Thousand Talents—a state-run initiative that aims to attract Chinese intellectuals who were educated overseas—without disclosing the amounts to Harvard. The university has placed him on administrative leave. His arrest falls in line with the Justice Department’s increasingly more aggressive policies aimed at scientists thought to be stealing research from American institutions, usually for China. A federal judge set Lieber’s bail at $1 million. LEAKED TOXINS Cambridge Day reports that four of the city’s institutions—Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge Brands, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities—have violated the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority’s safe sewage pollution levels in the past two years. Cambridge Brands, a candy-making company known for being the sole provider of Junior Mints and Charleston Chews, was written up for discharging sewage contaminated with mercury and formaldehyde. Harvard and MIT had sewage with unsafe levels of zinc, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities was cited for its levels of cyanide. Excessive sewage pollution does not bode well for public health. MIT and Harvard have both discharged unsafe amounts of mercury, which is poisonous and can find its way into fish. When the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority asked MIT to comply with its quotas, the school said that mercury had accumulated in its buildings’ pipes and that they would need until Sept. 30, 2020 to meet the prescribed limits.
NEWS FROM THE NORTH Here’s just some of what you’ll find in the Meet the Makers Issue of our sibling publication, Scout Somerville.
FOLLOWING SOMERVILLE’S LEED When Somerville passed its first zoning overhaul in 30 years, many were still in disagreement about whether or not requiring LEED Platinum sustainability standards would hurt or help the city. We break down what it all actually means.
A SLICE OF LIFE Along with getting their clothes rinsed and pressed, Porter Square Dry Cleaners customers have also started to purchase something else: floral jelly cakes, a classic Vietnamese dessert.
WHERE ART MEETS ACTIVISM Somerville resident Nina Eichner has been participating in social justice demonstrations on both a local and a national level, using her artistic abilities to act as an art lead for the organization Sunrise Boston.
Someone rustle your jimmies or tickle your fancy?
Let us know at scoutcambridge.com/contact-us, and we just might crown them a winner or loser.
8 Meet the Makers | scoutcambridge.com
—BY ELIE LEVINE
