METRO
THE HARVARD CRIMSON JANUARY 27, 2023
CITY COUNCIL
Councilors Debate Body Cameras and Regulations COUNCIL MEETS. The Cambridge City Council met in a special session to discuss the implementation of body cameras. BY RYAN H. DOAN-NGUYEN AND YUSUF S. MIAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
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ambridge City Councilors sparred over whether the Cambridge Police Department should implement body cameras and what role the Council should play in regulating the department at a special meeting Wednesday on the police killing of Sayed Faisal. The nearly three-hour session — a continuation of last week’s special hearing — was switched to an online format the day after protesters stormed Cambridge City Hall to demand justice for Faisal. Despite the virtual gathering, dozens protested on the city hall steps, chanting and waving signs reading, “Jail All Racist Killer Cops,” and “Accountability Now.” Faisal, a 20-year-old University of Massachusetts Boston student and Cambridge resident, was shot and killed by a Cambridge Police Department officer on Jan. 4. The fatal shooting remains under investigation by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, but without body camera footage of the shooting, many questions about its circumstances linger. Unlike neighboring Boston and Somerville, Cambridge has not instituted body cameras for police officers. Some demonstrators at recent protests in the wake of the shooting have called for Cambridge Police Department to adopt body cameras, while others said they were concerned about increasing police funding to support their implementation. These debates were reflected
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Protestors Storm City Hall, Want Justice As the meeting resumed at around 7 p.m., Councilor E. Denise Simmons asked if protesters were still in the building. Shouting was still heard in the Zoom webinar’s background several minutes after business resumed. Purkar said he deeply distrusted city leadership, challenging claims that Cambridge’s leaders are progressive on policing. “Both Mayor Siddiqui and the police commissioner present themselves as progressives, as people that represent the community,” Purkar said. “If they really represent the community, if they really stand for our interests, then they would give in to the demands of the community.” “They want to kick the can down the road. They want to have a prolonged cover-up. They want to wait for the steam to dissipate from the movement,” Purkar added. “We refuse to do that.” The Cambridge City Council will hold another special meeting on Wednesday in response to the police shooting of Faisal. Purkar said protesters would attend the special meeting, and would hold a march at Somerville High School on Sunday. jina.choe@thecrimson.com samuel.goldston@thecrimson.com
THC View the related video on our channel YOUTUBE.COM
Hundreds of demonstrators marched through Harvard Yard. JOEY HUANG—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
in Wednesday’s Council meeting, in which councilors clashed over whether to take up a policy order calling for the use of body cameras by CPD. “My support for body cameras is not because I necessarily think that it’s going to lead to a particularly different outcome, but it really is about transparency and accountability,” said Councilor Marc C. McGovern. Six councilors said they supported implementing body cameras. One councilor, Quinton Y. Zondervan, expressed opposition, citing privacy concerns. “For the most part, they do not solve the problems that we are discussing here today,” Zondervan said. “What’s happening is a systemic problem with policing and with our approach to community safety, and unfortunately, body cameras don’t really address that,” he added. The implementation of body cameras has been “a topic of conversation for several years now,”
Cambridge Police Department Commissioner Christine A. Elow said during the Wednesday meeting. City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 noted that the city last explored requiring body cameras for officers in 2020 and the previous initiative could provide a foundation for a body camera program. Elow said though obstacles remain for the implementation of body cameras, she is open to the idea of using them. “Cameras are a valuable tool. They enhance transparency, accountability, and build community trust,” Elow said. “Body cameras are correlated with reductions of abuses of force and reduces citizens’ complaints,” she said. Zondervan also proposed compensation from the city to the family of Faisal. Huang said that any compensation would require a legal settlement. Following the discussion of compensation, Councilor Paul F. Toner said he was concerned that
the discussion was falling outside of the Council’s purview. “In my opinion, the City Council is going way beyond the realm of our role,” Toner said. “I’m not here to run the police department. I’m not here to make the decisions for the Commissioner,” he said. “I do think we have a wonderful department,” he added. Zondervan closed the meeting with a contentious response to Toner. “I appreciate and understand that the rage of this conversation may be making him uncomfortable,” Zondervan said. “I do urge him to review our code of ordinances, where the City Council has complete purview and jurisdiction over our police department.” “I also urge him to respect my First Amendment rights to speak about whatever I feel like,” he added. ryan.doannguyen@thecrimson.com yusuf.mian@thecrimson.com
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Charter Commitee Discusses Elections BY JINA H. CHOE AND SAMUEL P. GOLDSTON CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
The Cambridge Charter Re view Committee — tasked by the Cambridge City Council with recommending changes to the city’s charter — convened for its first public forum at the Cambridge Public Library Tuesday evening to discuss election procedures and civic engagement. Comprised of 15 Cambridge residents from diverse backgrounds selected by the Council, the committee has met internally once or twice every month this year since August to discuss reforming the city’s plan of government. The committee fielded several public comments Tuesday night concerning the short turnaround of the current two-year Council terms and the mayoral election process. The last major updates to the charter occurred over 80 years ago when the city adopted the ‘Plan E’ government structure, in which an elected council selects a mayor to serve as a council chair and a city manager who oversees the day-to-day operation of the city, budget, and departments. More than 20 residents attended the forum, including Councilor Patricia M. Nolan ’80, who said she was “disappointed” by the low turnout in an interview after the forum. On the other hand, committee member and lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design James G. Stockard Jr. said that the turnout at the meeting on Tuesday was uncharacteristically high. “All of our meetings so far have been on Zoom,” he said. “There’s more people here tonight than we’ve had in any of those meetings,” Stockard Jr. added. Many forum attendees decried the city’s lack of news and education for voters, with local Cambridge resident Heather Hoffman saying that Cambridge’s government is “way too often
opaque.” “So often, people in the city government think that ‘If we actually tell people what we’re doing, they will just organize against us,’” Hoffman said. “That could well be, and that maybe suggests that you are doing things that we don’t like, and that they are not necessarily for everyone’s good,” she added.
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When is all this outreach? When is this rich dialogue? When is this informed citizenry going to be making informed decisions? Mary Jane Kornacki Cambridge Resident
Others questioned whether the committee could develop recommendations for charter amendments and conduct meaningful outreach by its Council-imposed June deadline. “When is all this outreach? When is this rich dialogue? When is this informed citizenry going to be making informed decisions?” asked resident Mary Jane Kornacki. “I’m just saying that the short timeframe you have seems designed to do something short of robust civic engagement.” Committee member Stockard said, in an interview following the forum that the committee will “very likely” request an extension and deliver its recommendations in the fall. Charter Review Project Manager Anna K. Corning said that she was pleased with local residents’ comments during the forum. “It was great to start these conversations and hear some of the feedback from the community about what we can be doing better, and some of the steps we can be taking to engage more of the community,” she said. jina.choe@thecrimson.com samuel.goldston@thecrimson.com
‘A Regenerative Space’: Faro Café Lights Up the Square
Faro Café, a new cafe located at 5 Arrow St., opened its doors last month. BY CLAIRE YUAN CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Faro Café — a vibrant new coffee shop on the corner of Arrow Street — opened its doors last month, inviting passersby to step into the regenerative space for a hot cup of coffee. Owned by Henry F. Hoffstot, Faro Café served its first cup of coffee on Dec. 14. Though it joins several other established coffee shops in Harvard Square, its owners say Faro aims to do more than just serve coffee: the vision behind the cafe, Hoffstot said, is around the “sensation” customers have when they enter the space. “It’s about letting the space be something that people interpret how they want to envision it or define it or inhabit it,” he said.
“We’re hoping that people make Faro what they want — what they need — and that the space can lend itself to a variety of different community-focused purposes.” The cafe’s name comes from the Spanish word for “lighthouse,” a nod to Buenos Aires, where Hoffstot lived for four years. Trading paper to-go cups for ceramic mugs and latte art, Hoffstot said he hopes Faro Café gives a more “romanticized” idea of coffee — something to be enjoyed slowly, instead of just being fuel for productivity. Even in the quiet of an early Sunday morning, customers had already found their way inside, settling in with books and laptops. Priyanka Saxena, a Somerville resident, chose a spot tucked in behind the soundsystem of the
CLAIRE YUAN—CRIMSON PHOTOGRAPHER
cafe. “I come a pretty long way to get to a cafe early in the morning and it’s because it’s a really nice vibe,” she said. “There’s nothing too busy or ostentatious about it, but it’s cozy.” “The pastries are great, the coffees are delicious, and it’s just a nice spot to relax in the morning,” she added. Harris S. Kaplan, a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard’s Molecular and Cellular Biology Department, sat at a long table in the main space with a decaf coffee. Kaplan was on the hunt for a new coffee shop haunt to replace Darwin’s Ltd. — a famous Cambridge coffee shop that recently closed its doors — when he stumbled on Faro. “I live right around the corner, so that’s why I was looking for a new cafe,” he said. “I like it — I like
that it’s not too busy on a Sunday morning, like a lot of cafes are.” Andre L. Ferreira ’23 de-
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You can’t argue that [Harvard] were the beneficiaries of the scheme instead of the victims. You can’t argu Kevin J. O’Brien ‘74 Partner at Ford O’Brien Landy
scribed the cafe as “nice and calm for students.” “I do like supporting local establishments rather than big franchises, so I think it’s a nice place to go,” said Ferreira, who was joined by Maria Keselj ’23 as they enjoyed the cafe’s offerings
and worked on their laptops. “I feel like we need more cafes around,” Keselj said. “There aren’t too many coffee shops to study at, so I’m glad this opened up.” Samantha D. Lilly, a barista at Faro, described the cafe as a place that “fills the community.” “The cafe is supposed to be a regenerative space, not a space that you come into and it takes from you,” Lilly said. “It’s a space to get things back into you, which is love, community.” “It’s not supposed to be like some bougie place where you can’t order what you want without feeling bad about it,” they added. “Get your vanilla lattes and your mochas and your vanilla mochas if you want.”
claire.yuan@thecrimson.com
