Alliance of Cambridge Tenants

Residents elect new ACT Board

Low turnout for second ACT election

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11— At 9:45 last night, volunteers from the League of Women Voters announced the result of balloting for the ACT Board. There will be a lot of new faces. Here is the list of public housing residents elected, by district:

Nightmare at Newtowne Court

Bill Cunningham

THURSDAY, APRIL 5—Is Cambridge’s largest family public housing development in MIT’s crosshairs?

That possibility has become a nightmare for many residents since March 14. That night a public meeting of the Central Square Advisory Committee viewed a slide showing half of Newtowne Court demolished and replaced by higher buildings facing Main Street between Portland and Windsor. That slide will be the center of attention when City officials appear at the Area Four Coalition meeting at the Pisani Center on Thursday evening, April 12. (Click here to see the slide)

CHA's community room policy

An open letter to CHA by Teresa Cardosi

Basic Background: As I understand it, the policy used to be, for family developments, a resident who wished to use the community space would make a deposit of $50. If the space was left neat and clean after the event, the deposit would be refunded. The new policy is a $70 refundable deposit plus a $30 non-refundable fee. For elder developments the refundable deposit is $30, but the non-refundable fee is the same—$30.

What others are saying: Smoking bans spread in public housing

Learning experience sponsored by CHA

by Hasson Rashid

Monday, January 9— In December, this NeighborMedia correspondent returned from a three day learning and training experience, sponsored by the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA), for my participation as a Low Income Housing Advocate and board member of the Alliance of Cambridge Tenants (ACT).

CHA responds to elevator concerns

Statement: issues raised at the council meeting were already addressed

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 7— On Monday night Cambridge City Council unanimously passed an order dealing with the elevator situation at Manning Apartments. Councilor Henrietta Davis sponsored the original order in response to constituent concerns. The order as amended by Councilor Cheung—who had earlier met with the elevator constructors’ union—calls for the CHA to hire an independent consultant. A union offer to pay for such a consultant was rejected by the CHA last summer.

When public housing came to town

Excerpts from reality

Here are a few pages from the draft of a forthcoming book, to be called "while in reality." The first part of the book is about politics in twentieth-century Cambridge, especially as it relates to real estate and economic development. The excerpts that follow are about the buried foundations of our city's public housing program.

Elevator shaft

by Bill Bumpus

MONDAY, NOV. 19—Maybe you’ve seen these guys. Sometimes they wear green T shirts blazoned with the words: “Cheap labor isn’t skilled—Skilled labor isn’t cheap.” They are members of Local 4, International Union of Elevator Constructors. For several months, they’ve been picketing outside two apartment buildings owned by the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA).

Have you mailed your ballot?

ACT Board election closes next week

MONDAY, APRIL 2—Public housing and voucher residents have mailed hundreds of ballots to the ACT post office box as the group's election process continues. Residents who haven't yet voted now have less than a week to mail in their ballots. The ACT election committee urges people to mail in their vote by Thursday, April 5 if possible. The committee notes that although first-class mail is usually delivered in one day, it is sometimes delayed. The rule is: to be safe, allow five days for delivery. In 2009 dozens of ballots were received too late to be counted.

However voters will also have the option of casting their ballots on ACT’s election day, Tuesday, April 10. On that day the League of Women Voters will staff six ACT polling places for two hours, between 4:30 and 6:30.