Council Debates Membership

For the second consecutive week, the Cambridge City Council broke into fierce debate over one councillor’s request to alter the membership of its Neighborhood Safety Committee, a task force charged with addressing crime problems following a rise in robberies and assaults during the summer of 2006.

However, much of the furor surrounded the Cambridge Chronicle, a local newspaper that has recently published several editorials criticizing the management of Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 in forming the Committee.

During last week’s meeting, Councillor E. Denise Simmons put forth a resolution that would have increased the number of Committee members “from the neighborhoods that have been hit hardest by crime—Riverside, Area 4, and North Cambridge, as well as representation from the immigrant community.” However, following a heated exchange, Reeves postponed debate and argued that the Committee itself should weigh Simmons’ request.

When Simmons revisited the resolution last night, Reeves responded by advocating the same position he held last week. Councillor Marjorie C. Decker spoke in favor of Reeves, critiquing the Chronicle’s coverage of Simmons’ request as inaccurate and worrying those voting against the resolution would be misrepresented in the press.

“I’m concerned that a vote on this somehow insinuates that if you don’t support what’s before us now, you don’t support community input,” Decker said.

But Simmons defended her objections to Reeves.

“It’s not the mayor’s committee. It’s not the city manager’s committee. It’s the city council’s committee that happens to be chaired by the mayor and the city manager,” she said. “I do not care about the newspaper, and nor should anybody else in this room.”

When Decker attempted to comment on the matter further, Simmons moved that the council vote on the matter immediately. The measure passed, earning six votes to two against, with Mayor Reeves abstaining.

However, despite the objections of Simmons and Councillor Henrietta Davis, Decker then spoke against the tone of the proceedings.

“If this is an election year, let’s not play to the worst of us; we all care about neighborhood safety, we all care about community input,” Decker said. She added that appointing perfunctory members from each area would be “highly symbolic” rather than representative of the true interests of the community and that the tone of the Council’s discussions had become “ridiculous.”

Vice Mayor Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. also criticized the Chronicle’s coverage of the resolution.

“We do ourselves no justice...by trying to respond to those individuals who are trying to demean us here. We are above them,” Toomey said of the Chronicle.

But Councillor Craig A. Kelley said that he doubted the press caused the entirety of last night’s tumult.

“If anyone here is just responding to the Chronicle, I’d be surprised,” he said. “Maybe it’s the moon.”

—Staff writer Nicholas K. Tabor can be reached at ntabor@fas.harvard.edu.