Sumbul Siddiqui
2019 Candidate for Cambridge City Council

Home address:
283 Sidney St. #3
Cambridge, MA 02139

Contact information:
website: www.votesumbul.com
phone: 617-785-0988
email: votesumbul@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/votesumbul/
Twitter: twitter.com/SumbulSidd

Send contributions to: https://www.votesumbul.com/donate
OR
Committee to Elect Sumbul Siddiqui
283 Sidney St. #3
Cambridge, MA 02139

Background
I am currently serving my first term as a Cambridge City Councillor.

My leadership in City Hall is informed by my experience in community advocacy, my work as a public interest attorney, and my perspective as a Cambridge native. My family immigrated to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan when I was two. We were fortunate to win a lottery to enter the Cambridge affordable housing system. We were placed in the Rindge Towers in North Cambridge and later moved to the Roosevelt Towers in East Cambridge. I attended Cambridge Public Schools throughout my childhood.

In high school, I developed a passion for civic and community engagement. I served as Student Body President at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. I wanted youth to have a voice in Cambridge, so I co-founded the Cambridge Youth Involvement Subcommittee, now the Cambridge Youth Council. The Cambridge Youth Council has been active for 17 years and continues to be a platform for youth to advocate on issues that concern them.

I pursued an educational path that would empower me to advocate for and improve the vital public programs and social services that shaped my life and provided my family with the stability we needed to thrive, such as Headstart and public housing. I attended Brown University where I studied public policy. After college, I served as an AmeriCorps fellow at New Profit, a Boston non-profit organization dedicated to improving social mobility for children, families, and their communities. I obtained a law degree at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, which enabled me to more effectively pursue the economic, policy, and social interests of low-income and working class people in my community.

After law school, I returned home to Cambridge to serve my community. I worked as an attorney at Northeast Legal Aid, where I represented low-income entrepreneurs and small business owners. I’m proud to help individuals achieve self-sufficiency and get closer to their version of the American dream while promoting positive, community-based, economic growth. I am a member of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, the Women’s Bar Association, and the National Organization of Legal Services Workers - UAW Local 2320.

As an active member in the Cambridge community, I am currently a board member of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School Alumni Association. I am a former board member of the Cambridge School Volunteers, Inc., and a former Commissioner on the Cambridge Human Services Commission. As your City Councillor, my priorities include expanding access to affordable housing, fostering community-based economic growth by supporting small businesses, promoting environmental sustainability, and deepening civic engagement through community programming.

Endorsements
To date in 2019, I have been re-endorsed by the following organizations and individuals: Sierra Club • A Better Cambridge • Barbara Lee • Greater Boston Young Democrats • New American Leaders • Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus • Massachusetts Voters for Animals • Service Employees International Union, District 615, 32BJ •New England Laborers’ District Council • Floor Coverers Local 2168 • Carpenters Local 727, 723 and 228 SEIU NAGE • MIT Democrats

Top Priorities
My top priorities are:

• Preserving and expanding affordable housing
• As a lifelong resident of Cambridge who has grown up in public housing, this issue is of personal significance to me. My foremost goal as City Councilor is to help plan for sustainable development that prioritizes socio-economic diversity and addresses displacement and social equity.
• Promoting economic development
• I have professional experience in economic development. As a legal aid attorney to small businesses in developing communities in Lawrence and Lynn, I have helped small businesses facing challenging circumstances grow. As Chair of the Economic Development and University Relations Committee, I believe it is important to support our small and local businesses.
• Fostering civic engagement
• Our community is only as strong as it is engaged. One of my primary goals as a City Councilor is to promote broader civic engagement and improve the responsiveness of Cambridge city government to every member of the community.

Affordable Housing and Tenant Protections
As someone who grew up in Cambridge public housing, and would not be here without it, I am a strong advocate for increasing affordable housing. This is one important way to preserve the racial and socio-economic diversity that makes Cambridge such a unique place to work and live. It is essential work if we want to ensure that Cambridge is a place where longtime families and newcomers can both find affordable options. As Co-Chair of the Housing Committee, I approached the affordability crisis with urgency and creativity, through three lenses: protection, preservation, and prevention.

Protecting tenants from eviction, displacement and homelessness:

• I secured critical funding for our legal aid nonprofits; Cambridge and Somerville Legal Aid was able to full-time housing attorneys who represent those at immediate risk of displacement. I also secured additional funding to allow De Novo to continue to host Lawyer for Day Housing Clinic at the Cambridge District Court. Legal aid services are a necessary component of our housing plan and attorneys help people stay in their homes.
• I helped establish and then chaired the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Tenant Displacement. The Task Force has helped us understand where and why forced displacement occurs, and will develop policy recommendations to reduce the impact of housing instability on our community, such as exploring options to strengthen our city’s regulations on condo conversion. Through the Task Force, we have secured additional rental assistance funds to the Multi-Service Center and ACT (Alliance of Cambridge Tenants).
• We cannot manage what we fail to measure, so I pressed the Cambridge Community Development Department to improve its processes for collecting and interpreting eviction data. We now know which management company files the most complaints. Initial findings are here.
• I supported the development of a City Housing Liaison position. This role will support clients at risk of displacement, work with landlords, management companies and affordable housing providers, and serve as a point person for the City when there are threats of multiple-tenant evictions. This is a first step towards an Office of Housing Stability that I would look forward to creating.
• I am an advocate for pushing the city to do more with its own property, such as building on its parking lots, and building on its vacant property, such as 35 Cherry Street.
• I will also continue to push for recommended changes for preferences in resident selection policies.

Preserving our existing affordable housing options, and incentivizing new affordable housing developments.

• I am pushing for the funding needed to preserve the 504 expiring affordable units in the Fresh Pond Apartments, where I grew up. You can view a one pager my office created on the matter here. If re-elected, I will continue my work to preserve these units.
• I have advocated for more funding for Homebridge, and pushed for an evaluation of the program and our city’s Down Payment Assistance Program.
• I initiated our next Incentive Zoning Study, currently underway. The study will analyze the impact of nonresidential development on affordable housing, and will make a recommendation for an increase in our commercial linkage fee. The funds raised through the increased fee will support the Affordable Housing Trust.
• I have also been supportive of a transfer fee on certain transactions in order to increase funding to our Affordable Housing Trust.
• Today, an estimated 7,703 graduate students live in Cambridge, placing a serious strain on our city’s housing supply, and this increase in demand has driven up housing prices. To address this, I support working with our universities to build affordable housing for their students, particularly graduate students, and explore new housing partnerships. By building taller, more dense, housing units that encompasses most/all of their students, Harvard and MIT can help ameliorate the problem of heightened demand for housing in Cambridge. I am in favor of re-examining our Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) agreements with both institutions.

Economic Development and Commerce, Retail Viability and Affordability
In my experience as an attorney working for small businesses, I have seen the value that community development resources have for building and maintaining a climate of entrepreneurship. As Chair of the Economic Development and University Relations Committee, it is my responsibility to help eliminate the structural barriers that stand in the way of entrepreneurs finding success. Ultimately, I want to help support small businesses and enhance community development by advocating for affordable commercial space, and help foster stronger neighborhoods.

Keeping Our Retail Areas Vibrant

• I’ve pushed for progress on the city’s Retail Strategic Plan.
• I have pushed for a vacant storefront registration policy. Long-term storefront vacancies can negatively impact surrounding businesses. Tracking vacancy data, such as its prevalence by neighborhood and owner, can help us understand the depth of the problem and determine how the City can hold commercial property owners accountable.
• At my urging, the Economic Development and University Relations Committee has pushed for the City to update our table of commercial land uses, and to accelerate this process, I pushed the City Manager to commit to hiring more zoning staff.

Supporting Small Businesses

• We are limited because legally we are not able to push for keeping commercial rents lower. Landlords who might wish to offer and maintain below market rate rents for their commercial properties are still taxed on the property’s assessed value, removing any financial incentive for trying to keep rents low for certain tenants. I co-sponsored a policy order requesting our City Manager to work with the Director of Assessment to draft a Home Rule Petition creating a program that takes into account landlords who are offering and maintaining below market leases and other means to lower costs for small businesses.
• I’ve worked to connect small business owners with legal support.
• I joined Councillor Mallon in asking the city to better promote Small Business Saturday, an event useful for measuring investment in our local economy. This year, the City will be actively supporting Small Business Saturday by launching a “Shop Cambridge” event, posting additional signage, creating a social media toolkit for local businesses, and promoting special events including a shopping contest on November 30th.
• I am supportive of starting a Mom and Pop Small Business Grant Program, setting aside preference for local and small businesses in publicly owned buildings, and developing an incubation space where local entrepreneurs pay subsidized rental rates in order to jump start their business.

Digital Equity and Municipal Broadband

• The City Council is supportive of efforts to bring municipal broadband to Cambridge. I supported a policy order for a 12-month digital equity research initiative. The City’s research will seek to better understand the gaps-including those related to broadband access, affordability, digital skills, and device ownership-that may be preventing all residents from making the most effective, meaningful use of broadband. The results of this comprehensive study will be used to develop targeted and strategic recommendations to address the findings.

Education
Income inequality is perpetuated, in part, by unequal education systems. Education is essential for the success of our youth, but there are several barriers that prevent our city’s young people from receiving a high-quality education. As Co-chair of the Human Services and Veterans Committee, a graduate of Cambridge Public Schools, and a member of the Family Policy Council, championing issues important to families and children remains a cornerstone of my council work.

Promoting Equitable Access to Education

• I have pushed for the City to add $1.1 million more in scholarship funding for low-income children to attend high-quality, community-based preschools and to open up more classrooms.
• I have co-chaired meetings on the Cambridge Early Childhood Task Force Report and progress to date. We will have a meeting this fall to discuss the RFP for universal pre-K models that was commissioned last year.
• The City has promised to develop a funding system to ensure that a Children’s Savings Account (CSA) will be an option for each kindergartener in the city. I worked with my colleagues to propose CSAs in early 2018—these are long-term savings or investment accounts that provide incentives to help children ages 0-18, especially low-income children, build dedicated savings for post-secondary education. We will partner with a local bank and attach a financial literacy education as a key component.
• I have began working to bring Halal Food to our cafeterias, working alongside School Committee member Mannika Bowman. Many muslim students and their families have expressed concern about food offerings. Many school systems across the country have begun to offer a halal food option.

Workforce Development
Cambridge has a host of workforce development programs and economic opportunity initiatives across industries, and yet many residents still lack secure employment - including veterans, seniors and residents who have been formerly incarcerated. It is critical we provide opportunities for residents of all backgrounds and skill levels to access jobs that pay a living wage in Cambridge.

• Our services, programs and policies must be directly informed by data, and I’ve been a strong and consistent advocate for comprehensive and continued evaluation. A thorough process for evaluation will help illuminate present gaps and areas for growth and serve to guide the city in developing more targeted strategies to improve access and outreach.
• I have created a Workforce Development Consortium that will meet quarterly. By facilitating regular communication and transparency across the variety of Workforce Development service providers in the city, we can allow our workforce development providers to work collectively, improving access to secure, desirable jobs.
• I pushed for more funding for the Cambridge Housing Authority’s Work Force Program, which has helped low-income students to broaden their horizons and to create their own pathways to educational and economic success for over 25 years.
• Later this fall, I will help organize a CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information) clinic with the Department of Human Services to assist residents who may be eligible to seal their records. Helping eligible residents seal their records is an important step towards rebuilding their lives post-incarceration.

Energy, Waste Reduction, Recycling, the Environment, and Public Health
Mitigating the effects of climate change and creating an environmentally sustainable city is a challenge that must be addressed head-on, through innovation and community organizing. I’m proud to have initiated the conversation on restoring one of Cambridge’s green spaces, and to have worked with my colleagues to promote climate resiliency.

Promoting Access to Green Spaces

• I support a requirement that all new developments construct rooftop gardens or install solar panels, as well as a partnership with Mothers Out Front to green urban rooftops.
• I will continue to advocate for necessary steps to increase our tree canopy and create new tree protections.
• Jerry’s Pond is the closest potential green space to the three Rindge Towers, Jefferson Park and and additional units along Rindge Avenue, representing approximately 4,000 affordable housing residents in total. The site is a brownfield, and it’s restoration is an issue not only of environmental justice, but also of public health and social equity. I’ve partnered with Cambridge residents to begin revitalizing the area, and have engaged the city in action-oriented discussion around plans for future use and remediation of the area. I submitted policy orders requesting that Cambridge apply for a Targeted Brownfield Assessment grant funded by the EPA, and requesting tree planting alongside the Pond.

I will continue working with Friends of Jerry’s Pond on steps to revitalize this site. More information on our efforts can be found here.

Sustainable Transit

• To address both density concerns and environmental impacts, the City should promote alternatives to single rider vehicles. These will reduce the traffic congestion that results from increased density while reducing carbon emissions. To increase public transit usage, we must improve both the reach and efficiency of our public transit options.
• To increase the efficiency, I support the creation of separate bus lanes on major corridors. This will make bus routes run more smoothly, creating an incentive for commuters who currently get to work in single-rider vehicles to switch to a more environmentally friendly and traffic-reducing alternative. I also support more residential construction within walking distance of a T stop or frequently running bus line. For example, we should consider upzoning along Prospect St. between Central Square and Inman Square, in light of the future Green Line stop at Union Square.
• To improve the reach of public transit in Cambridge, I support policies that subsidize MBTA and commuter rail fares for low income individuals. Our ultimate goal should be to eliminate fares altogether, and move towards a system of free public transit. This will maximize geographic mobility in the Greater Boston area, and remove a barrier for seniors, young people and low-income residents. The price of a train ride shouldn’t keep anyone from making it to school or work.

Accelerating the Transition to 100% Renewable Energy

• I am committed to the Net Zero Action Plan, which aims to make Cambridge carbon neutral by 2050 by cutting energy demand and accelerating our transition to renewable energy sources.
• To move towards renewable energy, we must support regional efforts to move towards powering our grid with wind energy and large solar installations, make combined heat and power plants more energy-efficient while phasing out fossil fuels in favor of wind, solar, and geothermal energy, and on encouraging renewable energy installations in our local community, including rooftop solar panels and heat pumps in homes.
• To reduce building fossil fuel consumption and improve energy efficiency across Cambridge, I support policies to increase the city’s operating and capital budgets to expand renewable energy generation, invest in renewable energy technologies, and build climate-friendly infrastructure, including improving energy efficiency in older buildings, district heating and electric vehicle charging stations.
• I co-sponsored a policy order to improve our Community Electricity Program, a form of group electricity purchasing that allows the City to determine (and increase) the amount of renewable energy in our community’s electricity supply.
• I have promoted Cambridge’s Community Energy Initiatives, which incentivize Cambridge residents, businesses and nonprofits to purchase solar panels and solar hot water systems by combining discounts, rebates and tax credits.

Cycling and Pedestrian Issues
Maintaining bicycle and pedestrian safety is of the utmost importance in Cambridge. By investing in our infrastructure, and making sure that all road users are aware of their role in preventing accidents, we can improve the safety of our streets and intersections.

Promoting Bicycle Use and Protecting Cyclist Safety:

• To increase bicycle ridership and decrease motor vehicle speed, I supported the “Cycling Safety Ordinance,” which requires the City to construct permanent protected bike lanes on all streets identified for reconstruction under our Five Year Sidewalk & Street Plan. Requiring these lanes to be constructed as part of existing infrastructure projects will ensure that they remain a priority and are built in a timely manner.
• To improve the connectedness of existing bike lanes, I co-sponsored policy orders to explore options for creating a formal street connection between Terminal Road and New Street, to support the implementation of protected bike lanes on Webster Ave, Museum Way, O’Brien Highway, and Craigie Bridge, and to create a pedestrian/bicycle shuttle bridge connecting Concord Avenue to the Triangle area on Cambridgepark Drive.
• I co-sponsored a policy order to identify whether a Bluebikes station may be located near Rafferty Park, a centrally located green space within the Alewife Quad, providing Bluebikes riders traveling between the Alewife Quad and Cambridge Highlands neighborhoods with a place to pick up and drop off bikes.
• I co-sponsored a policy order to identify traffic-calming and safety features for the Fresh Pond Mall area as the current conditions in the lot compromise pedestrian and bicyclist safety by failing to clearly separate where vehicles should travel and where to expect pedestrians and cyclists moving safely.
• To promote bicycle use, I support a light and helmet giveaway program at schools and community centers, and implementing a Bikes for All Giveaway program for your people and adults.

Pedestrian Safety:

• Residents have reported that they feel unsafe at four lane crossings, even when flashing yellow lights are installed. To address the issue, I support strengthening pedestrian safety measures, including full traffic signals and pedestrian-activated High Intensity Activated Crosswalk signals.
• To protect pedestrians in congested areas, I joined Councillor Mallon in installing a pedestrian Super LPI at the intersection of Mass Ave, Prospect St., and Western Ave to give pedestrians a 10-15 head start on traffic.
• I am in favor of re-examining our snow cleanup. Pedestrians are forced to walk down the middle of streets because sidewalks haven’t been cleared properly risking collisions with cars and bicycles.

Arts and Public Celebrations
The arts give us a unique opportunity to connect across differences and tell the stories that matter. By investing in our local creative economy, we can support the artists who make our community vibrant. As an attorney who has represented both artists and makerspaces in Massachusetts, I know we can better support the artists who live and work in Cambridge.

• This term, I joined my colleagues in eliminating fees for street performers, making this platform accessible to all artists in the Cambridge community.
• The City of Cambridge must also affirm its commitment to the arts by setting aside space in City-owned buildings and vacant commercial spaces for Cambridge's artists and innovators. Opportunities such as the Foundry Building on Rogers Street, and even the Out-of-Town News Kiosk in Harvard Square could provide much-needed, flexible space for the expression of our City's creativity. Pairing more permanent spaces with rotating festivals, such as Cambridge Open Studios and Central Flea, will help our city's creative economy to grow.

Building Civic Engagement
At a time of national uncertainty, we must become stronger locally. There is no better way to strengthen our communities than to talk to and learn from each other. In my first term, I got creative about how to initiate those conversations.

• Cambridge Digs DEEP: Community-Wide Conversations on Race, Equity, Power & Privilege: On November 28, over 150 attendees gathered at the Fletcher Maynard Academy for the first event of Cambridge Digs DEEP, a series of community conversations on race, equity, power, and privilege. In the months since, many of you have joined the community forums and workshops addressing implicit bias, micro- and macro-aggressions, and the diversity of the Cambridge experience. I look forward to continuing the essential work of looking critically at our community and ourselves, while engaging across difference to learn and grow together. More information on the series can be found here.
• Government Alliance on Race & Equity: The Cambridge City Administration recently became a member of the Government Alliance on Race & Equity (GARE), a national network of government working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. GARE emphasizes institutional transformation, and supports the development of new policies and programs to close the racial opportunity gap.
• Cambridge Community Iftar: Over the last 2 years, the Community Iftar has become a beautiful Cambridge tradition. Every year, City Hall hosts the Cambridge Muslim community at sunset to break the fast, and invites people from all faiths to learn about Ramadan. I’ve been honored to organize the event in 2018 and 2019 and invite community leaders from the Muslim community I am deeply proud to be a part of and represent.
• Making City Government Accessible: During my first term, I have worked to make City Hall more accessible to residents who want to be involved. I have held my office hours around Cambridge, including “Coffee Hours” at various cafes, and Friday evening “Pizza Hours” at the Fresh Pond Apartments/Rindge Towers where I grew up. To give young people a voice in local politics, I have met with students at Harvard and MIT to discuss how to make the issues we discuss at City Council more accessible.

CCTV candidate video (2019)

2017 Candidate Page    CCTV candidate video (2017)