A little bit about me and my campaign.

I am passionate & persistent. I am the only candidate working to   
Take back your right to vote

• for a strong Mayor and to reduce the City Manager’s vast authority 
  
• members on and off the Planning Board

My Record

• 16 years living in Cambridge
  
• 13 years a community activist
  
• 2007-2011 board member of East Cambridge
  
• community group
  
• 2009-2011 fought Alexandria over-development
  
• 2013-2017 helped keep Foundry building for us 2013-2015 fought over-development of the
  
• East Cambridge courthouse
  
• 2013 arrested protesting killings of black men 2015 became US citizen
  
• 2015 my city council “protest campaign”: to take back our right to vote for those who really run our city
• 2016-18 Volpe, fought for Graduate Student Housing, density reduction, benefits.
• 2017 my 2nd city council bring democracy back to Cambridge, from Plan E to Democracy
• 2018-19 First Street Municipal Garage, fight to keep Public land in public hands.
• 2017-18 fought DIVCO and City administration on Gore St sewer constructions for Cambridge Crossing.
• 2018-19 fighting Eversource Fulkerson and Putnam ave substation construction and expansions.

Professional Qualifications
Boston University (electrical engineering), Cofounder, CTO, or engineer at six start-ups.

Let us put matter into context
Cambridge is not a democracy. With our “strong City Manager, weak city council” government, you are not allowed to vote for those who really run our city, the un-elected City Manager and the un- elected Planning Board. Every member of every significant Board or Commission is appointed by the City Manager. Every board relies on and is guided by city staff whose job depends on the City Manager.
You can vote for city councillors. Councillors can be elected with less than 1,000 “#1 votes” out of nearly 70,000 registered voters. Like our president, Councillors rely on their small, dedicated voter base. Our councillors represent their base of voters and donors.
The council votes one of themselves as Mayor, a “ribbon-cutter” with no meaningful power but with a bigger paycheck and many percs. The council votes “Policy Orders” which may or may not be ignored by the City Manager. The council always approves the Manager’s budget and has never fired a City Manager.
Not being elected, the City Manager & the Planning Board always approve every mega-development increasing the tax base but with:

• more traffic & less parking
• more long-time residents & families forced out
• more bad deals with developers

Your city councillors can restore control to the voters anytime. The council can:

• Create a strong Mayor
• Allow you to vote for Mayor
• Enforce term limits
• Limit campaigns to public financing
• Ban holding more than one public office ​