Platform
Leadership that Cares, Action that Counts
Adrienne is a dedicated public servant who advocates for inclusive access to infrastructure and services including housing, transportation, and childcare. Adrienne envisions a Cambridge full of opportunity, where locally-owned businesses flourish and all residents are represented by their government and service providers. Adrienne will fight tirelessly for a just legal system and to protect the environment for future generations here in Cambridge. Find out more about Adrienne’s policy positions below.
- Revamp Cambridge’s inclusionary housing programs by expanding middle income homeownership and creating dedicated support and staff for inclusionary housing participants.
- Adrienne played a major role in holding Harvard and WinnResidential accountable to residents living in buildings these entities were responsible for. She will continue to find ways to hold developers, property managers, and owners accountable and incentivize responsible management to keep Cambridge residents housed and supported.
- The Zoning Ordinance is an extremely complex compilation of regulations. The Affordable Housing Overlay specifically addresses some of the restrictions on housing development, but it needs adjustment. Adrienne will advocate for zoning reform and work with the Council to modify the Affordable Housing Overlay to significantly increase the development of additional housing units.
- End tenant broker fees to rent an apartment that can add thousands of dollars to the cost of finding a place to live in Cambridge.
- Adrienne supports multi-unit home options including the subdivision of larger homes and the creation of triple-deckers, duplexes, and other apartments in all parts of Cambridge, as well as exploring social housing options.
- Adrienne wants to develop vacant properties, city-owned and otherwise. The City must consider purchasing properties as an investment and then allowing development on that land while retaining rights to the first floor, allowing for innovative future programming that could support small businesses.
Affordable, Abundant, and Stable Housing
Adrienne and her family have benefited from subsidized housing in Cambridge, and she has helped hundreds of residents navigate the rental application process and apply for homeownership lotteries. Adrienne has fought for landlords and property management companies to take on more responsibility. She also supports several measures to get creative with housing stock.
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- Extend universal pre-K to all 2- and 3-year-olds. The current expansion to 4-year-olds is welcome but doesn’t go far enough. This is a question of family economics and brain science. We want all Cambridge’s children to be exposed to developmentally-appropriate, consistent, and nurturing opportunities.
- Increase Cambridge's local tuition assistance and scholarship programs to help eligible families find and pay for childcare and afterschool.
- Strengthen the relationship between School Committee and City Council to better coordinate and communicate with parents and the community, and to avoid surprises like the removal of algebra from the 8th grade curriculum and imminent elementary school scheduling changes.
- Expand early college programs. Currently CRLS partners with two higher ed institutions and serves around 100 students. Early college programs like this are proven to help students of color, first generation college students, and immigrants graduate earlier and with less debt. Adrienne wants to see this program expand exponentially.
Childcare Support and Youth Development
Adrienne has a toddler in daycare–she knows the costs and has actively researched CPS and afterschool programs. Adrienne’s first role in Cambridge was working to support immigrants, first generation, and students of color through Cambridge’s Enroot and College Success Programs. We want families to be able to afford to stay in Cambridge, and we need to invest more in this area.
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- Encourage participation in local government through public financing for municipal elections and limiting money from developers and special interest groups.
- Provide additional technical support to diverse residents attempting to access services.
- Institute a municipal IT helpdesk so residents can more easily access city services online.
- Initiate technical assistance programs that connect residents with vendors and information, like the newly introduced Electrify Cambridge.
- Create a dedicated housing search position at the Multi-Service Center to work with the homeless population.
- Translate City materials (forms, guides, applications) into multiple languages. The City currently has abundant resources, but they are rarely available in the diverse languages our residents speak. Adrienne would advocate starting with the Community Development Department’s resources which include housing and business opportunities, and then expanding rapidly to create fully accessible external facing materials.
- Adrienne is committed to intentional, ongoing engagement with non-native English speakers, youth, and seniors to ensure they have full access to the resources and services of the city.
Transparency and Access to Public Services
Adrienne has helped hundreds of individuals access services in Cambridge, including her own family. From subsidized housing applications to support paying overdue bills and trying to open a small business. She knows the barriers residents must overcome to get existing city services, and she knows what services that we still need to develop.
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- Assist business owners struggling to keep up with the rising costs of operating in Cambridge by creating inclusive zoning for businesses and exploring City administered grants and 0% interest loans.
- Make Cambridge an easier place to do business by updating zoning tables to support the creation of more businesses and affordable housing and allow for a wider variety of businesses to operate in Cambridge.
- Promote equity in City contracts by advocating for a percentage of City contracts to be set aside for diverse businesses, building on the spending disparity study of awarded contracts.
- Adrienne unequivocally supports union jobs as well as expanding local training programs and partnerships. Cambridge is lucky to have robust training programs run by city departments and local nonprofit organizations that can be supplemented.
Business and Workforce Development
Adrienne’s husband is an aspiring entrepreneur who has worked at small businesses here in Cambridge. She lives in a neighborhood full of long-standing shops and too many empty storefronts. She wants to see a thriving, bustling, and diverse economy, where residents can access the goods and services they need while supporting our local businesses. To achieve that we need to improve communication with small businesses and expand resources to support an evolving city.
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- Facilitate Police-Community Reconciliation. At the National Network for Safe Communities, Adrienne’s colleagues developed the Police-Community Reconciliation method. This is one way to help address the recent police shooting of Arif Sayed Faisal, and it is also necessary to continue the hard work to improve trust in our law enforcement and justice institutions.
- Adrienne has had the opportunity to work with members of the Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team (HEART), she respects their work and supports funding them and introducing additional alternative public safety models like the City’s Community Safety Department.
Justice for All
Rooted in her years working toward justice, Adrienne has a strong vision to transform the existing justice mechanisms into a model that works for everyone. She is committed to deterrence and positive reinforcement—not just punitive measures—through improving communication and trust between citizens and local government.
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- Building near transit allows the City to create the needed units to house our growing population, while also providing the environmental benefit of reducing single-car trips. It is key to promote transit-oriented development in balance and consultation with the needs of any neighborhood around specific development projects.
- Adrienne has signed a pledge to support a connected and protected bike network. She wants ongoing development of bike infrastructure that works for all residents and is rolled out with proper communication and instituted with common sense, including data-driven examination of the impact on the lives of residents and businesses brought about by the changes in street use.
- Many of Cambridge's residents rely on public transit, and recent interruptions in service and high fares are making public transit increasingly inaccessible. Adrienne fully supports the City’s efforts to explore a fare-free bus pilot, while supporting similar state-level efforts to promote transit justice and align with the City's environmental goals.
Accessible Infrastructure
Adrienne started biking to work in Cambridge 10 years ago, even biking to work every day during her pregnancy. And she regularly uses the subway and the bus system. Adrienne will advocate for inclusive access to infrastructure, and is unafraid to support a more walkable city, building on the Vision Zero policy already in place.
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- Find ways to keep and expand our tree canopy collaboratively. The city can look to increase tree canopy on city-owned land (e.g., street trees, public parks, etc.) and continue to work with homeowners to plant more trees by providing positive incentives.
- The current recycling and the compost program (which completes its fifth anniversary this year) are a good start and we should look to expand them.
- Support participation in the Fossil Fuel Free Demonstration Program, Electrify Cambridge, and the recently passed BEUDO modifications to align Cambridge building emissions regulations with climate goals.
Climate Action
As a mother, Adrienne takes climate change seriously and looks to continue to push Cambridge to take innovative action and lead the country and world to a more sustainable future for the next generation. The support for continued shift towards public transit and cycling advocated above is part of the climate responsible approach Adrienne is unafraid to support for a more walkable city. She will continue current programs and look for ways to expand their impact.
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