Anyone know what the loud bang was just now between Hampshire and Broadway Street near Colombia Street. Heard sirens after

Wednesday evening from Cambridge Ringe & Latin School (emailed to parents, posted to their parent communication app).

Is it comforting that 2 incidents in 2 days are unrelated? Or is it more disturbing?

And can you really say there is “no reason to believe there is any specific threat to the safety of our school community” if in one of the incident there was a list of threatened people?

I wish there was a lot more info about how “our school team along with CPD responded and addressed the matter appropriately with the student and the student’s family“.

In our family’s experience, CPSD doesn’t respond to bullying or violence with any consequences. As a parent, the “district’s disciplinary processes“ seem non-existent.

But kudos to the kids who saw something and said something.

———————————————————

“Dear CRLS Community:

The safety of our school community will always be our first priority at CRLS.  

I am writing to let you know about two unrelated incidents that occurred in the last two days.  Yesterday school administrators were notified that a student had posted via social media a photo in which the student  appeared to be brandishing a firearm. The Cambridge Police Department was notified, the student was identified and our school team along with CPD responded and addressed the matter appropriately with the student and the student’s family.  

Earlier today, school administrators were again alerted to a situation in which a different student posted to social media a photograph of this second student brandishing a weapon. In this latter posting, the student also appeared to be exhibiting a written list identifying members of the CRLS community. Again, CPD was notified and officials responded appropriately to the situation to ensure the safety of all members of our school community. We are in the process of communicating with the individuals who were identified in the second photograph of which we learned today. The families of any students involved are also being notified by school officials. 

There is no basis to believe these two incidents were related to one another. At this time we have no reason to believe there is any specific threat to the safety of our school community. We will, as always, maintain continuous communication and partnership with the Cambridge Police Department and other public safety agencies to ensure the continuation of a safe and secure environment for all students and staff. 

To be clear, the possession of weapons and the publication of any social media activity that threatens the physical or psychological safety of our school community is strictly prohibited. Violations of school policy or expectations of the CRLS community will be addressed through the district’s disciplinary processes with referrals to public safety and/or public health agencies as appropriate.

Again, the safety of our school community will always be our first priority. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or other members of our school’s leadership team. 

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Allan Gately Gehant”

I’m a self employed software engineer who doesn’t love the social isolation aspects of the work.

Are there any good co-working spaces in the area where there is some liveliness and social interaction?

Looks like our baby dinos found their new favorite stage. 🦕 Come join them at the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Public Science Common!

I’ve got some free time coming up and I’d like to volunteer helping and learning about growing food (organic) does anyone know of any local opportunities?

Thanks in advance for your help.

With the midterm election fast approaching, join us this Sunday, October 20th from 3:00pm-5:00pm for Activist Afternoons at St James Church, 1991 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA.

Activist Afternoons is a chance for us to connect as a community and work together toward protecting our democracy. During Activist Afternoons we have several types of activities including postcard writing, phone banking, and training for midterm canvassing in neighboring states.

Bring yourself, some friends, and good energy! If you want to phone bank, please bring a charged laptop, headphones, and phone. Training will be provided!

Want to help? We could always use volunteers so please be in touch!

Organized by Indivisible Somerville, Cambridge Indivisible Resistance, Mystic Mashup Indivisible, and Indivisible Progressive Mass Cambridge

More information and signup at this link:

https://www.mobilize.us/indivisibleprogressivemasscambridge/event/985933/

Curious to hear people's thoughts on Cambridge's recently commissioned inclusionary housing study. The city hired RKG Associates to evaluate the feasibility of its current inclusionary housing policy and if it is effective in creating new housing. I'd encourage anyone interested in affordable housing in Cambridge to read the report. Interested to hear what others think of the findings.

https://www.cambridgeday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/RGK-Report-100126.pdf

This is truly insane. Have NIMBYs ever appealed a building permit before in Cambridge to block new multifamily housing?

This proposal for ten homes keeps the existing house! It just adds a rear addition. But these wealthy homeowners have hired a lawyer and are apparently going to go to the ends of the earth to block new housing near them. They already failed at the Historical Commission (see prior post), and now they are appealing the building permit.

If we can’t build this incredibly modest infill housing in Cambridge, the future of this City and the 2/3 of residents who rent is so terrible. These despicable tactics block housing and drive up the cost of any housing that does get built.

This kitchen-sink appeal was brought by Wenxin Du and Yafeng Li of 25-27 Grozier Rd, and Peter Sturges and Sasha Lauterbach of 96-98 Lexington Ave. (both properties assessed at between $2-3M). Wenxin Du is a Harvard Business School professor and an economics PhD, so that’s especially disappointing. What is with all the local professor NIMBYs?! Du is also an affiliate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, which has published great research by some Harvard colleagues on how housing shortage drives up costs, like this piece by Ed Glaeser.

America's Housing Supply Problem: The Closing of the Suburban Frontier? | NBER

They are represented by attorney Dennis Murphy, whose bio says he has represented various clients seeking to block affordable housing under Chapter 40B, the state affordable housing law. It seems clear that they will try to tie up this project in litigation hoping to kill it. This is exactly why the Multifamily Housing Ordinance allows housing by-right, without a special permit—otherwise NIMBYs will sue to block every multifamily proposal. But weaponizing this building permit appeal is a way for housing opponents to try to turn by-right projects into protracted and costly fights.

Please email the BZA and join the meeting tomorrow, Thursday, October 15 at 6:15 pm to give public comment in support of the BZA upholding the Building Commissioner’s approval of the building permit. You can email [mailto:%20mpacheco@cambridgema.gov](mailto:%20mpacheco@cambridgema.gov) and put CASE NO. BZA-1230378 in the subject line.

BZA Agenda
https://cambridgema.primegov.com/Portal/Meeting?meetingTemplateId=13998

Zoom link
https://cambridgema.zoom.us/j/85299551558

1,019 pages of documentation if you want to pull an all-nighter to prepare. https://cambridgema.primegov.com/api/compilemeetingattachmenthistory/historyattachment/?historyId=63710002-8f70-447f-a8b2-b93f56f6d695

CVS has installed locks on the beverage cases along the back wall at its Harvard Square location.

Frankly I’m a bit pissed about it, chiefly because it feels ridiculous to me that customers now need to flag down an employee to purchase something as simple as a 20-oz. bottle of soda, which should be part of an in-and-out transaction.

My venue for an afterparty celebrating a 40th anniversary reunion unexpectedly fell through, and we're scrambling to find a replacement for this Saturday night!

Looking for a space in the Boston/Cambridge area that can accommodate around 40 people from approximately 9:30 PM to 12:30 or 1 AM.

Ideally, we'd like somewhere that would let us bring our own DJ or have control over the sound system. For drinks, we're open to a cash bar with a tab to cover some of the cost, or a BYOB setup if permitted. Our budget for the space and any required fees is ideally under $3,000, and guests would be happy to pay for their own drinks beyond whatever we cover.

We're open to unconventional options, including function rooms, lodge halls, private event spaces, or bars that might rent out an area for the evening.
Does anyone have recommendations for venues that might be able to accommodate us on such short notice?
We'd be incredibly grateful for any leads!!!

Any advice on how to foster cats or kittens? My partner and I have the time, space, and resources to help cats / socialize them on their way to their forever homes!

Does anyone have any experience in partnering with shelters, or have any recommendations on which shelters to apply with?

Spotted this bird today near Gold Star Mothers Park. Anyone know what it is? My guess is a hawk of some kind.

Someone brandishing a knife apparently— anyone know anything?

Following Boston City Council’s rejection of the Draft CSO Control Plan, this week Cambridge City Council unanimously passed a Policy Order calling for Virtual Combined Sewer Overflow Elimination in the CSO Control Plan, and for broader state and federal funding and across the entire MWRA district.

What is Virtual CSO Elimination?

Virtual CSO Elimination is what MWRA provided the beaches in South Boston, decades ago. During those projects, Virtual CSO Elimination is what EPA considered to be no CSO sewage discharges except during a storm expected only about once every 25 years under 2050 climate conditions. Engineers call this a 25-year level of control.

A Collaborative Effort

This Policy Order came from the Cambridge City Council, City Staff, advocates (Save the Alewife Brook and Mystic River Watershed Association), and very importantly, the North Sherman Street Neighbors. Sherman Street neighbors spoke out for an end to CSOs through the climate-resilient strategy of sewer separation paired with Green Stormwater Infrastructure.

We are especially grateful to the Cambridge City Councilor Patty Nolan and her Aide Patrick Hayes, Vice Mayor Azeem, Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, Mayor Siddiqui, and Councillor Al-Zubi.

Health Impacts to Environmental Justice Populations

The Policy Order was passed unanimously and with an amendment from Councillor Al-Zubi. This amendment is one key reason why we fight so hard to end CSOs at Alewife Brook:

WHEREAS: Combined Sewer Overflows discharge untreated or partially treated sewage, bacteria, pathogens, nutrients, and other pollutants into the Charles River, Alewife Brook, and connected waterways during wet-weather events, creating risks to public health, in particular to Environmental Justice populations; and

The Work Ahead

The City's current plan puts a smelly, hazardous sewage tank in the Sherman Street neighborhood, with no sewer separation for that outfall. The worst CSO outfall in Greater Boston would discharge more raw sewage during the larger storms that flood Alewife Brook.

The Sherman Street tank only makes sense if paired with a real plan to complete sewer separation and convert it to a stormwater tank. The Climate Resilient solution is not sewage storage. At Alewife Brook, the solution that scales with Climate Change is sewer separation, paired with stormwater wetlands.

A Regional Problem Needs Regional Funding

MWRA prefers to send sewage into our rivers, using the Mystic and Charles Rivers and Alewife Brook as overflow sewers because it is cheaper than sending that sewage to the Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant. MWRA’s strategy is to use the threat of municipal infrastructure costs against the cities of Cambridge and Somerville to create a political situation where the MWRA can shirk making needed investments.

Every MWRA community sends its sewage to Deer Island. In some storms, MWRA’s regional system reaches capacity, meaning it fills up downstream, making it impossible to pump sewage out of the Alewife area.

MWRA was created by the Legislature with a funding mechanism to clean up CSOs, and it has the bonding capacity and the budget for the debt service to pay for Virtual CSO Elimination. Watch MWRA's Executive Director explain the cost of a 25-year level of control: https://youtu.be/9UPFGAY-arU?is=-aRYudDU2jklG3NH

Ending the CSOs is the final piece of the Boston Harbor clean-up - the piece that MWRA has not completed. Through MWRA sewer rates, we all paid our share to end sewage dumping in Boston Harbor and to virtually end sewage dumping at the South Boston beaches. Now it is time to finish the task by ending CSOs dumping sewage into Alewife Brook and the Mystic and Charles Rivers.

If so, tell me what they were inside of. I’d love to return them to their rightful owner!

—Fellow Bikester

The Community Music Hangout is a free, weekly, inclusive, and community-oriented gathering of musicians and music lovers in the park, taking requests and suggestions for music to play and enjoy together! Hope to see you there!

For more info, see https://www.cambridgejams.com

Join friends and neighbors Thursday nites for a social bike ride! This is for FUN, not for Strava or setting PRs. We ride at party pace to mingle and to enjoy our beautiful Camberville-ston-ford as a group.

Start arriving at Café ZING at 6:30p to mingle and use the bathroom etc. Remember the shop closes at 7 so we don’t want to cause more work for the good folks there. We’ll start the ride at 7 (or a few minutes after). Expect a 1.5 - 2 hour commitment.

This ride is for all, which means it is for YOU! All bikers and bikes are welcome: the rugged rider and the newbie, the single-speed and the e-bike, no matter who you are or what you ride, this ride is for you.

And tell your friends!! Biking is fun, and even more fun with friends.

We’re approaching the ride’s anniversary, and there will be a special Halloween ride soon (I’ll let you guess when). Come out for the fun, for the gentle exercise, and for the neighborliness of it all.

Check this post for weather updates for this and next week. We won’t ride in hazardous conditions.

I live in a condo and also don’t know how to use or own power tools. I have a wooden table that needs sanding. And another DIY headboard that I want wood to be cut for. Where in Boston/Cambridge is it best to get such things for a minimal price? I saw task rabbit but the prices were higher than I thought. Home depot is an option for the wood cut, but I need a curved cut for this project which they seem to not do. TIA!

I’m stuck on the Allston side of Harvard Square across the bridge, police have shut down Storrow for 20 minutes. What happened?

A vision of the future that has to be seen to be believed.

Thirty years after Ridley Scott's original classic, Denis Villeneuve did the seemingly impossible: he made a sequel worthy of the Blade Runner name. Released in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 is a breathtaking feat of world-building, a slow-burn mystery wrapped in some of the most extraordinary imagery ever put on screen. It asks big questions about memory, identity, and what it means to be human, and it looks like nothing else in science fiction.

On the Mugar Omni Theater's five-story dome, every vast landscape and neon-soaked cityscape becomes something you don't just watch but feel.

Blade Runner 2049 is part of Sci-Fi, Super-Sized: Revolutions, the Museum's fall film series celebrating its Year of Revolutionary Science. From groundbreaking visual effects to visionary ideas about science, technology, and the future, these are the films that rewrote the rules of science fiction and still captivate audiences today.

Tickets available at our website.

I lost my black lululemon wallet on Sunday in the rain near prospect street by central square (near the Whole Foods). If anyone has found it, please please let me know!!! There are two keys attached and an ID among a few other things.