Easy Fix Its for a Better City:

People should be able to submit city forms online >>

Improve air quality: reduce hybrid-automobile excise taxes >>

No "City Council Only" parking >>

Street-level median-strip crosswalks >>

City Solicitor's legal opinions online >>

City Councilors eat Public School food >>

Street-work obstructions clearly marked>>

Councilors pay more attention to comments >>

Contact-if-not
-working info on traffic poles >>

Try limited off-leash hours in parks >>

Comprehensive traffic enforcement plan >>

Why so many public school administrators? >>

Accurate residential parking data >>

Email your “Fix It For Cambridge” ideas to Craig@
CraigKelley.org or call 617-354-8353.

Dear Friends:
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

With your help, and with your #1 votes, I have won a second term on Cambridge City Council.

Once again, in a year where voter turnout dropped to yet another record low of roughly 13,500 ballots cast (final election returns aren't available yet), you showed up in force and gave me 1105 #1 votes, 63 more than I got in 2005. Where the majority of the Councilors received fewer #1 votes, in one case 30% fewer, than they got in 2005, we actually increased our #1 total by 5%, although we spent 30% less than we did during the last election. That increase is a testament to the countless people who passed out fliers, made phone calls, emailed friends and, last but not least, held signs in the cold rain on Tuesday. Despite the lousy weather, you decided that my tenacious drive for accountability, my aggressive informative outreach efforts and my passion for creating a more responsive, effective local government was worth the trouble of going to the polls. For that, I can't thank you enough.

For me, who has consistently challenged the comfortable status quo at City Hall, #1 votes were all important as I received fewer transfers from other Councilors and candidates. The result of this lack of transfers was that even though I had the sixth highest total of #1s, I actually was the last person to be counted on. Without your #1 votes, I wouldn't have been counted on at all.

I hope that my second term will be a continuation of the collaborative efforts we've all shared in my first term, efforts that have already led to more intensive community policing, improved school climate programs, significant neighborhood down zonings, more off-leash opportunities and other improvements to our wonderful city.

I can do nothing by myself. But with your help, as you showed this past Tuesday, anything is possible.

Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Sincerely,

Craig A. Kelley
Cambridge City Council

PS — To look at the raw numbers directly, go to www.Rwinters.com.

from 2007 campaign

The past eighteen months have flown by. My first term has been everything I had hoped it would be — exciting and educational. I have been able to push for things that will have a direct positive impact on our day to day lives in Cambridge such as:

• Better educational experiences for all of our children
• Safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians
• Safer sidewalks for pedestrians
• More effective community-based policing efforts
• A more transparent City government
• A comprehensive housing policy
• Better traffic management and enforcement programs

With the help of many of you, we have made some progress. The school administration is finally talking about school climate and behavior. DPW is addressing cycling road hazards more aggressively. The Police Department is putting out more bike patrols and conducting more training for youth engagement. The City has devoted hundreds of thousands more dollars to street and sidewalk repair and is investigating housing programs that encourage multi-bedroom units and residential developments with fewer cars. These are all steps in the right direction, but more needs to be done, and I hope you'll help me do it.

In my second term, I promise to continue the work I started in my first term:

• I'll push for more transparency in local government
• I'll continue to use the City's budget as an opportunity to highlight where I see both strengths and weaknesses in our government
• I'll continue to lead by example in promoting alternative transportation and creating more effective public schools
• I'll keep challenging the City to develop data on quality of life issues such as noise and traffic enforcement so that we can all better understand the City's efforts on our behalf
• I will remain a voice on City Council that is willing to question the status quo when there appears to be a different, and better, way of doing things

I ask for your support and your NUMBER 1 VOTE once more this November. It won't be an easy race, but with your help, we can make sure that the things we care about continue to have an passionate advocate at City Hall.

Sincerely,

Craig A. Kelley
Cambridge City Council

Because Neighborhoods Count
[from 2005 campaign]

When I ran for City Council in 2003, I wanted to bring an experienced neighborhood voice to City Hall. I still want to be that voice.

Cambridge is a great place to live, but it faces major stresses ranging from a problematic school system and deadly traffic patterns to scarce on-street parking and overdevelopment. The same old solutions the City has used to address these problems for decades are no longer viable. A fresh outlook is needed to craft effective new solutions.

I would like to provide that fresh outlook, bringing my years of neighborhood and Public School advocacy to City Hall. I want to make sure that when neighborhood residents speak, bringing their unique wisdom to the discussion, that the City government listens and addresses their local concerns. I want our School system, the system my children attend, to actually draw people into Cambridge rather than drive them away. I want department heads to develop coherent policies that address City-wide issues in an effective, programmatic way rather than lurching spasmodically from one issue to another.

I want to do these things, and more, but I need your help to make it happen. Please invite me to your neighborhood events, or even have an event just for me, so I can tell people my neighborhood message face to face. Please call me at 617-354-8353 or email me at Craig@CraigKelley.org with suggestions on how we can put a true neighborhood advocate on City Council in the 2005 election.

Together we can make sure Cambridge stays a City we're proud to live in.

Thank you for your help.