Dear Friends, I am writing you today with what I think is exciting news. As many of you know, I’ve spent the past few months revving up for November elections - my final bid for re-election to Cambridge City Council. My tenure as your Councillor has always been based on a campaign promise to serve no more than four to six years (two to three terms). I believe that by stepping back early, public servants like me are in a unique position to train others interested in serving - especially those who promise to bring unique perspectives and ultra-hard work to their service. I have decided to suspend my campaign now, after only two terms. My hope is to use our precious time to engage in a community discussion around racial and class equity, economic opportunity, and emergent community leadership in Cambridge and Greater Boston. If all goes to plan, I will use this summer to direct mini-documentaries that foster these conversations for as broad an audience as possible. I will consider a run for higher office in 2018 or 2020, but I need to focus on our community conversations in the months immediately ahead. ↓ IF YOU READ ONE PARAGRAPH, MAKE IT THIS ONE ↓ Over the course of my civic work in Cambridge, I’ve met thousands of amazing and wonderful people. Now I want to make sure that I’m doing my best to connect all of you; I want to ensure the progress we’ve made continues. If you’re in Cambridge, please let me know by phone or reply email what issues you care about most - or just say "hi" in your reply. This is so important to me and will support my ongoing community engagement as well as my upcoming projects. If you are not in Cambridge, I want to hear about your hopes for American politics—or issues of particular interest to you—for 2018. Please send me a one sentence reply via email right now!



It’s a Celebration Today, I am celebrating years of hard work with my closest allies on council: Dennis Carlone, Jan Devereux, and YOU! If you’re on this list, you live in Cambridge, you used to live in Cambridge, or you have friends in Cambridge. Take a moment now to reflect on the fact that I won my first election by just 14 votes. Your commitment to vote is and will forever remain incredibly consequential. Here’s what we accomplished together: Community: The Foundry Building was the issue du jour when I was elected almost four years ago. We kept the building from being sold then - and just this year I led an uphill battle to fund the Foundry not at a $6M level, but at a $28M level. This building is on its way to being majority community-benefit space dedicated to arts, exhibition, performance, community engagement, and job training. We couldn’t have done it without East Cambridge Planning Team, its bold leadership, and its active membership.

Striving for Better: I remember when Cambridge increased its one-time linkage fees on commercial development from $4/sq. ft. to $12+/sq. ft. Some declared this a win. We could have legally gone up to over $20/sq. ft., especially on lab space that's already costing developers nearly $1,000/sq. ft. to build. This could have raised several million dollars more for Affordable Housing over just a few years. I consider this one of my most consequential losses on Council, yet I am elated that so many people are ready to maximize these fees when the next opportunity arises.

Affordable Housing: In 2013 Dennis Carlone and I joined the Cambridge Residents Alliance in advocating for 20-25% of all new residential development to become Inclusionary Affordable Housing. At the time, seven councillors literally said “It can’t be done.” Now, three years later, we have passed 20% inclusionary and have done so unanimously. I am lucky to lead in Cambridge where such a thing is possible - and where our righteous community advocated a stronger way forward.

Educational Equity: My first initiative was an exercise in broad outreach and consensus building: I had 90 meetings with educators in one month to describe my vision for educational equity and Out of School Time access. With the help of my community organizer Jake Crutchfield, several school committee members, and countless educators, we achieved this unanimous policy and a promise of $1M over three years from the City Manager.

Arts & Culture: This year we had a breakthrough. Cambridge funded three things I have been advocating for since my first year on the job: increased arts grants, a portal for professional artists to connect with the community (and buyers), and an arts coordinator position (to supercharge our arts ecosystem and local arts economy). Jason Weeks at the Arts Council made it possible, former City Manager Rossi greenlit the funding two years ago, and Manager Depasquale and Deputy Manager Peterson followed through this year.

Consensus & Community: Something crazy happened this year: greedy developers and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) neighbors finally agreed on something. It turns out the developers weren’t greedy and the NIMBYs weren’t actually NIMBYs at all. In 2013, real consensus-based zoning solutions didn't seem possible. But this year, we passed the Central Square Restoration Petition - a process that went smoothly from initial collaboration to final passage. It seems rare these days that we reach out to achieve others' interest alongside our own—but it’s something Cambridge is always equal to and something we should always attempt.

Moving Council Left: I believe our council discussions and outcomes have moved decidedly to the left over the past four years. Recently, a city councillor announced that he will no longer be accepting special interest donations. It seems likely that campaign finance reform will see majority support next term. I've supported this since I was elected. There is a movement underway. I can see it in the election of my friend Mike Connolly to the Massachusetts State House, on university campuses, and in Our Revolution and similar groups taking action all over the state, the country, and online.

Advocacy Groups: This term I promised to launch an advocacy experiment. The premise was that groups of four or five engaged residents could have a huge impact on all manner of issues if briefed on the civic process in Cambridge and given consistent feedback. Although almost a dozen advocacy groups eventually formed, the most successful have been Immigrant Advocacy (secured funding for an Immigrant Liaison and promotes non-citizen voting), Refugee Advocacy (gathered funds and supplies, bringing attention to national #resistance), Transit Safety (over 1,000 members secured pop-up bike lanes and permanent protected bike lanes), and Art City Cambridge (Children’s Arts Festival, gallery shows, block parties, and more).

And More: There is so much more to report and so many people to thank. We’ll save it for the book tour (ha!). I greatly appreciated the wisdom and support of department heads, the City Managers and Deputy City Manager, the clerks and their office, and the administrators and aides who make it all possible. I learned a tremendous amount from my colleagues on Council and from the hundreds of community leaders who showed me the way. I'm indebted to Dan Schwartz, who showed me the ropes when I was just getting started and worked with me for several years. Nina Berg, Joe Poirier, Matt Boyes-Watson, and Naseem Makiya gave me the energy, feedback, and friendship that kept me going. Thanks to all of you, too.

With love and gratitude, Nadeem Mazen