As many of you know, large real estate corporations are aggressively promoting new large-scale developments in Cambridge. Despite some architectural enhancements, their plans are in essence “..sky high towers - sky high prices..”.  Ensuing street congestion and public transit burdens from the thousands of additional employees and residents are brushed aside. These plans will come before the City Council in the form of up-zoning proposals for Central Square in the next few months.

Residents need to put forward alternative views of the Cambridge we want – livable, affordable, diverse. The Saturday May 4 forum is the beginning of presenting resident’s views uncoupled from real estate interests. The lead speaker Prof. Tom Angotti is a national expert on the conflicts between community housing needs and global real estate corporations. The panelists include Area 4 community leaders and affordable housing advocates. Please try to attend, and encourage your neighbors.

Prof. Tom Angotti is Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and Director of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning & Development (CCPD). His recent book, New York For Sale: Community Planning Confronts Global Real Estate (MIT Press, 2008) won the Paul Davidoff Award in 2009 and International Planning History Society Book Prize in 2010. His other books include Metropolis 2000: Planning Poverty and Politics, Housing in Italy and The New Century of the Metropolis: Enclave Development and Urban Orientalism. He has collaborated on many community-based plans and written about community land trusts.

To attend, please click here to RSVP on our website.