Mayor Ken Reeves’ blog

Congratulations Anthony!

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Anthony Galluccio in his tremendous victory yesterday, September 11th, in the Senate race to replace Jared Barrios. Anthony has worked very hard on behalf of the youth of Cambridge, for affordable housing, and with the neighborhood crime task force. So this is a much-deserved victory for Anthony. Congratulations.

I Feel Good

Posted on September 12, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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Stephanie Guirand, a CRLS 2005 graduate and intern for me attending the University of Connecticut, was accepted to the prestigious study abroad program in Paris at La Sorbonne. Stephanie is from Newtowne Court in Cambridge, her mother works as a nurse’s aid, and was rejected as a co-signer in her loan, and was unable to come up with the money for her study abroad. I, with the help of Richard Mckinnon and company, raised $10,500 to cover her school costs so that she may continue her education. I want to give a special thanks to Richard McKinnon who organized the generous contribution from the Cambridge business community. This is another shining example of the public and private partnership created in our diverse city of Cambridge. The companies involved are The Bulfinch Companies, Goulston & Storrs, and Cambridgeside Partners.

Picnic at Harvard

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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Yesterday was another great day in the life of the Mayor. I had my Senior Citizen’s Picnic, in partnership with Harvard University, inside the Harvard Yard at Harvard University. Over twelve hundred seniors throughout Cambridge came and enjoyed food and beverages provided by Harvard; hats and fans were handed out, a giant steel band performed, and Caribbean traditional dancers danced around the Yard. It was a beautiful day and so much fun was had by all of us. Eating, listening to music, dancing, and watching the dancers, I had a memorable day, as it was another one of those days in my life that makes being a Mayor so enjoyable. Thank you to all of those who attended and a special thanks to all those who helped out. I hope to see you next time!

An Important Meeting with the President of Harvard

Posted on July 31, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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I hosted a reception yesterday, Monday, July 30, for the new President of Harvard University, President Drew Gilpin Faust, to meet Cambridge City’s officials and elected City Councillor and School Committee members. It was intended to be a small informal gathering, where Cambridge officials and the President of Harvard could introduce each other and get to know each other. She was very gracious and committed to working with Cambridge and the Cambridge school committee. Accompanying President Faust, were Government and Community Relation staff, Mary Powers, Marianne Jarvis, Tom Lucey, and Dean Allen Stone. They mingled with the Councillor and the School Committee and they answered questions. It was an important gathering for all of us, to meet in such an intimate and informal way. I look forward to develop more partnerships with Harvard and for us to work together in the future.

A Day of Volunteer Work with MSRP

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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This past Saturday, July 14^th, was another great day in this city. I coordinated a volunteer effort with M.I.T. Summer Research Program entitled MSPR to help different groups around our city improve their facilities. The students are juniors or seniors in College who included African American, Mexican American, Native Americans, and Puerto Ricans. They are at M.I.T. for a ten weeks study period to study science and work in research laboratories under the guidance of M.I.T. faculty who are scientists and engineers. This program is to engage them to be more involved in the sciences and to encourage them to go to graduate school. However, on this day, they rolled up their sleeves and helped our city. Six volunteers went to CASPAR, helped prepare food, and cleaned up the shelter’s cots. Also, nine volunteers went to Cambridge Cares About Aids and worked with the staff and helped them clean up their facilities. Another five volunteers went to the Cambridgeport Children’s Center, known as the “Tot Lot” and helped create a new preschool room by painting, decorating, and organizing their newest classroom. Six volunteer went to Windsor Park in Harvard Square and helped clean and did small landscaping work. After a day of rolling up the sleeves and helping our community, the volunteers enjoyed a cookout in the grounds outside the Kresge Auditorium. Unfortunately, I had to perform a wedding so I was off to another duty but I understand that everyone had a great time.

And Summer Begins …

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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Happy 4^th of July! For most of us, this week starts the beginning of summer, a time when people who are working take vacations, schools are closed except for summer programs, and hopefully, the weather is warm. I would like to take this opportunity to make sure that you are as comfortable as you can be this summer. I hope you to have a safe and enjoyable summer, and encourage you to take advantage of the many programs and activities that the city of Cambridge offers, such as summer camps, sports activities and our public libraries. I invite you to contact my office if we can be of any assistance to you. My assistant, Gabriel Mondon, handles housing and employment issues and can be reached at 617-349-4313. If you need to schedule a meeting with me for any reason, please contact my assistant, Bernard Hicks, at 617-349-4326. Finally, if you have a school related issue, please call John Clifford at 617-349-4264.

I am also asking that we have a very peaceful summer. If there are any issues that myself, or other elected officials and our city can solve, please feel free to contact my office or any other city official. We now have a new police commissioner, who is dedicated to serving our community and our youth in particular. I encourage you to get to know him and his staff, and to work with him and the police department on any crime related incident or display of violence that you may see in your community.

I am reminded of the remarks that former President Bill Clinton made at Senior Day at Harvard University this year, that explained the new scientific research on the human genome that has proven that 99% of us have something in common with our fellow man. Just as President Clinton did, I urge you to search for that common ground between all the members of our city, and not to seek out the 1% difference.

Cambridge has a river, swimming pools, athletic fields, public transportation, educational opportunities and job opportunities. I ask you, as a community, to take advantage of these riches that our city has to offer, and to enjoy your summer.

Summer Reading

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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I attended thirteen CPS graduations this month. I only wish that all of my fellow Cambridgians could have accompanied me to these graduations. The audiences received a real life picture of the diversity and culture of our schools. The excitement, spirit, and enthusiasm of our students moving on to high school or college was evident. Their families were very enthusiastic, not only for their own graduating children, but for all of the graduates. That spirit and enthusiasm generated a feeling of accomplishment throughout the entire audience for these young students moving on to a new stage in their lives.

I encourage all students and their families to dedicate this summer of 2007 to reading. I am not just talking about our school children, but our babies just born and our 1 to 3 year old children. I urge families, friends and relatives to read and talk to your children. What has become crystal clear to us while studying the achievement gap is that the achievement gap begins very early. By the age of three, children from more affluent and more educated families who are talked to and read to from birth already excel in vocabulary compared to children of the same age who are not read or talked to. We must all be aware of this and must set aside time to talk and read to children.

Here in Cambridge, there are many programs available to encourage children to read. At the Public Library, there is a program titled “Wrapped up in Reading”, where each child receives a prize for every three hours of reading that he or she completes. These are programs for children of all ages. There are several public libraries scattered around the city and I encourage you to find one near to you and enroll your child now. The Cambridge Public School Department also has a number of programs and workshops to help children and parents get involved in reading. These include Haitian Creole Parent workshops, Portuguese Story Hours, English Conversations for Beginners and Preschool Story Times. Also, the Agenda for Children offers literacy opportunities for children in Cambridge from birth to three years old. It is very important that we understand as individuals, and as families, that it is our job to read and to encourage our young ones to read. We as a community must work on this together.

Two Central Square Heroes Awarded

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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Back row: Mayor Reeves, Police Commissioner Haas. Front row: Superintendent David Degou, Nelson Aldandoz, Officer Joe Kelley, John Loder and grandson.

Yesterday, two old friends of mine from Central Square, John Loder and Nelson Aldandoz, were given citation awards initated by the City Councillor Anthony Galluccio for coming to the aid of Officer Joe Kelley while he was being attacked by a customer in the Dunkin’ Donuts in Central Square. I was very proud of them and felt energized of my fellow citizens who go to the aid of police officers while in trouble. In fact, Nelson Aldandoz received over twenty stitches to his head after being knocked out by this unruly customer. However, with the aid of those two civilians, police backup arrived and the man was arrested. Thank God for the two good samaritans in Central Square. And I want to take this time to personally thank them once again for their heroic efforts.

Last Week - Another Special Week in the Life of the Mayor

Posted on June 18, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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I was blessed with being able to award diplomas to all of the eighth graders in the city who graduated from the eighth grade. This is a very special group of young people who show the diversity and ethnicity of our city and what a wonderful city we live in. There were eleven graduations in all and I had a great time serving each school. The class speakers were very good, there was wonderful music performed by the students at all of the schools, and I was particularly impressed with the respect and dignity that the students displayed at the graduation and towards each other. It is a wonderful feeling to view our young people preparing in moving on in their teenage years to a greater education with Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School. I wished I could show the picture of each student who graduated; however, space limits me and I randomly selected students with me handing out their diploma.

Harvard Graduation/CRLS Graduation

Posted on June 8, 2007 by Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves
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The last two days in Cambridge were such great days for me. As your mayor, I was invited to Senior Day at Harvard University where former president Bill Clinton spoke. He spoke about the breakthroughs in science, which identified that the human genome in the human body has 99% commonality with all people in the world. In other words, whether you are black, white, yellow or any color, in any part of the world, be it Africa, China, India or the United States, we all can be traced back to the same roots. Clinton urged the students at Harvard to work with the 99% we have in common and not to dwell on the 1% we do not have in common. He stressed that we should find a commonality in order to work together with people throughout the world and that we should identify areas, environmentally or economically, that we can work together on with our brothers and sisters from all over the world.

Former US President Bill Clinton at the Harvard Senior Day, June 6, 2007

At the Harvard Graduation yesterday, Bill Gates from Microsoft, a dropout from Harvard thirty years ago, returned to receive an honorary degree. A billionaire many times over, he has been given billions more by Warren Buffett to search for projects all over the world to eliminate problems such as AIDS, polluted water and other health care issues in parts of the world that live in substandard conditions. Gates said it was our obligation to work with people throughout the world and not leave the suffering people behind.

Vice Mayor Tim Toomey, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates, Mayor Ken Reeves at the Harvard Graduation, June 7, 2007

After the Harvard graduation, in the same location inside the Harvard yard, the Cambridge Rindge & Latin School class of 2007 graduated. As I stood on the stage and looked at the graduating seniors, I saw people of all colors and all nationalities. People who spoke many different languages, students from Africa, Ethiopia, Brazil, ElSalvador, Russia and many other countries were represented in the 2007 graduating class. When I talked to the students, I stole parts of Bill Clinton’s speech and Bill Gates’ speech and weaved them together, attempting to teach the class of 2007 how two brilliant men have chosen to attempt to unite the population of the world in peaceful gestures of the basic necessities of life, health care, nutrition and living standards. I explained how these men have worked very hard to get where they are and how the students should be prepared to work hard in life to put themselves in the position to make positive choices, whether it be for their families, friends or people throughout the world. I advised the students to remember the quote, “No one is free until everybody is free”.