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April 22, 2025

Cambridge Spy

Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Cambridge

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YMCA Partners with the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading in Cambridge

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The racquetball courts have been gutted, as has the band/choir room. This section of the Pauline F. and W. David Robbins Family YMCA in Cambridge will be transformed into a reading hub for young children, thanks to $300,000 in funding provided by novelist-philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. It’s necessary to renovate this area for the new use because there is nowhere else in the facility for it. And what’s a reading campaign without reading space?

The Robbins Y has recently partnered with the Dorchester County Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, which focuses on ensuring that children from low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. Reading proficiency by the end of third grade is a critical milestone in a child’s educational development, serving as a key predictor of future academic success and high school graduation.

Sadly, Dorchester County currently ranks 21st of 24 counties in third-grade reading proficiency in Maryland, and recent assessments have highlighted the need for focused intervention. Through this new partnership, the Robbins Y aims to address these challenges by implementing the elements of the CGLR: targeted kindergarten readiness strategies, decreasing chronic absenteeism, enhancing and expanding literacy programs, engaging families, mobilizing community resources to support young readers, and increasing access to out-of-school time activities. The goal is to increase the number of Dorchester County third graders reading at grade level from 21% to 50% in the next eight years.

As the “backbone agency” of the local campaign, the Y will coordinate efforts among various stakeholders, including the John and Janice Wyatt Foundation, Dorchester County Public Schools, the Chamber of Commerce, Moving Dorchester Forward, and other community organizations.

The Spy recently chatted with Robbie Gill, CEO of the YMCA of the Chesapeake, about their part in this endeavor and why it is so important.

Did you volunteer to coordinate or were you asked?

GILL: So, we had attended the screening of a movie, Sentenced, that was done by [basketball star] Steph Curry, and really were moved by that. And then listening to [Dorchester County Public Schools Superintendent] Dr. Jymil Thompson and [Talbot County Public Schools Superintendent] Dr. [Sharon] Pepukayi kind of speak to the challenges around grade level reading, we started to figure, think a bit about how could we get involved. And then when we heard the statistic was 21% of kids in Dorchester County can read on grade level by third grade, we thought, “All right, we need to get involved.”

And so, we had some conversations with the John and Janice Wyatt Foundation Executive Director Matt Peterson and took a tour of some work they’re doing in Winchester, Virginia. And then from there thought, “Man, we could be a really good partner and help move the needle here.” And so, I think it was really through that moment of watching that movie and thinking a little more about should the Y be involved and how could we make a difference, that we said, “Hey, we’re here to help if we can get involved.” So, it was kind of an organic moment for us.

You’ve been involved with the campaign in some way for years.

GILL: So, we were doing early learning programming in the Greenwood community and very involved with that and were a part of the coalition. Never really thinking much about playing this leadership role. But it was kind of through that transition where we saw, not only saw the movie, but they were looking for a leader to step in. And we thought, “Okay, maybe we should play a bigger role than what we’re playing and have the capacity to do that.”

What does it mean that you’re the “backbone agency?”

GILL: So, basically what that means is we’re the facilitators of meetings of the coalition and all the partners that are doing work to support this campaign for grade-level reading. And so that’s a variety of organizations from the library to the school system to His Hope Ministries and all these other different groups that are working with kids. The Judy Center, WIC. And so it’s the backbone agency. You’re pulling those groups together, you’re providing information, training support, data, analyzing where potential gaps may be and trying to fill those in, working with the collective.

So, as an example, we know one of the gaps in this community is from this birth-to-kindergarten. Like there are limited programs and services that are out there to serve kids at a level that were ready for kindergarten. That’s a gap for us. And so, as a backbone agency, we’re going to work hard not only as a YMCA to offer more programming to help kids be kindergarten-ready but also supporting other not-for-profits and other community organizations serving kids to make that a bigger focus. So, you’re really kind of coordinating the collective group of partners and collecting data.

Do you think the goal of 50% of third graders reading on grade level within eight years is realistic?

GILL: That’s a great question. So, if you break it down, yes, but it’s a heavy lift, right? If you would have, we would have figured it out already. Everybody would already be doing it. And it’s an issue for us across the state and across the entire country. But I think if you eat the elephant in small bits, you can do it. And so, we need to do more around this birth-to-kindergarten focus to where kids are ready for kindergarten. There needs to be heavier work on chronic absenteeism. If kids aren’t in school, like that can be tough, right? You can fall behind. And so, what can we do as an organization and as a campaign to help create incentive strategies to support schools to keep kids in class?

And then you’ve got to have a strong, robust enrichment after-school time. So, when kids are out of school that they’re in enrichment-based programs that are helping them continue to grow in the summer, that there’s opportunities for them to where they’re not dealing with summer learning-loss. Kids that aren’t engaged in programming in the summer, fall, back as much as six months. And so, you gotta have that piece, too.

And then, lastly, for kids who need really one-on-one help, that we’ve created a reading-mentor strategy to where, if I’m a child that needs additional help, I can be paired with a mentor who meets with me maybe here at the Y twice a week to help me with my reading. And I think, if you break those pieces out and you really start working at it, you can do it. There’s 360 kids, roughly, born in this county in a year. So, it’s not a massive number. You just have to make sure you’re connecting to those little ones when they’re infants and those families and then, as they get a little older, they get to twos and threes, that you’re like, “Okay, here are all these ways you can get your kids involved in programming that can help them be kindergarten-ready.”

And what does kindergarten-ready look like? You know, that’s “I can tie my shoes, I can eat at the table on my own, I’m potty trained, I have an attention span for 15 or 20 minutes, I can keep my hands to myself.” It’s kind of things that we don’t really think much about, but they’re key functional parts of being ready for kindergarten. If you have six or seven kids in a class of 15 or 16 that can’t do that, the teacher’s gonna spend most of their time navigating corrective behavior and not teaching. And so, yeah, I think if we just really work at it, absolutely, it’s totally doable. If we didn’t think we could move the needle, we wouldn’t have gotten involved at this level. So yeah, we believe we can do it.

So, you mentioned the reading tutoring that could happen here. What other activities would be happening here at the Y?

GILL: Well, so, I really believe that having especially little kids involved in programming at an early age can build a base around attention span and keeping your hands on yourself and all the things we just talked about. And so, we’ll be running more programming for smaller children. … So, I think, you know, it’s not just about reading books at that young age. It’s also about having kids in programs to where they’re learning some of those skills. Like, if I’m in a four-year-old swim lesson at the Y, not every kid is in the pool swimming at once. So, I have to learn to sit on the side and wait and I have to take direction, I have to trust my instructor and all those pieces with the mentoring piece too.

We feel like we have about 800 members at this YMCA that would be good candidates for mentor-reading mentors because they’re either semi-retired or retired and would have some time to do that. And so, our goal is to find about a hundred folks that could support that effort.

And then this space that we’re converting, which was the old band room and choir room here, that’ll be the reading hub. It provides an opportunity where, if you wanted to have Saturday morning book-reading events for young kids and their families to come in, and you can do that. And that’s like a, you know, it’s more interactive today than just someone holding a book. You can see that pretty regularly within the libraries. So, just accessibility and opportunity is kind of key.

And how do we make sure as a community, not only the Y is making a bigger focus on that, but everyone else is working with kids, whether it’s churches or other not-for-profits, that they’re focused on expanding that? And then most importantly, how do we communicate that in a way that parents know, “Here are all the opportunities I have to get my kids involved”?

What else do you want to tell me about the program?

GILL: Well, for us to be successful in this as a community, we’re going to have to have everyone involved. And I know that this collaborative effort has been going on since 2023, and it’s our goal to reinvigorate that and get people excited about it. It’s a huge need. I would argue it might be one of the greatest needs in this community, period. When you think about that many kids not being able to be on grade level by third grade, I mean, it is one of the most prominent indicators of success as an adult.

And so, my hope would be that as we continue to talk to folks about getting involved, that people would think about how they could play a role, whether it’s directly or indirectly through volunteering or financially supporting the program. I think the more people we get engaged and involved in this that care about it and see the need, I think the more successful we’ll be.

And just maybe last thing, [we’re] appreciative of the Wyatt Foundation, John and Janice, that they call this place home and that they see that as a need and willing to invest time and resources in this. I mean, that’s a big deal. That makes a big difference. It’s unrealistic to believe that we can, in today’s world, we can send our kids to school and expect that they’re going to have everything that they need. We’re putting too much on public education to believe that I can send a kid in there in kindergarten, and they’re going to be good all the way through 12th grade. We’ve got to do more as communities to make sure kids are ready and then, even once they get there, that we’re supporting them.

I wasn’t a super-sharp reader as a kid and needed a lot of extra help and fortunately grew up in a place where I was able to get that. And that was super helpful for me. I heard a saying from a mentor of mine a long time ago: “There are no throwaway kids.” So, we need to dedicate as much resources as we can to make an impact. And the more people we can get involved, the better.

Are you excited about leading this effort?

GILL: Yeah, man, I’m pumped. It’s going to be cool. I mean, kids are great. And reading is something that inspires your creative side. Like, when you read a book, it’s on your terms. You know, when you watch a TV show, it’s like they’re giving you the script. But when you read something, it’s in your scope. So, how you read it and perceive that story is how you do it. There’s a lot of freedom in that, and there’s a lot of creativity in that, and it’s very empowering.

Maybe the part of that movie [Sentenced] I struggled the most with is watching those adults struggle to just live day to day. Like the one girl that couldn’t work the cash register because she couldn’t read the menu. And then the other thing about that is you see how that lack of literacy passes down to future generations. Like, it’s pretty scary, right? So, being able to read is a big deal. It should be like walking or learning to swim. I think learning to swim should be the same way. Like, everyone should have that skill. Reading is the same way. It’s a gateway to future success.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Richardson Maritime Museum Sees Bright Future

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The exhibits of the Richardson Maritime Museum sit crowded in the top floor of the red brick building on Byrn Street in Cambridge. They await their moment to once more face the admiring public as they did at the old Dorchester National Bank Building on High Street. And that moment may be closer than some people think.

“My goal is to have it before the end of 2025, to have us at least open one day a week with volunteer docents to do that,” said Debbie Usab, executive director of the Richardson. “We have a docent manual, but it’s not appropriate to this exhibit. So, to refurbish the docent manual, I have a history intern who is going to be graduating, and this is their internship, and they’re going to be working on that docent manual.”

A new manual is necessary because the museum will be considerably altered from its earlier form. Not only will the main space be different, but there is also the Boat Works next door, which the staff calls “the living museum” because vintage vessels are worked on there. That’s a component the founders of the endeavor probably didn’t envision when they started.

Back in the early 90s, a group called the Committee of 100 was formed to try to revitalize Cambridge by bringing in tourism, and they knew they needed to have some kind of “draw.” Fortunately, a number of people had maritime artifacts that had belonged to the renowned boatbuilder Jim Richardson, and they made those artifacts the basis for a museum of the maritime history of Dorchester County. The bank building downtown was donated along with private funds, and the Richardson Maritime Museum was begun in 1992.

Years later, they acquired part of the property on Byrn Street. Someone else had the other part of the property, next to the waterfront. The museum’s board of directors took out a substantial mortgage to purchase that part of the property. The Earl Brannock Maritime Museum was placed in the red brick building when Earl donated his artifacts and archives to the Richardson in 2013. By 2019, they were dealing with the cost of maintaining the bank building, the red brick building, and the Boat Works.

“It just made more sense to sell the bank building because we really wanted this campus to be our main location,” explained Usab. “Covid happened along with that.”

Everything was photographed, inventoried, and cataloged. But, because of the pandemic, no one could go to Byrn Street to begin work on any of it. During that time, they let their executive director go because there was no more funding for that position. They were able to pay their other bills to keep the endeavor from folding, but they couldn’t move forward.

“And,” said Usab, “we kind of just sat.”

However, something they weren’t able to pay was the heavy debt on the property and had no idea how they ever would. Meanwhile, Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc., was proceeding with plans for the Cambridge Harbor project. By 2023, the CWDI board was very nervous about the condition of the museum, which they felt was a vital part of their vision. The board feared that the Richardsons’ debt would force them to sell the property to a developer who would put new housing on it.

“So, they worked with us and with the private mortgage person who we owed money to, to kind of negotiate down that debt and purchase the property for what was owed, leased the property back to us for a dollar a year, gave us funds to try to get us more than just paying the electric bill,” said Usab. “Also, their executive director at that point became the CWDI board appointee to our board and helped with beginning the beginnings of a strategic plan and getting us really refocused on where we needed to be.”

The Richardson’s board received a private donation to fund the hiring of Katie Clendaniel for a contractual short-term position to help with the business plan and operational plan and to get some events going. Her contract ended in January 2024, at which point the board held their annual meeting and elected Usab to be chair. They also had another board donation to help them hire a bookkeeper, and Usab stepped up to also take on the role of executive director.

“Earl and Shirley Brannock were my second parents,” said Usab. “Earl walked me down the aisle when I got married 34 years ago. I promised him on his deathbed that I would come back onto the board and do whatever I could to make sure that his legacy continued. So, I’m not here for me, you know, I’m not here because this is–I wouldn’t say it’s not fun. It is. Some of it is fun. I was a teacher for 24 years and so I’m used to, you know, talking in front of a class.”

While she admittedly has little knowledge about the actual vessels, Usab does know how to facilitate a group of people to get an outcome. She hopes to build a more diverse board of directors and to generally get more people involved, especially as committee members. She’ll even take people to do short-term projects, because then they may decide they want to take on more as a board member. There are, in fact, two new board members–Natalie Chabot and former state senator Addie Eckardt. Usab is currently negotiating with someone else to join the board in July.

“We really need to be strategic about, as every board needs to be, as to what type of person you have on your board,” she explained. “[We have a] lot of people working on boats on our board, and that’s great because we need that historical reference and that knowledge. But we also need an accountant and we need a lawyer and we need, you know, somebody who has financial knowledge. So those are people that we’re still looking for.”

Meanwhile, Usab is working on grant applications and preparing for upcoming events like the Legends of the Sequoia reunion dinner and the Second Annual Boatyard Bash. It’s a lot of work, but she has high hopes for the future success of the Richardson Maritime Museum.

“I think it’s a huge value to the community,” she said confidently.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Congressman Jamie Raskin Speaks at Cambridge Town Hall

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On March 22, the political groups Cambridge Indivisible and Eastern Shore Indivisible held a “People’s Town Hall” for a packed house in the Mace’s Lane Middle School gymnasium. In response to Congressional Representative Andy Harris’ refusal to participate in an in-person event with constituents, this gathering featured Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County. Raskin made a speech without notes before the very friendly and lively crowd and then listened to a few personal stories of attendees before answering some questions from the audience.

“I know I was not your first choice,” Raskin began, “but I heard your congressman couldn’t quite squeeze you in today.”

He continued, “I keep hearing my Republican colleagues talking about paid protesters. Is anybody out there being paid to be here today?”

The crowd yelled, “No!”

“Well,” said Raskin, “what’s interesting to me is that the people who are showing up are not paid protesters, but the people who are not showing up are paid politicians.”

He explained that town halls are supposed to be for representatives to report on what they’ve been doing and then listen to the constituents. He said he wouldn’t have shown up for the event if he’d been in Washington voting against Medicaid and trying to dismantle the government, alluding to the absent Harris.

Raskin went on to ridicule Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union address as a “seven-hour Fidel Castro style speech,” during which Trump accused NIH of spending $8 million on developing “transgender mice.” Raskin said he’d looked up the project to find that they were “transgenic mice” (injected with DNA).

“My friends,” he said, “we are being governed by morons.”

Every aspect of the US Constitution is under attack by President Trump and his associate Elon Musk, claimed Raskin. So, he announced he would give a “refresher course into the Constitution because America needs it.” After reciting the preamble, Raskin discussed Article I and the powers of Congress, including to raise taxes and armies, levy tariffs, and regulate immigration. Then, he went to Article II, the most important part of which is how to impeach a president.

“The core job of the president is simple: to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” said Raskin, who then addressed Trump with “Do your job!”

The congressman then talked about current court cases brought against the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. These included the attack on birthright citizenship, freezes on funding, the attempt to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the collection of Social Security data. Raskin said that most Americans oppose authoritarianism and that they should stand up for women’s reproductive rights, the LGBTQ community, and freedom of speech.

Raskin threw out a number of quips and quotable lines, including “A rally a day keeps the fascists away,” “In this age of artificial intelligence, we need some intelligence,” and “Elon Musk may be the richest man in the world, but he doesn’t own the American people.”

After his speech, he took some questions, such as “What can we do to fight?” and “What can we do to make the Democratic Party cool again?” (Raskin’s responses: Start by getting your data back from Elon Musk and reach out to young people.) Toward the end, a woman asked Raskin if he would ever run for president, and he answered that he would do whatever the people asked of him.

The video (with thanks to Rick Hughes) is approximately 30 minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Congressman Jamie Raskin speaks at Cambridge town hall

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On March 22, the political groups Cambridge Indivisible and Eastern Shore Indivisible held a “People’s Town Hall” for a packed house in the Mace’s Lane Middle School gymnasium. In response to Congressional Representative Andy Harris’ refusal to participate in an in-person event with constituents, this gathering featured Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Montgomery County. Raskin made a speech without notes before the very friendly and lively crowd and then listened to a few personal stories of attendees before answering some questions from the audience.

“I know I was not your first choice,” Raskin began, “but I heard your congressman couldn’t quite squeeze you in today.”

He continued, “I keep hearing my Republican colleagues talking about paid protesters. Is anybody out there being paid to be here today?”

The crowd yelled, “No!”

“Well,” said Raskin, “what’s interesting to me is that the people who are showing up are not paid protesters, but the people who are not showing up are paid politicians.”

He explained that town halls are supposed to be for representatives to report on what they’ve been doing and then listen to the constituents. He said he wouldn’t have shown up for the event if he’d been in Washington voting against Medicaid and trying to dismantle the government, alluding to the absent Harris.

Raskin went on to ridicule Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union address as a “seven-hour Fidel Castro style speech,” during which Trump accused NIH of spending $8 million on developing “transgender mice.” Raskin said he’d looked up the project to find that they were “transgenic mice” (injected with DNA).

“My friends,” he said, “we are being governed by morons.”

Every aspect of the US Constitution is under attack by President Trump and his associate Elon Musk, claimed Raskin. So, he announced he would give a “refresher course into the Constitution because America needs it.” After reciting the preamble, Raskin discussed Article I and the powers of Congress, including to raise taxes and armies, levy tariffs, and regulate immigration. Then, he went to Article II, the most important part of which is how to impeach a president.

“The core job of the president is simple: to take care that the laws are faithfully executed,” said Raskin, who then addressed Trump with “Do your job!”

The congressman then talked about current court cases brought against the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. These included the attack on birthright citizenship, freezes on funding, the attempt to close the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the collection of Social Security data. Raskin said that most Americans oppose authoritarianism and that they should stand up for women’s reproductive rights, the LGBTQ community, and freedom of speech.

Raskin threw out a number of quips and quotable lines, including “A rally a day keeps the fascists away,” “In this age of artificial intelligence, we need some intelligence,” and “Elon Musk may be the richest man in the world, but he doesn’t own the American people.”

After his speech, he took some questions, such as “What can we do to fight?” and “What can we do to make the Democratic Party cool again?” (Raskin’s responses: Start by getting your data back from Elon Musk and reach out to young people.) Toward the end, a woman asked Raskin if he would ever run for president, and he answered that he would do whatever the people asked of him.

The video (with thanks to Rick Hughes) is approximately 30 minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A chat about public interactions with City Manager Glenn Steckman

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In mid-February, a press release posted on ChooseCambridge.com announced that City Manager Glenn Steckman would be available to meet with interested citizens at his City Hall office on Saturday the 15th. People were invited to bring their concerns or just introduce themselves. Another release was later posted for a similar “open house” on March 8th.

The Spy recently sat down with Steckman to discuss these meetings, including what concerns were brought forward and what could be done to address them. (The text has been edited for length and clarity.)

You’ve held meetings on February 15 and March 8 for people to come in and talk to you. Were there any dates before that?

STECKMAN: After the 8th meeting, someone called and asked if they could come in and see me on a Saturday. So, I went ahead, and someone else called and I said “Come on in.” So, we ended up, though it wasn’t publicized, I had two city constituents come in and talk. Okay with me. So overall, in the three times that I’ve been in here on Saturdays in the last month, we’ve had six people come in and speak.

What was the impetus for your open-door meetings?

STECKMAN: Well, actually, I’ve done this a lot during my career. I think it helps. You know, we need to remember that not everybody can come in and speak to the city manager if they wish to from 8 to 5. And recognizing that, that people work and they want to come in and talk with the city manager on any issue, I started making time on Saturdays. And when I worked in Nome [Alaska], I was working every Saturday, so I didn’t have to announce it. People would see my vehicle parked in the parking lot. And our building was in a different configuration, obviously, from here. So, people would know that I was there and they would just [come in]. Oh, and I would make appointments for people who just couldn’t get in during the week.

What kinds of concerns were discussed?

STECKMAN: Well, you know, concerns about traffic, concerns about [Cambridge Waterfront Development, Inc], where that was going. You know, a lot of traffic and safety complaints. I mean, it’s what I was expecting, things that were impacting people directly. And it also has resulted in a couple meetings to meet with larger groups of people that might be having coffee somewhere and they would like to come in and hear what is going on in the city and getting it from, you know, from the horse’s mouth, in a sense. They’re hearing it from me, and I look at it as a way to build faith and trust in the city operations.

Were any issues a surprise to you?

STECKMAN: Well, there were […] some poles that were still standing around from the street meters, which then I started noticing and seeing more than I have realized. I’ve been doing this for 25 years. I’ve managed cities that were going in bankruptcy, managed cities to go out of bankruptcy. So not a lot surprises me. I’ve built a career in helping municipalities move forward in a more positive light.

What were your responses to some of these issues?

STECKMAN: Well, a lot of these issues can’t be addressed immediately. It’ll be addressed as we get into this later, into the spring and to the summer, because it requires removing poles and putting up new signage. And we’re going to be doing three miles of paving this summer, this late spring/summer. So that’s also going to require, you know, where they were concerned about crosswalks and everything else, all that will be addressed at that time. It just gave them the knowledge that it was going to occur, and they knew their concerns were heard. I mean, a lot of this is making sure people hear their concerns are heard and to see where we can get them addressed in a timely fashion.

Where’s the paving going to be taking place?

STECKMAN: Paving is taking place all through the town and in portions of the downtown. And that’s where, when people have raised that, that’s where the crosswalks and all of those safety [things are]. Now, the other aspect of the paving, when the bids went out, proposals went out this past summer, the staff was not aware that there had to be some ADA improvements. So, this Monday night, the council will be asked to do ADA improvements on all the intersections where the paving has occurred. While we had ADA improvements there, they were done years ago, and ADA has since done another upgrade of the standards. So, what you’re supposed to do is, when you’re paving through the intersection, you need to improve the crosswalks areas.

 

Did you get the impression the people who came in [on Saturday] were satisfied with the discussions?

STECKMAN: They thanked me for being here on a Saturday and being willing for them to come in and talk with me. I’ve gotten a couple letters on that. … People like to be heard, and I want to let people know they can be heard. Not that we’re always going to be able to solve problems. Some of these, you know, I’m sure we’re going to have concerns raised that are more on a county level or state level. I do meet with the county manager once a month, and if I hear of any of these issues, I do take it to him to discuss.

I assume you’ve received emails and phone calls from citizens with concerns, also. Can you tell me anything about those?

STECKMAN: Well, in some ways it’s around the same issue. You know, senior citizens concerns. Some people will make an appointment to come in and see me to talk to the issue directly. That’s what I prefer. I’m more of a one-on-one or one with a group of people. I’m not a big, huge fan of emails because sometimes feelings don’t get conveyed, and I just want the people to know that they’re being heard. And we’re going to try to address these issues. And some of this has resulted in having monthly meetings with certain kinds of groups, senior citizens in particular, so they can voice their concerns.

What are the concerns that senior citizens have?

STECKMAN: Well, the senior citizens’ concerns I think are like […] the cost of living, the need for additional support, more activities for senior citizens. You know, the Delmarva Community Services does a great job, but they can only afford three days a week of elderly services for the elderly to come in and socialize and receive definitely a good meal. I think personally we should be doing it five days a week. I don’t want to see our elderly isolated in their homes, disconnected. And in other communities where I’ve come from, we’ve offered five days of services. Now, this is typically not a city issue. It was where I was working before because we heavily supported senior services. I’ve brought some of these issues to the county to consider if they could provide additional funding.

But, you know, we have a lot of elderly that live within our community. We want to make sure that they have a good place to live, whether it’s in subsidized or supported housing. And we also want to make sure that they can, for those that own their homes, can stay in their homes, you know, that cost to do some repairs to their homes. We want to work with them if they have sidewalk problems, if they have roof problems. We do have programs here at the city.

What problems can you address on your own, and which will require the involvement of the city council?

STECKMAN: Well, as the CEO of the city, we’re looking at internal issues right now. You know, in terms of what are we spending our money on. Are we getting the maximum return on our revenues? For instance, one of the things that was just done is creating a sweep account so that any of our cash that is not sitting in a CD or somewhere else gains interest. And it’s, you know, we have a large checking account and a couple checking accounts. So, what we’ve done is by moving to a sweep account, it’ll increase at the current interest rates. We estimate an additional $90,000 in revenue to the city.

We’re looking at how we purchase our insurance. We’re looking at potentially implementing deductibles on some of our insurance so that […] we take into consideration risk, too. We’re looking at our workman’s comp. Any way that we can find internal savings there. And obviously going through the budget this year, because this is not my budget per se. I mean, I wasn’t involved in creating it. I think we’re going to be finding some additional savings from a day to day. It’s just, it’s really managing your budget and seeing if you can maximize efficiencies, and that’s pretty much what I do.

Also, we’re looking at getting the grant projects started that have been approved. You’ve seen where we’re looking at moving along on the old City Hall. We’re waiting for a couple easements from the state to be signed so we can get the [request for proposal] out on painting the clock tower and addressing hazmat issues within the building that need to be addressed before we formally go out to any bid process. Now, the council is going to be involved in that.

But the grants were here, but we, you know, we’re trying to push them to get them going and the funds spent [on] the Cannery Park. The RFPs for the first additional phase, I should say Phase 1A, what we’re calling it internally, is to do a cleanup of the site and a dog park. The dog park hopefully will be open by–if everything goes right, the bids come in–what we anticipate will be sometime in late August, early September. And that’s been something we’ve heard a lot about.

My dog will be very happy for that.

STECKMAN: I’m glad. And I have two dogs, too, so I’m a dog lover. But showing folks that projects are getting done is very important from the staff side. Now, obviously this Saturday we’re having a retreat, so we have three new council members. That way we can let them hear what the staff’s goals and objectives to reach those goals are going to be for the next six to 18 months. And I think hopefully the staff and the council will inform the staff of what their goals are.

But I think both sides should be surprised because I have gotten the information from both sides that the staff and the council are very much in alignment on a lot of issues. And that’s important to allow us to go forward. Now, I’m not saying that everybody’s always going to agree on everything, but I think there is a solid commitment. I think Mr. [Tom] Carroll did a good job in hiring a lot of these staff people. It’s my responsibility to make sure we move forward.

How are you liking the job [as] city manager here?

STECKMAN: Well, first of all, I enjoy what I do. I’ve been in several cities with challenges. I will say Nome is going to be hard to–Nome is probably the third best thing I ever did in my life. After marrying my wife and the kids, it was an experience that is like no other. I like it here in Cambridge. I mean, I was a city councilman in Ocean City. I’ve known Cambridge for decades. I was born in Maryland. I was born in Baltimore City at Mercy Hospital.

I was a councilman in Ocean City for 10 years. I started my career in city management on the east end of the county in Vienna, Galestown, El Dorado, Brookview, Church Creek. So, it’s like coming home for me. We sold our house in Salisbury and have bought a house here in Blackwater Landing. So, we’ve bought that within 20 days of coming to work for the city.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

British actor who appeared on Cambridge radio show dead at 63

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English actor Simon Fisher-Becker, 63, died at 2:50pm March 9, his husband, Tony Dugdale, confirmed. He was best known for his role as intergalactic black marketeer Dorium Moldovar on the popular TV series Doctor Who, appearing in seasons five and six of the reboot.

He also appeared in Harry Potter and The Sorceror’s Stone as Hufflepuff House’s resident ghost, the Fat Friar. Other notable credits include 2012’s Oscar-winning film Les Misérables, and the classic shows One Foot In The Grave and Love Soup.

Of local interest is the fact that Fisher-Becker played the major role of British agent Tony Simon on the radio show “The Hawk Chronicles.” The sci-fi series was created and produced by Cambridge native Steve Long.

Remembering the actor who entertained audiences everywhere, one fan wrote online, “Simon Fisher-Becker was always amazing in everything he did. We’ve lost a shining light!”

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Speaking with the League of Women Voters on its Relevancy in 2025

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On the occasion of the parent organization’s 105th anniversary, theSpy’s P. Ryan Anthony speaks with three members of the League of Women Voters—Mid-Shore. Co-president Glenna Heckathorn, secretary Mary-Beth Goll, and past president Lorraine Claggett discuss what the group does and how it’s still relevant in the 21st century.

This video is approximately ten minutes in length.

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Dorchester Democrats reflect on the State of the Party

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According to some polls, the Democratic Party is more unpopular than it’s been in decades. Only 31% of respondents in a recent Quinnipiac University survey had a favorable opinion of the party, with 57% viewing it unfavorably. In the 2024 election, the Democrats lost ground with nearly every demographic group as Donald Trump recaptured the White House, and Republicans flipped the Senate and held onto their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, effectively locking the Left out of power.

In fact, Trump drew a higher percentage of the vote in Maryland than in 2020, and he improved his numbers in all 24 jurisdictions. The election loss has led many Dems to reflection on their standing as a political movement, to refocus not only how they present themselves to voters but also how they internally govern the party.

In the meantime, Trump and his billionaire associate Elon Musk appear to be in the midst of a shock-and-awe campaign to remake the federal government as they see fit. Many Democratic voters believe their national representatives have been slow to mount a resistance to what they see as destructive activities. As the New York Times put it, “Democrats…need to show some fight.”

But, even as constituents have been putting on the pressure, a recent CBS News/YouGov poll revealed that 48% of Democrats have not much or no confidence that congressional Democrats can effectively oppose Trump. Some representatives have become involved with a number of protests mounted by civilian activists, but the anger of those protesters was directed not only at Trump and Musk but also at the “weak-kneed opposition of the Democratic Party leaders,” in the words of The Nation‘s Chris Lehmann.

To better understand what’s going on with the Democrats on a national and local level, the Spy recently spoke with Sarah Gavian and Sydney Bradner-Jacobs of the Dorchester County Democratic Central Committee. The following answers have been edited for length. They are opinions and do not represent the stance of the Cambridge Spy.

What does the Dorchester County Democratic Party do?

GAVIAN: So, we are part of the national and state Democratic parties. They are divided down to county level. So, we are the county office of the Maryland Democratic Party. What that means is we do our mandate, which is to elect Democrats. Strictly speaking, that’s our goal. We have strategies around that and the like, and we do it different ways. But yes, we would like to recruit, elect, and support Democrats, get them into office. That is, strictly speaking, our goal. We do a million things around that to accomplish that goal.

What part do you play in the state party?

GAVIAN: We don’t have our own legal standing. We are a part of the state party. … So, the 23 counties and the city of Baltimore each have a Democratic Central committee. … Dorchester is half of 1% of the state’s population. We all have our central committees, and all the members of our central committees are members of the Democratic State Central Committee. We happen to have, in theory, 14 members. In practice, I think we’re about to have 10, so we don’t have a full coterie, but all those folks are part of the state central committee.

On a national level, Democrats suffered major defeats in the last election that put them out of power in all branches of government. Why do you think this happened?

GAVIAN: There are many levels of that. Some of them pertain to how we appeal to the population. And some have to do with forces far greater than the Democratic Party, some have to do with the Republican Party. In some ways, the Democratic Party is known to be the party of the working class. It has been that for many years. Ever since Reaganomics came in, there has been an economic trend in this country where our economy has grown tremendously, tremendously. GDP is up, everything’s big, but it has been not distributed fairly. So, a lot of it is going to the top 1%, a huge amount. And now you can even talk about the 0.1% that control our economy and our politics because of a Supreme Court decision. Help me on that one. What was the one?

BRADNER-JACOBS: Citizens United.

GAVIAN: Citizens United, where money buys you power and speech right now in our system. … It’s not a Republican or Democratic thing, but the Democrats have been trying to fight it under the Biden administration as a sort of handing off of the economy to a very small number of people, leaving 90% of everybody not having any better standards of living than they had set down 30 to 40 years ago. … So, I think that a lot of people are hurting. And then you have the post-COVID problems or during COVID, the government actually showed kind of what European governments do all the time, which is bringing in support so that people had their health care and people had rent. It was also just stimulus going on. And then that money stopped, and government went back to not providing that kind of money. … The child tax credit ended several things that buffered this problem that 90% of our population hasn’t really advanced in its standard of living. … Federal minimum wage, all these things are low. … So, I think part of it is that this really is pain across the voting population and frustration with voters that the Democrats hadn’t solved it under Biden. … I believe that Biden did a tremendous amount…trying to really help deal with some of the poverty issues and the drug costs, all these things that Trump took out Day One of executive orders. … He was able to do that when he didn’t have a majority. What was it in the House? We did have a Democratic majority, didn’t we?

BRADNER-JACOBS: No. So, we lost the House majority back in 2022.

GAVIAN: Yeah. So, we didn’t have all the power, but we did manage to get some of these things through. But they weren’t through in time and they’re not big enough. So, reason number one is voter disillusionment and real pain. So, I think the Democrats, you could say we failed either at messaging or to convince the voter base that our policies going forward would be better than the Republican policies on that side.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, the reason why we didn’t do so well this time around is, I think, that we didn’t focus a lot on the bread-and-butter issues that most folks care about, specifically when it comes to the economy and public safety. … And, when Kamala says that we’re not going back, some of some of us are like, “Yeah, we don’t want to go back.” But there’s other voters that just felt like, “We do want to go back because we felt good.” Yes, the economy under Biden was good, but some people didn’t feel that. And, as a result, they weren’t as enthusiastic for Kamala Harris.

GAVIAN: I mean, Biden had the best economy and jobs of any president, far better than Trump’s. Inflation was a worldwide phenomenon. … Post-COVID, governments around the world got thrown out. Inflation around the world was worse than it was in the US. We did one of the best jobs. Still, it was high, really high, and it hurt. But people don’t look at it that way. So, some of that’s perception and, I think, what things we focused on.

The Republicans made major gains with working class, minority, and young voters. Why did the Democrats lose those demographics?

GAVIAN: I am going to continue to hit on misinformation. … But I think we won those. I believe we won the women and we won the black vote. And the Latino vote, I don’t know if we won the Latino vote, we lost some ground.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, we did, but by a smaller margin than past years.

GAVIAN: It looks like the Republicans are saying they have a mandate. And they have the House, they have the Senate, they have the presidency, they seem to have the Supreme Court, and they seem to have quite a growing share of the media. … But we would say they don’t have a mandate, they have power. I will say they bought it legitimately at the ballot box. None of us are calling fraud. … But they didn’t win by much. … So, I do want to go back to your other question. I think that Gaza hurt us. … Without even discussing the policies one way or another, you know that there was a vocal opposition to the Biden administration’s actions in Gaza. … But some Arab Americans, or the people who are very concerned about human rights and genocide violations in Gaza, did not vote for the Democrats, and some of them voted for the Republicans. … So, the question is why we lose these demographics. When I go back to misinformation, or people, they’re frustrated for the economic reasons, or they’re frustrated about what is a questionable engagement in Palestine.

What can the National Democratic Party do to improve its standing?

GAVIAN: As you know, we’ve just put in a new head of the National Party with Ken Martin. … I think that we’ve put in place at least a leadership that understands that we really do need to focus on the issues that concern rural America, working class and working people. … Obviously there has to be a significant amount of listening, reaching out to communities, understanding the questions you’re actually asking. Why was it you didn’t vote with us? … The other thing that’s going to help the Democratic Party is the Republican Party. I mean, when people start to understand that they’re dismantling government, dismantling 100 years of putting in place programs that almost everyone in this country benefits from one way or another. … The Democratic Party’s role then is to offer the alternatives, to be clear about those alternatives. … And the Democrats are, first thing I want to say is, by the way, we’re not the majority. So, we can’t stop it by our votes. We haven’t managed to stop a single cabinet appointment yet. … But there are several things that we’re doing. So, we’re pushing back against this far right extremism, and our legislators are doing it. … They’re doing everything they can right now. … But the Democrats are mobilizing, mobilizing fast.

In the wake of Trump’s return to power and the start of his agenda, the reaction of the Democrats in Congress has been noticeably slow. What’s the issue there?

GAVIAN: I’m not going to accept the question.

Okay.

GAVIAN: Again, he’s been in power two weeks, right?

Well, three.

GAVIAN: Is it three now? … And they’re moving fast. We are not the party in power….

Remember, there was a march either the day before or the day after his [first] inauguration. And some people say that there’s been too much cocooning, you know, going into the fetal position, when they did start out, like, right away protesting against him [before]. … I’ve got a lot of articles I can share with you.

GAVIAN: People say a lot of things right now. There’s a gazillion articles, I think.

Well, that’s why I wanted to hear from you.

GAVIAN: Fair enough. … I mean, let me say, we definitely hear what you’re saying. People come in and say, “What are you doing?” … So, our people in Congress are voting pretty much as a block on the things in front of them to protect the interests. … So, I think what’s happening is, we are doing public mobilization. So, we are informing as fast as possible and letting other groups do things. I mean, let’s talk locally, for example. I mean, here we are a little county office. … There’s ten of us on our committee, but we have been building our own coalitions locally. We are having event after event explaining what’s happening to the extent that we can to inform. … Our goal is to elect Democrats, but we are working to inform our volunteers and other Democrats. We have newsletters and we have a Facebook page, and we have meetings that we have open participation in to hear what people’s concerns are and to inform them about what’s going on.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, yes, people are feeling helpless right now. … But I think that the Democratic Party will, in 2026, inspire people with a good bread-and-butter message that will influence people to go out to the polls and vote for us, because, at the end of the day, Democratic Party policies are popular among the public. … And I guess one other thing to add, maybe Trump may have some high approval rating right now, but it will eventually go down. And, as we’ve seen right now with Elon Musk and DOGE, the approval rating towards how they’re handling the entire dismantlement of our government agencies is underwater. … And, if they keep on doing more and more, that’s going to upset some of the folks that voted for Trump, and they will return to our coalition, I think.

Has the Democratic Party placed too much focus on such issues as DEI, which seemed to work against it in the last election?

GAVIAN: I’m going to stand by DEI. I’m going to stand by diversity, equality, and inclusion. We, on a very profound level, need as a society to support people. The American Dream is or the American effort is based on merit. We would like everybody to get at the same starting line and work hard. … Not everybody gets up to that starting line. Intergenerational wealth, mental illness, any of a number of, you know, what schools you go to and all these things that we know about right now. … So, yes, there is a controversial set of policies around what’s been called Affirmative Action and DEI. … So, there’s been many people who are not classic DEI. So, there are white rural people. We represent a county that is rural and 60% white, and sort of 40% non-white. … Cambridge is like half the average income of Maryland. Dorchester is a poor county. … So, people legitimately need help, and they’re mad that they think the other person is getting ahead. … Yes, we’re taking quite a hit right now against what is called DEI and wokeness. But no, we have to stand by helping all Americans get a fair chance.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, I’m going to push back against some of the pundits on cable news and say that cultural issues was not the biggest part of why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump. … Do I think that maybe there is a small smidgen of truth where maybe cultural issues are the reason why Democrats lost? And I would say given the fact that Kamala did not talk about the economy or your basic bread-and-butter issues as much.

GAVIAN: I do not believe that the MAGA and Trump vote reflects tremendous sexism and racism. … I think they’re worried about access to jobs and to resources because those have not been shared fairly. I think it is definitely a tool of the millionaires and billionaires to have the fight go on between people who don’t have. So, everybody’s, you know, “Oh, it’s the immigrants fault. Oh, women are taking your job. Oh, black people are taking your job.” I think that that’s a created problem.

Governor Moore recently wrote, “You can’t show voters you only care about them every two or four years.” What can the Democratic Party do between elections to connect with the people?

GAVIAN: I can tell you what we’re doing to go local. On several levels we are doing community works and community engagement and making sure we are attending municipal meetings, understanding what the municipal issues are. … So, we are actively recruiting to put people on school board, to put people on police commissions and planning groups and getting people involved with CAN, just bringing people into local governance. … So, we are fanning out, we’ve done a lot of door-to-door where we ask folks at the door how they see things. We are planning phone banks and spaghetti dinners and all those kinds of things where we can ask them questions. Because there’s a learning process going on as to what are these concerns, and we are working to get Democrats elected at local level. … So, we’re working to reach out at the local level and get our people more engaged in local processes. That was on the political side. We’re doing that as well with community services. Just understanding better how immigration is working. … We’re getting more and more out in the community.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, to continue what Sarah was saying, Democrats lost ground everywhere almost, they lost ground almost everywhere nationwide. And I think most folks, I think the reason why is, most folks see the system as broken. And so, we need to, as a party, do some deep listening, as Sarah suggests, within some rural white working-class voters within our community. And by listening to them and doing that, we can overall get those voters back into our coalition and do better.

GAVIAN: Our plans are not just the white working class.

BRADNER-JACOBS: Of course, yes.

The Eastern Shore was cut off from the rest of Maryland for centuries, part of the reason it’s more conservative. Do you ever feel like your efforts in Dorchester County are too challenging?

GAVIAN: Until about four months ago, we had more registered Democrats in Dorchester County than registered Republicans. However, two things are true. They were beating us. Like in the Hillary campaign, then Trump, Biden by about 14 points.

BRADNER-JACOBS: Yes. So, the last time any Democrat won on the presidential level in Dorchester County was Bill Clinton back in [1992]. And he only won because of Ross Perot in the race. And the last time a Democrat got even above 50% in Dorchester County was JFK.

GAVIAN: The Republicans turn out much more and the margin is substantial. Democrats are not turning out at the same percent, much lower percents, kind of withdrawing from the political system. … We now have fewer registered Democrats than registered Republicans. … Many people are withdrawing completely from partisan politics. This is, I would call it a false equivalence, but they just don’t like either party, kind of thing. So back to your question. That’s daunting. … We have a stronghold of Democrats in our urban areas, both in Hurlock and in Cambridge. It’s not going to the right. I mean, it’s challenging, but it’s not desperate.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, ever since the 2018, Talbot has been doing Democrats and Talbot has been doing well. 2018, Colvin beat Andy Harris and Ben Cardin won overall, and then in 2020 Biden won overall. Then in 2022 you had Wes and you had Heather and a few others do well, and Van Hollen as well. He did, he won.

GAVIAN: And Kamala Harris almost won. How many votes?

BRADNER-JACOBS: She only lost by six votes in Talbot.

GAVIAN: Six votes in Talbot. So, we’re not the same as Talbot. We don’t walk and squawk the same as Talbot. But just saying that, no, let’s not see the Eastern Shore as a barren territory. And then going more toward the theme you’ve heard us evoke is working more with the people, like, the Democratic Party has not been so great on rural politics. We’ll own that. And we’ve been working very hard. And there’s a group called the Eastern Shore Democrats and the Maryland Democratic Party itself working more and more on sort of rural Democratic issues right now. … Yes, rural areas have been going redder and redder and it’s not just here, and it’s been going since Obama. … But we are really counting on the fact that, as we move more toward the rural base in our policies and our conversations, that we will be able to win those voters.

BRADNER-JACOBS: I think that it’s going to be a struggle for Dorchester to win in the future. But it’s a possibility that we can win, but it’s going to take some time. And I think that’s by reaching out to more rural areas, maybe we can potentially expand that opportunity, and not even just that, but also get our voters to turn out specifically in Cambridge. I’m not sure if you know, but Dorchester County statewide had, outside of Baltimore City, the lowest Democratic turn-out, and most of it came from Cambridge. And so, we desperately, yes, we need to turn out our voters in rural areas and make sure that they vote our way but also make sure that our voters in Cambridge actually go out and vote. And when we do that, that’s how we’re going to do better.

GAVIAN: Our team has been growing quickly in the last few years a lot. We are much more organized than we were five, six, eight years ago here, and in the last campaign we knocked 4,000 doors. … We made phone calls, we did mailings that we had never done before…. And Dorchester shows up as having lost less ground to Republicans than most counties in the state. … So, no, we’re not depressed. We’re on a roll. It may take some time, as Sydney said, but it may not take time. … And…people may really learn the difference between the parties when the Trump Administration comes in as destructive. And there’s no doubt that every single one of our government functions could be reviewed to be more efficient, right? But that’s not what’s happening here. And this is not how you do it, firing people overnight, stopping foreign assistance, 10,000 people in USAID hobbled overnight, babies dying around the world because we cut off foreign assistance overnight, handing our whole soft power architecture off to our friends who will swoop in on there like the Europeans and to our enemies like China or Russia. But there is substantial possibility that this will lead to a real diminishment of our interests, our ability to negotiate worldwide with friends, our soft power aspects of our diplomatic mission. … I forget the numbers, but an awful lot of our budget abroad, a humanitarian budget is food assistance that is bought from American farmers. So, I think that we are going to help to do what we can to support populations through this really trying time and persuade them that we can offer a better alternative in 2026 and in 2028.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

City Council receives update on plans for Cannery Way

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On January 27, the Cambridge City Council heard a presentation by Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation about its plans to transform Cannery Way into a more active area, and also to rehabilitate the historic building at 428-432 Race Street. According to the plan presented, Alpha Genesis would concentrate on enhancements to the building while the City would be responsible for the Cannery Way project.

The video is approximately 9 minutes long.

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CWDI board meeting brings up topic of public communication

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Transparency has been a controversial issue for Cambridge Waterfront Development Inc., the entity responsible for the Cambridge Harbor project. The City Council and citizens alike have complained in the past about CWDI’s opaque dealings and lack of communication with the public. So, it was appropriate, and likely inevitable, that the issue arose during the January 15th meeting of the CWDI Board of Directors at the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce.

As if anticipating this, CWDI President Angie Hengst addressed it during her opening remarks. After mentioning the December 19th groundbreaking for the Cambridge Harbor promenade, she said that the board had “talked about some planning for public information sessions throughout 2025 just to keep the public informed. Obviously, they can come to our meetings, but maybe some more specialized meetings talking about various parts of the project. But, you know, we really want to keep the public abreast of what’s going on so they feel part of the project and know where we’re headed. So we’ll be looking into planning some of those for the year and then some possible community events.”

Later, after board member Frank Narr discussed profits and losses due to last year’s litigation, the beginning of construction on the promenade, and predicted property sales, his colleague Tim Crosby inquired about the public’s involvement in decisions about the design and development of the Harbor project.

“Because it’s been two years since the public input side of this was a very active role, right?” asked Crosby. “And there are different stakeholders out here. Some are community based, some are based by ethnicity and things like that. Are we going to exert a particular effort to those communities and say, ‘Okay, look, here’s where we are. What do you think and what are we missing before we get too far down this thing?'”

“So where a particular commercial entity goes or whether residential goes or where hotel goes is still subject to a response from a developer,” Narr responded. “So, you know what the community may say, if the community says how we think of hotels here, it’s really the market’s going to kind of drive where those things go.”

Crosby agreed that the citizens can’t really have a say regarding the major parts of the project, but he said “there’s an awful lot of small pieces that can have a direct impact on certain communities that I think I just want to get out and communicate with. The more we communicate, I think the better off we are.”

Hengst then said, for the benefit of the audio recording and the citizens present, that the public is encouraged to reach out to city and county representatives with comments and concerns. “So, that’s another way for the community to voice their thoughts along the way.”

When the meeting was turned over to the public for comments, new resident Stephanie Willett pointed to Crosby’s remarks about communication and mentioned how important that is. “Passive communications, putting information out there, is not always good for a lot of minority communities. I haven’t caught up with everything that’s been going on, but to the extent that you all can get out and get into some of these communities and share your faces and show that you’re willing to be engaged with them. Relationships are very important.”

Jennie Leichtling of Mill Street, whose background is in fundraising development for nonprofit organizations, proposed that public communication can manifest itself in more ways than just talking or sending messages.

“The one thing that I am hearing a lot of is ‘if you build it, they will come,'” said Leichtling. “You need to build the community first, and you need to make sure that what you build reflects what the people want. And so, I’m hearing really responsible building stuff, everything that you guys are doing the research for, the capital investments, I think it all sounds great, wonderful. What I would propose adding in addition to this is doing kind of consistent community development and not just at meetings, but on the location.”

For “the location,” Leichtling focused on the playground next to the Visitor Center. She suggested bringing in a coffee cart or food trucks, installing picnic benches, and building a beach volleyball court.

“Because,” she said, “we need to continually invite the community to that space. Because I think the more we invite them, the more we’ll see how the community wants to use that space. Because, until we actually get the community there, we don’t really know what they’re going to actually do.”

“We’ve definitely had conversations of how we can get the community out there and start utilizing that space more, and they’re all wonderful ideas,” Hengst replied.

Since Mayor Lajan Cephas, City Commissioner Sputty Cephas, and City Manager Glenn Steckman were present at the meeting, along with several concerned citizens, one could say that communications are open and the conversation has begun. The next CWDI board meeting is March 19 at 4pm. For those interested in keeping up with the project or who want to contact CWDI, go to Cambridgeharbor.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.