“I’ve been using ‘pragmatic progressive’ since 1999,” Peixoto says.

Housing And Harvard

Peixoto says he is confident he will be able to rely on women for many of his votes.

“One of my main agendas is affordable housing. We as a city should not accept a system where having a child is an economic liability,” Peixoto

A real estate tax benefit for having children is among one of Peixoto’s many proposals to give families in Cambridge a boost.

Still, although affordable housing is one of Peixoto’s chief goals, the candidate thinks that Cambridge has done enough with its Just-a-Start for affordable housing program—and that now it’s Harvard’s turn to step up to the plate.

“I see a problem with Harvard University,” Peixoto says. “They’re buying up three-family-homes, six-family-homes, and that’s happening weekly. I think it’s unfair and deceptive and we must preserve and increase our housing as well as open space.”

But Mary Power, the university’s senior official forgovernment and community relations, says that Harvard simply isn’t buying up property in Cambridge, and that with programs such as 20-20 2000 program the University has helped make affordable housing available to Cambridge natives.

“Contrary to a widely-held belief, Harvard has sold more property than it’s acquired in Cambridge over the past 10 years,” Power said. “Between 1987 and 1997 Harvard sold three times as much property as it acquired.”

Traditionally, Harvard compensates Cambridge for taking property away from the city’s tax base with an in-lieu-of-tax payment, the dollar value of which is an annual source of contention between the city and the university. But this payment is not enough regardless of size, Peixoto says.

“I don’t think any amount of money can make up for it,” Peixoto says. “Basically what’s happening is that the residents are selling their houses.”

And although most areas of the city are scheduled to be rezoned by mid-October, Peixoto stands for fresh zoning.

“I don’t think enough’s being done to design zoning in areas not previously zoned for housing,” Peixoto says.

The Campaign

Born and raised in Cambridge—his mother Lorena is an employee of Harvard University Dining Services—Peixoto’s roots in Cambridge go wide and deep, he says.