Harvard receives basic services, including water, fire protection, and public safety services, from the City of Cambridge. But, to the dismay of certain Council candidates, Harvard does not pay official taxes on its academic buildings.
Instead, the University contributes money to the City in the form of annual voluntary payments. According to the City of Cambridge’s 2012 Town Gown report, these payments amounted to $2,783,151 in 2012—an amount some of the candidates think is too low.
Cheung and candidate James M. Williamson both suggested that Harvard should give back more to the Cambridge community.
“As a tax-exempt institution, what obligations do they have to the community?” Williamson asked. “Are the current PILOT payments enough? Can Harvard be a collaborator in Cambridge schools? They have done a lot, but that relationship could be better.”
BRIDGING THE GAP WITH STUDENTS
The interviewed Council candidates universally advocated for greater involvement of university students in Cambridge politics and the community. Historically, however, students in the area have expressed little interest in local politics.
“It’s hard to bring students into the resident life, the civic life, of the regular Cambridge population,” said Minka Y. vanBeuzekom, a current councillor who is seeking reelection.
Candidate Janekke Ann House attributed the lack of engagement to the mundane topics that the Council must at times address.
“Nobody wants to talk about potholes and swingsets,” House said. “But it’s the local issues that affect the students most.”
Many of the current councillors and candidates offered ideas about how Cambridge could better serve students’ needs.
VanBeuzekom said she hoped to introduce a plan that would better integrate the Harvard University Libraries with the Cambridge Public Library. House expressed a desire to reinstall the “night owl bus,” a transportation service which previously ran a shuttle service for residents after the T closed.
And Cheung said he hoped to implement an orientation program for how to bike in the city, through which students could go on bike rides with police officers who would teach them about safe practices.
Many candidates also proposed involving students in city planning.
“Something that I’d love to do is to hold a forum for university students...and to have us talk about what our goals are for the City of Cambridge,” said von Hoffman. “And after that just engage students...open up a dialogue and from there try to have some sort of projects, seminars, task forces.”
Leslie outlined a plan to set up an advisory committee of students from Harvard, MIT, Lesley, and Cambridge College.
“Students are the bridge,” von Hoffman said. “They bring the vibrancy and energy that ties the city government to the school administration.”
—Antonio Coppola, Nikki D. Erlick, John P. Finnegan, Caroline C. Hunsicker, Anja C. Nilsson, Henry Shah, and Maia R. Silber contributed reporting to this story.
—Staff writer Laura K. Reston can be reached at laura.reston@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurareston.
—Staff writer Sonali Y. Salgado can be reached at ssalgado@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @SonaliSalgado16.