Cambridge City Council Meets, Passes Some Resolutions and Policy Orders

A modest number of people attended the Cambridge City Council meeting last night to urge the passing of a calendar item and a policy order.

During public comment, several Cambridge residents voiced the need to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The requested charter right was passed unanimously.

Other residents attended the meeting to ask City Council members to pass a policy order that will encourage workers of the Shaw’s distribution center and management—which is owned by SUPERVALU neighborhood grocers—to "return to the bargaining table" to arrive at a "fair and reasonable" contract.

More than 300 Shaw’s workers have been on strike for the last six weeks and lost their health benefits on April 1. The Council unanimously agreed that Council members would go on the record to have both parties involved in the dispute—the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 791 and SUPERVALU—come to "fair and reasonable" negotiations.

Additionally, Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 led a resolution to congratulate the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College on their 40th anniversary. He said he attended their concert earlier this month, and also mentioned at this meeting that he was a member of the then-newly established group of Kuumba singers 40 years ago.

Though the city budget has been released, dates for reviewing it have been set for early to mid-May. City Manager Robert W. Healy briefly attended the meeting.

—Staff writer Xi Yu can be reached at xyu@college.harvard.edu.