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Neil Miller

@neilmillerma.bsky.social
114 followers 278 following 158 posts

Former federal gov. data scientist, urbanist, Neilchik. neilmillerma.com

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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
As a neighbor and friend of St. Paul's, calling on the state and city to keep the shelters available. There are precious few shelters here serving families. On Oct. 31, as the weather turns even colder, eight families will be displaced from our community - let's act now. csindie.com/two-shelters...
csindie.com
Two shelters for homeless families are weeks away from closing in Cambridge - Cambridge | Somerville Independent
Eight homeless families will be forced to relocate Oct. 31 with the shutting of two shelters, partially the result of being excluded from state cuts.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The legislature needs to say no to Gov. Healey. Climate change is here now - we shouldn't be subsidizing fossil fuel companies. Let's spend that $120m hiring more bus drivers, building safe bike infrastructure, and helping MA residents save gas by making it easier to leave their car at home!
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The root of our campaign is integrity. Rep. Connolly can and should continue to make the case he's the better candidate on housing, but calling a straightforward look at his record "misinformation" is irresponsible. Here's extensive documentation for each item: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Ironically, this distorts what I said: Rep. Connolly voted against incentives for housing in Gateway Cities, but championed an $18M tax break for a biotech company to move to our district. More labs, without more housing, will increase rents and displacement. I'm running to make your rent go DOWN.
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Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem @burhanazeem.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
In May, Vijeta and I had our wedding in Cambridge Commons with hundreds of you all. In June, her grandfather suddenly passed away. In July, her papa was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and a brain tumor. He is 58. He was at our wedding, already symptomatic, and none of us knew.
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Pete Septoff @wombatofevil.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
TONIGHT, July 7th in #cambridgema Central Square Library, my group CCTA is hosting a forum for the 26th Middlesex house seat featuring incumbent @mikeconnollyma.bsky.social and challenger @neilmillerma.bsky.social Info attached #mapoli #cambridgema
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Cambridge Somerville Independent @csindie.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The 9 Wyman Road project is not a fluke, it’s a sign of successful multifamily zoning
dlvr.it
The 9 Wyman Road project is not a fluke, it’s a sign of successful multifamily zoning
A housing project at 9 Wyman Road in West Cambridge and the reaction from neighbors demonstrates why uniform, citywide upzoning is more equitable than fragmented, piecemeal zoning reform. Before the passage of Cambridge’s Multifamily Zoning last February, 9 Wyman Road was zoned exclusively for “single-family dwellings.” Now,... The post The 9 Wyman Road project is not a fluke, it’s a sign of successful multifamily zoning appeared first on Cambridge | Somerville Independent.
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Jess Sheehan @jfsheehan.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Just got canvassed by my friend @neilmillerma.bsky.social running for state rep! Neil is a great listener, and wants to hear what voters in the district are thinking and how the state house could better serve them. If you get a chance to chat with him, let him know what's on your mind!
neilmillerma.com
Home
As a leading housing advocate, dedicated public servant, and data scientist at mission-driven organizations, my goal is to make government work for our communities. I’m running for state representativ...
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Horrible - sending love to friends and neighbors who were impacted. Until parents picking up their kids from school and USPS workers driving their route can feel safe from senseless violence like this, we need to keep fighting to get guns out of our communities.
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Jonathan Berk 🏠 @berkie1.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
On its third attempt tonight, Marblehead Town Meeting approved an “MBTA Communities–compliant” district largely centered on the 125-year-old Tedesco Country Club, meeting 3A requirements on paper while all but assuring no new housing would be built. This comment says it all.
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Somerville YIMBY @somervilleyimby.org · 05/03/2026
No Vacancy Have you had a landlord ask you to do something they’re supposed to handle, like shoveling snow or dealing with a rat infestation? Have they ever dragged their feet on important repairs or charged illegal fees? Have you ever shaken your fist and then given up because, although you’re in…
somervilleyimby.org
No Vacancy
Have you had a landlord ask you to do something they’re supposed to handle, like shoveling snow or dealing with a rat infestation? Have they ever dragged their feet on important repairs or charged illegal fees? Have you ever shaken your fist and then given up because, although you’re in the right, you don’t have any leverage? In Somerville, both you and your landlord know two things: it would be hard for you to find a new apartment, and it would be easy for them to find a new tenant.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
It's true! I'm running for state rep so that our neighbors have A home they can afford Public services they can rely on And a state government they can trust. Join me on Sunday, March 29, walking from Cambridgeport to East Somerville RSVP: partiful.com/e/RnFHIcl45F... or forms.gle/4GLh314WPqeT...
Image of man in red flannel walking up a doorstep with caption: Neil Miller canvassing for A Better Cambridge’s Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee in September 2025.

On right, excerpt from article that says:

Connolly’s challenger has not previously run for office. Miller, a Cambridge resident and Harvard Kennedy School student who volunteered as campaign chair of A Better Cambridge’s Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee, posted on the site Partiful that he is “a housing advocate, public servant, and data scientist” and said he was running to ensure his neighbors have “a home they can afford; public services they can rely on; and a state government they can trust.”

He also vowed to run a different kind of campaign: for his kick-off event on March 29 he said he will walk the length of the district, from Cambridgeport to East Somerville, making stops along the way to meet with residents and discuss his vision. He’ll start at 11 a.m. at Magazine Beach in Cambridgeport.
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City of Cambridge @cambridgemass.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Good news for Cambridge bus riders! New weekend service on Route 64 brings back weekend buses along eastern Broadway for the first time since 1981. 📖 Learn more in the full news story from the Cambridge Department of Transportation: camb.ma/3ZG7Vqt
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
"Seafaring vessels are christened; concrete boats are born into solicitation sin." ⚓ Excited to share part one of this series with the @niskanencenter.bsky.social: www.niskanencenter.org/spotting-con...
niskanencenter.org
Spotting ‘concrete boats’: Why ‘solicitation sins’ doom contracts to struggle (part 1) - Niskanen Center
Solicitations are formal requests the government puts out for proposals or quotes from prospective suppliers of goods and services. This is the first article in a series about government solicitations...
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Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler @votejivan.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
"The actions we saw from the Trump administration are a violation of international law, they're also a violation of American laws," said Cambridge City Councilmember Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler. 📷 @wbztv.bsky.social
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Mayor Jake Wilson @mayorjakewilson.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
A message on Minneapolis.
As a son of Minneapolis, I’m heartbroken by the killing of Renee Good. In addition to the terrible tragedy of the taking of a life, the refusal of the federal government to take responsibility is unacceptable. We refuse to accept this as normal, and will continue doing the work to support everyone in Somerville.
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Senator Andy Kim @kim.senate.gov · 03/01/2026
Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn’t about regime change. I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Say no to war
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 03/11/2025
Powerful letter to reflect on before you go to vote. Many candidates are running to roll back the progress Cambridge has made - they are explicitly pro-exclusionary zoning. A vote for ABC's pro-housing slate will help Cambridge go forward, not back. www.cambridgeday.com/2025/11/03/c...
I’m proud that our city has faced the resulting housing crisis realistically, and with an eye to equity and sustainability. Cambridge started with the 100% Affordable Housing Overlay, which has opened new opportunities for lower-cost housing, with over 800 homes in the pipeline.

This year, Cambridge passed a Multi-family Zoning Ordinance – a landmark law that received national attention as it created possibilities for multi-family housing citywide. Among the results of the lowered barriers in this law:

    a 4-unit lot in mid-Cambridge will become home for 30 households;
    a one-story retail building with three stores near Porter, fixed at that size and use since 1894, can now become three stores plus 71 homes;
    a deteriorating historic structure near Harvard Sq. is on track to be restored and maintained because it can share its large lot with housing and a small hotel.

Cambridge accomplished all this with planning, deliberation and resident involvement, although not everyone’s policy preferences could be adopted. I expect there will be much more to come as we work our way out of the long-term housing shortage.

This is what some Council candidates want to repeal. We’ve seen what happens when conservatives try to take their country back. Some of our local conservatives have announced their intention to take our city back – to the exclusionary policies from the last century.

To keep Cambridge on an equitable and inclusionary path, I’m voting for the slate endorsed by A Better Cambridge: Burhan Azeem, Dana Bullister, Mark McGovern, Ned Melanson, Sumbul Siddiqui, Denise Simmons, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Ayesha Wilson. For Cambridge’s sake, I hope you will, too.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
docs.google.com/spreadsheets... #CambMA EV+mail turnout is slightly higher in 2025 vs 2023, as of Saturday before election. Increases in precincts covering Alewife, Rindge, Port, Kendall, CX Crossing, some mid-Camb. Decreases in Wellington-Harrington, lower C-port @johnhawkinson.bsky.social
docs.google.com
Cambridge 2025 vs 2023 early votes
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 28/10/2025
@ayannapressley.bsky.social is a nationwide progressive leader who's saying YES in her backyard to proven pro-housing champions! Congratulations Mayor Simmons, VM McGovern, @councillorsiddiqui.bsky.social, Ayesha Wilson, @votejivan.bsky.social, @burhanazeem.bsky.social: all 6 ABC-endorsed incumbents
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Your Friendly Neighborhood Puppet Master cascadeanalytics.substack.com/p/friendly-n...
Me (wearing red plaid shirt) leaving a flyer at a door
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 20/09/2025
Canvass TODAY and TOMORROW for our pro-housing slate! More info and sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Hear from our volunteers in 2023 about why they canvassed. Come join us and share your "Why?" for our next newsletter!
Two volunteers Sophia and Camilla from 2023 talk about why they canvass.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
A housing proposal at 84-86 Ellery St, #CambMA was blocked in part b/c architect Eleanor Raymond was born there. In 1981, Raymond said "I grew up alone by myself". "No, the house I grew up in was not important to me. I got out of it just as soon as I could." www.newspapers.com/newspage/436...
newspapers.com
The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts
Get this The Boston Globe page for free from Friday, October 2, 1981 THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1981 47 The ethic of Eleanor Raymond ELEANOR RAYMOND Selected Ar.... Edition of The Boston Glob...
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Police Planning Places for People: how "stakeholder engagement" inflates reduces livability and increases the cost of affordable housing in Massachusetts open.substack.com/pub/cascadea...
open.substack.com
Police Planning Places for People
"Stakeholder engagement" inflates cost of affordable housing in Massachusetts
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Freudian slip? "Chapter 40B has a long history of succession Massachusetts" - home rule must really be important in some places. www.mass.gov/info-details...
Webpage with highlighted text: "Chapter 40B has a long history of succession Massachusetts"
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Jess Sheehan @jfsheehan.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
My friend @neilsmiller.bsky.social had this excellent piece published in the Dorchester Reporter on how to get MA's common public benefits app moving. I only just got around to reading it but wish I had earlier! It's very accessible, clear writing on a vital but often wonky topic. Check it out!
dotnews.com
Opinion— Let’s get moving on ‘common app’ for public benefits | Dorchester Reporter
Massachusetts wants to cut paperwork for people who are applying to public benefit programs. Ironically, the state is stuck in its own paperwork, harming thousands of Dorchester neighbors. Despite the...
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Boston cares! @bostonchildrens.bsky.social Blood Center sent out urgent need for platelets yesterday afternoon, and they've been full all day today. Make an appointment to donate: www.bostonchildrens.org/halfpints
Young man with glasses smiling with IV in background
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
@mbta.com @mbtaslowzonebot.bsky.social Shuttles replaced red line through Kendall-- ok, great. But now the train broke at Kendall, my wife and many others are stuck there. It's late, please help everyone get home!
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Powerful tour on Underground Railroad and abolitionist history in Boston @ Museum of African-American History. 1854: Bostonians stormed the courthouse where Anthony Burns was being held under the Fugitive Slave Act. May his legacy be a blessing for us today. img: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Burns
A portrait of the fugitive slave Anthony Burns, whose arrest and trial under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 touched off riots and protests by abolitionists and citizens of Boston in the spring of 1854. A bust portrait of the twenty-four-year-old Burns, "Drawn by Barry from a daguereotype [sic] by Whipple and Black," is surrounded by scenes from his life. These include (clockwise from lower left): the sale of the youthful Burns at auction, a whipping post with bales of cotton, his arrest in Boston on May 24, 1854, his escape from Richmond on shipboard, his departure from Boston escorted by federal marshals and troops, Burns's "address" (to the court?), and finally Burns in prison. Copyrighting works such as prints and pamphlets under the name of the subject (here Anthony Burns) was a common abolitionist practice. This was no doubt the case in this instance, since by 1855 Burns had in fact been returned to his owner in Virginia.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
An anonymous Trump official said they were ending $100 million in contracts with Harvard. Dozens of outlets quoted them. I did the math, and that's not possible. The most "damage" that can be done to Harvard is half of that amount. New: open.substack.com/pub/cascadea...
Graphic by Neil Miller: Terminated Contracts Would Cost Harvard Well Under $100 Million. $46.7 Million in Total Outlays ($ Already Paid to Harvard). $89.5 Million Total Obligations (Planned Contract Spending to Harvard). $101.1 Million Maximum Award Amount.
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DotNews @dotnews.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
New in the Dorchester Reporter's opinion section: @neilsmiller.bsky.social says Massachusetts is way behind on implementing a 2022 law intended to cut paperwork for people applying for public benefits like SNAP. www.dotnews.com/2025/let-s-g...
A screenshot from a Mass DTA social media promotion related to the SNAP program.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
In 2023, Mass. allocated millions to build a 'common app' for benefits like SNAP and MassHealth. The $ is still sitting there, stuck in contracting purgatory, and the work hasn't even started yet. 10,000s of families eligible for SNAP now go without cascadeanalytics.substack.com/p/friends-wi...
cascadeanalytics.substack.com
Friends Without Public Benefits
Broken contracting leaves MA families mired in paperwork
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 02/05/2025
From a new Cambridge-area neighbor. Tired of being devoured? Donate to our pro-housing movement secure.actblue.com/donate/abc20... so the apartments stop hunting you.
Text of poem

On apartment hunting
By Henri Antikainen

Apartment hunting is commonly misunderstood. 

It is the apartment that hunts you. It is out there, with its perfect square footage, functional layout, incredibly high rent that still, everything considered, is somehow kind of a deal, one that you think you should immediately pounce on but which in fact pounces on you, as long as your credit history is impeccable and you have a three months of rent to commit, the equivalent of the aspect and smell of a slightly sick animal that stands apart of the pack, perhaps asking for predatory mercy.

Relentlessly the apartment has lied in wait, at the end of a cavern of scrolling, its eyes aglint in the dark. It devours multiple victims at once, and spits out all apart from one; it only has taste for your money, the contemporary equivalent of blood.

The apartment, having found you, its victim, lies gorged, stuffed, its small closets (if any) bulging, things coming to a still under the bed. Once a year it shifts, turns on its side, digests you further, a process also known as a rent hike.

This could go on forever, or at least until the day you die, when the apartment again emerges on the market from the cocoon that it had made of you, now a carnivorous butterfly worth multiples of what it was when you found it or rather when it found you. 

It is you who made it into what it is now, though like of a lunch on a random Wednesday, no memory remains of you. It is, again, a deal.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
open.substack.com/pub/cascadea... Trying something new: a blog based on my 3 years as a gov data scientist, diving into the guts of management policy. First off, five red flags you can recognize in solicitations everywhere, OR, how DOD is spending $40M on a website that makes websites
open.substack.com
Alchemy for aliens – 5 solicitation sins wasting our money
To find waste, read the RFPs
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Dan Sprague @dansprague.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
@cambridgemass.bsky.social has a housing crisis. Yet unaccountable "Neighborhood Conservation Districts" (NCDs) run by the city drastically decrease housing construction and increase down-converted unit losses compared to equivalent parcels outside NCDs. dan-sprague.github.io/2025/03/30/ncd
dan-sprague.github.io
Neighborhood Conservation Districts Suppress Housing in Cambridge, MA
Stories of variation around a mean.
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 13/03/2025
Central Square was blessed by Keytar Bear last night @universalhub.com @cambridgeday.bsky.social Let's level up Porter Square too. More homes in the square = more neighbors hanging out = more Keytar Bear. Don't let the NIMBYs take this away from you. Keytar Bear in Porter Square! #campaignpromise
A person in a bear outfit playing keytar with street lights behind them.
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 12/03/2025
Weigh in on the future of Porter Square and North Mass! Inclusionary housing, and all homes, ARE a public good -- let the city know you support at least 12 stories on Mass Ave and 18 stories in Porter by right 🧵
Illustrative draft with buildings titled: How could Porter Square evolve over the next 15 years.
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bostonfedunionists.bsky.social @bostonfedunionists.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
BOSTON! Friday, 5:30 PM, fight back with Federal workers. Rally at the JFK Building to stop the firings and stop the cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
Poster for "Federal Workers & Friends Fight Back" rally in Boston. Friday, March 14, 5:30PM at JFK Building, 15 Sudbury, Government Center.

Sign says "STOP the firings, STOP restructuring, NO CUTS to Medicare or Social Security"
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Brian Kahn @blkahn.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
literally nothing can prepare you for this EPA press release www.epa.gov/newsreleases...
epa.gov
EPA Press Office Fact Checks the Washington Post’s Coverage of Waste & Abuse of Taxpayer Dollars | US EPA
EPA News Release: EPA Press Office Fact Checks the Washington Post’s Coverage of Waste & Abuse of Taxpayer Dollars
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
I created the Sole Source Spotter to catch waste and corruption in Federal contracting: neilsmiller.github.io/Contract_opp... E.g. the Navy plans to give Leidos a 5-year sole source contract to support air traffic software that Leidos itself developed, continuing a *previous* 5-year no-bid contract
neilsmiller.github.io
Sole Source Spotter
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Alfred Twu @alfredtwu.com · 20/02/2025
In many ways it's fitting that the showdown between monarchy and democracy ends up being over NYC congestion pricing. Cities are where the power of kings were first challenged, and few things are more fundamental to government than control of public space. The cameras are staying on!
A cartoon with a sign that looks like a classic NYC no parking sign but is modified to say "No King Any Time", above a cartoon showing a cybertruck with a crown on it running over speed bumps and sawhorse barricades labeled Congress, Executive Branch, and Courts. It is stopped in front of bollards with a Congestion Pricing sign above it. In the background on the left is the Washington DC skyline with tire tracks coming out of a building. On the right behind the congestion pricing sign are the Statue of Liberty in front of the Jersey City skyline, an NYC walkup apartment with a bodega, people on bikes and walking, the Manhattan skyline, a subway train, and a bus in a bus only lane, and Pizza Rat.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
For any procurement pros, housing advocates and transit fans, sharing a proposal I just submitted. 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝘁𝘀: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 lnkd.in/gZ5BFquN This focuses on Federal technology solicitations, but also applicable to planning and transportation RFPs
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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A Better Cambridge IEPAC @abciepac.org · 13/02/2025
You did it! On Monday night, City Council ended exclusionary zoning and paved the way for new homes in Cambridge's vibrant neighborhoods. All invited to celebrate at ABC's social TONIGHT 6:30pm, at 730 Tavern in Central Square. There may even be some ABC mugs for sale, to mark this milestone 🥳
Headline "Cambridge approves landmark zoning change" in NBC Boston
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Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem @burhanazeem.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
I can’t believe it - after years of advocacy, exclusionary zoning has ended in Cambridge. We just passed the single most comprehensive rezoning in the US—legalizing multifamily housing up to 6 stories citywide in a Paris style Here’s the details 🧵
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Steven Fulop @stevenfulop.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
From the debate - democrats need to be fighters. Appointment of the next state Supreme Court judge - a place where we disagreed last night at the debate. I feel strongly that the others were wrong here.
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Recap: #YIMBY comments outnumbered opposition more than 2-1. Cambridge, MA poised to re-legalize 4 or 6 stories by-right in #walkable neighborhoods city-wide as multifamily zoning passes with 8 of 9 City Councillors supporting. Another vote on Feb. 10 will finalize the change. #urbanism
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Will try to liveblog tonight's Cambridge City Council meeting - hopefully the second-to-last meeting on ending exclusionary zoning. Thread below, follow along: #CambMA
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Neil Miller @neilmillerma.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Gentrification in the Central Square Arts District #CambMA
Red container in the snow that says "HARPS" with the first letter slightly peeled off. Apartment buildings are in the background.
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