CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCILOR
KATHERINE TRIANTAFILLOU
Katherine Triantafillou was elected to her first term in as a city councilor 1992. She is a family law and civil rights attorney, adjunct professor of law, and advocate for the disadvantaged. Katherine lives in North Cambridge with her longtime domestic partner, Joyce Kauffman, and her daughter, Rebecca. She graduated from the University of Michigan and Suffolk University Law School.
Want to learn more about Councilor Triantafillou?
- In Councilor Triantafillou's first term she has:
- Established a Domestic Violence-Free Zone for the City of Cambridge; increased coordination among city departments in responding to violence against women; assessed services currently provided and supported a Domestic Violence Summit to produce a 20-year plan to decrease domestic violence in Cambridge
- Led the fight to maintain rent control and opposition to the home rule petition submitted by the City, which effectively gutted tenant protections
- Promoted a developmental study and plan, including design funding, for a pedestrian walkway and bridge over the train tracks in North Cambridge, linking several communities with each other and with the Fresh Pond Shopping Area
- Led the fight to remove a city councilor indicted for bank fraud from the Council
- Supported the City's opposition to the Charles River Crossing and the mitigation plans offered and withdrawn by the State
- Led the effort to provide development plans for siting grocery stores city-wide, resulting in a more effective COD report, analysis, and outreach to grocers interested in Cambridge locations
- Supported the City Hospital expansion, the Birthing Center, and improved health services for women and minorities, while at the same time advocating for agreements with community groups to stem further growth and to provide traffic mitigation plans
- Spurred full implementation of the Domestic Partnership Ordinance to ensure that all city workers and their partners are provided health benefits, regardless of the status of union negotiations with the City
- Supported the needle exchange program run by Cambridge Cares About AIDS and the City Hospital
- Led the efforts to increase minority hiring in the City and to ensure that equal job opportunities are available to minorities, women, and residents
- Led the fight to reduce truck traffic throughout the City and to enforce ordinances, including the prohibition of truck traffic on certain streets
- Urged fiscal responsibility by mandating that the '95-'96 budget include no increase in property taxes
Though federal statistics show that crime has generally decreased, Councilor Triantafillou believes that a lack of community safety continues to threaten the lives of numbers of women and children. Every twelve days in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a woman is murdered by a partner, husband, or boyfriend. In the U.S., every 75 minutes a child is starved, beaten, or shot; one out of three women will be raped in her lifetime; and 100,000 children take guns to school. 30% of all assaults in Cambridge involve domestic disputes and the city averages 28 rapes per year. Anti-gay/lesbian violence is increasing in our city.
- Councilor Triantafillou is committed to:
- Promoting neighborhood associations and crime prevention organizations
- Providing funds for neighborhood newspapers
- Enacting strong measures for building and home security in the housing code
- Increasing and upgrading lighting for streets, walkways, and parks
- Making self-defense classes available in neighborhood centers and schools
- Encouraging the MBTA to run trains and buses later than 12:30 A.M.
- Adopting long-term plans to decrease domestic violence by implementing the goals of the Cambridge Domestic Violence Free Zone
- Monitoring and combatting anti-gay/lesbian violence
- Encouraging swift reporting of rape, murder, and burglary to designated neighborhood groups
Promoting greater coordination between the Women's Commission, the Peace Commission, the Anti-Violence Task Force, and the Police Department on issues of public safety
- Enforcing truck bans on roadways
- Calibrating pedestrian lights to accommodate the elderly and disabled
- Expanding bikepaths and increase upkeep of walkways
With the loss of Rent Control and federal cutbacks in public housing, Section 8 and HUD, Cambridge faces an incredible challenge.Councilor Triantafillou is has taken that challenge and is searching for every possible way to provide affordable housing options to Cambridge residents.
- Her efforts include:
- Working with the state to regain local control of housing policies
- Promoting and encouraging negotiations between landlords and tenants to keep rents down
- Assuring that no tenant is evicted for organizing around housing issues
- Providing tax incentives for landlords with below market rents
- A transfer fee on real estate transactions to finance the Affordable Housing Trust
- Supporting the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for new and renovated low-income housing
- Developing an inclusive city-wide zoning policy that rewards the building of affordable units
- Implementing a strong condo conversion law
- Passing a Just Cause Eviction policy for tenant protection
- Working with local lending institutions to advance more options for first-time home buyers and limited equity cooperatives
- Providing transitional housing for victims of domestic violence and persons with AIDS
Cambridge is a city of many different cultures, colors, creeds, and nations. Councilor Triantafillou has worked to make the City's work force reflect this diversity, especially in the upper echelons of government. She believes that the number of minorities hired by the City is unacceptably low.
- She has asked that the City's government:
- Increase meaningful outreach to minority communities
- Fully implement the City's Affirmative Action Plan, especially for upper-level jobs
- Provide training and mentoring for entry-level minority employees to insure retention and advancement
- Separate the Office of Affirmative Action from the Personnel Office
- Provide diversity training to all city workers
- Evaluate the City's participation in the State Civil Service Program
- Establish a Department of Human Resources with vision to respond to workers' needs in the 21st century
- Increase efforts to award city contracts to women and minority-owned businesses
Councilor Triatafillou believes that government must be responsible with the money of its citizens. Cambridge has an annual budget of over 300 million dollars . Cambridge real estate taxes have been increased to service that budget. But, the recent dismantling of federal and state government services has put increased pressure on local government. Though Cambridge prides itself on the breadth of services it provides to its citizens, it will soon be faced with contractual requirements that mandate further increases in revenue or taxes. In addition, its commercial property tax rate is exceedingly high. She is committed to forcing the City to engage in a thorough and systematic review of its priorities in order to pass fiscally responsible budgets.
The current budget process and final budget document do not provide the public with the information it needs to be adequately informed on budget issues. There is a lack of clarity about which services are provided and the level of staffing and other resources available. Nor is there a meaningful way to measure the quality of services being provided. These omissions discourage public participation in the budget process. Current practice makes it difficult not only to determine service priorities but also to evaluate how things are progressing once the budget has been passed.
- Councilor Triantafillou has worked to make the City of Cambridge:
- Adopt Mission-Driven Budgeting
- Produce a service-oriented budget
- Emphasize the allocation of resources based on agreed-upon missions, i.e., purpose and goals that are integrated city-wide
- Survey citizens on how their tax dollars should be spent or not spent
- Organize neighborhood forums on budget planning and evaluation
- Encourage departmental accountability for fiscal management
- Provide citizens with a consumer-friendly, readable budget document
It is frequently said that the measure of a society is in how it treats its young and old. One of Cambridge's most important community resources is its children. Councilor Triantafillou believes that the City must prepare its youth for the future, when they will be responsible for the City. Toward these goals, she is committed to providing Cambridge children with a rigorous and joyful education from pre-school through high school. She has asked the City to support families as they struggle with the challenges of raising children in the 90's. Children must have the opportunity to explore possibilities and to prepare for their further education and careers. At the same time they should have quality experiences in the arts and athletics without regard to gender.
- Councilor Triantafillou says that Cambridge must:
- Increase funding and coordination for services to children
- Integrate youth centers more fully into the broader community
- Evaluate youth centers to ensure that they are meeting the needs of all Cambridge youth
- Encourage greater parental and neighborhood involvement in the schools
- Promote the goals of Tech 2000, a proposal to upgrade the level of technology used in education
- Assess current programs with an eye toward greater coordination among the Kids' Council, Family Center, Community Schools, Community Learning Center, after-school and daycare programs, and the PTO's.
Councilor Katherine Triantafillou recently stated, "we should continue to support our senior citizens and work with the Council on Aging to assist them in any way we can. The opening of the new senior center in Central Square has been long anticipated. We must make sure that it lives up to expectations by providing the services necessary for Cambridge elders. We also must explore new ways of assisting elders to stay in their own homes, provide support for low-income assisted-living arrangements, and provide increased education, services, and monitoring of elders who are subject to domestic violence. The elders of our City are its history. Let's not forget that treasure."
Councilor Katherine Triantafillou knows that government is for the people. She wants to hear from constituents and others. The City cannot work if it does not address your concerns. Please let her know what you want. You can contact Councilor Katherine Triantafillou several ways.
- Office hours:
- At City Hall by appointment
- Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Please call (617)349-4280 for an appointment
- To leave a message for Councilor Triantafillou:
- Telephone: (617)349-4280
- Campaign telephone: 492-0502
- e-mail: kt@citysource.com
- To write, send mail to:
- Councilor Katherine Triantafillou
- Cambridge City Hall
- Cambridge, MA 02139
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