Kelley speaks to The Alewife

by Evan M. Foley

The only city councilor living in North Cambridge spoke at the June 23 contributors meeting of The Alewife at Porter Square’s Sub & Pizza Express restaurant about city’s sense of community.
The divide between the city’s citizens by race and class is a cause for concern, said City Councilor Craig A. Kelley, who is serving in his first term.

That discomfort among citizens should warn us that the city is headed in a very bad direction as our various interactions are more and more stratified, he said.

Kelley said people are content to interact within their own racial group and do not feel comfortable outside of them. The results are numerous homogeneous groups within the population that segregate themselves, making it more difficult to form a greater cross-cultural social system.

Craig A. Kelley

Adding to this trend is the tendency of the middle and upper class residents – usually white – to leave the city for other locations that mirror their social and economic situation, while the more impoverished members of the community do not have that option, he said.

“Some things can’t be solved, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be addressed,” Kelley said.