CambridgeToday received the following letter about the Cambridge mayor's plans for the State of the City address.
I am writing on behalf of the Property Taxpayers Alliance (PTA) about the article Mayor’s State of the City Address will be at soccer complex published Aug. 21 in CambridgeToday.
Residents must pay $60. to attend with all proceeds going to an organization called "Fallen Sparrows" which Mayor Liggett herself was instrumental in establishing through the Kiwanis Club.
There are two separate issues here: 1) requiring residents to pay to hear the mayor’s 2024 State of the City address and 2) the funding of the "Fallen Sparrows" organization.
Residents of Cambridge should not have to pay money to hear the State of the City address. The State of the City is a result of how their hard-earned property tax dollars (directly or indirectly) have been spent. Charging them to hear this is absolutely shameful.
The PTA supports and encourages the voluntary funding of charitable organizations. But forcing attendees to do so in order to hear the State of the City address is simply wrong. Attendees should have the option to support the "Fallen Sparrows" or a charity of their choice or no charity at all. This is a personal matter. Attendees should not be required to fund a charity of the mayor’s choice. The mayor is turning the State of the City address into a fundraiser. This smacks of conflict of interest.
Property taxpayers should not have to pay $60 to hear the mayor essentially tell them the results of how their hard-earned property tax dollars were spent.
Rande Keffer
Property Taxpayers Alliance
Cambridge
