Another letter to the city council:
Hello. I'm a resident in North Cambridge.
I am greatly disappointed that, under strange and sudden pressure from City Manager DePasquale's representative, Councillor Denise Simmons, instead of just providing a written notice of interest of an extension to DePasquale, as a group, you immediately extended his contract for 1.5 years. This, after previously voting against extending his contract for a year earlier.
Further, even though you voiced concerns about revenue as a group, you gave him a 2.5% raise, letting this person fail up.
DePasquale's refusal to explain many of his decisions, combined with the city council's ability to get him to explain his decisions, essentially leaves us with a non-elected strong mayor. If the city council can't use the main leverage it has over the city manager's office in the face of a really basic negotiation tactic, then the city council is useless. We should have a strong mayor system, so that the people can simply vote for the strong mayor they want.
I don't think I'm alone in being at my wit's end about representatives in government with no backbone. We're tired of seeing Democrats in Congress caving at the slightest provocation, and it's incredibly sad to see councilors that formerly stated that they were against an extension immediately when presented with a narrative of fear, uncertainty, and despair.