======================================================================== CITY 360 CAMBRIDGE — PETITION PREPARATION PACKET Petition to the City Council — reference material, not a filing ======================================================================== City 360 prepares material. It does not file petitions, does not collect or count signatures, does not verify voter registrations and is not a channel to any City office. Everything on this page is a copy of what an official body has published. You file with that body yourself, and its own requirements are the ones that decide the outcome. Sources last read: 2026-08-15 What this route can change A petition, memorial or communication addressed to the City Council puts a request on the public record and on a meeting agenda. It is the route for a matter that is not a zoning amendment. Filed with Office of the City Clerk, City of Cambridge Who may file [MISSING] City Clerk’s Office — whether a petition to the City Council carries any eligibility or minimum-signer requirement. The Rules of the City Council set out how such a petition is handled but do not state who may bring one ======================================================================== Requirements ======================================================================== Where to file Council Rule 25 provides that all communications, petitions and resolutions addressed to the City Council which require action at its meeting shall be filed with the City Clerk, and that the City Clerk shall place all new communications on the agenda for the next regular City Council meeting. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil Filing deadline Council Rule 20B sets the deadline for applications and petitions at 3:00 p.m. on the Wednesday preceding the regular meeting. Rule 20 sets a different deadline — 12:00 p.m. on the Thursday preceding the regular meeting — for all other matters requiring Council action. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil If City Hall closes Council Rule 20C allows the City Clerk, after consulting the City Manager, to change the agenda deadlines in the event of a City Hall closure. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil Resubmissions Council Rule 25 provides that on receiving a communication which is a substantially unchanged copy of one already submitted, the City Clerk does not place it on the agenda and instead transmits it to the Mayor. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil Policy orders A policy order is a different instrument from a petition. Council Rule 20A provides that for a policy order or resolution to be filed and placed on the Council agenda it must have two Councillors sponsoring it, which does not apply to ceremonial resolutions. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil Form [MISSING] City Clerk’s Office — whether a standard form exists for a petition or communication to the City Council, and what identifying details it must carry. No such form is published alongside the zoning petition form Filing fee [MISSING] City Clerk’s Office — whether any fee applies to a petition or communication to the City Council. A fee is published for zoning petitions; nothing is published for this route What becomes public [MISSING] City Clerk’s Office — which parts of a filed petition, including signers’ names and addresses, are published on the agenda and retained as a public record. Assume anything filed may become public until the Clerk confirms otherwise ======================================================================== What happens after filing ======================================================================== 1 · Agenda The City Clerk places new communications on the agenda for the next regular City Council meeting. Anything that misses the agenda deadline is held over to the following agenda unless it is of an emergency nature. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil 2 · Referral Council Rule 7 provides that a petition, memorial or communication may be referred to a standing committee of the City Council, to a consent agenda, to a special committee, to the City Manager, or to a department, department head, person, group or organization to whom referral is permitted under the City Charter and the General Laws. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil 3 · Notice Council Rule 22 authorises the City Clerk to order and publish notice of hearings on petitions presented to the City Clerk regarding public hearings before the Council. Source: Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council — https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil 4 · Outcome [MISSING] City Clerk’s Office — how the disposition of a filed petition is recorded and where a petitioner reads the result. Agendas and minutes are published through the Open Meeting Portal, but no per-petition status record is published ======================================================================== Evidence checklist ======================================================================== [ ] The exact change you are asking for Written as the decision the body would actually take, not as the problem you want solved. A reader should be able to tell whether the petition succeeded. [ ] The body that can grant it Confirm that the office you are filing with has the power to make this change. A petition sent to a body that cannot act produces no result and no explanation. [ ] The area affected Addresses, parcels or district boundaries, stated precisely enough that someone else could draw the same line. [ ] The rule as it stands today Quote the current text or map designation and cite where it is published, so the change you propose can be read against it. [ ] The records behind each claim For every factual statement, the publisher, the document, the date on the document and the date you retrieved it. A claim without a retrievable source is an opinion in the wrong place. [ ] Any number you use, and its method State what was counted, over what period, from which dataset. If a figure is estimated or modelled, say so where it appears rather than in a footnote. [ ] The strongest argument against Stated fairly, with the evidence for it. A petition that does not survive contact with the opposing case will not survive the hearing either. [ ] Signer details in the required form Where a route requires registered voters, collect the details that office asks for. Confirm the format with the office before gathering signatures, not after. [ ] A named contact who will answer One person, reachable by telephone and email, who can respond to questions from staff and from the public between filing and the hearing. [ ] A decision about what becomes public Assume that everything filed may be published, including names and addresses. Tell every signer that before they sign. ======================================================================== Author and sponsor attribution ======================================================================== Author (required) The person or people who wrote the petition text. Full names, as they will appear on the filing. ____________________ Contact person (required) One named person, with street address, telephone number and email, who answers questions about the petition. ____________________ Sponsors (required) Every organisation, group or elected member publicly supporting the petition, named in full. Abbreviations and initials are not attribution. ____________________ Funding and paid help (required) Anyone paid to draft, circulate, advise on or promote the petition, and who paid them. State “none” where that is the answer. ____________________ Property and financial interest (required) Any interest an author or sponsor holds in land, a business or a contract affected by the change being asked for. ____________________ Relationship to the affected area (optional) Resident, owner, tenant, employee, abutter or none of these. Standing is not a requirement everywhere, but stating it is honest. ____________________ ======================================================================== Templates ======================================================================== Petition to the City Council Addressed to The body you are asking to act, named exactly. ____________________ The request One sentence stating the action you want taken, written as the decision the body would make. ____________________ Why it is being asked The situation, in plain terms, with the records that establish it. ____________________ Who is affected The people, addresses or area concerned, and how they were identified. ____________________ Evidence Each factual claim with its publisher, document, document date and retrieval date. ____________________ The case against The strongest objection you are aware of, stated fairly. ____________________ Attribution The attribution block in full. ____________________ Signers Signer details in the form the filing office requires. ____________________ ======================================================================== Official pages ======================================================================== City Clerk’s Office — City of Cambridge https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/cityclerksoffice Rules of the City Council — Cambridge City Council https://www.cambridgema.gov/Departments/citycouncil/rulesofthecitycouncil Open Meeting Portal — City of Cambridge https://cambridgema.primegov.com/public/portal ======================================================================== City 360 does not file petitions ======================================================================== City 360 prepares material. It does not file petitions, does not collect or count signatures, does not verify voter registrations and is not a channel to any City office. Everything on this page is a copy of what an official body has published. You file with that body yourself, and its own requirements are the ones that decide the outcome. If a requirement here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it and record the change. Confirm every requirement with the filing office before you file.