Originally airing on WHCP 91.7fm on Thursday 8/8/2024
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Read the transcript:
This is Midshore Midday. I’m Jim Brady.
The candidates and the long anticipated Cambridge City race for Mayor have emerged this week. Today we’re speaking with one Andrew Bradshaw about his second act, as he calls it, seeking to regain the office he resigned from in 2021.
Andrew and I go a few years back when we served together on the board that runs Handsell historic site. And more recently, he’s helped me chase down some critical documents in my coverage of Cambridge Waterfront Development Incorporated, which we’ll get into.
But I want to start with the place where so many residents left off with your story when you resigned as mayor and were charged with revenge porn in 2021. That story carried across the country, but we never heard. What was it like to go through that for you personally?
Andrew Bradshaw: Well, Jim, that was a very difficult time for me personally and for my family. Made some decisions at that time that looking back really regret the circumstances that surrounded that scenario and all that occurred made decisions to enter a plea with the state at that time to try to end that painful process for my family, for the citizens of Cambridge and for myself.
WHCP: Is there any substantial resentment in the community about the notoriety from back then, or how do you handle adversity now?
Andrew Bradshaw: I’ve not witnessed any kind of blowback or pressure from the community with regard to that. I think that it’s a time passed and I look at it even for myself as a past part of who I am, but not who I am today. I look at it today, I’m the candidate that I am now and not who I was then. And so I look forward to kind of being able to show that to the people of Cambridge and demonstrate that. And I think that that’s what I really want the focus to be is where we are now and where we can go.
WHCP: Now, people may or may not recall, your short time in office was very robust with initiatives and plans. I doubt that anybody knows you were the one who came up with the one page amendment to the city’s property transfer agreement with CWDI. That was the basis for the city’s court case. It’s turned out to be practically the only leverage the city has had with CWDI.
Andrew Bradshaw: That’s correct, Jim. At the time, there was a lot of concern about transferring the property. The communication that I had had with CWDI at that point, as it was then constructed, had been somewhat difficult and had at times been contentious. And at the time I was looking at ways that the city could have some kind of drawback into control of the property should the process fail or fall short or become even more contentious than it had been. And I’m glad that at the time we had inserted those additional property covenants because now the city would be without any recourse had that not been done.
WHCP: Weren’t there some signs that people involved in CWDI were adverse to hiring any developer? I remember we discussed the case of Mark Weller whose company was exactly the kind of mixed use development CWDI said they wanted, but they left him hanging, right?
Andrew Bradshaw: That’s correct, Jim. So at the time I was very concerned that they would try to perform the development on their own or they would piecemeal out the development process. And so the inclusion of the requirement of an RFP process for a developer, the requirement that there be a public discussion regarding the various development proposals and a public comment period was all inserted into the agreement in order to ensure that that process would be one that brought in someone who was a bonafide developer with the capabilities and the talent necessary to perform the job to the highest investability on that site.
WHCP: When you look at what’s taking place with Cambridge Harbor, do you think anyone would’ve anticipated the direction CWDI has taken insisting on acting as the project developer themselves and rejecting oversight by the city government to the point there where they won’t produce documents unless the city signs a nondisclosure agreement. What’s happening there?
Andrew Bradshaw: I Think there have been signs of that really from the time I was in office and even proceeding my time in office at that point there was talk of moving an RAR brewing facility. There was talk of the yacht maintenance expansion, which is still discussed. And there was also talk of bringing in a memory care facility to, in the words of the CWDI leadership at the time, activate the site. But it was pretty clear, especially the memory care facility was not going to be something that was going to be ideal or correct for that kind of development. And it would be something that would hold back the further development process just by its insertion on a portion of the property. So from the beginning, it was looked at as a circumstance where there was definitely friction between the city and the CWDI board at the time, and there was also a concern that it would go from friction to outright disagreement. And I think that’s what we’ve seen over the course of the time since I’ve been out of office.
WHCP: Do you think this project can be successful with the executive director, Matt Leonard and the board members that they have now?
Andrew Bradshaw: I don’t know Matt personally. I know that when I ran previously, he had reached out with some very good ideas with regard to broader economic development and he seemed like someone that had a great resume. But with that said, I’ve not worked with him in the CWDI process. However, what I can say that the contentiousness that I’ve seen between that body and the city certainly hasn’t been cooled by Mr. Leonard. And I would hope that he would take the opportunity, should he still be executive director when I take office to come to the table and try to come back and find where we can get to this common ground of agreement. And likewise with the board, I think that’s a board that’s made up of some very wonderful people. But as I’ve said recently in another interview, I think there’s been a few things here. One, a lack of development experience on the part of some of the board members and also just organizational inertia that continues to take it away from where it needs to go.
WHCP: What would you do as mayor to get the Cambridge Harbor project done?
Andrew Bradshaw: We’ve got to get back to the table. We’ve got to have solid discussions. We’ve got to bring in the state as a partner as we had when I was mayor at the time, we had DHCD very involved. I’d hope to do that quite quickly. And we would also have to come to an agreement that individual portions of the property covenants that were amended into the property transfer agreement when I was mayor, have to be respected and they have to be handled and carried out. That’s the agreement that was made, and it has to be carried forward. And at that point, I think then we can come to the table and see what exists truly for our development opportunity, instead of trying to just pick what seems to be the lowest hanging fruit. And that seems to be where we’re at right now. We continue to go for the easiest and the most available rather than the highest and best use.
WHCP: One program you initiated has done pretty well that Home Ownership Works program. What’s that about?
Andrew Bradshaw: So that was a program that I worked with the State Department of Housing and Community Development and more directly with the Hogan administration, specifically for investment in the historic Pine Street District. And that was also developed specifically with the state for Baltimore City and the city of Cambridge. They targeted these two communities as areas that had a very high number of non-owner occupied homes. And they wanted to take the opportunity to bring home ownership into the community, into what had previously been marginalized communities socioeconomically, and then move forward with quality housing rather than the ongoing issues we have with very low quality housing, sometimes owned by people that would be termed as slumlords, otherwise shotgun houses. And that’s been very successful. We’ve seen some investment along Pine Street, but especially the rebuilding of Well Street which had turned into other than one or two homes, pure abandonment. And that’s rebuilt over the course of the last several years under State oversight. And it’s been a good process for the community to finally have that kind of generational wealth that can develop when you own property and own a home and are able to pass that on to your children and then them to their children as well.
WHCP: Yeah, I think they have 12 new homes built by Habitat Humanity Choptank.
Andrew Bradshaw: That’s right. And also at the corner of well Street and Pine Street, the Pine Street community market that Mr. Beasley has opened, which was also a project that the state had a large hand in and the city was very supportive of during my time in office that anchors that community and provides a grocery source and a food source in what had previously been in place with limited resources in that regard.
WHCP: What other initiatives or directions would you like to see the city pursue if you become mayor?
Andrew Bradshaw: I’d really like to push heavily more into economic development. And by economic development, I mean specifically small business support. There had been some initial discussion about some small business incubation programs, essentially providing a storefront and some educational assistance for those who have a small business idea and need the assistance and the aid to get that off the ground. They’d have the ability to then move forward with the program and they would be able to build some capital in the business before then having to go out on their own. So it’s a way to get people who have a great idea into entrepreneurship and give them ability that they may not have because the resources just haven’t been there within their families.
WHCP: How do you feel about running against Lajan Cephas, the current council president?
Andrew Bradshaw: Lajan is an unbelievably talented woman, and I really enjoyed working with her When I was mayor, we were very close. I can tell you that we spoke on the phone two, three times a day most days while I was in office. But what I’ve seen since I’ve been out of office isn’t that there are not good ideas, but that these ideas have not gone from the idea stage to the planning stage and then to the implementation stage. And so I think that what I can bring that the commission president has not brought in my time since I’ve been gone is the ability to move this from an idea to a process to a success. And I think I was kind of a catalyst for the council previously, and my hope would be to serve as a catalyst again so that we can get these ideas that the community and the council discuss to the point of success.
WHCP: What’s the big picture for Cambridge in your mind?
Andrew Bradshaw: Really, it’s all about economics in the end. And I know that that’s an odd thing to say, but if people have hope that their economic future can improve, then they have hope in their own community. And if they have that belief in their community, then they make investment in that community. If they make that investment in that community, they make investments in themselves, in their neighbors and in their children. And so I think that Cambridge’s future is based upon being able to have economic success. When it has economic success, the citizens have that success, they see it, and then others are drawn toward that, and that draws people and business to our community as well.
WHCP: That’s former Mayor Andrew Bradshaw, and he’s running again in city elections. Voting is October 19th. Stay tuned for our upcoming interviews with other candidates. This is Midshore Midday
