Hear the stories in two parts –
Part 1:
Part 2:
Read the Transcripts:
WHCP:
This is Midshore Midday. I’m Jim Brady.
It’s hard to believe with all the activity of the Cambridge City Council that it’s only been a little over two years since Mayor Steve Rideout took office and now that period is coming to a close. Mayor Rideout has just about finished his term. Today we’re looking back and looking ahead.
Steve, you stepped in after a special election in 2022 when former mayor Andrew Bradshaw’s scandalous legal problems led to his resignation. I wonder if you thought the atmosphere in Cambridge would settle down for you then?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Oh, yes. It just was a matter of time. One of the things that I really wanted to do was to try to just bring some civility and level of, I don’t know if competency is the right word, but to get us away from all the challenges that had been happening in the prior couple of years. So I anticipated that how I was going to approach that would be helpful to that process.
WHCP:
Now, Cambridge city government certainly has had some high points. Budget surpluses, land bank established city services improved and reorganized housing programs launched. What other accomplishments am I missing?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
I think the Police Department has been doing a great job in regard to community policing. Getting out and engaging with not only the adults, but kids in the community to try to address the real challenges that were happening back then when I came into office and before, in terms of the number of deaths that were occurring here and other crimes. The crime level has certainly gone down. We have an advisory board for the police department that meets, I think every quarter, that the public is entitled to come and sit in on and listen to. We don’t have many private citizens coming to that. We’d love to see more coming and asking to learn more about what they’re doing. I remember one meeting, captain Patton went on for a long time talking about all of the things that he has been engaged in and the police department has been engaged in that I was not aware of, and I suspect the community was not aware of.
Certainly those two things. I think we’ve gotten CWDI in that situation, in a place where we can move forward together with the county and the state. The housing issues, as you mentioned, I think we’re doing very well there, have a housing department. We have a new planning and zoning director where we went for nine months without one and with only one staff person, so that was a bit chaotic. So there were a lot of things that were going on and not going on when I came on. It wasn’t because of what I did. It was because of what Tom Carroll did as the city manager and finding people, and then David Deutsch, our acting city manager, did in finding, for instance, our new planning and zoning director and our new city manager. So that’s the kinds of successes that I’m seeing.
WHCP:
Obviously, the most consuming challenge for you and the council seemed to be your efforts to tame Cambridge Waterfront Development Incorporated and bring it back under city oversight. It wound up briefly in court and mediation, and now it’s a mystery where things stand. Can you fill us in?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, to some extent, and I know you’ve asked me before about this particular issue. One of the things is that we can’t do, a lot of the discussion, negotiation out in public. If we do that, then we have a hundred voices telling us what we should or shouldn’t do. I am aware of what the intent for CWDI was and is when it was created. I was on city council. Then we had discussions and we knew that. I knew that it was meant to be a collaborative, engaged process that would have the city, the county, and the state, and CWDI working together, that CWDI would be our sort of front person out there being the face of the city, but working with us behind the scenes to make sure that they were engaged in the process of developing that area. That conformed with the idea of not only it being developed, but that it’d be a community place, that it’d be open and welcoming to all of the community, not some exclusive zoned out place that only the rich and famous could come to.
And so that’s what we’ve been working on. That’s what I’m aiming at, is to have that kind of process get back in place. I think we made a significant step by moving forward with the hotelier. I think he’s got a great product. He’s a terrific businessman. He’s really done a lot of work on the eastern shore that is helpful to the building that we anticipate here, but the public’s going to be, if I have what I think will happen, the public’s going to be fully informed about all of that process as we move forward. We have made some proposals, drafted some language to help make the relationship between the city, county, state and CWDI more clear, more settled, and I think we’re going to be able to make that happen before I leave office.
WHCP:
So they’re more receptive now, huh?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Yes. Oh, very much so. We’ve had good conversations. When you say more receptive, I mean we’ve always had good conversations with the board members. I had good conversations with Matt Leonard when he was the executive director. He and I met periodically to talk about issues. We didn’t get any of those resolved, but it helped me to understand more about how and why CWDI was taking positions that it was that I felt were different from what the intent was and helped me to then sit down with Tom Carroll, our lawyer and the commissioners, to see how we could get this thing resolved so that everybody benefits and I think that’s where we’re headed.
WHCP:
What can residents of Cambridge count on now about how CWDI will operate with the city?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, I think you will see there being more openness, more willingness to engage in the public meetings that are already available. I think there are going to be some times when they aren’t able to reveal everything and the city and county and state are probably going to be in the same way as well. How that will work out moving forward, I think will be based on what I anticipate will be the agreement that I’m hopeful we will be able to put in writing and that will resolve those issues. You never know what’s coming, so I can’t certainly guarantee that everything is going to be smooth-running, but where there isn’t, there’s going to be an ability to sit down and talk it through and figure out how to make it work.
WHCP:
When the council took up an ordinance creating a curfew for juveniles, there was a lot of deliberation. You were initially against it, right? How do you think it’s worked out?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
I’m pleased with the final ordinance that was passed. I was against it because I felt that the perception was that this was going to solve the crime problems and curfews don’t solve the crime problems or delinquency problem. However, I was able to, as part of the ongoing discussion and negotiation put in place, what really is the curfew ordinance being a referral process for children who are in need. If you have kids out at midnight, 1, 2, 3 o’clock in the morning, something’s wrong at home. Not saying that it’s a parent’s fault or anybody’s fault, but there’s something’s going on there that needs to be addressed and the process now under the curfew allows for referral of those children. Once they are stopped and the information is gathered to a group that will then evaluate the family, look at what’s going on and see what may be needed.
This is not unlike what we did in Alexandria (VA) when I was on the bench with regard truancy. We had a huge truancy problems there as we do here. We were able to identify what the child’s problem was and get that child’s services that helped get them back into school. The same thing will happen, I believe, if everything continues to go well with that. Now, have enough children been referred? I think there are more children out there that are being passed by. I’m told by the police that it’s the police sometimes officers see kids out, but they’re on the way to a call and they can’t stop. And so that sort of passes by. So we really have to look at the data that’s been collected not only for stops, but also for services recommended, and then services provided and has that then stopped that child, so that child’s not back out there next week, next month, six months from now in violation. That data we don’t yet have.
WHCP:
That was part one of our interview with Mayor Steven Rideout, tune in tomorrow to hear part two, including who he’d like to see as the next mayor.
WHCP:
This is Midshore Midday. I’m Jim Brady. Today we’re hearing part two of Cambridge Mayor Steve Wright out’s exit interview on WHCP before he tells us who he’d like to see as Cambridge’s next mayor. He’s talking about the time before he came to Cambridge when he was a juvenile judge in Northern Virginia. So in another life before you came here, you were deemed a living legend in Alexandria for your work above and beyond your job as a family court judge and you traveled the country consulting communities on successful ways to handle juvenile justice issues by addressing their families. Right.
Mayor Steve Rideout:
I was on the bench for 15 years. I had a court service unit, which is like the Department of Juvenile Services in Maryland that was really very forward thinking and we started looking at data regarding children. Truancy was one another was our domestic violence docket where so many cases came, victims didn’t show up for court cases were dismissed or not, and we were just generating paper for no good. We weren’t getting any results, and so we were able to take a step back. One of the things I did was I set aside every week some time to sit down with our court service unit and talk about what those issues were, and so we were able to put in place programs that addressed those particular challenges. One of the interesting things when I first started were getting, I was sending 70 to 90 kids a year to our State Department of Juvenile Services for Incarceration.
Average length of stay was over a year. By the time I retired from that job, we were sending 10 to 15 because we were catching these kids earlier, identifying what the problem is, getting them services, holding them accountable as well, and making sure that that process worked quickly so that there was accountability both in the community and for the child. One of the things that we’re talking with the police department here and the Department of Juvenile Services about is the teen court. And I’ve had a number of my judge friends who’ve retired, have started teen courts around the country and it’s a great program, one that will, I think get started probably in January, but they’re going to have in the school system a teen group, teen court group that will be the judge’s, jurors, lawyers, sheriffs, hold all the roles and the kids will be making the decisions about the behavior of kids who were stopped by the police in the school or out on the street. Again, it’s a prevention, early intervention model that will hopefully hold those kids accountable, help to change their attitudes and get them off in the right direction.
WHCP:
That’ll be a really interesting one to follow. A passion of yours seems to be good government. As Ward one commissioner years ago, you corralled support for a charter change to bring Cambridge to a city manager form of government, and later you organized an effort to bring charter changes to Dochester County, which ultimately led to them being on the ballot. Right now will all the stick and make a difference?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, we started the charter change effort in Cambridge. Prior to my coming on city council, I ran for city council to make sure that after it had been passed that that city council didn’t go back to the old system. But that was started back in 2012 by a citizens group who asked me to help ’em out. And it was a community effort that we worked on for over two and a half years before we finally were able to convince four of the city council members to approve it. With that, we were able to get the city manager that has had, I think, a significant positive impact here, not only in good government, but saving money and better management of staff and better services to the community. And so I think it will last. We have a weak mayor form of government, strong commissioners, strong city council, government. They are the people to run the government. We aren’t changing any of that. We’re just giving the day-to-Day management of the city to a city manager. In the same way with the effort with the county. We were not successful. I think we raised ideas. We raised issues. I think it had an impact on the election that took place in 2022 that brought on commissioners who would be willing to consider changes and also to get the county Charter Commission back up and running because the former one really didn’t do that until the last minute.
And the current one did and got it up and running and passed resolutions for the ballot on November 5th, the six proposed changes, all of which I recommend. I think they all are good to make better administration of county government or the management of staff by the county manager.
WHCP:
What do you see are the things that are perennially holding Cambridge back?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, I think first of all that the community doesn’t trust government and we need to earn the trust of our community. If we do that and that’s not an easy task and it’s going to take on, then I think we will be in a better place where we can have more of the community engaged in understanding what’s going on. An example for me of that is the vote that just took place for mayor. It was less than 17% of the eligible voters voted for council positions, the commissioner positions. It was a little over 17%. When we did the voting before during Covid, we had a much higher percentage. We need to have that happen. We need to find a way to get people more engaged. I’ve suggested in an article that I’ve written that maybe we look at, if nothing else, people who own second homes here, they have an interest in what’s going on.
Why not give them a vote? Why not give a vote to people who own businesses here, who don’t live here because they have an interest in what’s going on in the community. Let’s look at ways to get more engagement by more people so that we can really have people elected who were voted on by a significant portion of the community. Ward one and Ward five traditionally have more votes, more voters than not this year because Brian Roche was unopposed. They were 158 people who voted. That’s similar. When I ran opposed for City council, I think I got 144 votes out of 1700 votes or 1800 votes that were eligible. And Ward two, a little over 200 votes were cast out of 17 or 1800 possible votes. We need to find ways to engage to educate our community about the importance of voting, but also to get them out to vote.
WHCP:
Yes. And you mentioned with the police board not that many people come and the city council meetings. I know I’ve been there when I was the only one.
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Yeah, and there can be issues of importance there. I think we can do a better job in getting information out, but I know WHCP tries to do that. The newspapers try to do that. Maggie Travato is there all the time for the Dorchester Star to report on what’s going on. So the information is out there, but we need to find other ways to make it work.
WHCP:
So where do you see the future of Cambridge?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, I think Cambridge is in the best place that it has been in a long time for taking the next steps forward. I think that it’s, the newly elected commissioners are an excellent group. It’s strong, it’s knowledgeable. It has a wide variety, not only business people, but volunteers, people who have been engaged in the community in different ways. So that I’m pleased there. I think that the mayor’s race is still a toss up and a challenge. I’m going to vote for Lajan Cephas because I think she clearly is the better of the two and will help to keep moving Cambridge in a direction that needs to happen. Being very brief… but one of the reasons is that when former Mayor Bradshaw was the mayor, he tried to create an ordinance that would’ve given him power over human resources, to be the moderator of that, which is totally beyond the scope of what our charter allows for and what is intended for a weak mayor to do. President Cephas understands what her role is because she picked up for Mayor Bradshaw, former mayor when he left, and she had to do a dual role for what, nine months or so or more.
WHCP:
So how have you enjoyed your years in Cambridge?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
I have loved it. We have met such wonderful people and from all political persuasions. What I find most interesting in the political arena is that when we really have a conversation, whether it’s a very conservative person or a very liberal person about issues that I think are important to the community, when we have that conversation, we really are, all of us, are 90% on the same page, 90, 95%, having that conversation. But we love living where we have lived here in Cambridge. We have loved the people we have met, we have had a great time, and we’re sorry that we’re going to be moving on, to leaving and moving on to a retirement community. It’s time that we take the next step in our transition in our lives. The other thing is that I have asked my wife for too long to give up, for me to do these kinds of things, and it’s time for me to pay more attention to her and to be more supportive of her.
WHCP:
So when is your last day?
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, we’re looking at probably early December after the election for mayor. I want to be able to vote. We’re going to be here through the vote.
WHCP:
That seems fitting. Well, I sure I speak for more than just myself when I say we really appreciate you and the job you’ve done.
Mayor Steve Rideout:
Well, thank you. Let me just say that it’s not me that has done the work that has gotten us to where we are. The reality of all of this is that we have great staff in the city. We have great staff leadership. Now we have all of our departments headed up by people who are focused on making Cambridge continue to improve. And we’ve had a great city council. We’ve had our disagreements, but they have been committed to making the improvements that need to be made here. So it’s them who have really made the difference, not me.
WHCP:
That’s Cambridge Mayor Steve Rideout. Thank you very much. This is Midshore midday.
