Tom Hutchinson

By Debra Messick

CAMBRIDGE — District 37B State Delegate Tom Hutchinson had planned a relaxing respite, a Miami cruise, to unwind after the busy legislative session concluded.

But returning home to Cambridge, he found choppy seas and swirling waters surrounding the Cambridge Harbor project.

“After I landed, my first call was to the mayor, my second to Angie (Hengst, CWDI board president). I asked them both if anyone had spoken directly, and both said no,” Hutchinson said.

“Along with the city, county and CWDI, the state is a really big partner in Cambridge Harbor,” he said. “I felt like it was my job to see what I could do to help.”

Hutchinson’s District office is at 603 High Street, where CWDI executive director Matt Leonard also has his office.

Drawing on what he called his “pretty significant” business experience as an arbitrator and negotiator, Hutchinson  had last year  initiated face-to-face monthly meetings attended by city and CWDI representatives, characterized by those involved as “really productive,” he said.

At some point, the meetings stopped. Hutchinson invited the mayor and Hengst to resume them  again April 23. Both agreed, and several others sat in as well.

“Nothing earthshaking happened, but it was a step forward, potentially more positive and productive than airing dirty laundry in public, with surprise press conferences and attorney letters,” Hutchinson said.

Ward One City Commissioner Laurel Atkiss, who attended along with Mayor Stephen Rideout, called the meeting “a joint effort to improve the relationship of the various entities involved. When everything is worked through together, we will issue press information as a group,” Atkiss wrote, in reply to a written question.