Cambridge May Seize Botanical Garden Site

Seizure of the Harvard Botanical Gardens by the City of Cambridge, and subsequent use of the site for emergency housing may become an immediate reality unless University officials present a housing plan of their own to City Manager John B. Atkinson by tomorrow.

A full Corporation meeting is scheduled for this afternoon, but David W. Bailey '21, Secretary to the Board of Overseers, could not state definitely that the issue would be brought up. Presumably, this would be the last chance for discussion before the Wednesday deadline that Atkinson mentioned.

Not Ultimatum but Request

The City Manager, however, denied that he was trying to "lay down the law to the University," adding that he had always been "on very friendly terms with its officers." He went on to explain that his demand for a prompt answer, was delivered "not as an ultimatum, but as a request."

The original city plan to seize the land by eminent domain at $1 a year and use it for emergency housing for "a period not to exceed five years," was shelved in February, 1946 when the University presented a counter-proposal to put up permanent buildings and rent them to its own personnel.

Cambridge Renews Demand

But a subsequent lack of action on the part of the University has finally prompted the City of Cambridge to renew the issue, despite the fact that University officials list the shortage-of building materials and the high cost of construction as the reason for the delayal.