University Plans to Delay Action on Parking Problem

Action on the parking problem in the area of the Houses--except for parking on Mill St.--will be delayed, "probably until the end of the football season," Charles P. Whitlock, Assistant to the President for Civic Affairs, said last night.

The request for delay was made Friday by Eugen H. Zagat '61, representative of the Council in this area. His point, that undergraduates should have a chance, through the Council, to put forth alternatives to banning student parking around the Houses during the day, was "well taken," Whitlock declared.

Zagat will propose to the Council at its meeting tonight that it set up a committee to study possible sites for parking, including a garage run by he University.

"The University intends to build a garage in Cambridge as soon as plans can be firmed up," Whitlock stated, "but I don't know that it will help students because it will be used mainly for employees."

"One posibility is that if a parking lot is built near the Houses, for instance on the present site of the MTA yard, employees could use it during the week and undergraduates could avail themselves of the facilities on weekends--the time when they need it most," he added.

The final solution should probably be a lot on each side of the area of the Houses--near Kirkland and Leverett--used in this way, Whitlock thought.

Limit Mill St. Parking

Parking on Mill St., however, will have to be limited to one side of the street at once, as the space left when cars are parked on both sides is too narrow to allow the entrance of a fire truck, Whitlock declared.

"Riverside Ave."--popularly known as "Fender Alley"--will be grassed over as soon as the title to the land can be cleared up and the Leverett Courtyard extended to the sidewalk," he added. The purpose of closing Riverside Ave.--which is presently blocked off by a series of posts--is to have an attractive approach to the Leverett Dining Hall from Leverett Towers, he continued.

Whitlock noted that the Cambridge City Council had put the University under "terrific pressure to forbid undergraduates to bring cars to college." The Administration is trying to resist this by seeking reasonable arrangements for parking. For this reason, he said, if undergraduates try to fight the University instead of helping it constructively, they may end up by losing the privileges they now have.