Model Cities

A FEW blocks northeast of Central Square, there's small bar and grill dubbed "The Famous." One woman who lives around the corner describes it as "our neighborhood pub, where we drop in during the afternoon, have a drink, and just talk for awhile."

One afternoon last November, "The Famous" was noisier than usual, as residents of the neighborhood celebrated the selection of their area as the site of one of the nation's first 63 Model Cities programs --the federal government's latest attempt at a concentrated attack on urban problems. Drinks flowed freely as the celebrants hastily plastered the walls with hand-lettered signs reading "Model Cities belongs to the residents."

Cambridge has emphasized resident control of Model Cities ever since the City sent its application to Washington last spring. At that time, the City Council guaranteed residents of the model neighborhood a majority of the seats on the agency which will run the program in Cambridge.

After its application was approved, the City began trying to get as many residents as possible involved in planning the City Demonstration Agency (CDA) which will supervise the program. They held a series of meetings in parish halls and local schools to explain the Model Cities program. They held a series of meetings in parish halls and local schools to explain the Model Cities program. A convention of area residents (complete with balloons) was held in early February to ratify the preliminary work of a drafting committee of their neighbors.

LAST Wednesday, the committee finished writing the ordinance to define the functions and membership of the CDA. There will be 24 members on the CDA, 16 elected by residents and the other eight representing the universities, businesses, and charitable agencies in the model neighborhood. Subsequently, area residents will vote in a referendum whether to approve the ordinance or not. If they do, it will then go to the City Council for ratification. Hopefully, by the end of March elections will be held for the CDA's area-resident seats.

Justin M. Gray, who supervised Cambridge's application, feels that the referendum will help to increase resident interest in Model Cities. Volunteers hope to ring all 4700 doorbells in the model neighborhood to explain the program to residents and especially to disassociate it from "urban renewal"--a very dirty word in many sections of the City.

But, Gray says, "we'll eventually have to produce, not just talk" if residents are to begin to work in earnest for Model Cities. To date, many of the active workers have been members of already existing block organizations in the area. New blood is coming in, Gray feels, but he cannot tell how much.

At the same time, Gray is trying to get the federal government to restore recent cuts in the money allotted to the planning of Cambridge's program. If he can't get the money from Washington, he hopes that foundations will provide it.

Cambridge's Model Cities program is beginning to take shape, but it faces a long struggle to live up to its advance billing. If it does so, there'll be a real party down at "The Famous."