City Council Will Consider Kendall Square Redevelopment

The Cambridge City Council will discuss tonight a long-awaited task force proposal on Kendall Square urban renewal.

The 30-member task force, appointed by the city council last July, is expected to propose a redevelopment program that would designate the Kendall Square area north of MIT primarily for light industry, but prohibit either publicly-or privately-financed housing.

Brett Donham '60, acting chairman of the task force, said yesterday that his colleagues are in accord on the basic orientation of the project. "Everyone agrees that the industrial uses of the area should be in technically-oriented industry, such as electronic assembly, that allows a high-density level of blue-collar workers," he said.

Other Projects Suggested

Donham said that other probable developments--not yet completely agreed upon--include retail and consumer services such as banks, restaurants, "and possibly a hotel and general office space for the purpose of tax revenue."

Members of the task force last week voted down a proposal to allow privately financed housing development in the area, and Donham said they do not view federally subsidized housing--long demanded by several Cambridge citizen groups--as a viable alternative for financial reasons. "There is simply no federal money available," he said.

The issue of subsidized, low-income housing has been in the forefront of the redevelopment project ever since the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority gained title to the land in the late 1960s after NASA, the previous owner, terminated its own area development program due to budget cutbacks.

When the redevelopment authority submitted a proposal to the city council last year that would have authorized construction of office and industrial buildings and high-rise apartments, citizen groups including the Cambridge Tenants' Organizing Committee protested, claiming that the plan would bring only high-rent housing and white-collar jobs to Cambridge.

The city council finally rejected the redevelopment authority proposal and appointed the citizen task force to study the issue.

Jeff Leib, a spokesman for the tenants' committee, said yesterday that although it was offered representation on the task force, it refused because it "felt it would be powerless."

"It's our understanding that there is some money available for subsidized housing, but they're just not interested," he said.

Councilor Barbara Ackermann said yesterday that any provisions for housing could cause many problems. "We've had very poor luck with making subsidized housing work," she said.

She added that if the task force is united in its stand on the proposal, she expects it will have little trouble passing the council.

Councilor Francis H. Duehay '55 said yesterday that there is wide agreement among council members on some industrial use for the land, for "an emphasis on employment for people below the professional level."

"I think it's almost a non-issue," he said. "It's just a matter of working out the details.