Daly 'Hopeful' That JFK Corp. Will Accept Museum Site Bid

Charles U. Daly, vice president for government and community affairs, said Friday he is "not optimistic, but hopeful" that the Kennedy Library Corporation's board of directors will accept one of the several sites he will suggest by June 23 for the museum portion of the library.

Daly said Harvard is examining sites in Allston-Brighton, at the Faneuil Hall-Quincy Market area and the Charlestown Navy-Yard.

Stephen Smith, president of the library corporation, examined the Allston-Brighton site, located on Harvard-owned land near the Business School, with Daly and others on Friday.

The library corporation announced May 15 that unless a site can be found within one month in an existing structure in Massachusetts, both the archives and the museum will be built at UMass-Amherset or Boston.

Cheap Site

Since that announcement Harvard officials have been looking for a relatively cheap museum site for the corporation in an attempt to keep the archives in the MBTA subway yards across the street from Eliot House, where the whole complex was originally slated to be built.

Daly said the Allston site, located at the intersection of Storrow Drive and Western Ave., does not have a building for the museum and could present "some severe financial problems" because of construction costs.

But he said people in the Allston-Brighton area are receptive to locating the museum there.

Albert Pierce, an official with the library corporation's Boston office, said Friday he "can't say anything official" about any of the sites suggested by Daly until he knows more about the sites.

Allston Site Problems

However, he said he thinks there may be problems locating the museum in Allston because people in Cambridge may protest that the museum will be too close to them.

The protests of some Cambridge neighborhood groups played a major role in the library corporation's February decision to more the planned museum out of the MBTA yards.

Duly said last night, "It is true that the library corporation is nervous about putting the museum or any other part of the library complex anywhere near Cambridge because in their view it is impossible to deal with this very fragmented city."

Duly said he disagrees with that view and has had "extended discussion with Stephen Smith and others associated with the library corporation regarding it."

Pierce also said from preliminary descriptions he believes that the sites could be too costly to develop with the library corporation's existing funds.

More than ten years ago when the corporation originally planned to build the whole complex at the subway yards site, including the Kennedy Institute, it had $27 million at its disposal.

But the numerous delays, including the vociferous protests from communities surrounding the site, citing possible environmental damage, have caused the corporation's endowment to be severely undercut.

The combination of inflation and operating expenses occurring over the last ten years, has made it impossible for the corporation to split the complex, leaving the archives in Cambridge and the museum elsewhere, unless a site in Massachusetts can be found to house the museum at a relatively cheap cost to the corporation