City Council Acts On Taxes, Harvard Ties

In an effort to mediate recent town-gown disputes, Cambridge has asked the University to set up a committee to discuss its housing policies with city officials.

By a unanimous voice vote, the City Council last night approved a resolution sponsored by Alice K. Wolf which called on President Derek C. Bok to appoint representatives to meet with Cambridge lawmakers on an informal, yet public basis. The council specifically requested that an authority from the University's property management firm, Harvard Real Estate, Inc. (HRE), be included.

Charging that other means of communication are failing, Wolf said that stalemates on several "hot issues"--like Harvard's plan to build a new dormitory on Mt. Auburn St. and its sale of two-and three-family rent-controlled houses to faculty members--still must be resolved.

"There is a need for the city and the University to have dialogue over a period of time to try to find solutions that are considerably more satisfactory to the community," the resolution said.

Harvard spokesmen said last night that the University would consider the proposal. "We're putting it all in the pot and stirring it around," said John Shattuck, vice president for government and community affairs, adding that he has always been willing to meet with local politicians.

Shattuck chaired the last joint Harvard-Cambridge committee set up last year to resolve the controversy surrounding renovations in the University-owned Craigie Arms apartment building next to the Charles Hotel.

In an recent interview, President Bok said he has been in contact with city officials and had received the impression that Harvard's housing policies were not that controversial.

The University says it is still willing to negotiate over the fate of the proposed construction of affiliate housing on Mt. Auburn St. and is trying to accomodate community interests in the project.

Strike Three

But Wolf's resolution becomes the third in the past month regarding. Harvard's real estate policies.

In an unprecedented move two weeks ago, the city council placed a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to petition the state to prevent Harvard from selling rent-controlled dwellings to professors on a priority basis.

For the past two years, Harvard officials have sold 10 wood-framed houses as part of a plan to help junior and senior faculty members locate close to campus. The University expects to sell 20 more before the end of the program.

City Councilor David E. Sullivan will chair hearings next month on the University's property divestment, which he claims displaces previously protected tenants in favor of faculty members whose purchase of property removes it from rent-control.

"I would be very disappointed and shocked if they wouldn't sit down and talk with the city council," Wolf said last night.