Revitalization Plan Approved

The Cambridge City Council last night took action to implement a revitalization plan for Central Square.

The plan would re-zone certain areas of the square for development, monitor retail stores coming into the neighborhood, and increase the safety and cleanliness of the square, which many have called ethnically and economically diverse.

The council moved to start the plan, but stalled action on zoning after several councillors said they were opposed to existing zoning proposals. The council will hold a hearing early in March to discuss the zoning changes, which would change industrial zoned areas to residential, proposed by the committee.

Councillor Alice K. Wolf said the proposals did not seem to provide adequate incentives for private landlords to build housing and that it did not analyze the different areas of the square closely enough to determine the appropriate areas for housing and retail.

"We've got to look at specific sections of Central Square and say `Is this really what we want?'" Wolf said.

Monday night meeting, action will be taken to begin implementing other parts of the plan, such as the proposed monitoring of retail development to limit the influx of fast food restaurants, efforts to increase police protection in the square, and increase the overall appearance and cleanliness of the area.

The plan as it now stands has drawn criticism from residents and tenant activists who fear it will change the composition of the neighborhood and will not provide for the needs of the square in regards to housing and retail.

While the Council began plans for the redevelopment of Central Square, it postponed a move that would regulate traffic at an adjacent development.

Councillor Walter J. Sullivan Jr. indefinitely postponed action on Wolf's proposal to monitor traffic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's University Park development. Her proposal would have continuously checked whether or not traffic around the project was below limits set in the University Park zoning package.

In other business, the Council adopted an order proposed by Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci inviting Soviet world chess champion Gary Kasparov to Cambridge for the city's second annual chess tournament later this month. The champion will be in North America prior to the tournament on a visit to New Brunswick, Canada.

The Council also debated the merits of broadcasting the meetings of the Cambridge Rent Control Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals on cable television, but postponed action until they could determine the details of such an endeavor and the cost to the city.