Construction Irks Riverside Residents

Several residents of the Kerry Corner neighborhood near Mather House complained to the Cambridge City Council about the ongoing construction of a Harvard graduate-student dormitory at the Council’s midsummer meeting Monday. The Council later agreed to investigate details of the construction project.

Harvard’s expansion into Riverside—a large district between Mass. Ave. and the Charles River, upstream from the River Street Bridge—has been contentious at least since the 1970 construction of Mather House and Peabody Terrace. The University’s current plans, which call for a six-story building on what was recently a parking lot across from Mather, result from a 2003 compromise between Harvard and the city.

Residents accepted the deal at the time. But they returned to City Hall on Monday to discuss what they called “inconvenient” arrangements surrounding the project.

“I’m moving because there’s no way I can do my job at home,” said Sarah Fineberg, a journalist who works at her Grant Street residence next door to the construction, where she has lived for four years.

Fineberg—whose roommate, Lisa Jones, also came to protest Harvard’s construction—said the beeping of trucks backing up into the construction site made it impossible for her to write from home.

Moreover, trucks ferrying materials to and from the site use Grant Street, a mostly residential area, bypassing the quicker route from Banks Street to the Harvard-maintained Cowperthwaite Street

“Why the trucks need to be on Grant Street doesn’t make sense to me,” Fineberg said.

According to Harvard planners, though, Cowperthwaite Street must stay clear so that emergency vehicles have a way to reach Mather, Dunster, and Leverett Houses quickly.

“Keeping Cowperthwaite open to emergency vehicle access is extremely important,” said Thomas J. Lucey, a University planning spokesman, in an interview.

Lucey said that Harvard had decided not to use Cowperthwaite after consulting with the Cambridge Fire Department. Stephen Boyle, a fireman who covers the Kerry Corner area, said that the Houses on Cowperthwaite are frequent destinations for emergency vehicles.

“We don’t even know if it’s feasible to do it,” Lucey said, referring to construction trucks’ potential use of Cowperthwaite.

On Monday, the City Council unanimously passed an order asking the city’s Commissioner of Public Works “to ensure that all construction related trucks and materials be directed to Cowperthwaite Street,” while at the same time providing for adequate emergency access on Cowperthwaite.

The Council also asked the city’s lawyer to look into the possibility of replacing the electronic beeps emitted by backing-up trucks with flag workers.

And in a third order, the Council requested that Harvard—which currently has the authority, under city ordinances, to start construction as early as 7 a.m.—move its schedule ahead one hour to 8 a.m.

Lucey, the University spokesman, said that the unions working on the site preferred to begin at 7 a.m. in order to end the day earlier.

“Harvard would expect not to be treated differently” than other construction projects in Cambridge, Lucey added.

Lawrence Adkins, a past president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association and a current candidate for the City Council [see article, page 1], drew the loudest applause of the evening after his denunciation of Harvard.

“I am intervening here. Nothing is non-negotiable. Don’t walk on us,” Adkins said.

Although the Council asked the city manager, Robert W. Healy, to report back within 10 days, Lucey said yesterday he had not yet received any communication from the city.

—Staff writer Brendan R. Linn can be reached at blinn@fas.harvard.edu.