The addition of the three acres also means that some of the existing buildings will have to be destroyed and that some tenants will be forced to move. No houses will be torn down until the first phase of the new development is finished and the displaced tenants will have first priority in the new housing--but some of them may not want to move in. On St. Alban's Road, one of the boundaries of the development site, an elderly woman standing outside the building she had lived in for 50 years declared that she had no intention of living in the modern housing. "I'm used to five or six rooms to walk around in," she said in a soft Irish brogue. "Not those coops they're building." Restoring the old buildings "would be a grand idea," she said, "but they wouldn't do it."

According to Moulton, an earlier plan had called for rehabilitation of some of the older, more dilapidated housing that will be torn down. But that idea faded when the federal government cut off funds for rehabilitation last year.

Sharratt pointed out that the number of displaced tenants will be "extremely small". He added that the dissatisfied tenants may change their minds about moving in after they see the new development. "They're used to seeing these modern high-rises," he said. "[Some of the new buildings] will be low-rise townhouses--they'll be incredibly large."

Plans call for two high-rise towers (one of which will be set aside for the elderly); two mid-rise buildings that drop from eight to four stories; one that goes from 12 to six stories; and 150 duplex units for larger families. The development will also include a community center, an outdoor swimming pool and an underground parking garage. Out of a total of 858 units, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and various local agencies will subsidize 500 at low and moderate-income rates, with the remaining 358 units available at market rate. Harvard has agreed to subsidize tenants from the RTH neighborhood to cover the difference between the rents they are paying now and the new rents, which will be calculated as a percentage of income.

Harvard is getting what Sharratt describes as "a very sweet deal." The cost of construction will be covered by the $38-million MHFA loan, $1.8 million of which will be paid to Harvard as compensation for the 13-acre site. After 40 years, the University will have an option to repurchase the land. The 1970 proposal called for Harvard to "lease the land known as the Convent site to RTH and/or their designee for a minimum of 50 years at $1.00 per year."

The site of the yet-to-be-built Affiliated Hospital Center has still not been determined, nor has the site of a proposed power plant that would service 11 hospitals in the area. Before Harvard--or anyone--can begin any construction in the area, it will have to contend with a community that has grown in strength and solidarity.

The realization of this fact may account for Harvard's recent cooperative attitude, Sharratt said. He also attributed the University's willingness to respond to tenants to the bad publicity it was receiving. RTH's 1970 proposal included "a factual report of how [Harvard] had done wrong," complete with 22 pictures of building violations in the area--broken windows, rotting porches, exposed wiring, crumbling walls and ceilings. "Harvard's ago was hurt," Sharratt said. "On one level, it was a question of public relations. And there was a moralistic level too."

"The University was blatantly in the wrong," says Jonathan Beckwith. "That's why so many people got involved." When asked if he thought the community was getting a fair deal, he said, sounding dubious, "Probably. I'll have to wait and see if the housing finally goes up."

RTH has not yet given its final approval to the development plans, but it seems likely that it will do so before the plans go before the MHFA next week. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall and to be completed by the spring of 1977. "It's going to be a good deal for the city and for the community," William Franklin, one of the ten members of RTH's executive board said last week. "But we're still on the ground floor and there's still a lot to be done." This is one community that is capable of doing a lot. It fought Harvard, and it seems to have won.