There are two prevailing schools of thought about the outcome of this battle. One, the Chicken Little crowd, is convinced that the roof is falling in and that all the controls and ordinances will only slow the collapse, perhaps allowing a little creative planning and partial coping. The others, fewer in number, think perhaps the status quo can be retained, that Cambridge may remain an anomalous mix of the wealthy and the poor, factory worker and professor.
Economic Growth
Everyone seems to agree that the Northeast in general and Cambridge in particular is in for an unprecedented period of economic rejuvenation. All the things that made cities like Cambridge unpalatable to companies 20 years ago--like population density--make them seem ideal in an age of fuel consciousness. And the high technology spurt demands scientists and engineers, two commodities Cambridge boasts in spades. But the opportunity here has a dark side, closely related to the housing problems. Some fear full-scale shifts in employment patterns--in a few years, they say, only people up for a Nobel Prize will be able to find a job in the city. Their influence was felt last spring when they won concessions from city industrialists, who agreed to set aside many jobs in a new development for Cambridge residents with high school educations. But some fear that the restrictions may halt the growth before it begins; that growth is essential to the city's tax base.
School Desegregation
For years, Cambridge was called a model of integration. Last January, a Black student stabbed a white senior to death at the high school, two blocks from the Yard, closing classes for a week and shocking many in the city into action. Desegregation plans, man-dated by the state, had been in the works for years, but the killing seemed to give them new impetus. But the proposals, which will involve busing hundreds of students in an attempt to racially balance predominantly white schools in some parts of the city, remained politically controversial. The school committee punted the case last spring, setting up a program that will tentatively balance the system but only for one year. This fall, the wary politicians will have to decide how far to go, a decision that may be made easier by the threat of state intervention should they act too timidly.
Proposition 2 1/2
Remember Howard Jarvis and Proposition 13? Well, like roller disco, tax fever has spread to the East Coast. Actually, Proposition 2 1/2 is a state measure, designed to severely limit property taxes, higher here than in any other state. But if the law passes, and current indications are that voters will approve the measure, Cambridge is in for more trouble than most Bay State communities.
Taxes will be slashed 15 per cent a year, each year, until the tax level is down to a prescribed level. Assuming 10 per cent inflation, you have a 25 per cent decrease each year in municipal revenues. Cantabridgians will wait for the business revival minus a lot of teachers, policemen and fire-fighters.
Needless to say, city officials are panicked by the prospect that the proposition will pass. If they lose at the ballot box, they'll go to the state for special home rule legislation exempting the city, and they may try to stage a local referendum on the issue. If they're unsuccessful, it may make Cambridge's other problems irrelevant. After all, how can you desegregate a boarded-up school?