Despite some store-owner skepticism, the majority of the Cambridge City Council remains optimistic about the square's future. The council is in the final stages of rezoning part of the square to allow for MIT's University Park development, a $250 million project on the 27 acres adjacent to the square's fire station.
Plans currently call for a 400-unit housing project along with the construction of classrooms, parks, high rise offices, and a 350-room hotel, according to Walter Milne, MIT's assistant to the president. "The project is expected to provide Cambridge with $50 million in tax revenues over a ten year period," says Cambridge City Councillor William Walsh, who voted with the six-to-one majority on a preliminary rezoning proposition.
Walsh said that rezoning will enable MIT to provide more housing for the Central Square area, particularly for lower income residents who have been assigned 150 spaces in University Park. "The area has been vacant for the last 14 years and done nothing for Cambridge," says Walsh. The councillor adds that the additional automobile traffic will be handled smoothly by improved traffic arteries.
MIT's Milne says that the costs of road improvements will be split equally between the institute, the city, and the project's developers, Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland. Final approval for the rezoning is expected at tonight's city council meeting.
Not all residents of Central Square are happy with the MIT proposal. Austin Elder Jr., a 53-year resident of Cambridge says that MIT and Harvard are the problems, not the solution to improving Central Square.
It's Harvard's Fault
"Harvard and the other colleges mess up the city and don't pay any taxes. They put nothing back for the poor people. We ain't got no place to go," says Elder who also says that he blames Harvard and MIT for making rents unaffordable. Elder adds, "They buy up all the land and make money off it. Then they kick us poor out 'cause the rent's too high."
Simon Smith, immigration counselor for CHAMA, (Cambridge Haitian American Association), said that lower income Haitians will suffer as a result of the increasing land values and rental rates in the square. "When you have new businesses, displacement of the poor results. There are plenty of examples, Roxbury and the South End, to prove it," saysid Smith who adds that he is skeptical of MIT's plan to provide low-income housing.
Smith says that too much money has been spent on subway renovation. "They built a beautiful train station while people are living on the streets and they could care less," says Smith.
Despite opposition from those who fear the negative impact of urban improvement, the revitalization of Central Square, like that of Harvard and Kendall Squares, proceeds on schedule.
As city leaders work to attract upscale business to the commercial district by improving the Central Square landscape, they face the dilemmas that have plagued other revitalization projects in the past--rising rents and dislocation of lower and moderate income residents. In the meantime, with the Salvation Army Thrift Store and posh boutiques existing side by side, contrasts remain.