"The city has stopped large projects before," said Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55. "You are coming to us with a tunnel in Charlestown and other parts of the project you have started and basically you are saying that all we can do is accept scheme Z.

"We are not going to accept Scheme Z."

But while the sentiment of the room was overwhelmingly against Scheme Z, a few city residents voiced support for the controversial plan.

Richard McKinnon of Congress Group Ventures, which is building a hotel and housing complex in the North Point region of East Cambridge, said that the tunnel alternative would destroy his plans to redevelop the economically stagnant neighborhood.

The silt and dredged fill from the Charles will make it impossible to build on the land, he said.

McKinnon said the new parkland and his building would do much to hide the unsightiness of the ramps. "Coexistence with heavy industry will always be necessary in North Point," he said.