Central Square has long been something of an afterthought in the city of Cambridge, a rough grey area untouched by the prosperity that two thriving universities have brought to neighboring Harvard and Kendall Squares.

Even on sunny days, it has a dingy look to it, heightened by the rows of vagrants that line the foyers of its shops and restaurants. Once a busy commercial center at the heart, the square has been hard-hit by a regional recession, and today many of its concrete storefronts lie vacant.

"All the industries are moved," says one long time merchant. "This has become a ghost square. If not for the MBTA this square would be dead.

"The majority of the better businesses have left," he continues, sweeping his arms in a vague arc meant to indicate the square's perimeter. "The malls have taken people away--easier shopping."

Many area merchants--men and women who have had businesses there for years--now look at the changes in their old neighborhood with an air of despair, scanning the city streets for the key factor which will explain their sagging fortunes.

And as their eyes traverse the pavements, inevitably they light upon the homeless--many of them plagued with alcohol problems or by mental illness--and suddenly the formless cloud of anger that hovers over the square takes on a definite shape.

"In the last year-and-a-half the situation has changed for the worse and that has been created by a substantial influx of unfortunates in various catagories--alcoholics, those afflicted with mental problems and the homeless," says Carl F. Barron, president of Putnam Furniture Leasing Company and president of the area's business association.

"Customers will not come into a location where they experience fear," says Barron, who has been in business in the square for 50 years. "I am after equal treatment of the average person living or working in Central Square.

"We are interested in having equal treatment for us in contrast to having preferential treatment of the homeless. The matter should be non-controversial and non-political. All we are asking for is freedom from fear."

Glory Days Recede

Ironically, Barron says that two years ago, in the heady days of the Massachusetts Miracle, the square was beginning to see an economic turnaround, perhaps even a return to its glory days at the turn of the century.

Now, he says the only way to solve Central Square's problem is to get the homeless off the streets--a solution which the city is ill-equipped to implement. Presenting his complaints to the City Council on Monday, he called on the city to put three officers on constant patrol in the area to enforce loitering and anti-vagrancy ordinances.

But even if the homeless could be removed and the streets cleaned up, city planners are skeptical about the ability of Central Square to bounce back in the current economic climate.

"It's not fair to say you need to solve the problems of the homeless to help Central Square," says Catherine Woodbury, an economic planner for the city's Community Development Department.

"The issues are getting confused," Woodbury complains. "It's not the homeless that are the problem. To blame the homeless is not correct. They have enough problems of their own that they don't need to be blamed for the decay of an urban area.