Although Kay said he believes mismanagement of the Sports Bar is the cause of most residents' complaints, he defended Harvard Square's drinking establishments.

"There are 400,000 students going to school here, and the reason why they're rambunctious is not only because they drink... I can see the residents' side, but there's nothing you can do about it," Kay said.

Kuelzer also said that although the Square does "get rather rowdy around closing time, especially during the summer," the locals should tolerate the noise because of where they live.

"I don't mean to sound flip," Kuelzer said, "But this is the downtown area, and you can't expect it to be like a quiet suburban street."

But the residents are still steadfast in their demands for a quieter, safer Harvard Square. And their campaign to tighten both the management of the bars and liquor licensing laws has not only become a crusade against noise pollution and an occasional bout of violence, but a fight to clean up their neighborhood.

The Harvard Square Defense Fund, an organization that champions the preservation of a safe, liveable Harvard Square, is crusaded to tighten liquor policies in the Square. Until 1985, when the city council declared the Square a "capped area," there was no limit to the number of area establishments with liquor licenses. Presently, the License Commission only issues beer and wine licenses, the type for which restaurants most commonly apply.

In November 25 letter to Alex Rodriguez, chairman of the License Commission, Harvard Square Defense Fund President Gladys P. Gifford said that there are 35 establishments with pouring licenses in Harvard Square. Twenty-three of the bars and restaurants may serve hard liquor and 12 of them may serve only beer and wine. The Fund contends that Massachusetts law states that a license commission is only authorized to grant licenses "to serve the public need and in such a manner as to protect the common good..."

Too Many Bars?

"Cambridge has over one and one-half times the number of pouring licenses which a city of its size would be authorized to issue...the ratio of licenses to population served is higher for Harvard Square and its adjacent neighborhoods," the letter states.

The Fund sent copies of the letter to the police department, License Commission and two restaurants which are currently applying for pouring licenses: the Stockpot and the Cafe of India. The Fund and its supporters believe that issuing pouring licenses to restaurants will create a domino effect: "as a result [of issuing puoring licenses], these restaurants are likely to change both size and character" and that "they may become seedy establishments."

Lisa Gilman, manager of the Stockpot, said she believed that the residents were overreacting in concluding that restaurants applying for licenses were "going to change,"

"They're against us...They think that the minute we get a license, we're going to change," Gilman said. "Thirteen years is a long enough time, I think, to prove to a town that we won't cause trouble."

Gilman said the Stockpot is applying for a pouring license to attract more business, but that the menu and the hours of operation will not change. She added that she believes other establishments are applying for pouring licenses to bring in more customers to weather the recession.

And the bars, like other businesses, have the right to operate in the Square, owners say, adding that some ethnic restaurants require alcohol to be served with the meal because of the ethnicity's culture.

But even if the License Commission finds those arguments convincing, owners and employees of local bars say, the neighborhood activists' campaign has taken its toll. Sports Bar employee Thomas K. Lindsley said that all of the negative publicity has thinned out the crowds noticeably.

"Business has slowed down because of the hearing," he said.