But they said the suggested locations wouldpresent an overwhelming and unrepresentativeburden on Central Square's shoulders.

Cantabrigian John Buster said that 80 percentof the city's present shelters are located nearfour percent of its population, in the area thatsurrounds Central Square.

Buster said this lopsided figure reflects theneighborhood's lack of political influence. "Thisshouldn't be played out as the powerful dictatingto the powerless," Buster said. "We need to beheard."

Kathleen Maratto, a Cambridge resident, saidthat the financial status of many Central Squareresidents make it unfair for that area to shoulderthe burden of the CASPAR center.

"We are the homeless of next week," she said."This is not the place for a wet shelter."

But Judge Lawrence J. Feloney, a committeemember, said it will be difficult to find alocation for CASPAR that pleases everyone. "Wecan't have unanimity on these things," Feloneysaid. "It's almost impossible."

Feloney said that many shelters are in CentralSquare simply because "the population of streetinebriates chose Central Square."

"They're our neighbors," he said. "We can'ttell people where they're going to live. We justhave to try to help them."

But Gary Stiller, who represented the CentralSquare Neighborhood Coalition on the committee,said that the shelter "does not need to be locatednear the center of town to be effec