Residents and businessmen among the audience of about 40 people at the board meeting raised a number of concerns, particularly about transportation and traffic.

One resident said that she was concerned about the increased traffic because the streets are "quiet and suburban type streets," and she does not want to see the nature of the streets change.

Another resident was concerned that the increased transportation connections would increase traffic through Alewife, and he wanted to know what the committee was going to do about "safety considerations resulting from new connections to the rest of Cambridge."

Two Belmont residents also voiced concerns about Cambridge's desire to shunt traffic away from the area and into neighboring communities. One of the residents that said that Belmont is a residential area and they don't want trucks going through at all hours of the day.

Other concerns included the timing of implementation of the plan, and the lack of specific numbers in the proposal. The resident who raised that concern said, "I can't assess adjectives. I can assess numbers." He asked the committee to provide more specifics in the plan.

Alewife residents and business owners interviewed yesterday afternoon did not know anything about the new master plan. Of eight people questioned, six said they had never heard of any plan, and two thought the proposal dealt with building a new bridge on the Alewife Brook Parkway.

One concerned citizen, who declined to be identified, said, "It seems to me that they should let the North Cambridge people know before they start passing development plans that we will have to pay taxes on."

These concerns, along with others raised at a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce last week, make it unlikely that the plan will go before the council anytime soon.

Concerns raised at last week's meeting dealt with the existing parking freeze, locations of new housing, lack of a buffer zone between the residential and industrial areas, traffic, and open space bonuses.