"I even get complaints from people who live in the area and say there is not enough parking there," he adds.
Incumbent City Councilor Timothy J. Toomey calls crime the biggest issue facing Cambridge.
"Crime affects every part of the city. The Toomey warns that Cambridge will lose its tax base if the city does not go out and try to actively attract new businesses into the state. Toomey says his major accomplishment as a Councillor was a resolution now pending which would adopt a residency requirement for city employees. And although Toomey says that he has not taken a side on the razing of the Wursthaus building, he firmly believes that "there should be no more strip malls in Harvard Square." "[Harvard Square] was a nice place to visit, but I don't go there anymore. It is so artificial, everything there has been replaced by the upscale and the trendy," Toomey says. Katherine Triantifillou, an attorney and lesbian activist, is seeking a second term on the council. Triantifillou says her chief contribution to Cambridge was the creation of a Domestic Free Crime Zone within the city. The program counsels victims of domestic violence and provides stiffer penalties for offenders. "We are the first city in the nation to implement this plan," says Triantifillou, 45. "It's a model for cities and counties across America." The incumbent Councillor says she shops to increase parental involvement in the schools, implement the city's affirmative action plan and seek more input from residents during the planning of the annual city budget. "I want to transform the budget into a document that is accessible to the people," she says. Triantifillou opposes demolition of historic buildings and is "apprehensive" about Harvard's proposed conversion of apartment buildings into University housing. Harvard math preceptor Robert Winters is seeking to establish himself as the lone moderate in next Tuesday's race. "The city is at a junction now," says Winters, who lost his race for a Council seat in 1993. "Are we going to have local politics based on moderation, compromise, concession or are we going to back to absurdity and create extreme factions on issues?" Winters, 40, says the most important issues now facing the city are "housing policy," since rent control ended and some of the "major hires" which Cambridge will have to make in the near future, including a new police commissioner and a new school superintendent. Winters says Cambridge residents must keep an "open mind" about proposals which might change the look of the area. "Walking through the Square, there is a sense of character and you don't want to see that destroyed," Winters says. "But the Harvard Square of 15 years ago is not the Harvard Square of today. It can't be a 19th century rustic village--you have to be realistic." Despite support for development, Winters adds that the decision to erect a parking garage near Cambridge Common was made in "poor taste." "Putting up a parking garage in this area graced by certain types of buildings would be extraordinarily poor judgment by the Sheraton owners," Winters says. --Jal Mehta contributed to the reporting of this article.