Bob Wilkinson, a Cape realtor who favored theland bank bill, says it's already too late.

Wilkinson, who served as spokesperson and chairof the Friends of Cape Cod Landbank Bill, saysthat after a 14-year battle just to bring the landbank proposal to a referendum, they have now lostthe struggle to maintain the Cape's "specialatmosphere."

"I think it's over," he says.

Cambridge, Not New Haven

Back in The Square, Meyer tries to make theargument that instead of taxes on real estatetransactions, the most equitable Cape Cod billwould have had those living near the open spacepay for its preservation.

As for Cambridge, keeping neighborhooddiversity is a complex issue, Meyer believes.

"The issue in Cambridge is not as simple aspeople would like to believe. It's not just aboutkeeping low-income people, there's plenty oflow-income people. What we also need is to keepmiddle-class people," Meyer says.

Meyer thinks Cambridge's diversity should bemaintained by subsidies, not by "sales taxestargeted to real estate."

"New Haven pursued a policy some would arguefor Cambridge [focusing on low-incomehousing]..and New Haven has suffered greatly sinceI graduated [from Yale]," says Meyer, who left NewHaven in 1959.

According to Gordon Gottsche, the executivedirector of Just A Start, a nonprofit communityhousing organization, however, the problem is thatthere simply are not enough resources for themaintenance of Cambridge's low-income housing.Real estate taxes or city subsidies help, but theydo not solve the problem.

"Presumably, the real estate tax would gotoward buying buildings...but the private sectorhas a hell of a lot more money to buy thosebuildings for increasingly expensive condominiumsthan us," Gottsche explains.

As for the Community Preservation Act and theCambridge Transfer Tax bill, Gottsche has noillusions.

"Will [they] pass? Your guess is as good asmine," Gottsche says