Carlson said, however, that the carpenters had been “trotted along” by the University as a mouthpiece for big construction.
“Don’t be hoodwinked or fooled into thinking that building 35-foot buildings is going to create all sorts of jobs, because it isn’t,” Carlson said.
His comments solicited heckling from the carpenters’ unions, who were gathered along the walls of the Cambridge Senior Center.
The planning board has introduced its own petition with more moderate restrictions on Harvard building.
Both Harvard and the residents however, dismissed the planning board petition as unsatisfactory, and few councillors mentioned it yesterday evening.
Kathy Spiegelman, Harvard’s chief planner, and Mary H. Power, senior director of community relations, were present alongside hired architects to represent the University.
—Claire A. Pasternack contributed to the reporting of this story.
—Staff writer Alexandra N. Atiya can be reached at atiya@fas.harvard.edu.