In addition to tension over Harvard’s expansion, residents complain about the day-to-day problems that arise from living next door to students.

“Students congregate on the streets—you can hear the conversation perfectly,” says Michael Brennan, whose home sits opposite to Leverett House. “These students think I’m a mean guy. I understand they want to have fun, but this is where I live.”

In 2002, Riverside residents frustrated Harvard’s designs to build a museum on its Memorial Drive site.

So when the city and the University signed an agreement in October 2003 that allowed Harvard to develop its remaining Riverside properties, those involved hailed the dawn of a new era.

The agreement, which came after lengthy negotations, enables Harvard to construct 328 housing units of faculty and affiliate housing on its two sites, in exchange for providing 36 units of affordable housing and a public park for city residents.

“I think as a result of that long process we’ll have a stronger relationship going forward,” Power said at the time.

GOING TO COURT

Hill’s appeal means that Harvard will not be able to go forward with the construction on Memorial Drive—or the provision of affordable housing to the neighborhood—until the case is resolved in Middlesex court.

Hill says the current design blocks abutting houses’ views of the river and he wants the University to move the houses to a different location.

In a separate lawsuit in April 2004, Cob Carlson—another Memorial Drive abutter—sought to block the city from granting Harvard an easement to build an underground parking lot as part of the project. The suit was quickly dismissed by a Middlesex Superior Court judge.

Both Hill and Power say they don’t know how long this latest challenge might take to be resolved.

“We’re all still in the birth stage of getting to a new era,” says Lawrence Adkins, president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, who helped negotiate the agreement and now serves on a committee to oversee its implementation.

Cambridge Mayor Michael A. Sullivan says the appeal should not be considered a sign that town-gown relations have taken a turn for the worse.

“An abutter has the right to file an appeal,” Sullivan says. “That’s a fact of life whether it’s Harvard or a small property developer.”

Construction will still go forward in the area near Mather known as Kerry Corner. But while most residents there are resigned to the current agreement, they still have concerns about the impact Harvard construction will have on their neighborhood.