Cars May Get Home in 12 Cents Per Month Lot

Car owners may soon be able to park overnight in the H.A.A.'s Soldiers field Parking Lot for 12 cents a month and escape the wrath of Cambridge police whose "get tough" ticketing policy has jammed local garages beyond capacity.

Business Manager Aldrich Durant '02 and H.A.A. Business Manager Carroll F. Getchell have already approved the use of the Soldiers Field lot. The project now awaits only for a final green light from the Corporation.

The lot can accommodate 1250 automobiles, which "is way over expected demand" according to Student Council investigator John K. Lally '49. It has been newly surfaced with cinders and gravel by the H.A.A. and, says Lally, "is in excellent condition for parking."

The sole cost anticipated in his report to the Council is a Massachusetts licensing fee of one dollar per car per year. Lally points out that at approximately 12 cents a month for eight months, this is 100 times cheaper than the Business School lot proposed by Vice-President Edward Reynolds '16 last week.

According to Lally's recommendation, no watchman is necessary. One man could not possibly patrol the entire field, he said, and pointed out that even with a guard, the University would assume no liability.

Without watching, Lally indicated, the autos would be at least as safe from vandals as they would be on the Cambridge streets. A talk with the local police chief had convinced him that once the assault on overnight parking had begun in earnest, it would be "absolutely unsafe" to leave a car on the streets through the night.

Before the Corporation puts its final approval on the use of the lot, the Council will pool car owners on their willingness to use the lot. Its distance from the Houses seems to be its chief weakness. Yet, says Lally, the lot is only 1600 feet from Eliot House.

The polls will be sent through the mails sometime this week.