River Basin Blues

The scheme of a local real estate operator to put apartments or even factories on a platform over the Charles River basin seemed like a joke last year--at least like small enough a threat so that the City Council felt safe in voting its approval of the project.

State and city legal counsel at that time advised that the area in question was under the sole control of the Metropolitan District Commision, even though privately owned and actually included on the Cambridge assessors' map. And opposition in a State House hearing effectively put an end to a bill which would take the property out of MDC control.

But now last year's bad joke has become enough of a threat to arouse widespread concern and organized opposition. The proprietor of the scheme claims that whether the platform is used for industry or apartments it will considerably strengthen the city's tax base by, in effect, adding taxable land to the map of Cambridge. At the same time the artificial peninsula would enliven the city's skyline, he says.

Neither of these contentions, whether true or not, is the central issue in the matter. More important is that forty acres of anything--whether factory or dormitory--would take up a lot of space in the Basin, considerably lessening its beauty and value as a recreational facility.

Since the Charles River Basin and the riverbanks have been developed, with the expenditure of millions of dollars, as a sailing and general recreation area, it would be less than foresighted of the State, the MDC or the City to allow the destruction of this civic asset for a project of a questionable nature. There is still undeveloped land in Cambridge--the Rogers Block, first of the city's Urban redevelopment areas awaits an industrial developer.

Hopefully the state legislature's delay in holding a hearing on the matter will not dampen opposition to the bill. The voices of civic groups, the press and individuals should convince the state of the importance of keeping the Basin as it is.