Charges Waived In BRA Protest

Charges were dismissed this week against 11 North Harvard residents arrested for trying to block urban renewal last August. Action in the Massachusetts Legislature, also this week, improved chances that the Boston Redevelopment Authority's demolition program for North Harvard may be drastically revised.

The controversy over the BRA's plan to replace private homes in North Harvard with high-rise, high-rent apartments, attracted state and national attention this summer when the 11, including two Harvard graduates, Steven B. Goldin '64 and James B. Wheelis '64, were arrested in two separate incidents.

After the arrests, State Senator Beryl W. Cohen (D-Brookline) filed an emergency bill to modify the North Harvard renewal plan. The bill, requiring the BRA to change its program from demolition to rehabilitation, was discharged Wednesday from the Committee on Municipal Finance.