DeGuglielmo Sees 'Belt' Doomed to Brookline-Elm

The Inner Belt will come and it will pass through the Brookline-Elm St. route, City Manager Joseph A. DeGuglielmo '29 informed the City Council yesterday.

In a three-page letter, he implicity dismissed Governor John A. Volpe's proposed restudy of the Belt routes as politics and predicted a Dec. 1, 1966 announcement of the route.

His resigned comments were then supported by Alan McClennen '38, Cambridge Planning Director, who told the councillors that it was time they turned their attention to methods of relocating the estimated 1500 families whom the Belt will replace.

If the City organizes for a complete housing relocation campaign, it could relocate "up to half" of those hit by the Belt in Cambridge, McClennen said.

DeGuglielmo's prediction of defeat for the City's long fight against the highway was immediately assailed by Councillor Edward A. Crane '35.

Throwing in the Sponge

He accused the city manager of "throwing in the sponge" with his announcement, saying "this pessimism is tragic at this time." Crane was referring to the City's anti-Belt rally in Boston last Saturday.

He recalled a Volpe announcement in 1961 that selection of a route for the highway was imminent. And Crane supported Congressman Thomas P. O'Neill's (D-Mass.) Friday statement that the Belt would be delayed for at least two years.

Not a Chance

In his letter, DeGuglielmo claimed that even though Volpe said he would review the alternate route proposed by the Cambridge Committee on the Inner Belt, time and cost considerations would necessitate the choice of the original Brookline-Elm.

Therefore, more spending to study other alternates or need for the road was doomed to failure, DeGuglielmo said. It was such an appropriation in September which prompted yesterday's letter.