1000 Residents Protest Mattapan MBTA Site

One thousand Mattapan residents attended a public meeting Tuesday to protest MBTA extension plans which would place a rail yard in their community.

The Mattapan site has been proposed to replace the Bennett Street yard in Cambridge where the Kennedy Memorial Library is to be built.

One irate Mattapan citizen called the MBTA plans an "insidious power play" made without public consultation. A resolution was then passed to demand a public hearing on the issue.

State Rep. I. Edward Serlin of Dorchester announced at the meeting that he would seek a court restraining order to block action until a public hearing is held.

If the Mattapan residents are successful in their bid to defeat the MBTA plans, the construction of the Kennedy library, scheduled to begin in 1970, could be delayed.