Council Ratifies Model Cities Bill

An ordinance establishing the nation's only Model Cities agency controlled by neighborhood residents whizzed through the Cambridge City Council last night.

The Council took ten minutes to approve the ordinance unanimously. It provides for a 24-member City Demonstration Agency (CDA) to run Cambridge's Model Cities Program.

Sixteen of the CDA's members will be residents of the model neighborhood chosen in special elections. The other eight will represent the City government, universities, businesses, and private charitable agencies.

Under the ordinance, the CDA "shall have exclusive authority to make and provide for the carrying out of plans for the Cambridge Model Cities program," subject to the approval of its plans by a referendum in the model neighborhood. The CDA will also hire, set wages for, and fire all Model Cities employees in Cambridge, in consultation with Justin M. Gray, assistant to the City Manager for Community development.

"Other communities are watching to see whether we fall flat on our faces or we make it work," Gray told the Council. Linda Broderick, a representative of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, complimented residents who drew up the ordinance. Mrs. Broderick said, "We are looking for enormous success" from Cambridge's resident-controlled CDA.

During the next two or three weeks, residents of the model neighborhood, located east of Central Square, will nominate their candidates for the resident seats on the CDA. Elections will be held either on June 8 or June 15, according to Gray.