Vellucci Says Plympton Street To Become 'Lampoon Avenue'

"I need one more vote to rename Plympton St. Lampoon Ave.!" Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci declared after the City Council meeting last night.

Vellucci entered a motion last month to change the name of Plympton St. "because he wasn't getting good coverage from The Crimson," Councilor Barbara Ackermann said last night.

"I think the Harvard Lampoon deserves some kind of notariety and recognition," Vellucci said. "When the order is passed the address of The Crimson will be 14 Lampoon Ave."

Councilor Thomas W. Danehy delayed the order last month. Ackermann said she doubted that it would pass.

Vellucci became upset last night when Brian Opert of the State's Department of Community Affairs was not present for a planned hearing on Cambridge housing problems. The City Manager asked the Council to delay the hearing because of Opert's absence.

Vellucci called the Miller's River Apartments "a total blight in the neighborhood" of East Cambridge. He said that kids are throwing cherry bombs because a scheduled recreation center has not yet been built there.

Education Aid Dispute

Also last night Councilor David A. Wylie said he was dissatisfied with the amount of state aid to education in Cambridge. "We have an imbalance in the amount of money we take in and the amount we pay out," Wylie said.

City Manager James L. Sullivan agreed that state finance for Cambridge education is disproportionate to the amount of taxes paid. He said that under Massachusetts law, the higher a city's property values are, the less the state will contribute to the city's education because the city gets more in property taxes.

This means that because Cambridge has high property values, the state finances as little as 15 per cent of the cost of its education, Sullivan said. Lowell, with a low property assessment gets up to 68 per cent financing for its education, he said.

Sullivan said he would support a revenue sharing program between the city and the state based on per capita income and the amount of taxes collected from the city.

Wylie asked Sullivan to confront state legislators with the issue in a meeting this Wednesday night.