The Air Is Still Not Fully Clear

Community leaders remain unconvinced of the integrity of C.E. Maguire Inc., the firm conducting the environmental impact statement on the Kennedy Library, and this week's opening up of the GSA investigation of the consulting firm will not change any minds.

The report, although basically favorable to Maguire, does fault the firm on the preparation of a report for the Massachusetts Port Authority on the feasibility of a new Boston shipping facility.

The review, prepared by GSA counsel William F. Manley, calls the lack of community impact conclusions in the final Magure report "poor" and "at odds with current trends."

GSA's investigation also found "inconsistencies and inadequacies" in the Massport study, as well as "cirumstantial" evidence to support the conclusion that Maguire altered its report under pressure from its client.

But "circumstantial" evidence is not enough to convince the GSA that Magure is unfit to continue the Kennedy Library study. It is, however, sufficient to persuade many civic leaders that Maguire cannot be trusted.

In the evidence accompanying the report, Gerald Gillerman, attorney for the Harvard Square Development Task Force, said he is "not fully persuaded" that Maguire had not altered its study after meetings with Massport officials.

Councillors Saundra Graham and Francis H. Duehay '55 have gone on record saying that Magure cannot be expected to conduct a fair study on the library. Philip Burling, a representative of the Cambridge Civic Association, and the Rev. Richard J. Shmaruk, a member of the task force, also remain unconvinced of Maguire's innocence in the Massport brouhaha.

George Grant, director of the Kennedy study and an employee connected with the Massport job, maintains that reporters and residents just "don't understand" routine procedure in their very technical business. He complains of distorted reporting in three local newspapers-The Boston Globe, The Real Paper and The Crimson-and points to the impossibility of pleasing everyone with an environmental impact study. Grant defends his company against all allegations.

Cambridge residents appear to have legitimate concerns: The issues of controversy in the Massport allegations were evaluations of alternate sites and of environmental impact, the focal points of the Cambridge controversy over the library.