Merchants Appeal For More Parking

Harvard Square merchants last night appealed to the University to revamp its plans for a $25 million Mt. Auburn St. development in order to avert a drastic shortage of parking spaces caused by construction scheduled to begin this winter.

Representatives of the Harvard Square Businessman's Association predicted at a Cambridge City Council hearing that construction of Harvard's "University Place" along with another major project behind the Kennedy School of Government would temporarily eliminate about 700 parking spaces.

The council unanimously approved a motion asking Harvard to consider leasing several of its properties to the city for temporary parking including its Dewolfe St. and Oxford St. parking lots as well as a parcel at the corner of Mass Ave and Harvard St.

The University should feel a "moral obligation" to replace at least 200 parking spaces which will be permanently lost to the Mt. Auburn St. project, Charles Sage, president of the merchants' association said. Harvard Cooperative Society general manager James Argeros said the University should add 200 spaces to its University Place project.

The city's director of traffic and parking George Teso said that an additional 100 spaces will be eliminated by Carpenter and Co.'s $60 million retail-housing-office-and-hotel complex on Parcel 1b, creating a "very serious long-term problem" in the Square.

The University will respond to the council's request to consider potential temporary parking lots, Lewis A. Armistead, assistant to the vice president for government and community affairs, said. Armistead added, however, that the University has made no commitment to providing new parking at any of its properties in the Square.

But Harvard is seriously considering a proposal by the merchants' association to lease 200 parking spaces from the Business School lot to the businessmen's association. Armistead said that several legal and logistical problems remain to be worked out in this plan, including the question of who would run a shuttle bus service from the Business School to the Square.

The businessmen said they fear that a massive decrease in available parking space will discourage their customers from coming to the Square.

But several councilors criticized the merchants' association for failing to develop a concrete response to a problem that has plagued Harvard Square businesses for years.

"The businessmen have got to participate in this and don't leave it up to us," councilor Saundra Graham said, adding, "You certainly have had plenty of time to address the situation."

The council also voted to bar reporters from its "Green Room" inner chambers at last night's meeting.

The move came after reporters from the newspapers that regularly cover the council protested a council closed session prior to the meeting.

The reporters' letter to the council said the closed session may have violated the state's open meeting law. Council members said there were no deliberations or decisions during the meeting and hence it was legal.