Memorial Drive Gets More Sundays Off

In an effort to allow for more quiet Sundays by the Charles, metropolitian officials have extended the period in which they will shut off a section of Memorial Drive to traffic.

For the past nine summers, the one-and-a-half mile section of Mem Drive next to the River Bend Park has been blocked off on Sundays between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. The intention was to allow residents of Cambridge to enjoy the park without the nuisance of traffic on the drive.

To keep up with daylight savings time, the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) recently decided to extend this period to October--as move that has provoked varying responses from citizens.

While the decision has won praise from walkers and joggers, some Harvard Square merchants fear the measure has had a negative effect on business, discouraging customers who usually use the drive to get to the Square.

Charles, Sage, manager of the grocery store that bears his, name, said it is unnecessary to keep the drive closed on Sundays in the fall, because people only really use the park during the summer. "In bad weather, you just don't see those people only really use the park during the summer. "In bad weather, you just don't see those people out there" said Sage.

But other merchants said they have barely noticed the change. The manager of J. August Co., Linda A. Lazzaro, said her store has not experienced any drop in business as a result of the drive being closed. In fact, she said she had not even been aware that the drive was closed off, as she commutes to work from the opposite direction.

Polls of area businesses by the Harvard Square Business Association have revealed a basic 50-50 split between those supporting and those opposing the move. But Sally Alcorn, an official at the business association said, "No one is up in arms about it."

It River Bend Park is managed cooperatively by the MDC and The People for River Bend Park Trust. The MDC puts up the barriers, while the trust pays for the police who patrol the traffic.

The two organizations hold a joint annual meeting to decide polices, and merchants are invited to attend Isabella Halsted, a spokesperson for the trust, said there were only "one or two who objected to 'no traffic" at the annual meeting at which the extension was voted.

"The park becomes a true summer resort," said Laura O. Palmer, director of public information at-the MDC. Said one man found strolling in the park last Sunday. "Now my daughter can ride up and down here on her bicycle and I don't have to panic every two minutes."