Newly-Formed Citizens' Group Seeks to Unify Disparate Cambridge Neighborhood Associations

Former City Manager James L. Sullivan is fond of saying that, in Cambridge, there are 15 sides to every issue--with a community group to represent each.

But there is always room for one more.

So last September, several city activists formed Cambridge Citizens for Liveable Neighborhoods (CCLN), an umbrella group seeking to limit development in residential areas. CCLN members say that until their organization got started, the numerous other associations trying to protect city neighborhoods were often working at cross purposes.

"Individual neighborhood groups in this city needed to get together because individual neighborhood groups were losing votes on the City Council," said Jonathan Myers, a CCLN founder. "I thought it could be potentially a very strong organization politically in this city."

Overdevelopment

CCLN's stated purpose is to prevent overdevelopment by uniting neighborhood groups and urging the City Council to adopt downzoning measures. So far, the group has focused on aiding opponents of a 1530-car parking garage being built on Binney St.

CCLN became involved in the garage debate when East Cambridge resident Debra McManus decided to bring it to CCLN's attention at an organizational meeting.

"There were about four people at the meeting," said McManus. "I went and I told them my story, and they were looking at me like, "Who is this crazy lady?'"

Nonethless, a few members found McManus's cause in line with the organization's larger goals. And although members stress that the garage is only one of CCLN's causes, several say that it has helped to galvanize the new organization.

Letters to the City Council from garage opponents have appeared on CCLN stationery, and a recent CCLN flyer seeking new members asks for contributions to the "Stop the Garage Fund."

In addition, several members of CCLN's steering committee are active opponents of the garage, including co-chair R. Phillip Dowds and treasurer Daniel E. Geer, Jr. McManus and Geer will probably take over as co-chairs in the near future, said steering commitee member Peter D. Kinder.

Kinder said the Binney St. garage is a good example of a CCLN issue.

"It doesn't take a genius to realize that if Debra is right about the parking issue, then a lot of the development we're fighting is impossible," said Kinder.

In many cases, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are perpetrators of overdevelopment that threatens the community, CCLN members said.

"It's like one of those lobster crackers," said Kinder. "You've got Harvard on one side and MIT on the other and my neighborhood in the middle."

CCLN plans to curb the effects of overdevelopment by aiding individual neighborhood groups and urging the City Council to adopt a variety of downzoning measures, Geer said. He added that the city did not have a comprehensive development plan designed with city residents in mind.

"We've staked out the issue of commercial development in this city and we've staked it out with respect to one issue--the liveability of neighborhoods," said Geer.