Holmes Realty Project Detrimental to Cambridge

To the editors:

The Lucy Parsons Center is much more than a bookstore. It is a deep rooted institution and community center that reflects the lifestyles of many of us who came to settle in Cambridgeport, where the Lucy Parsons Center (formerly the Red Bookstore) was established, almost 30 years ago.

Those of us who flocked to this part of Cambridge, many as political and social outcasts from mainstream society, stayed on to put down roots in an environment where there are so many like-minded people. We raised our children with the values we had come to embrace through our participation in the struggles to combat war, racism and class oppression in the late '60s. The Lucy Parsons Center has been an anchor for the politics and culture of Cambridgeport, as well as greater Boston's new and old left, progressive, punk, labor and intellectual communities. We will not allow it to suffer the eradication that has befallen so many of our institutions in these neo-Calvinist times.

Now more than ever before, the City of Cambridge must be represented by voices that truly speak for the concerns of its low-income, poor and working class residents. Will Cambridge be able to withstand the forces of economic change, brought on by what Jeremy Rifkin calls the Third Industrial Revolution? Or will we put our heads together and search for solutions that will preserve what is so unique about this city--its respect and tolerance for all communities, cultures and ethnic groups and the wide spectrum of political and religious beliefs?

The Holmes Realty Trust project threatens to displace the very people who make up this mix. We, who cherish our tradition of respect, must come to terms with the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots. The designs of those who have benefited from this increasing disparity cannot be allowed to decimate the very essence of the communities and neighborhoods which we have worked so hard to build and preserve. Cambridge is a haven with a small-town character woven into the fabric of each individual community.

We must place a moratorium on the Holmes Realty Trust proposal in order to honestly examine the ramifications it will have on the make-up of our city. Dismantling our communities' cultures, traditions and heritage for the sake of upscale development is not progress, nor does it contribute to the economic solvency of the citizens of Cambridge. It only serves to change the demographics of the city and to enhance the material prospects of a select few. LAURIE TAYMOR-BERRY   March 16, 1998