Bank Commended For Activity in Community

The Cambridge City Council commended the Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB) at the May 4 council meeting for its work with a non-profit community development corporation, Just A Start.

The CSB has recently come under fire for a Harvard Square development project which some critics believe goes against the same "commitment to the community" for which Cambridge Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55 commended the bank.

The CSB aids Just A Start--which focuses on improving housing, stabilizing financial situations and providing jobs and training for low-income Cantabrigians--with financial support and job placement for low-income residents, said Gordon N. Gottsche, the executive director of Just A Start.

"For a private lending institution to be right in here as a [partner] is incredible," Gottsche said.

Gottsche said that the CSB's work with Just A Start provided funds and loans that would otherwise have been difficult to obtain. CSB has been working with Just A Start since 1960, he said.

But some have charged that the CSB may not be working of the best interests of the entire community.

Earlier this year, the Harvard Square Defense Fund took issue with the CSB's decision to require the 81-year-old Tasty, a greasy spoon diner, to vacate its location adjacent to CSB in a CSB-owned building which the bank planned to renovate.

Recently, the CSB said it will allow the Tasty to move back into the Reed Block building near its original location, but tension still exists between the bank and some Cambridge residents.

Sue L. Hickey, vice president of community reinvestment for the bank, said improving the relationship with the community was "not what our purpose [was]" in working with Just A Start.

"Our real focus is [being] a community bank, one that is recognized as being out there," Hickey said.