News
Harvard Researchers Develop AI-Driven Framework To Study Social Interactions, A Step Forward for Autism Research
News
Harvard Innovation Labs Announces 25 President’s Innovation Challenge Finalists
News
Graduate Student Council To Vote on Meeting Attendance Policy
News
Pop Hits and Politics: At Yardfest, Students Dance to Bedingfield and a Student Band Condemns Trump
News
Billionaire Investor Gerald Chan Under Scrutiny for Neglect of Historic Harvard Square Theater
Two weeks before municipal elections, the Cambridge City Council last
night complained of “draconian rules and regulations” in senior living
facilities across the city—including one owned by the University—and
asked the city manager to investigate.
The repressive restrictions senior citizens face, according to
councillors Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 and E. Denise Simmons, include not
being allowed to decorate their doors and public spaces, and losing
access to previously common living areas.
“It’s the same as if you had a Harvard dorm [where] you
couldn’t personalize anything,” said Reeves, a former resident of
Mather House.
“If Harvard students knew the strictures seniors face, they wouldn’t stand for it,” Reeves said.
The senior living facility owned by Harvard is an 11-story,
200-unit building at 2 Mount Auburn St., three blocks east of Quincy
House.
Reeves, who attended a meeting of about 40 of the building’s
tenants last week, said the residents complained of having to remove
plants from a penthouse common area.
Reeves attributed the Harvard facility’s policy constriction
to changes in building management, but he also speculated that the
University might wish to eventually turn it into another dormitory.
Echoing Reeves’ concerns, Simmons asked: “Is 2 Mount Auburn [St.]...going to be there permanently [as a senior facility]?”
Other buildings targeted by councillors for having repressive
policies included an 8-story, 80-unit at 55 Essex St., near Central
Square, owned by the Cambridge Housing Authority, which allegedly has
prevented residents from accessing common areas by locking them.
Both Reeves and Simmons—along with the seven other incumbents
of the City Council, including Mayor Michael A. Sullivan—are running
for reelection next Tuesday, Nov. 8. If all are returned to office,
membership on the Council will not have changed since 2001.
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.