Residents Blast Art Museum Plans

A proposed Harvard modern art museum to be built on the current site of the Mahoney's Garden Center came under fire at a neighborhood zoning meeting last night.

The University has been drawing up plans for the site, which is bordered by Memorial Drive, Acron Street, Banks Street and Western Avenue, for several months.

But at last night's meeting, a number of members of the abutting neighborhood said they would not let the museum go up without a fight.

"Why are they trying to put a museum in this residential area," asked one community member, who led a campaign against a Harvard development plan on the Mahoney's site 30 years ago.

"That museum does not belong here," she said.

Residents' concerns centered on what they described as the "already abysmal" traffic congestion in the area. They also complained that the structure would cut off residential views of the river and block breezes coming off the Charles.

A museum on the only open site in the neighborhood would ensure that affordable housing is not built on the site, exacerbating what residents call the community's most pressing issue.

The Cambridge Community Development Department originally called the meeting to discuss lax zoning regulations in the area, which currently allows buildings up to 120 feet in height. The surrounding neighborhood falls under much stricter zoning regulations.

Mary H. Power, Harvard's director of community relations for Cambridge, acknowledged that zoning in the Mahoney site area is "idiosyncratic" and "inappropriate." But Power said the museum Harvard hopes to build will not be more than three stories tall.

Zoning issues quickly faded from the discussion as the meeting progressed, with residents and city councilors focusing on reasons they felt the already busy site was unsuitable for a Harvard museum.

"You can't park now, there are accidents every Friday and Saturday night-- we have to live there," said one resident.

Another neighbor who identified himself as a great fan of Harvard's museums said he nevertheless believed a museum should not be built in the area.

"Presently, Mahoney's lets us feel a connection with the river. There's nothing there except plants and flowers--this is a people space," he said.

According to Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums James B. Cuno, there is no certainty that the museum will rise at all. Besides the difficulty of gaining community approval, Cuno cited monetary issues and internal Harvard approval as possible impediments to construction.

A number of city members complained, though, that Harvard consistently reaches out to the community too late in the process. City Councilor Marjorie C. Decker said she is skeptical of Harvard's level of uncertainty about the project.

"You've come into here telling us what will be on the site. You haven't come and asked us what we want to be here," she said.

Residents repeatedly used the construction of nearby Peabody Terrace without ample community interaction as an example of insufficient past dialogue between the University and the community.

But Power said last night's meeting will only be the first of many attempts to determine how Harvard can build a museum in the area and still meet the community's needs.

"Harvard would like to build a museum on this land, but we are just beginning to figure out how this can work," Power said.

"There is no question that we have learned a lot at this meeting," she said.