Park Board Refuses Playground Plans

Because the Cambridge Park Board recently rejected their proposals, a group of Harvard students and Cambridge boys were forced to drop for this spring their plans for turning an East Cambridge vacant lot into a playground for 235 children.

To be used by boys from six to 20 years of age, the new recreation grounds was proposed by the Harvard Pacifist League, which hoped to help the cause of peace by straightening out social problems at home, and was supported by PBH and a group known as the Friends of Boy's Club, Incorporated, to which some members of PBH and the Pacifist League belonged.

Various boys' "gangs" who were approached about the project offered hearty support, and it was understood that they would help in working out the plans for the playground, which was to include a baseball field, volleyball and basketball courts, and horseshoe pits.

When the Park Board opposed private construction and control of the recreation project, the Harvard-Cambridge groups suggested that Cambridge assume control of the project and that the boys help Superintendent of Recreation Stephen H. Mahoney execute the plans.