MTA Unwilling to Sell All of City Car Yards

Harvard wants more of the MTA land in Cambridge than the MTA is willing to sell, William V. Ward, a trustee of the Transit Authority said last night. "A sale of land to the University would be no profit for the MTA," he explained, "unless we keep part of the Cambridge property for ourselves."

Although the MTA is condensing its facilities in the Cambridge yards, Ward declared, it will still need part of the land which the University has offered to buy. "If we didn't keep some of that land for car storage," he said, "we would have to buy up other space, perhaps at a greater price than we could get from any sale to Harvard."

Rep. John J. Toomey (D-Cambridge), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, yesterday opposed "selling any land whatsoever to Harvard" or to any other untaxable private interest." Toomey declared that he would support any legislative measure forcing the MTA to sell its property by competitive bidding after notifying officials of the town involved.

Toomey's remarks were prompted by the MTA's privately negotiated sale of five acres of valuable land in Medford last week. The sale precipitated a sharp controversy between legislative members and the trustees of the MTA about the way in which all surplus MTA land should be sold.

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Toomey and Ward have each opposed private sales, asking that the MTA publish a list of all its salable land. Ward supported the Medford transaction, however, and said yesterday that any MTA land sale is "fair game" and can be conducted as the trustees decide.

The MTA received $200,000 for the Medford sale which prompted the controversy. Although an MTA appraiser valued the land at $150,000, Medford appraisers declared after the sale was announced that the land was worth at least $350,000.

Medford citizens will file a bill today to investigate the sale and will attempt to legally block an immediate transfer.