Cout to Settle Evictions Today; BRA Seeks Ruling on Injunction

The cases of four Allston families fighting eviction from their homes on North Harvard Street will come to Federal District Court today.

Judge Francis J.W. Ford '04 will decide at 10:30 a.m. on a motion by Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) lawyers to invalidate a temporary injunction against the evictions. Ford issued the injunction last Friday after Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs had already begun hauling the furniture of the four families to a Roxbury warehouse.

In defense of the four families, national SDS headquarters in Boston last night began organizing student opposition groups against future eviction attempts. An ad hoc group from Haryard yesterday said it is preparing a leaflet explaining the eviction controversy.

Tentative on Tactics

At SDS headquarters, plans for actual tactics were tentative. The broad goal is to prevent the eviction of the four families, Rita Hollum, a regional SDS leader, said. Specific tactics were discussed under consideration late last night at a meeting held by Mrs. Albert Redgate, one of the homeowners, she added.

Invalidation of the temporary injunction today in court would pave the way towards eviction of the four families and the erection of a 212-unit medium-low-in-come housing project on the site. If the injunction is upheld and the families remain in their homes, the BRA faces the loss of vital funds for the project from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). FHA has set November 1 as the deadline for clearing the site.

BRA director John D. Warner stated that the Allston controversy has been going on for five years, and that during that period three of the four families on North Harvard Street have paid no rent. The BRA has continually pressured the families to re-locate, he said. In the past two months the agency has suggested 35 alternative accommodations to the families.