Discontent About Kennedy Library

There were murmurings of discontent in Cambridge this week as City officials and community leaders voiced reservations about preliminary plans for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library.

In addition, there appears to be some doubt as to whether the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) will be able to vacate the Library site by December 31, 1973, as originally planned.

City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55, also dean of Admissions and Studies at the School of Education, charged on Monday that the Library plans were ill-conceived and that the amount of parking space alloted for visitors and tourists would have to be drastically increased.

Parking is a major area of dispute in the negotiations between the Library Corporation and the City, with the former saying that about 475 places will be enough and the latter holding out for a minimum of 1000 parking spaces.

Nor is the local community particularly enamored of the Library's design. "I would hope that we would have some personal assurance that the Kennedy Library will not be built with the sole consideration being that it should appear attractive from the Boston side of the river," said Richard Shmaruk of the City Manager's task force on Harvard Square.