The Referendum: Gauging City Sentiment

Voters in Cambridge will receive three ballots tomorrow: one for City Council, one for School Committee, and a third they might not even open, containing this year's six non-binding referendum questions. Below is a list of those referenda.

Health Insurance

Question 1. Should the Cambridge City Council support a national health service program which provides comprehensive care, including preventive, curative and occupational health services, is community-controlled, rationally organized, equitably financed, with no out-of-pocket charges; is universal in coverage and sensitive to the particular health needs of elderly, women, minorities and disabled persons?

Question 1 is almost identical to proposals by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.).

"Being in an allied profession, pharmacy, I can see how people are going to have to have something like this because the cost of health care is just running away from what the individual can play." Mayor Thomas W. Danehy says.

City Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci says the elderly and lower income groups in Cambridge would appreciate help with rising costs and inadequate health care facilities for the poor. "That question should go over big with the working classes in Cambridge," he says.

Kennedy

Question 2. Shall Senator Edward Moore Kennedy be a candidate for President of the United States in 1980?

Velluci sponsored this question last June because he thinks the voters of Cambridge will give a truer picture of Kennedy's national support than any primary or poll.

The city's ethnic, racial and social diversity make it "in many ways a microcosm of the nation," he adds.

Kennedy has indicated he will announce his candidacy Wednesday at Faneuil Hall.

Energy

Question 3. Should the Cambridge City Council actively encourage building insulation, energy conservation and the use of solar power and other safe renewable energy sources in the city, thereby saving Cambridge residents money and creating new jobs, and request the state and federal governments not to license the construction or operation of any new nuclear power plants?

While both its advocates and opponents expect Question 3 to receive strong support, the controversy over this referendum focuses on the nuclear power portion rather than the undisputed conservation section.

Clifford A. Truesdell '66, one of the referendum's authors, says he originally wanted a purely anti-nuclear referendum, but decided an "unemotional" emphasis on alternatives to nuclear power would be more effective.

"The anti-nuclear struggle is not going to be won by apocalyptic victories," he adds.

Members of the Harvard-Radcliffe Anti-nuclear Alliance leafletted all of Fresh Pond (Ward 11) last week and plan to work at polling sites near the University on election day, Charles E. Lewis '82, the alliance's University organizer, says.

The manager of sales and service at Cambridge Electric Light Company, Joseph H. Smith, says that while he supports increased efficiency to reduce energy costs slowly, implementation of the referendum's anti-nuclear "curveball" would raise costs sharply.

"However, people are going to read about saving money through conservation and just naturally vote yes," Smith says. He adds that the city has a 52-per-cent "dependence on the nukes."

A private sutdy in 1977 estimated that increasing home insulation could save city residents tens of millions of dollars in energy costs over 10 years. Dick Bell, co-director of the Boston Energy Policy information center, says.

Expansion

Question 4. Shall the City Council seek authority from the General Court to enable the city to use zoning to regulate tax-exempt institutions in their uses of land in residentially zoned portions of the City of Cambridge.

City Councilor Mary Ellen Preusser says Question 4 may help Cambridge to restrict Harvard's expansion.

"This is very important to get a sense of city support in numbers to show that we really mean, business," she says.

"All I hear is praise that at last someone is doing something about this," she adds.

The state legislature passed a home-rule petition last August allowing the City of Cam- bridge to restrict tax-exempt groups such as religious and educational organizations within residentially zoned areas. However, the state constitution already exempts Harvard.

At that time the city gave the Community Development Committee 90 days to draw up the regulations.

Preusser says that if the courts uphold Harvard's exemption under the constitution, she and State Rep. Barney Frank '62 will start the constitutional amendment process.

But Elsie P. Mitchell, acting director of the Cambridge Buddhist Association (CBA), says new zoning regulations could affect the religious character of the city.

The city council "is going to boot the CBA out of town and then go after Harvard," she adds. "Apparently this makes them very popular."

She says the council will allow established groups to keep their exemptions while newer organizations will be pushed aside.

The CBA will go to court Wednesday to protest recent ordinances barring them from holding religious ceremonies at their house on Sparks Street.

Preusser says she has tried to push through home-rule petitions similar to Question 4 since 1978. "The whole allegation that this kind of legislation for the city came about because of the Sparks Street Group is specious," she said.

Investments

Question 5. Shall the City of Cambridge refrain from investing public monies in banks and other financial institutions doing business in or with the Republic of South Africa?

The Cambridge Anti-Apartheid Coalition, whose members include the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC), the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, and the Friends Services Committee, among others, has worked since early September to gain support for Question 5.

"If the referendum wins by a large majority, the City Council will feel obliged to pay attention to it," Matthew M. E. Rothschild '80, a SASC member, says.

SASC members have handed out leaflets in Harvard Square in the early morning for the past three weeks, and have been working to telephone each of the 1500 Harvard students registered to vote in Cambridge. Rothschild adds that members will staff the polls tomorrow.

Heritage

Question 6. Shall the City of Cambridge enact legislation to protect the historic scale and character of Harvard Square, Lechmere Square, Inman Square and Porter Square?

Supporters of Question 6 hope its passage will protect the quality of urban life in Cambridge's squares.

"It's an issue in a lot of densely populated cities around the country that all start to look like Manhattan," City Councilor Francis H. Duehay, who sponsored the question, says. He adds that possible regulations would invoke height and setback limitations to encourage appropriate development.

"I don't want to see Harvard Square filled with Holyoke Centers," Duehay says. He adds that no groups have vocally opposed Question 6