Cambridge Councillors Ask Station Be Muffled

Saying government was allowing part of Cambridge to become a "service station" for the rest of the city, the City Council denounced the recent expansion of a North Cambridge muffler shop.

Led by Councillor Edward N. Cyr, the council sent a letter to the licensing commission asking that board to deny a permit to a Mass. Ave. Midas Muffler repair station.

The licensing commission was scheduled to meet last night to determine whether the Midas shop should be given a permit for gasoline storage. At press time, the results of the hearing were not known.

Cyr said the construction at the station may have violated city zoning laws and should not have been permitted.

Cyr, who lives near the Midas shop, said its expansion was part of a trend of building nothing but liquor stores and service stations in North Cambridge.

The zoning board's decision to allow the shop to expand "ignores community building" and treats North Cambridge as a "service station for the remainder of the city," Cyr said.

"If this was Harvard Square, if this was another neighborhood, the kind of behavior that was tolerated would simply not be allowed," Cyr said.

City Manager Robert W. Healy said he knew of no improprieties in the city's handling of the situation. But according to Cyr, area residents are angry at the Board of Zoning appeals for granting the permit.

Representatives from the North Cambridge Stabilization Committee urged the council to advise the licensing board to withhold a license for operation to the Midas station, so that the shop could not legally operate.

Stanley Litchman, who has owned the Midas shop for more than 30 years, downplayed the controversy yesterday and said that some community activists are "against everything."