City Council Hears West Nile Spray Concerns

The Cambridge City Council labored through its first meeting of its fall term Monday, tackling a range of issues from the West Nile virus to citywide rezoning to town-gown relations.

In the four-and-a-half hour meeting, the council set aside unfinished business from last spring and concentrated instead on issues that arose during the summer.

During the public comment period, a few residents raised concerns about the city's recent insecticide spraying to combat the West Nile virus. The disease was found in seven birds in Cambridge during the summer, leading the city to spray for mosquitoes over wide areas including Harvard Square on Aug. 30.

But several councilors and residents said the spraying might have been an overly drastic measure.

"Widespread spraying for mosquitoes is like trying to kill an ant with an AK-47," said one resident who spoke about the possible dangers of Resmethrin, the chemical used for the spraying.

"As a layperson, it appears to me that the relative response has far exceeded the need," said councilor Jim Braude, who sponsored an order requesting a report on whether the spraying was needed.

In a recent report on the spraying, the city's public health department said Resmethrin is "not considered dangerous to humans or pets at the very low levels being applied" but that "certain precautions are recommended to protect people with respiratory problems."

Councilor Marjorie C. Decker said that the many residents who have called her have been more concerned about the spraying than the virus itself.

"I heard the trucks coming down my street and I shut my windows quickly," Decker said.

Councilor Michael A. Sullivan requested a meeting with health department officials to develop a better way to notify residents about any future sprayings.

In other business, the city's planning board submitted a citywide rezoning petition that the council will analyze over the next several months. The petition would overhaul and modernize the city's zoning regulations.

While no formal decision on rezoning will be made until February, several councilors praised the initiative.

"[The rezoning petition] reflects an enormous amount of thinking on where and how the city will grow in the future," said councilor Henrietta Davis.

The council meeting also addressed the future growth of Harvard and MIT.

Representatives of the two universities will participate in a roundtable meeting with the council on September 25 to discuss future expansion in Cambridge and relations with the city government.

The council asked the universities to provide more information on their expansion plans for the near future and also requested extra copies of Harvard's institutional master plan in Boston.

"[The plan] is very important because it gives us a model for what Harvard is capable of," said Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio.