Council Considers Cambridge Duck Boats

A Melrose entrepreneur is continuing his efforts to bring his version of “duck tours”—amphibious vehicles—to Cambridge, but is facing firm opposition from the City Council.

Last night, the Council tabled for further discussion a reconsideration of Erroll Tyler’s initiative to operate his company, Nautical Tours. The vehicles would run across Cambridge, from Harvard to Kendall Square.

Last Monday, the Council voted 8-0 to adopt the unanimous recommendation of the Cambridge License Commission to keep Tyler from running his two amphibious tour vehicles in the city. Tyler had first proposed his idea to the licensing body in late 2003.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons, who had voted against Tyler’s proposal, requested a reconsideration of the matter at yesterday’s meeting.

“I do believe that there’s a common benefit [to the tours],” Simmons said at the meeting.

Speaking before the City Council last night, Richard V. Scali, the chair of the licensing commission, explained why Tyler’s request had been turned down.

Scali said that several tour-bus companies are already running in Cambridge. He also spoke about unresolved issues regarding the proposed vehicles’ launching and landing sites in the Charles River.

“My intent would be not to vote for it,” said Mayor Michael A. Sullivan at the meeting.

But Tyler will continue the fight.

“What the licensing commission presented was inaccurate, and I have no problem in stating that,” Tyler said after the meeting. He added that his company’s legal department was considering its next move.

Though the licensing commission recommended that Tyler’s tours not operate in Cambridge, Scali noted that the City Council does have the authority to overrule the recommendation.

Also last night, the City Council showed continued support for its ongoing effort relocate the headquarters of the Cambridge Police Department (CPD).

The proposal must be voted on again before becoming law,

If passed, the initiative would authorize Cambridge to borrow nearly $50 million to buy and “make extraordinary repairs” to its proposed location at 125 Sixth St., according to an order from the city manager, Robert W. Healy.

Healy estimated that, if approved, the 96,000 square-foot police station would be ready for business in 2007 or 2008 at the earliest.

The current structure at 125 Sixth St.—which is about four blocks north of Kendall Square—was built during the recent Cambridge telecom boom, according to councillors.

Several councillors noted yesterday that CPD’s current location—5 Western Ave. in Central Square—does not meet the needs of a modern police force.

“Since 1991, [CPD] has needed a new home,” said councillor Henrietta Davis at the meeting.

“The building’s a disgrace, it’s falling apart,” said Vice Mayor Marjorie C. Decker, referring to CPD’s current location. “Where you work does matter.”

While no one spoke against the proposal, councillor Kenneth E. Reeves ’72, said he worried that the relocation of CPD headquarters from Central Square­­—which is in the geographic center of Cambridge—to East Cambridge could prompt concerns among residents that CPD would no longer provide adequate coverage throughout the city.

—Staff writer Brendan R. Linn can be reached at blinn@fas.harvard.edu.