Word: elms
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What happened? In December, the DPW was ready to announce a route for the Belt. It delayed a decision until March at the request of City officials. The postponement was intended to give the City time to recommend an alternative to the Brookline-Elm route--the path long favored by the DPW and long feared by the City, since it passes within several blocks of Central Square and uproots 3000 to 5000 people. Yet, in the intervening months, the Council failed to come up with another route, and the delay served only to produce more division and delusion within...
Thus unprepared (and relatively unconcerned), the City Council devoted February to deciding what to do about the Belt. It had until March 1 to recommend an alternative to Brookline-Elm. A number of problems made that task most difficult...
...that difficulty was insignificant next to the conflicts created by the variety of different routes. Basically, there were only two alternatives to Brookline-Elm St.--one went straight through heavy industrial country and the other right along the fringe of M.I.T.'s campus. M.I.T. condemned the second route--the railroad route--and included the other alternative (the Portland-Albany St. route) in its attack by innuendo. Large businesses, including the Polaroid Co., protected their own interests by attacking the Portland-Albany St. route. The City Council was caught in a cross fire of different interests: residents, business, and M.I.T...
...Cambridge's failure was not only the failure of the City Council. It was also the failure of other groups to provide significant leadership. Specifically, in the case of the staunchest opponents of the Brookline-Elm route, it was the inability of anyone to generate enough political pressure to counterbalance the businesses and M.I.T., and thereby force the Council into making a decision. The leadership in the affected neighborhoods was totally futile. A protest march on City Hall in late February drew only 100 people. (Incidentally, only one City Councillor showed up, and none apparently made any effort to help...
This confusion and conflict left the state DPW unrestricted, and it predictably chose Brookline-Elm. Technically, the issue is not settled yet. The federal government, which must approve the state's choice, has promised Cambridge to review the entire project within a year...