Benjamin, get your facts straight

It is interesting but, unfortunately, not surprising to see what is presented as fact and is also completely incorrect. In response to yesterday's NY Times article, someone named Benjamin wrote that:

"In the 1990s, the university wanted to build a Renzo Piano-designed museum on the banks of the Charles River to house its art collection. The North Allston "neighborhood," in reality a very small number of residents, blocked that plan because it would affect their views of the river blocks away."

But that isn't what happened. The proposed museum that Ben is thinking of was in Cambridge, not North Allston, at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Western Ave where Mahoney's was before it moved to North Brighton.

Then Ben continues:

For years after that, as Harvard tried to cement its plans to build a new science campus to educate the nation's future biologists and chemists, the area's residents fought back tooth and nail.

This also couldn't be further from the truth. Harvard was allowed to amend its Master Plan to build the Science Complex in as rapid a process as possible and nobody in North Allston did anything to slow that down. All that despite the promise that Harvard made in the North Allston Strategic Framework to collaborate with the City and community on a new master plan before starting any specific projects.

There are a lot of great things about how the Internet allow people to share ideas and information, but the ability to spread lies like these isn't one of them.