Harvard: We have no 5 year plan

The current issue of Preservation magazine reviews Harvard's campus plans for expansion into Allston in a story you can download here.

The quotes say a lot about the concerns and perspective of people interviewed. It sounds like Ray Mellone is suggesting Allston/Brighton residents should be more forgiving to Harvard and he would like Kevin McCluskey and Kathy Spiegelman to have a more sympathetic audience.

Kathy Spiegelman tells us that Harvard has no idea what projects it will propose in the next few years. That reinforces a widespread concern that the ad hoc approach Harvard and the BRA have used so far will fail to address major issues like transportation that can't be resolved with a narrow view.

"This neighborhood is going to be under construction for the next 20 to 40 years. That's basically the rest of our lives."
"It's an ad hoc, one-project-at-a-time process, which is frustrating. We all want this campus to be built, but it needs a great plan to work." - Harry Mattison

"There's a lot going on and there's an unforgiving attitude toward Harvard. Sometimes the messengers don't get any respect." - Ray Mellon, chair of the Harvard-Allston Task Force

Asked what elements of the new campus might be in place by 2012, Spiegelman didn't know: "I'd just be making it up."

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