The Malling of Central Square

Part 3

by Jason Gay

Jay Scheide, a musician, part-time Lucy Parsons volunteer, and Save Central Square organizer, doesn't see the world from the Holmes Realty Trust's point of view. "It seems that the developer has not gotten the message," he says. If the Trust's proposal goes through, Scheide says, "Cambridge would lose . . . its guts."

To Scheide, Central Square represents the best Cambridge has to offer. Even during its down years, the Square retained its status as a take-all-comers gathering place, a center of ethnic and economic diversity. The shopping area is surrounded by four of Cambridge's most densely populated neighborhoods -- Cambridgeport, Riverside, Area 4, and Mid-Cambridge -- and there's never a shortage of people on the sidewalk.

And that's how residents like it. Businesses come and go, but Central Square remains a bustling hub where almost every race, background, and social stratum is represented: African-Americans, whites, Latinos, Indians, Asians; the poor, the working-class, and the homeless; yuppies, students, and punks. Unclassifiable characters abound. It's been said that Central Square is a place where you can hear people speak a dozen languages; it's also a place where you can hear people speak to themselves in a dozen languages.

Likewise, this strip of businesses at the intersection of Mass Ave and Magazine Street contains an odd, but rich, assortment of enterprises. The windows might not be polished, the customers might not all be wealthy, and the neon signs might flicker irregularly, but this hodgepodge of retailers and eateries is worth preserving -- in its current form, activists say.

"This block, as it stands now, is a symbol of small, independent business and the history of Cambridge," says Ian MacKinnon, a Central Square activist who is running for city council on the newly created Art and Performance Party ticket.

There isn't universal agreement on what the Trust should do. MacKinnon says he's open to responsible development of the area, as long as it doesn't displace existing tenants. But other activists -- including David Hoicka, a one-time candidate for State Representative -- are adamantly opposed to any large-scale construction.

Critics wonder how the Trust can build a major high rise and still protect Central Square's funky charm. In addition to its shopping destinations, the area is home to a reborn night scene, with ethnic restaurants and a collection of nightclubs including the Middle East, Phoenix Landing, T.T. the Bear's Place, ManRay, the Cantab Lounge, and the Green Street Grill. The après-dusk clientele ranges from students to twentysomething hipsters to old bohemians. Says Middle East co-owner Joseph Seter: "I like Central Square for what it is now -- its uniqueness and culture."

In addition to changing Central Square's atmosphere, critics worry that the Trust's upscale proposal would help raise neighborhood rents already inflated by the loss of rent control, and drive out long-time residential and business tenants. It's an issue that Cantabridgians are especially sensitive to in light of what happened up the street in Harvard Square, says Jay Scheide.

Harvard Square weighs heavily upon the minds of some Trust critics. Over a generation, Cambridge residents have watched it morph from a quirky paradise of small businesses to an antiseptic habitat for chain stores. Though a few proud holdouts (such as the Tasty) remain, Harvard Square's eclectic atmosphere has been permanently eroded by mall culture -- a culture that continues to creep its way eastward on Mass Ave.

"Harvard Square used to be a lot funkier and more affordable, and we're just afraid that the same thing is going to happen to Central Square," says Scheide.

But the bigger picture isn't just the possibility of a seven-story high rise taking over the most prominent street corner in Central Square: it's the future of Cambridge itself. Neighborhood activists think this latest development proposal, the loss of rent control -- heck, even the new Central Square Starbucks at the corner of Mass Ave and Prospect Street that is replacing the Harvard Do-nut Shop -- are all signs of Cambridge's slide from working class-intellectual-bohemian mecca to Anywhere, USA. "Cambridge is just going to be a gentrified wasteland," Scheide predicts.

Is this doomsaying too dramatic? Actually, it might not be dire enough; the most cynical observers think Cambridge went irretrievably yuppie years ago. But most people still see something worth saving. Some residents are asking city leaders to support major revisions to Cambridge's zoning regulations (an effort known as "downzoning"); there are also pleas for outright moratoriums on development.

"I'm very much opposed to decisions being made by a relatively small number of people with a large amount of money," says George Salzmann, a UMass/Boston science professor and a Save Central Square member. "They make nondemocratic decisions which I feel will have a negative impact on a lot of people."

For the immediate future, however, Salzmann and his colleagues are concentrating on stopping the malling of Central Square. They're meeting, petitioning, and beating the neighborhood bushes in protest, and they've managed to put quite a scare into the landlords, who are now armed for battle with a cadre of lawyers and a fancy public-relations outfit.

The battle isn't being waged without a sense of humor. MacKinnon, the city-council candidate, announced plans this week to stage a massive game of Monopoly on the brick plaza in front of the Trust building. The life-size game will be used to illustrate Cambridge's struggle with development. "Holmes Realty Trust will be either Boardwalk or Park Place," says MacKinnon.

But joking aside, nobody, including the Trust, expects less than a formidable fight.

"We are getting tired of the private-interest tail wagging the public-interest dog," Scheide says.

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Jason Gay can be reached at jgay[a]phx.com.