"The city and Harvard have come together and clearly conspired against" his family and other abuttors, he says. "The conspiracy was aimed at taking those protections from the abuttors" provided by zoning planning and urban design policy.

Hill initiated the lawsuit himself, without an attorney, and expects that Harvard and the City will try to get the case dismissed on the ground that he lacks standing. But he warns, "If you dismiss this, what’s coming next is far worse."

He is ready to file a second lawsuit which he says will raise "a number of contract nullification issues."

Hill lives on Hubbard Avenue in North Cambridge. But his family, including his grandmother, still live on Riverside Place, and are abuttors to the proposed Harvard townhouse project on the Mahoney’s site.

The abuttors have proposed that Harvard build three townhouse dormitories along the Western Avenue side of the Mahoney’s site, rather than along the north side, where they would cut off existing residences on Hingham Street and Riverside Place from sight of the Charles River.

The University’s deal with the City provides for Harvard to construct a small public park at the corner of Western and Memorial Drive.

However, once Harvard builds along the north side of the Mahoney’s site, it would be the only abuttor in any future petition it might bring to change the status of the park site.

Opponents say that the City violated open meeting and bidding laws in making the deal with Harvard, which included conceding rights over part of Hingham Street.

He says that the conspiracy involves "more than one person in leading roles in the Riverside Neighborhood Association." It feels like a betrayal, because "the RNA was our house."

Hill believes that Harvard will not want to see "the excavation of this conspiracy, all the stuff that’s come up," and that "Harvard’s policy is like… an economic eugenics policy." Harvard is "cleansing itself internally of its Black employees," showing "clear disregard of African Americans both internally and in the community."