Adding these institutions is like asking foxes to advise the farmer on construction of the chicken coop. Adding "neighborhood organizations and other groups representing residents of the corridor" would do little to offset these institutions' undue influence over transportation planning for the Urban Ring.

The Urban Ring's justification has always relied on "environmental justice," i.e., its effect on "minority populations and low-income populations" (report of July 2001). Adding Harvard, the MTA, and the DCR to the CAC would explicitly reorient the Urban Ring to benefit these "stakeholders." This is a classic bait-and-switch move.

MBTA Phase 2 funds have already benefited Harvard.

Phase 2 funds paid paid for a feasibility study to bring the Mass Pike over the Grand Junction rail bridge, under the BU Bridge. This would connect the Mass. Pike to Cambridgeport—and ultimately to I-93.

Three months after the MBTA study, Harvard added the 51 acres of land extending from that rail bridge to the Allston toll exits to its other Allston holdings.

The MTA recently announced a plan for a U-turn at the Pike's existing Allston-Cambridge tolls that would allow the Pike's westbound lanes to turn and connect via the Grand Junction rail bridge to Cambridge.

The May 20 Draft Environmental Impact Review tacitly acknowledges that Harvard's new holdings affect plans for the Urban Ring. Yet it is silent about an EOT study, paid for by Harvard, of "Transportation Alternatives in Allston." This study is specifically about the Urban Ring and the reconfiguration of the Mass Pike.

Publication of the EOT study has been put off yet again to February 2006. Its recommendations will directly affect planning for Urban Ring Phases 2 and 3.

The Urban Ring is the descendent of the Inner Belt highway. Urban Ring Phase 2 in particular provides a Charles River crossing for rubber-wheeled vehicles near the BU Bridge, exactly where the Inner Belt crossed the river. Any transportation projects that connect rubber-wheeled vehicles from the Pike to Cambridge at this river crossing must be seen as the infrastructure for a reborn Inner Belt.

This applies to the DCR's "Historic Parkways Restoration" of Memorial Drive between the BU and Longfellow Bridges. The project increases Mem. Drive's intensity of traffic, institutes new westbound turns from the Mass. Ave. Bridge, improves sight lines—by removing hundreds of trees—, and limits access—removing 300 public parking spaces, including handicapped ones.

The DCR's Charles River Master Plan has always assumed the Urban Ring's river crossing near the BU Bridge. Thus its "Historic Parkways Restoration" changes Mem. Drive to handle Pike traffic now on Storrow Drive if and when Phase 2 (aka Inner Belt) crosses the river over the rail bridge and connects to Mem. Drive.

At Magazine Beach, the DCR has also worked with Cambridge to construct part of the service road at Magazine Beach for this river crossing. Federal funds are paying for the DCR's "Historic Parkways Restoration."

Given its collaboration with Harvard, there is no reason to believe the DCR would bring a different perspective to substantive issues about the Urban Ring Phase 2 . The DCR's failures of stewardship on the Charles River where the Phase 2-Inner Belt would cross the Charles are well documented. The DCR does not deserve a voice on the CAC.

In fact, CAC member Cambridge has represented Harvard's, the MTA's, and the DCR's interests very well. Cambridge is paying for the Cambridgeport Roads project that connects to the Grand Junction rail line behind the Ford-Lifeline plant at the BU rotary. It is also paying for the service road at Magazine Beach. Cambridge officials have approved the "Historic Parkways Restoration" and the service road.

Are the residents who are directly affected by plans for the Phase 2-Inner Belt served by Cambridge's CAC membership? Neither our elected nor executive officials have given us anything other than deafening silence on this topic, despite environmental destruction at Magazine Beach, Memorial Drive, and the BU and Grand Junction bridges.

A true Citizens Advisory Committee would consist of citizens, not corporations. To add "neighborhood organizations and other groups representing residents of the corridor" to a CAC with Harvard, the MTA and the DCR is only a cynical gesture.

*Marilyn Wellons is treasurer of Bob LaTrémouille’s city council campaign. Article based on a letter she sent to State Environmental Secretary Stephen R. Pritchard.*