Hip Is Good, As Ong \As It Is Not Harvard S Byandrew FREEDMAN Tap

$Hip Is Good, As Ong \As It Is Not Harvard S Byandrew FREEDMAN Tap$ THELWhere You Read It First TUFTS Mcnday, November 17,1997DAILY Volume XXXV, Number 50 I Hip is good, as ong \as it is not Harvard S byANDREW FREEDMAN tap. Restaurants also pop up.” comparable,” Capuano added. Daily Editorial Board Walljasper and Krakersaid that Others are quick to point to Davis Square businesses and Davis could be destined to pass these vast differences between community leaders are skeptical through the entire cycle within a Davis Square and Harvard Square. about a recent issue of the Utne short period of time. The down- ‘‘We don’t have Harvard. We Reader, containing an article side begins, Walljasper and Kraker don’t have Tufts in our very back- which ranked Davis Square as the wrote, when “old-time residents yard; it is in the distance. We don’t 14th “hippest” place in North are forced to leave due to rising have the buildings that Harvard America. rents.” Before you know it, Square has for corporations. Davis In the Utne Reader, Jay Starbucks opens. This franchis- is still a small-time Somerville I I Walljasperand Daniel Kraker iden- ing, which the two predict may place,”said Carla DeLellis, owner Daily file photo tify a cycle of “hipness.” The ar- follow, is the fear of many who of Johnny D’s. Davis quambusiness owners are happy with the Utne Reader’s ticle explains hipness as “a rest- have interests in Davis. There is considerable anxiety ranking, however they fear the possibility of franchising. less, competitive force that never The Utne Reader views Davis over becoming too hip. “The dan- “We are restoring some of the Davis Square business owners stays put for long.” The authors Square as “an alternative to fran- ger lies in that the press attention old instead ofjust trashing; that is say they do not wish to continue argue that Davis Square appears chise-filled Harvard Square.”This might raise rents to make it so only a step in the right direction,” with the Urnehipnesscycle.Since to be passing through the first part appearsto be theheart ofthe prob- large chains can afford it,” DeLellis Crawford said. the concept of “hipness” is so of the cycle. lem. said. Capuano does not believe that ambiguous, there lies consider- Accordingto the Utne Reader, Many Davis business owners “When something is officially the commercializationof Harvard able difficulty in laying concrete the first part ofthe cycle is evident say they are content with the first considered hip it draws a lot of Square is even possible in Davis. plans for the future to ensure the when “an old tavern in the area part of Utne ’s argument. They fear attention to it and the real estate “I don’tthinkthatthecommercial- preventionofthatfranchising fate. begins booking alternative rock the outcome if the second part of goes up considerably,” said Bos- ization like in Harvard can be sus- Somerville’smayorsaidhedoes bands and offering microbrews on the cycle s discussed in ihe ar- ton Globe columnist Diane White, tained here,” he said. not have a specific plan for the ticle, comes to pass. who wrote acolumn about Utne’s DeLellisalso does not see fran- future of Davis Square.“The con- i Somerville Davis Square ranking. White drew chisingin Davis’ future. “Harvard cept of having a master plan is Mayor Mike Capuano another important distinction be- is not going to suffer because of ludicrous,” he said. Capuano has is among a group of tween Harvard Square and Davis. theamount ofpeople thatgothere, been pursuing plans which pro- people who do not “Davis is a real neighborhood it is not hurting itselffrom becom- mote the continuation of a “vi- want Davis Squareto as opposed to Harvard Square, ing franchised. If we tried that, brantneighborhoodcommunity.” follow alongthe lines which has lost a lot of the charac- Davis would be hurt in the long “1havebeenworkingwithTuft.s ofHarvard’s fianchis- ter it once had,” she said. run because it would be any other to try to invest in Davis. That has ing, a scenario pre- DeLellis alsothinksofDavisas group of chains. Hopefully that not happened. We have gotten dicted in the Utne a neighborhood. “There is a sense won’t happen,” she said. more restaurants. We have im- Reader. of community among the busi- Bruce Crawford agrees. “We provedthetheater.You win some, Explainingthat nesses and people in the area. A are trying to lose our seedy image you lose some,” Capuano said. Davis should not fol- lot ofplaces aremorecompetitive. andofferan altemativeto Harvard. He alsocited zoningreform for low Harvard Square’s Davis is more welcoming to the We are definitely glad about the improving Davis Square. “[One lead, Capiraiio said, susirizss community,” she said. rating, but we are just basically must] make definitive rulesabout “Harvard Square has JoshuaTreechefBruceCrawford trying to offer a little bit of every- what can and can’t go somewhere. been over-commer- spoke of a distinction between the thing for the people who come to Everyoneknowsthezoningrules,” cialized; it used to be words “hip” and “trendy.” Davis Square,” Crawford said. Capuano said. much more neighbor- “‘Hip’ has less of a connota- hood-oriented. For tion than ‘trendy.’Trendy is some- their purposes it is thing that I would not want to be Babbitt probe likely to probably fine,” considered. Trendy means more Capuano said. of ‘Yn it for the buck,” which is get independent counsel v I “ H a r v a r d what Harvard seems to be doing,” Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service Sauare and Davis are Crawford said. WASHINGTON-The investigation of Interior Secretary Bruce I Dailv file nhc More patrons have been frequenting di‘fferent and un- Crawford points to the renova- Babbitt’shandlingofan Indian casino licenseappearslikely to result usual, in many ways tion ofthe Somervilletheaterasan Davis Square in recent months. in the appointment ofan independentcounsel because of difficulties they really are not example of Davis’ success. in establishing the truthfulness of his sworn statements to Con- gress, senior Justice Department officials said. “Given the facts and the statutes involved it is hard to see how Brownfields issue is addressed this case is going to wash out in time,” said an official close to the investigation that was formally opened last Thursday. Environmental conference held at Tufts over weekend The investigation began after an initial review determined that byMIKEDWUY Initiative, an organization concerned with the revital- there was “specific and credible” information that Babbitt may have Daily Editorial Board ization of a neighborhood that has more than 1,300 committedacrime. This weekend, Tufts hosted“VacantLots to Com- vacant lots, including many brownfields. Once such an inquiry under the Independent Counsel Act has mon Ground,” a weekend conference sponsored by The focus of Watson’s address was on the more been initiated, an attorney general has up to 90 days to effectively Tufts and the Environmental Protection Agency creative ways ofbringing brownfields to life. One of clear the subject of any serious allegations - finding there are no @PA)- Watson’s examples included the creation of urban “reasonable grounds” for further investigation -or to turn the case The two-day event addressed the issue of gardens that might utilize hydroponics technology. over to an independent counsel. brownfields, defined by the EPA as abandoned, Duringthedialogue,VerniceMiller, aspeakerfiom Ifan independent counsel is named to look into Babbitt’s role in idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facili- the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, “It’s the casino affair, officials assume that such an investigation would ties where expansion or redevelopment is compli- about more than just pollution.” also include actions by the White House staff and members of the cated by real or perceived environmental contamina- Miller, who was born, raised, and now resides in DemocraticNational Committee. Previous testimony has indicated tion. The EPA reports on their website that there are West Harlem,New York, said that she seesthe curing that several top Democrats were interested in the outcome of the 7,700 brownfields in Mass. alone. ofbrownfieldsas ameans ofbringingtogether people casino issue, including President Clinton, adviser Bruce Lindsey, Approximately 200 people were scheduled to from various racial backgrounds and producing areal then-deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes and DNC chairman Donald participate in the event, some ofwhom traveled from community. L. Fowler. as far as Texas, according to conference program. When the issue of financial risk was brought up, However, the Justice Department officials pointed out that a The majorgoals ofthe conference, as described in the Miller emphasized that although there was risk in- decision to go to an independent counsel would not necessarily program, were to give participants information on volved in investing in a brownfield site, there was indicate that they were any further in resolving the underlying how brownfields are currently being dealt with and also the potential for great reward. questions in the case. Apart from the immediate question ofwhether to provide a forum for new ideas. She cited an example from herhometown in which Babbitt mislead members of a Senate committee, the casino case also On Friday, two workshop sessions addressed a supermarket in upper Manhattan chose to invest in has been viewed by those looking into campaign finance abuses as aspects of assessment, cleanup, and financing. Rep- a site in West Harlem. one of the strongest possibilities of campaign contributions influ- resentatives from the banking, community planning, “The new supermarket has been ten times more encing a government policy decision. and environmental communities participated in a successful than the original one,” Miller said. in their just-concluded hearings, members ofthe Senate Govern- dialogue that took place between the two sessions. Miller said the EPA deserves a lot of credit for mental Affairs Committee reached no conclusion on questions of An interactive session was held on Saturday in bringing attention to the subject in recent years.

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