One of the bad things about living in Cambridge is the lack of a daily paper. The Harvard Crimson sometimes describes itself as Cambridge’s Only Daily Newspaper, but it is often Cambridge’s Worst Daily Newspaper. The Cambridge Chronicle is -to be kind- inconsistent. Marc Levy’s Cambridge Day is aborning. But do go to http://www.cambridgeday.com/

Robert Winter teaches math at Harvard and Wellesley and also runs the Cambridge Civic Journal. http://www.rwinters.com/ It comes close to filling the void. And Robert himself is part Garrison Keillor and part Will Rogers, the socialist mayor of Beverly Hills.

Robert and I live two blocks apart from each other, near Broadway Bicycle, and the Parking Ticket Building. I haven’t see Robert in a while so I wrote to him about a number of pressing issues.

I asked, “What do you think of the DR project?”

He answered “What is the DR project?”

The DR project is the Brigadoon-like recreation of Cambridge’s long vanished Design Research, at the corner of Story St. and Brattle St. Probably most people think of that tenantless building as the previous site of Crate and Barrell. When you see a pedestrian staring at the display inside the building you can guess how long he or she has lived in Cambridge by their concentration,as they stare slackmouthed, with amazement and befuddlement at the ongoing exhibition of past retailing wonders. Design Research sold Marimekko clothes just like the ones a bereft Liv Ullman wore in Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage. They also anticipated Design Within Reach by selling modern furniture classics to several generations of Cambridge architects and their design-conscious friends.

Perhaps the solution to Harvard Square’s problems involve a Sturbridge Village recreation of eras of past glory. Bring back the 24 hour Paperback Booksmith and the guy who looked like Jimi Hendrix.

I asked “What do you think of the chairs in H Yard?” These new chairs are supposed to remind Harvard types of the Paris they saw on their summer vacation.

He answered ”They’re great. I see them each week before and after my Extension School class and many of them are in use. It makes hanging in the Yard a lot easier. I hope they do it every year.”

I asked “Why do you think Harvard didn’t say anything about the Gates Controversy?”

He wrote “They didn’t want to have internal warfare. This way it remained something for Cambridge officials and The Media to argue about. Personally, I thought the whole kerfuffle was ridiculous. Gates will now sell more books and get many more PBS viewers. He’s the Big Winner in all this, yet Mr. Reeves will try to capitalize politically on how much Gates suffered.”

I asked “When is the new main public Library going to open?”

He said ”I heard last night that they think it will be late October (conveniently right before the election - a gift to the incumbents).”

I asked How much did the Library cost?

“Lotsa money. $60 million at least.”

I asked “How much did the new Cambridge Hospital building cost?”

He answered “Which hospital? Cambridge Hospital? That was a while ago. You’ll have to ask John Pitkin.” John Pitkin was for many years the head of the Mid Cambridge Neighborhood Association and several times ran for City Council. I voted for him and think it was a shame he didn’t win.

I asked “How much did the renovted War Memorial swimming pool cost?”

Robert answered “I forget, but some of those costs were bundled together with the high school renovations. The figure is somewhere on my website.”

Then I asked “How much did the new police station cost?”

Robert Answered ”Was it $26 million plus interior renovations????”

Cambridge is going to renovate its pretty new high school. “How much will the “new” high school cost?”

Robert said “About $100 to $125 million overall. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.”

I then wrote to Mr. Winters, “Maybe we should just meet in the Square?”

Which I hope we will.