Alfred Vellucci
Encyclopedia
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. He served four non-consecutive terms as mayor, and was known for his often antagonistic relationship with Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Vellucci was born in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
. His father died when Vellucci was in sixth grade, and he dropped out of school soon afterwards. He initially worked as a messenger for Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
before becoming a candy bar deliveryman. He later opened a sandwich store. He lived in East Cambridge for much of his life.
In 1951 Vellucci was elected to the Cambridge School Committee. Four years later he was elected to the Cambridge City Council. He served on the City Council for 34 years. In 1989 he was re-elected to the Cambridge School Committee for one term. He was elected to his first two-year term Mayor of Cambridge in 1971, and was also elected in 1976, 1982, and 1988. In 1991 he ran for election to the City Council but failed to win a seat. He often focused on providing services to his constituents and was skilled at grass roots
Grass Roots
Grass Roots is an Australian television series produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 2000 and 2003.The series is set around the fictional Arcadia Waters Council near Sydney, and was primarily a satirical look at the machinations of local government...
campaigning. He claimed credit for promoting commercial development, such as the CambridgeSide Galleria mall
CambridgeSide Galleria
The CambridgeSide Galleria is a mall located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that opened in 1990. The original anchor stores were Sears, Filene's and Lechmere. Lechmere closed in 1997 and it was divided into what is now Best Buy and Borders, with a portion later used by Filene's for their housewares...
.
While he was in office, Vellucci served as an independent and promoted both liberal and conservative policies. He supported increased public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
and rent control
Rent control
Rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing. It functions as a price ceiling.Rent control exists in approximately 40 countries around the world...
, but also supported corporate tax cut
Tax cut
A tax cut is a reduction in taxes. The immediate effects of a tax cut are a decrease in the real income of the government and an increase in the real income of those whose tax rate has been lowered. Due to the perceived benefit in growing real incomes among tax payers politicians have sought to...
s. He also was openly critical of anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
protesters during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. In addition, he opposed condom distribution in schools.
An Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
, Vellucci was opposed to the idea that Leif Ericcson, rather than Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, discovered America. After a group of scholars from Harvard promoted the claim that Ericcson discovered America, he proposed a motion to the Cambridge City Council that officially re-named Harvard Square
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
to Columbus Square. He also planted a large tree in front of the Harvard Lampoon Building
Harvard Lampoon Building
The Harvard Lampoon Building is a historic building in Cambridge, Massachusetts that is best known as the home of Harvard Lampoon and for its unusual design.-Architecture and design:...
, claiming that it was an eyesore
Eyesore
An eyesore is an unpleasant view. Its technical usage is as an alternative perspective to the notion of landmark. Common examples include dilapidated buildings, graffiti, litter, polluted areas and excessive commercial signage such as billboards. Some eyesores may be a matter of opinion such as...
and arguing that the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
had insulted Italian Americans by claiming that the Irish discovered America. He feuded with the Harvard Lampoon
Harvard Lampoon
The Harvard Lampoon is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Overview:Published since 1876, The Harvard Lampoon is the world's longest continually published humor magazine. It is also the second longest-running English-language humor...
for years. The paper often satirized him, one issue running a Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman
Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot and cover boy of Mad magazine. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed and named by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman...
style picture of him on its cover. On one occasion, he unsuccessfully proposed a city ordinance declaring their headquarters a public urinal
Urinal
A urinal is a specialized toilet for urinating into. It has the form of a container or simply a wall, with drainage and automatic or manual flushing....
.
Vellucci often clashed with Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
while serving in city leadership. He frequently attempted to convince the school to offer voluntary payment in lieu of property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es, which they were not required to pay. He also attempted to force Harvard to pay the salaries of Cambridge Police officers to deal with students. He tried to convert parking around Harvard to resident parking, and on one occasion proposed a plan that would have converted Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
into a parking lot for public buses.
In 1976, Vellucci clashed with Harvard and MIT over their plans to begin genetic engineering on recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA
Recombinant DNA molecules are DNA sequences that result from the use of laboratory methods to bring together genetic material from multiple sources, creating sequences that would not otherwise be found in biological organisms...
. He attempted to ban genetic engineering in Cambridge, where the labs for both universities were located, due to fears that scientists might accidentally create dangerous organisms. This proposed ban led to extensive hearings featuring extensive debates between scientists, including David Baltimore
David Baltimore
David Baltimore is an American biologist, university administrator, and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He served as president of the California Institute of Technology from 1997 to 2006, and is currently the Robert A. Millikan Professor of Biology at Caltech...
, and members of the Cambridge City Council. After several months the mayor allowed the proposed ban to be decided by a panel of Cambridge residents, who eventually decided against the proposed ban.