I was disappointed to read your editorial endorsement of the proposal to build a Biodefense Level 4 research facility in Roxbury (“Let lab plans go forward,” Sept. 22, pg. 8). As a resident of Roxbury who lives just one mile from the proposed site, I was astonished to think anyone would propose building such a facility in this densely populated urban area.

No one in his or her right mind would propose building this lab in Cambridge, Brookline, Weston or Newton. They know there is no way the well-connected residents of those towns would allow such a facility within their borders. But dump it in a poor area bordering the South End and Roxbury, and the powers that be might look the other way, at least until the opposition becomes vocal and militant. Make no mistake about it: any attempt by the university to build a Level 4 lab in the medical area will be fought to the bitter end.

The university should withdraw its proposal. I would suggest a new site somewhere near the Free Press office, knowing that the editors would welcome it, not given to bouts of paranoia like the rest of us. But such facilities should not be built in populated areas, if they should be built at all.

I also found the editors’ trust in science and technology and their assertion that the “university is not a land-developing corporation” to be extremely naïve.

James H. Gallagher Library Coordinator College of Communication