Word: condo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Many CCA leaders agree that condo owners are likely to swell their ranks--some hint that may be one reason the group, which has strongly favored rent control, has been less fervent in its efforts to halt condominium conversion. But should it gain many fiscally conservative members, the CCA could change dramatically, just as it swung to the left in recent years. Municipal spending and its effect on city tax rates will dominate city politics during this decade, along with the older issues of preserving ethnic and income diversity in the city, and tailoring development to meet the needs...
...change in voting patterns is high. "There is an emerging constituency. It's almost a John Anderson constituency--liberal on social issues, but quite conservative on economic questions," Councilor David Sullivan, who collected the second highest number of votes during the last City Council election, says. Without regulation slowing condo growth, that class could be huge by the end of the decade; with the current controls it will still be sizeable and powerful...
...city's current porfessionals, who are by and large liberal, may not necessarily be indicators of the politics of this new condo class. Those lured by the condo lifestyle, as opposed to those who came to Cambridge to be near the universities, seem less likely to be liberal. The Cambridge upper class, which comprises the backbone of the CCA, is "not like those who may move in from Lincoln and Weston," Duehay says, adding, "There may be a liberal tinge, just because this is Cambridge, but I think they will be more conservative...
...would likely have money and the strong support of city bankers and real estate developers. Perhaps the best test case was last year's attempt by a group calling itself the Concerned Cambridge Citizens (CCC) to run a council slate. The group--whose founders were almost all condo owners newly arrived in the city--took few official stances on issues, saying instead that it stood for sound government and reasoned debate. But its slate and membership rolls indicated the group would not support rent control or limits on condominium conversion. Although the few candidates identified solely with the CCC didn...
...shift their own stances. One possibility is a fusion of current powerholders--CCA members and Independents alike--against the new voters in the city. The best example may be Vellucci. Once a traditional ethnic neighborhood politician, Vellucci has slowly shifted toward the CCA on most substantive issues, voting against condo conversion and for rent control. And on the CCA's part, Sullivan may be doing more than any of his colleagues to expand the organization beyond its Brattle St. roots and elitist reputation. His last campaign was a coalition triumph--he won with votes from tenant activists, CCA regulars...