Word: condos
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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...
...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...
...that may be the biggest effect the condo class will have. If anti-gentrification legislation stays in place, the politicians' fears may prove groundless. But even so, those fears may trigger a realignment of city politics away from the old vested interests that influence both the CCA and Independent camps and toward a new coalition more interested in the city as a whole...
...would really like to see Cambridge continue as a home for moderate-and low-income families. And I would like to see their breadwinners be able to find jobs appropriate to the level of their education and skill in and around the city." So far, rent control and the condo conversion ordinance are the main bulwarks in the battle against gentrification. But they may not be permanent solutions--landlords soon discovered the condo loophole in the rent control law, and appear to be figuring out ways around the condo ordinance only six months after its passage...