Word: turks
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...encouraging landlords to conserve energy members of the tenant's union decided to take their survey results to the board. HRE officials in fact encourage members of the union to seek redress for any grievances against Harvard at the rent board or in court. So HTU Coordinator Michael Turk went to the board to present the survey findings on May 13, along with a half-dozen or so union members...
...Turk made a short speech and offered documentation of the study's conclusions, which were based on responses from tenants of 174 Harvard-owned apartments. There followed a short discussion among rent board members, which was dominated by Landlord representative Alfred Cohn. "There are a lot of Harvard buildings on the high end" of energy usage among city properties. Cohn admitted. But he added, leaning back in his chair. "Harvard is now pursuing the problem vigorously and we expect them to soon move past other buildings in the city" in terms of energy efficiency...
Cohn explained that Harvard is one of the few Cambridge landlords that can afford the major expenditures needed to reduce fuel consumption. Turk responded that "major renovations" would mean increased rents and that Harvard could cut fuel costs simply by eliminating waste, performing routine maintenance, and obtaining quantity discounts on fuel. These measures, Turk said, had been indicated by the HTU survey and were likely to generatelower rents for Harvard tenants. But Cohn, himself a landlord and the only rent board member to serve since the agency's inception, was not convinced...
...coordinator Turk added that the settlement, while unquestionably a victory for the residents of Craigie Arms, might lead both Harvard and the Rent Control Board to view landlord-tenant financial settlements as a permissible way to circumvent the city's anti-eviction policies. "The city's interests are very different from the individual tenant's interests." Sullivan, who called the final agreement a "mixed blessing," said...
...Turk said HTU is hoping "to at least force them (HRE) to address the issue that tenants have certain legal rights...