City Council Profiles

DAVID AGEE

Encouraging city development is the key to solving the tax and nousing problems of Cambridge, first-time City Council candidate David Agee says.

"Look at condominium control and rent control. New housing can do something positive," Agee says. Building more housing and attracting nonpolluting industry can ease the pressure of the housing crunch and pump in new revenues for the city, he adds.

Agee says that many areas are available for unobtrusive development in Cambridge. "I would like to push for some real city planning for developing those areas," he says.

Agee, a book publisher and a former member of the Brandeis University faculty, says university expansion may be largely an emotional issue. "It is a little two-faced to attack Harvard as an ogre in the city when Harvard is the reason a lot of people are here."

RICHARD BENTUBO

Richard Bentubo, the smiling owner of Richie's Arco gasoline station, is raising some eyebrows in the year's City Council race.

The president of the Portuguese Cultural Society has run a big money campaign that may win him many votes. Although he has been endorsed by the anti-rent control Cambridge Homeowners and Taxpayers, Bentubo says he favors the program. "I just want to exempt four-, five-, and six-family owner-occupied houses," he adds. Two-and three-family owner-occupied houses are already exempt.

Calling for more elderly housing, Bentubo says it is "impossible" to live within state-mandated guidelines on the amount municipal spending is allowed to increase annually.

CHARLES CARAGIANES

Charles Caragianes, a 21-year-old student at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, doesn't believe in simplifying city issues.

Instead of rent control for example, Caragianes favors capped vacancy decontrol (allowing rent hikes slightly larger than inflation), but only in cases where elderly and fixed income or long-term residents of the city wouldn't be harmed.

"It's basically a conservative approach," Caragianes explains.

Although he is a member of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), he did not seek the group's endorsement, because he said the group was becoming too doctrinaire in its approach.

DANIEL CLINTON

"Every time I read about Harvard's huge endowment, I feel sick," Daniel Clinton, a city council candidate, says. Clinton, demanding a more active city response to Harvard policies, says the University is getting richer at the expense of Cambridge.

Since Harvard is a tax-exempt institution, it depletes city tax revenues by acquiring property, Clinton explains, adding that Harvard violated its agreement with the city when it expanded outside of agreed-upon boundaries.

Clinton, who served four terms on the school committee and one term, two years ago, on the City Council, said while condominium conversion provides more tax revenue, it decreases housing for poorer residents. A plan of vacancy decontrol and limitations of conversions in specific areas might counteract those problems, Clinton contends.

KEVIN P. CRANE

For years, Edward Crane ran the city. Now, his Harvard-educated son is following close in the footsteps. Kevin P. Crane '73 emphasizes that he is a councilor for the entire city in his advertisements, and his work on the City Council in his first term has been heavy on constituent service.

A rent control opponent, Crane favors instead vacancy decontrol, which he says will provide adequate protection for elderly tenants.

Poor residents of the city should be placed on a rent subsidy program, he adds.

Stressing that he works with Harvard, not against it, Crane claims credit for obtaining a Radcliffe building to use as a temporary home for the Observatory Hill Branch Library.

THOMAS W. DANEHY

Even when he's working in his drug store up on Mass Ave., Thomas W. Danehy is the mayor of Cambridge.

Danehy, who has held the city's top spot since his narrow election by fellow councilors in 1977, has moderated his once hard-line stand on rent control, and now supports a policy of vacancy decontrol--letting landlords raise rents after tenants have moved out.

The mayor, who talks about Harvard and expansion a lot less than his colleagues, was the major driving force behind the city's involvement in a citizen's group lawsuit asking for an injunction against extension of the Red Line. Danehy is a neighborhood man at heart, and though he protested the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority's project on technical grounds' he feared about crime and protecting Cambridge.

FRANCIS DUEHAY

Terming himself a "mediating influence" on the rest of the City Council, Francis Duehay says he is a "moderate able to deal with other members, some of whom have a more radical approach than I do."

"We must imaginatively balance growth and development on the one hand, and environmental protection on the other," Duehay said, adding that Harvard should be more imaginative in use of open space to help beautify the city.

A Tufts University administrator, Duehay is running with the endorsement of the Cambridge Civic Association. He turned down the endorsement of the Concerned Cambridge Citizens.

Duehay has supported allowing neighborhoods say in planning matters.

LAWRENCE A. FRISOLI

Larry Frisoli, first elected to the City Council two years ago, enjoys being a city councilor. "I'm going to get reelected--I'm taking out a front page ad in the Cambridge Chronicle every week until the election," he told his fellow councilors early last spring.

Not a supporter of rent control, Frisoli is calling instead for vacancy decontrol "with tough penalties for landlords who force tenants out."

"I don't believe we should penalize condominium owners by assessing" their properties at higher values than other city residents, Frisoli, a graduate of Boston University and Suffolk University Law School, said.

Frisoli has won the endorsement of anti-rent control groups in the city.

SAUNDRA GRAHAM

Saundra Graham is patient when City Council meetings drag on into the small hours of the morning--as a four-term incumbent and state representative, not to mention a leader of the state's Black Political Caucus--Graham is used to long meetings.

A strong proponent of rent control, Graham introduced a bill in the State House this year to protect the city's elderly from condominium conversions.

Restraining institutional expansion is another of her goals. Graham, who lives on Harvard's Western Ave. flank, advocates taking by eminent domain land that Cambridge's universities have not yet developed, adding she supports a recently-filed bill to rein in institutional growth.

DONALD HUNT

Donald Hunt, an occupational education teacher at the ITT Tech, is among the staunchest conservatives in the council race.

"I don't believe the city should take property to build housing," he told the League of Women Voters earlier this fall. "No city or government should build housing," he added.

Hunt says he opposes rent controls, favors condominium conversion and would work to institute vacancy decontrol for city apartments.

"We've got to reduce city property taxes. They are simply ridiculous," Hunt adds.

WILLIAM JONES

William Jones, four times an unsuccessful council candidate, does not equivocate on the issues.

"I support rent control 100 per cent Condominiums don't belong in Cambridge and should be stopped."

Retired himself, Jones says the city should make more of an effort to search out sites for elderly housing. "We need it all over the city," Jones explains.

No fan of unrestrained development, Jones says "we should stop high rise buildings in residential neighborhoods."

To raise money for expanded human services, Jones favors cuts in the fire and police department budget. "The dog control officers are a real waste of money," he adds.

ROBERT J. LaTREMOUILLE

"Over the last six years, I've been in the middle of everything that's controversial," Robert J. Latremouille says. "I think of myself as a reformer."

LaTremouille cites rent control as the major issue in this year's city council elections. He supports adoption of a statute like that in place in Brookline to provide rent control and protect against condominium conversions.

He also supports downzoning to protect residential neighborhoods from business development, and converting more property to community open space.

LaTremouille, a contract negotiatior with the federal government, holds a law degree from Boston University.

JAMES McGURK

James McGurk, a newcomer to the the Cambridge political arena, sees rent control and housing as the salient issues in the city council race.

McGurk supports "rent control as it stands 100 per cent," adding he is against vacancy decontrol. On condominium conversion, McGurk proposes restrictions in residential areas, allowing conversions only on major streets.

Complaining that senior citizens are not able to get around to take advantage of state services provided for them, McGurk proposes an increase in city appropriations, asking for more funds to alleviate the elderly's lack of mobility.

DOUGLAS OKUN

Douglas Okun, an architect and a resident of Cambridge for a decade, has never run for city office before.

"My background in architecture and planning gives me an edge over other candidates in solving housing problems," Okun says. He cites housing as the major issue in this year's campaign, and advocates ending rent control in favor of a vacancy decontrol program with federal rent subsidies for low incorae families.

Okun supports development of new housing on unused land, expansion of the city's tax base, and protection of the elderly from condominium conversion.

MARY ELLEN PREUSSER

"Harvard is engaged in the rape of the city because their expansion threatens to ruin the traditional ethnic composition of this community," Mary Ellen Preusser, incumbent council candidate says.

Preusser supports rent control and limits on condominium conversion, believing that adequate housing should be available for citizens of all income levels.

While Harvard is the object of much of Preusser's pique, her major legislative concern on the city council is the organization of human services in the community.

"In the era of Propostion 13 and the shrinking dollar, it is especially important that we coordinate human service programs," Preusser says, adding that when she began on the City Council 150 agencies in Cambridge were receiving funds and "no one really knew how much money was coming through the city."

JOHN RUMA

First-time City Council candidate John Ruma says that housing for the elderly police protection and cleaner streets are the important issues confronting Cambridge today.

"I've been among politicians, and I know what they're talking about. I can do as good a job as any of them," Ruma, owner of a taxi company, says.

Ruma would like to see the development in Cambridge of unused land. "We should utilize the Kendall Square area, put something there, factories or houses instead of just putting soccer fields where they don't belong."

"I want more housing for the elderly, and I don't particularly care for more condominiums," he adds.

LEONARD J. RUSSELI

"I want to protect the citizens of Cambridge from various forces which are continuously threatening them," Leonard J. Russell says.

"The issues are exactly the same as they've been over the last ten years--university sprawl, rent control, condominium conversion, and police services, and we're still trying to solve the same problems," Russell, who served on the Council from 1974 to 1977, contends.

"What do I think about university expansion? It should be stopped. Period. We've got to stop these giants from eating Cambridge up with their big bucks." Russell declares. "They're encroaching, they're causing the housing shortage, and they're causing the rent problems and the rising prices," he adds.

Russell is also a backer of vacancy decontrol. "We need some rent control to protect the elderly and to minimize tension between landlords and tenants," he added.

SEVERLIN SINGLETON

Severlin Singleton, former assistant district attorney who quit his post to run for City Council says rent control is his number one concern.

"Without rent control, we would have skyrocketing rents and many low and middle income people would not be able to afford it," Singleton says. "My platform is that rent control is here to stay," he adds.

Singleton, a 30-year-old black graduate of Northeastern Law School, served on the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination in addition to holding his district attorney post.

DAVID SULLIVAN

David Sullivan, one of the few city council candidates campaigning actively among students, is stressing his commitment to rent control, his determined opposition to condominium conversion, and the fact that he is the only tenant on the progressive slate.

Seven years ago, Sullivan fought hard to get students the right to vote in Cambridge. Last year, he drafted the bill passed by the current city council that has slowed the pace of rapid conversion. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Law School, Sullivan works as an attorney for the secretary of state. A loser by only eight votes in his first council bid a year ago, he has won the endorsement of both the Cambridge Civic Association and the Rent Control Task Force.

WALTER J. SULLIVAN

Walter J. Sullivan first won a position on the City Council in 1959 and has been a member ever since, a longevity record that has earned him as many friends as any man in Cambridge.

For Sullivan, the finances of the city are of vital importance. "It is crucial to have the revenue which the real estate tax brings in," he says. "With rent control we just don't get sufficient income to keep taxes down."

Sullivan favors vacancy decontrol so that landlords can re-rent vacated dwellings at their current market value. He also supports condominium conversions, unless they result in the eviction of senior citizens and disabled persons.

ALFRED E. VELLUCCI

Alfred E. Vellucci, the self-proclaimed champion of the the "disadvantaged and downtrodden" over the "oil money changers and real estate barons," goes to the polls in his 13th city council race tomorrow, an odds-on favorite to retain the council seat.

Vellucci, while not a member of the Cambridge Civic Association, has supported rent control for years. "You've got to be black, you've got to be poor, you've got to be ethnic to feel it," he told a Kennedy School crowd Saturday night.

Vellucci, a senior citizen, counts many elderly residents among his supporters. "I love the elderly; I'd never vote against them, never," he says.

And Vellucci's running feud with Harvard is famous; he is currently hot on the trail of Harvard biomedical researchers, demanding that low level radioactive waste be controlled.

DAVID A. WYLIE

If you read campaign literature, you'd know David A. Wylie is not an average city council candidate. His pamphlet, "Re-Inventing Democracy," includes Ben Shahn line-drawings and quotations from Walt Whitman.

In other ways, though, Wylie is similar to fellow council liberals. He has voted with them on rent control and condominium conversion, although he argued last year that neighborhoods should have more say in planning their future.

Blaming Harvard for most of the city's town-gown troubles, Wylie says "We'll deny everything Harvard wants from us until it treats us as equals."

A four-term councilor, Wylie works as an attorney in Cambridge.