Mayoral Challengers Debate Housing

If they agreed on nothing else at last night's debate at Boston University, the five men who want to replace Boston Mayor Kevin H. White all said that White isn't doing the right thing.

The debate, sponsored by radio station WBUR, focused on Boston's housing crisis and the need to solve the economic and racial issues that plague the city.

State Sen. Joseph Timilty, who is challenging White for the third consecutive time, said Boston's housing problems could only be solved by cooperative ventures. Timility, who attacked the mayor at every opportunity, said "the reason there is a housing shortage is because there is no housing plan in Boston."

Boston School Committee President David Finnegan grouped White and Timility together, saying they both support vacancy decontrol, a policy that is driving rents up in the city.

"Like the McCoys and the Hatfields, White and Timilty have been throwing rocks at each other since 1971 but they stand together on this," Finnegan said.

State Rep. Melvin H. King, the third of a trio that is expected to challenge White in the preliminary election on September 25, supported cooperative public housing units. King says private landlords "ought to go" from Boston.

In response to another question, King, who is black, said the best way for Boston voters to fight racism in their city "would be to elect a candidate like Mel King."

Finnegan responded by saying that the fight against racism is "a question of public officials having the courage and the fire to make the decisions that might be unpopular, but are fair."

"We're not going to put it away by edict, law or resolution," Timilty asserted, adding that the only way to breach racial gaps was to increase black-white dialogue in the city.

Socialist Party candidate Luis Castro and U.S. Labor Party candidate Lawrence Sherman also participated in the debate.