Condo Law Exemptions Proposed

he will vote when the measure comes up for final approval in two weeks.

Proposed by councilor Walter J. Sullivan, the amendment would exempt tenants at 36-42 Linnaean St. and 4-6 Washington Ave from a city law requiring tenants to obtain city permits before purchasing their units as condominiums.

A similar resolution was voted down by a five-man majority that included Vellucci before last week's city elections; lack of support from candidates committed to rent control for his candidacy "might" have had something to do with his switch, Vellucci said. "I have a right to bend...I'm not frozen into anything," he added.

"I don't want to put anything into the ordinance that will destroy it, but we have to find some solution to helping these people," Vellucci said. He added that if the Rent Control Board agrees to grant the 28 Linnaean and Washington tenants removal permits, then Walter Sullivan's amendment will not be necessary.

Vellucci said he had asked the rent board repeatedly to decide the Linnaean and Washington cases, and that the tenants trying to purchase their units needed a quick decision in order to arrange financing.

David Sullivan, who drafted the anti-condo ordinance more than two years ago, said the proposed amendment would be "treating people in the same situations differently." Since developers challenging the condo ordinance in court have charged the city with violating equal protection laws, enacting such an amendment is "the last thing the city should be doing," Sullivan said.