Debate on Rent Control May Reheat in Council

Six months ago, debate over the city council's rent control ordinances was a weekly event in the Cambridge City Council. But since a commission appointed by Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci presented recommendations to improve the agency that administers the laws three weeks ago, the council chambers have been quiet on the issue.

Councilors interviewed at last night's meeting said, however, that the full may ended when they attempt to turn the commission's recommendations into concrete solutions.

The Cambridge Rent Control Board, which administers the regulations on rents and evictions in the city's tight housing market, has been the brunt of complaints by tenants, landlords, and city officials. According to the mayor's commission's report, the rent board currently has a backlog of more than 300 cases, and half of the cases take more than four months to process.

Vellucci, who also chairs the council's 'rent' control committee, has called for a public hearing next Monday to discuss the commission's report. Councilors contacted last night said they supported the sweeping reorganization suggested by the report.

Although united in the support for improved efficiency at the rent board, councilors said the differences that caused the original debate still exist. "The issue of rent control is one of ideology and not management efficiency," explained Councilor Francis H. Duehay '55, a member of the liberal Cambridge Civic Association. "I don't think there will ever be unanimity on that score."

Walter J. Sullivan, aligned with the conservative Independent slate in the council, said his position on the issue remains the same. "We have to have control," he added, "but revoke some of the regulations we have now."

The Independents' attempt to revise the city's rent ordinances was the basis for the past debates, said Councilor David E. Sullivan. "The status quo is a strong tenant protection policy, and they were trying to change the status quo," he said, adding that the commission's report specificially deals with the administrative problems and "doesn't really address the underlying controversy."

In the first step in implementing the commission's recommendation. City Manager Robert H. Healy yesterday notified the council of his appointment to the vacant executive director's post at the rent board.

Healy said yesterday that his appointee. Roger Mervis, a graduate of the Kennedy School's public administration program, is expected to begin working in mid-November.