Boston Race A Harvard Showdown

District 8 may be in Boston but the current city council race to represent the area is definitely a Harvard affair.

Not only are the two finalists--David Scondras '67 and Mark Roosevelt '78--alumni, but each of their campaigns is being run by recent graduates.

Moreover, three of the prominent campaign workers are the three most visible gay activists at the College in the past five years: Michael G. Colantuono '83, Benjamin Schatz '81, and J. French Wall '83.

Roosevelt only recently moved from Harvard to his current Beacon Hill address. He said that the district's liberal bent and large population of young professionals has made it easier for a non-resident to launch a campaign in a town noted for its provincial politics.

Scondras, who is also not a native but has lived and worked in the district for a number of years, said that he was not even aware that so many Harvard graduates were involved in the District 8 race.

Important Race for Gays

"The District 8 city council race is a very important race for gay people in Boston politics," former Undergraduate Council chairman and full-time Roosevelt staffer Colantuono said yesterday, adding that the area--which includes Back Bay, Beacon Hill the Fenway, and Mission Hill--is home for "a lot of people who went to Harvard."

Scondras, who stated publicly he is gay and tries to project a working class image, said yesterday that the relatively liberal nature of the district--which according to estimates is about one-quarter gay--has made his campaign easier.

"I guess it would be more difficult elsewhere." Scondras said, but added with a laugh. "I have no choice."

"I think what you're seeing is not that there are more gay people in politics than there used to be." Scondras explained. "But they are now more visible than they used to be."

Wall, who is a full-time volunteer coordinator for Scondras, said yesterday that the area's demographics have made the race especially interesting for--the city.

"This is an important district for gay people, and also for tenants and elderly people." Wall added.

Silk Stocking

Like New York City's East Side, District 8 has been called a "silk stocking" area, meaning it is largely comprised of young professionals and more affluent residents. But from Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the area sprawls eastward to include the lower-middle class area of Mission Hill and the Fenway, where housing is a major problem.

Roosevelt and Scondras--who beat two other challengers in the October 15 preliminary election--are considered quite progressive on housing, which they both have called one of the most important issues facing the council come January.

Scondras has advocated a complete stoppage to condominium conversions, a stance that Roosevelt has called too extreme.

Differences in Style

Roosevelt, the great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, Class of 1870, and great grandnephew of Franklin Delano Roosevelt '04, marched from a Washington, D.C., prep school through Harvard and then through the Law School, graduating this spring.

From the start of his undergraduate career, Roosevelt threw himself into state politics, working for then-city council candidate Lawrence S. DiCarn '71, managing the campaign of then-school committee candidate John O'Bryant in 1977, and then working on President Jimmy Carter's domestic policy staff.

Along the way, Roosevelt befriended Alan Brinkley, Dunalke Associate Professor of History, who was then a teaching fellow.

"He was deeply involved in politics throughout Harvard." Brinkley said yesterday. "But he didn't strike me as someone who was pure politics. He was interested in politics because of what he thought politics could do."

Brinkley recounted a story about a younger Roosevelt's early involvement with the problem of racism.

"He was invited to go to a dancing school in Washington. And when he was in eight or ninth grade he showed up at Mrs. Shippins [dance school] and demanded to know why there were no Blacks there," Brinkley said. "She threw him out."