Rent Board Director Appointed

Cambridge's city manager last week appointed D. Margaret Drury as the new executive director of the Cambridge Rent Control Board, the organization responsible for administrating housing policy in Cambridge.

Drury, who has been serving as acting director since mid-February when Roger Mervis left the post, said yesterday she did not expect to make any dramatic changes in the city agency.

As executive director, Drury will oversee the agency's $1 million budget and staff of 30 which conducts investigations into requests for rent adjustments and prepares the cases for the rent control board hearings.

The rent control board is a five-person body of tenant and landlord representatives with an impartial chair, which decides on rate adjustments and other issues in the implementation of the rent control law in the city.

Since 1970, the city has regulated rents for 17,000 of Cambridge's 40,000 apartment units according to pre-established levels. Cambridge's rent control policy, designed to balance the city's mix of housing, is considered the most rigorous in Massachusetts.

"Our mandate is the same for all rent control units, which is to keep them available for low and middle income tenants," said Drury, a five-year veteran of the city agency. "Rent control tries to preserve the existing structures as much as possible."

She said that her new job will be toinvestigate complaints and landlord requests forcost adjustments, as well as to prepare generalrent adjustments for the board's approval.

"I think the previous executive director did anexcellent job in increased efficiency in caseprocessing and I want to continue this process,"Drury said. She said that she hoped to increasethe agency's use of computers for processing casesand preparing adjustments.

Speaking optimistically about Drury's abilityto manage the agency, rent board member SallyAckerman said that she expected her to be"responsive to moving cases through the system."

"I think that Margaret has a nice even temper.People of very different persuasions can like herat the same time," said Ackerman, who is localrealtor and a landlord representative on theboard.

Echoing other landlords, Ackerman also said shethought rent control policy needs reform. She saidthat the rent control policy was no longereffective because fewer low-and middle-incometenants were actually living in theprice-controlled housing.

Cambridge City Councilor David E. Sullivandisagreed. "I think there's a clear consensus onthe council that no substantial changes will occurin the program," he said.

Sullivan, a proponent of rent control, saidthat some improvement could be made inadministration but that the program was generallysound