Candidates Fill Council Gap

Plenty of local politicians are ready to fill the gap created by the retirement of three long-time liberal members of the City Council.

The city's system of proportional representation--often jokingly referred to as "perpetual representation"--tends to heavily favor incumbents, and there have not been three vacancies in a council for at least 20 years.

As a result, unprecedented numbers of city residents are considering running for the council.

One familiar face in this year's race--Jonathan Myers--surprised the Cambridge political establishment in 1987 when he came within a few hundred votes of unseating long-time incumbent Saundra Graham.

In fact, Myers had more first choice votes than Graham, but because the proportional method involves transferring votes from one candidate to another, Graham won the council's ninth seat.

While many have viewed Myers' showing in 1987 as merely an indication of Graham's declining popularity, the candidate says last week that he believes his popularity was not a fluke.

"We impressed people with our organization last time," says Myers, adding he expects his campaign to be even better organized this time around.

Although Myers describes himself as a strong supporter of rent control and opponent of Proposition 1-2-3, a ballot referendum that would convert rent-controlled units into condominiums, Myers says he intends to base his campaign on overdevelopment in city neighborhoods.

"This city has often gone with developers at the expense of neighborhoods," says Myers. "I am running very much on a preservation, a proneighborhood platform.

The effects of development on the city may be an issue for other candidates, as well. City activists Edward Cyr and R. Phillip Dowds, who along with Myers and others founded the anti-development group Cambridge Citizens for Liveable Nieghborhoods (CCLN) this year, have also announced that they are running.

While Dowds and Cyr could not be reached for comment, a CCLN spokesperson says they are resigning from the organization's steering committee to pursue their political goals.

Rena Leib says she wants to preserve the liberal tradition of the council, adding she will seek backing from the liberal Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). While Leib says she opposed Proposition 1-2-3, she says she might favor restricting rent control to people below a certain income.

Independent Councillor William H. Walsh has repeatedly supported such proposals, known as means tests.

"I think it would depend on how it was done, but I would be open to a means test of some sort," Leib says.

The departure of Graham, the council's only Black member, leaves a different kind of void on the council. Several Black candidates are considering running, including Graham's former campaign treasurer, Renae Scott and attorney Kenneth E. Reeves. School Committee member Frances H. Cooper says she may also run.

"A lot of folks are kind of concerned that Saundra will no longer be on the council," says Cooper, but she adds that she is not sure she wants to try to replace Graham in the Black community.

On the other side of the aisle, candidates are trying to gain a fifth seat for the independents. School Committee members Alfred B. Fantini and Timothy Toomey are both running, as is businessman Alan Bell. Generally, independents on the council vote as a bloc and favor tightening rent control restrictions.

Although there are many issues derivative of a successfully passed Proposition 1-2-3 that need to be resolved, I am, on balance, in favor of 1-2-3 because it symbolizes potential empowerment through home ownership equity, the inspiration of selfesteem and enrichment of the cultural and socio-economic fabric of our city," says Bell.

Other possible independent candidates include David J. Sullivan, Peter Sheinfeld and former councillors Daniel Clinton and Al LaRosa. John St. George, Esther Hanig and William Schmidt may run on a CCA platform. Kirsten L. Parkinson contributed to the reporting of this story.