EFZ Stages Rally in Central Square

Accompanied by an accordion player dressed as Santa Claus, supporters of the Eviction Free Zone (EFZ), a Cambridge activist group, caroled Saturday afternoon in Central Square to raise awareness about tenants' rights.

The group is trying to collect 100,000 signatures on a petition protesting high rents and home prices, which they say are increasing evictions and homelessness in Cambridge. The group plans to deliver the petition to Massachusetts Gov. A. Paul Cellucci in March.

The EFZ has spent the past 10 years lobbying for Cambridge-area tenants, raising awareness of housing rights and fighting evictions and rent increases.

The group was quick to draw upon the holiday spirit to further its efforts.

This year's event featured the tagline "Don't get Scrooged, get organized."

Protestors performed rewritten carols with lyrics such as, "Oh little town of Cambridge/ your rents shoot up so high/ hard working families cannot pay/ our landlords if we try."

Similar rallies in previous years have featured figures such as "the ghost of affordable housing past."

In between choruses of "Cambridge Tenants Rise" (to the tune of "Jingle Bells"), group members with picket signs stopped pedestrians to explain their cause, hand out pamphlets and collect signatures.

EFZ member and Cambridge resident Bill Cavellini explained that many tenants feel powerless and are unaware that "they don't have to put up with their landlords harassing them."

Current EFZ efforts are revolving around four issues. The group hopes to double local, state and federal funding levels to create affordable housing. It also hopes to encourage corporations and universities to commit their "fair share" of money and land.

In addition, the campaign seeks to encourage increased use of public land for new housing. Finally, the group seeks to support additional policies protecting and increasing affordable housing for renters and homeowners.

At the rally, longtime EFZ supporter Jean M. Keldysz, who said she expects to be evicted from her Cambridge residence of 50 years any day now, said, "I'm just sitting on edge waiting to see what's going to happen."

Her building was converted from rental units to condominiums five years ago, and the years since then have been marked by her landlord's efforts to evict her, she said.

Keldysz says now, she is simply trying to stop more conversions to condominiums.

"I'm not taking anything away from anybody," she says. "[The landlords] have made their money, now it's time for us to get something back."