City Councillors Seek 'Opinion' Vote on Rent

Three Cambridge City Councillors will ask the Council today to place an "opinion referendum" on rent control on the November 4 election ballot. The referendum would enact no law but would permit people to vote on the concept of rent control.

Councillors Thomas H. Mahoney, Barbara W. Ackermann, and Cornelia B. Wheeler will also ask the Council to request that the State legislature permit the City to enact a rent control law.

To take effect, both proposals will need the support of five of the nine councillors. Last summer the Council defeated a rent control proposal by a 5-4 vote.

The action follows a court ruling last week which denied a request by the Cambridge Peace and Freedom party for a rent control referendum. The court ruled that a rent control law would be unconstitutional if passed and therefore could not be placed on the ballot. The Massachusetts State Constitution states that the legislature must give permission before a city can enact rent control.

Legal Blockade

According to Mahoney the "opinion referendum" would give the people of Cambridge a chance to voice their opinion on rent control without running into the legal blockade met by a binding referendum.

The Cambridge Civic Association, a group of Cambridge citizens, added their weight to the rent control drive last week when they passed a resolution endorsing "the concept of rent control for Cambridge."

Provisions

They proposed a rent control law which would provide for:

automatic increases in city rents based on the cost of living index;

the inclusion of all units in the city except luxury apartments;

increases in rent for improvements of up to five per cent of the rent per year;

an expiration date of December 31. 1973.

The CCA also asked the City Council to file a petition in the state legislature requesting permission to enact a rent control law.