Council Will Consider Demolition

The city council will meet in special session tonight to determine whether the rent control board violated its own by-laws by allowing the demolition of apartments at 16 Columbia Street.

"We certainly have laws on the books to cover this type of situation," council member Saundra Graham said yesterday, referring to the city's tough rent control codes prohibiting the removal of apartments from the housing market. "But enforcement is the problem."

Graham said that while the six apartments demolished last week have been permanently lost from the Cambridge market, tonight's 6 p.m. hearing may prevent a similar demolition from happening again.

The city rent control ordinances prohibit the removal of housing units-by demolition or conversion to condominiums--without a permit from the rent control board.

Councilor David Sullivan, a strong supporter of rent control, said yesterday that in the Columbia St. case, no removal permit was issued prior to the demolition.

"All they had was a letter from the hearing examiner saying no removal permit was necessary," Sullivan said.

Sullivan added that he hopes to learn tonight from rent control officials why the hearing examiner okayed the demolition, which he said seems to be clearly forbidden by city ordinances.

"Their (the rent control board's) alleged reason was that the board of surveys had determined that the building either had to be torn down or fixed up" because of a safety hazard, Sullivan said. The rent control board, however, should have first held a hearing to decide whether it would have been economically feasible to repair the apartments, he said.

"The board of surveys has been used in political ways in the past," Sullivan said, and Graham agreed that "our city agencies are not showing the proper respect for our rules and regulations."

Two weeks ago the council requested-and received-a guarantee from the housing authority that it would at least temporarily postpone its purchase of apartments at 11 Everett St., which also would have removed housing from the rental market without rent board approval.