At 74, Chrest E. Nikas is the oldest candidate running for City Council. Nikas is a resident of one of Cambridge's public housing projects, New Towne Court. A retired painting contractor, Nikas feels that rent control should be totally revised and that it should cover public as well as private housing.

The Agony of the Age

Nikas said, "It is the agony of the age that those who should be represented in government are forgotten. I am running so we will have a voice."

Asked about the universities Nikas said, "They should learn to keep their hands off vacant land."

Nikas is also concerned about Cambridge street people. "We should do something to provide housing for those kids on the common," he said. "They're people too, you know."

Nikas is a High School graduate and has taken extension courses at several local universities.