"I am to this day unable to understand the reason for the heat and adjutation [that occurs] in some rent board cases."
He states that he is unaware that some tenants perceive that rent board members generally accord him a warmer reception that other, less experienced attorneys and most tenants. But he offers a possible explanation. "When I'm appearing before the board. I try to be courteous, which by the way is not a common virtue [among the parties] in there. A lot of people well at them [members of the rent board]."
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William Walsh is one of the city's most outspoken critics of rent control and codes prohibiting the conversion of rent controlled apartments to condominiums.
Although Walsh says rent board members are "extremely rude" to landlords and tenants, he contends that the major problem with the rent board is the members "political leanings. "Cohn" wants to make sure the CCA stays in effective control of the rent board "in order to perpetuate things." Walsh says, adding that neither the landlord nor tenant representatives are typical of the groups they serve. According to Walsh Cohn does not under stand the average landlord. He's a dreamer in a world where reality" outweighs any respect for theory. And Walsh says that if you tell me Joel Johnson [a tenant representative] is an average tenant, then it's time I move out of Cambridge. You're not putting typical people on the board, so you're not getting typical answers.
Despite the many hours he has spent in front of the rent board. Walsh says he has discovered no successful formula for dealing with the board members. "What strategy could you use' You've prepared your client psychologically as well as legally for what will happen. But there's nothing you can do except tell him that it's a kangaroo court and push and push and push to get your point of view across to board members.
* * *
Joel Johnson has served as one of the rent board's two tenant representative since May of 1981.
"If you've been there [at rent board meetings], you may understand the delicate relations of members of the board. Sometimes it's like a tug of war," he says. "I realize that sometimes it looks like we're stumbling or mumbling in our beard. But tenants come in and only see one case when we could have 20 that night and be there til three in the morning. We have to dispense with cases in a manner that is most comfortable for us."
"The parties before us should be given a better idea of how we're voting," he says. "The problem is that voting is done in a very informal way. But it we tried to formalize our procedure, then the parties would be expected to be more formal, too."
"I think that tenants probably have some misconceptions about rent control," Johnson says. "They think they may not be very secure, but a lot have forgotten or never experienced what it would be like living in a city without rent control." The fact that some tenants see rent control as an absolute ceiling on rents causes problems, he says. In addition, some tenants become uncomfortable at rent board meetings because they "haven't learned yet how to approach the board." "When I went before the board as a tenant. I was not sure what to do," he admits. But after appearing there many times. "I finally figured out" how the board works, he says.
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Alfred Cohn sits in a unique position on the rent board as the only member who has served since the agency's creation.
"The questions the board deals with should be no surprise." Cohn says in answer to a question about tenants' confusion at board meetings. "There really are no surprise, if a tenant is paying attention, he will understand procedures." But only a few minutes later Cohn says. "It we can be faulted, it is because we sometimes do not give a layman's explanation" of the reasoning behind decisions. "Somebody who hasn't been there [at the rent board] before or doesn't understand the issues might be surprised, but then it's the job of those with experience to explain what's going on."
Cohn says he doubts that the lack of a record of case precedent is a handicap for landlords, tenants, or other board members. "I don't think I've ever flim-flammed anyone" with a recollection of precedent or through one of technical expense, Cohn says. He does admit, however, that the board's handbook of procedural and substantive regulations causes confusion. "These is one puzzle," he says. "If you try to real the board's regulations, you can't figure out what's going on. But Cohn says he does not favor a less complicated, more descriptive version of the board's regulations. "If you start to write descriptions we would find people saying. It seems what you're doing is inconsistent with your regulations.
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