But supporters of the home rule rent control petitions argued that since voters of Cambridge, Brookline, and Boston rejected Question 9 they should be allowed to retain some protection.
"The voters of Cambridge wanted a stronger rent control law. That's what they indicated in their vote," said Alice K. Wolf, former mayor of Cambridge.
Wolf remained optimistic that Cambridge's petition would pass the full legislature, but said that in either case the character of the city would change.
"This only protects a very narrow number of people," she said, adding that middle class people would still be displaced and the city would end up with the rich and the very poor.
Wealthier individuals could afford more expensive housing while the poor would require public housing, she added.
Dowds said people close to the legislative process were pessimistic about the chances of the petitions passing.
"That petition has a long way to go," he said.
"Rent control is gone. It's either going to go at a moderate rate of speed or it's going to go immediately," Dowds said. "In either case, it's gone."
The best he was hoping for, he said, was a "semi-orderly termination."