He says only a small minority of Cantabrigians is truly involved in grassroots politics.

"There's a small group of people that are active. It might skew the view [by presenting] that small group as representing the whole," he says.

But Duehay attributes the drop in voter turnout to the declining number of candidates rather than political apathy.

"[Cambridge's] proportional voting system stirs up a lot of excitement, but the drop in the number of candidates [has lessened this enthusiasm]," he says.

Duehay also says local activism and voter turnout is influenced by national trends. "I think you're talking about American politics, not just [the situation] in Cambridge," he says.

"The '60s were affected by the Vietnam War, assassinations, student movements, so there were external factors that certainly affected local politics," he says.

Glenn S. Koocher '71, a former school committee member who studies Cambridge politics, also says changes in the national scene play a role in city politics.

"The nature of advocacy has been evolving in Cambridge over the past 30 years. The issues are changing, and you don't have great unifying issues like Vietnam or Civil Rights," he says.

In the past, according to Duehay, the crumbling tax system, a corrupt housing authority and police brutality were the most significant issues facing Cantabrigians.

Now education, traffic, pollution and over-development are the major concerns facing the city.

Koocher says "broad, general issues" such as welfare and equality in education have come to dominate Cambridge's political landscape.

Rent Control's Role

Perhaps the biggest issue currently affecting Cambridge politics is the absence of rent control. Rent control, abolished in 1994, placed a limit on the amount of rent landlords could charge and specified other tenant rights.

About 15,000 of Cambridge's 46,000 households were affected by rent control.

"Rent control is the most important issue in Cambridge of the last 30 and 40 years," Duehay says.