A Dying Breed

As in many past years, the agenda of the City Council has dealt with familiar themes like halting development, protecting open space and expanding affordable housing.

And as Cambridge Election Commission chair Wayne "Rusty" Drugan points out, the City Council still holds five progressives and four left-of-center Independents--as it did when rent control was voted out.

But according to Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio, this does not necessarily mean that new residents are equally passionate about liberalism--or even voting. Instead, Galluccio says Cambridge's old guard of liberals might just be the only ones who show up at the polls.

Since an all-time high of 27,593 voters in 1989, voting in municipal elections has consistently declined. A low of 17,299 Cantabrigians cast ballots in 1997, followed by 19,161 last year.

Galluccio says as local voters have died or moved away, they have not been replaced by active new voters.

"That's why I don't think you've seen any drastic changes in terms of who's being elected," he says. "It's [been] a similar voting base since the end of rent control."

Even in neighborhoods where residents' activism remains forceful, the number of activists is usually small.