City Council Fails to Elect Mayor

Colorful red, white and blue inaugural banners still adorn the walls of City Hall, but for now Cambridge remains without a mayor, as the City Council again failed to elect a top leader at Monday night's council meeting.

Monday's second round of voting was identical to the first taken at the Jan. 3 inauguration. Cambridge Civic Alliance (CCA) member Kathleen L. Born leads with four votes (hers and those of Henrietta Davis, Jim Braude and Marjorie C. Decker). Independent Michael A. Sullivan is second with three votes (his and those of Kenneth E. Reeves '72 and David P. Maher), while Independent Anthony D. Galluccio has his own vote and Timothy J. Toomey Jr's.

There were a few twists to the vote, however. At the beginning of the meeting, Born, Braude and Davis voted not to take another round of voting, and once the vote had been taken Galluccio, Maher and Toomey voted to continue with a third ballot for mayor.

The council will vote again at its Jan. 24 meeting, and will continue re-voting until at least five members support one mayor. Until that point, senior council member Reeves will serve as acting mayor of the city.

Without a mayor--who chairs both the City Council and the School Committee--council committees cannot be formed. Instead, the council will meet to address matters ordinarily taken up by its committees.

Local political analyst Glenn S. Koocher '71, host of the political television show "Cambridge Inside Out," said he had heard speculation that Decker might change her vote from Born to another candidate after a certain number of ballots.

"Marjorie Decker had genuine angst and confusion on her face," Koocher said of her reaction when the roll call to close the mayoral voting was announced.

Decker could not be reached for comment Monday night, and has not yet commented on her role in the mayoral voting.

In its major business of the night, the council approved a request by City Manager Robert W. Healy to prepare an appropriation order for a planning study in conjunction with the Larkin Petition, which will put a moratorium on development in East Cambridge for 18 months.

Supporters of the petition said it would give them time to come up with a plan to control development in their section of the city. East Cambridge and an adjacent neighborhood, Area 4, are two of the poorest areas of the city, where there is the most support for the plan.

"I'm sure there is widespread support for this petition throughout the city," said Cambridge resident Peter Berry.

Berry said the moratorium would allow residents to develop a plan "for the people of this city," enabling them to go to work without cars and increasing safety.

"We are only asking for 18 months. Eighteen months to reflect, talk, and devise a plan," he said.

Shannon Larkin, the author of the petition, said residents need to plan against research facilities and "22-story hotels."

"We need to plan in East Cambridge," Larkin said. "We need to control the traffic."

Margaret Weigel said the companies around Kendall Square leave the area bereft of resources for its residents.

"There's nothing for residents there," Weigel said. "There's nothing."

Monday's meeting also featured a few fireworks.

While Cambridge resident Elie Yarden was speaking, Reeves briefly interrupted him to ask him a question. After Yarden's allotted three minutes for speaking expired, a buzzer sounded and Reeves asked Yarden to step away.

Yarden argued that part of his time had been taken answering Reeves' question, but Reeves repeated that Yarden's time was up, and Yarden started yelling.

"If you would like the citizens of the city of Cambridge to remain ignorant of the issues...you will prevent me from speaking," he responded, adding that there is an "absence of the free press" in Cambridge.

Later, Cambridge resident Peter Valentine said Healy was turning the city over to developers, and that the real name of the Community Development Department is the "Developers' Development Department."

"The destiny of the city is to be a research [and] military-industrial complex," Valentine said.