For Fresh-Faced City Council, Little Work But Lots of Politics

Call it the "nothing-to-do" council.

After a significant shake-up in the November elections, the new Cambridge City Council took office this year eager to solve problems. But with few burning questions on the agenda, it is been a less than productive year at City Hall.

As a result, the nine councillors have spent more time jockeying for position than getting work done.

When the nine-member council held its biennial elections in November, several new faces entered the Cambridge political scene. Longtime councillor Sheila D. Russell and mayor Francis H. Duehay '55 did not run for re-election, deciding to step away from the city government spotlight after a combined 21 terms in office.

The retirements, along with the surprising defeat of three-term councillor Katherine Triantafillou, opened the door for newcomers Jim Braude, Marjorie C. Decker and David P. Maher, while also leaving the mayor's seat up for grabs.

But the election was only the beginning of turmoil for the council, which haggled for weeks over picking a new leader.

Valentine's Day Massacre

The council--which operates under a proportional representation system in which a majority of councillors must agree on a mayor--failed to elect a successor to Duehay in its first month of meetings.

With the first two meetings, Kathleen L. Born led the way with four votes, but was unable to secure the final crucial vote to secure the mayoral seat. The next three weeks produced no votes on candidates as one meeting ran late due to a lengthy zoning discussion and another was cancelled because of a death.

After two weeks without mayoral meetings, the stage seemed set for a front-runner to emerge at the council's February 14 meeting.

Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who led the council as senior member while no mayor was in place, said before the meeting, "May God move us, so we can get a mayor to do this wonderful work."

But changed allegiances and lengthy public comment delayed the deciding votes until after midnight.

In the first two votes, Born gradually saw her votes slip away and go to Reeves, who gained the support of Decker in the first vote and then Braude in the second. Michael A. Sullivan held two votes--his and Maher's.

But in the dramatic final vote after 1 a.m., Anthony D. Galluccio was improbably catapulted into the mayor's seat.

He was able to secure the votes of Henrietta Davis, Braude, Maher and Sullivan, as well as his own and that of steadfast supporter Timothy P. Toomey, Jr, giving him the mayor's seat with a 6-3 margin over Born.

The 32-year-old Galluccio was sworn in as the city's youngest modern mayor shortly before 1:30 a.m. to applause from the 15 people who stayed for the entire meeting.

"I want to thank everyone who has stuck with me through thick and thin," Galluccio said in his acceptance speech. "I will work tirelessly to make the city the best it can be."

After his election, Galluccio moved quickly to resolve major issues facing the council. No committees--where most of the council's work is done--could be formed until a mayor was elected.

But by the time the council held its first meeting with its new mayor, Galluccio had already made all of the committee assignments.

"I met with all of the individual councillors last week," Galluccio said after his first meeting as mayor. "This is the first regular meeting, and I am happy to say that the committees are assigned."

As mayor in Cambridge, Galluccio also chairs the school committee. In his first week on the job, he worked on settling a contract dispute between the teachers union and the school district.

The restructuring of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School as well as the merger of the Fletcher and Maynard elementary schools have consumed the rest of his school committee time. Both issues were worked out over the course of several months.

All Talk?

Despite the new look of the council, most agree that it has made few important policy decisions.

Longtime council observer Robert Winters, who also publishes the online Cambridge Civic Journal, said the council is still trying to define itself.

"They are still adjusting, trying to decide who likes who," Winters said. He added that confusion over the mayoral vote may have left unresolved tensions between councillors.

Throughout the current term of the new council, the group has moved quickly through meetings, making few major decisions since February.

A few zoning matters and building projects, such as deciding a site for a new main library, is still unfinished business. They will be handled before the end of July or in the new fall session.

Davis says some policy initiatives are taking shape, but still need time before being brought forward.

"A lot of work goes on in committees, and it takes a while to get things up and running," she says.

Despite the lack of formal business, though, many councillors have taken the opportunity to make their voices heard--with some of the focus on Harvard.

In April, the council heavily criticized the University's stance on a living wage, saying that Harvard should adopt the $10 wage the city implemented for all its full-time employees.

Braude and Decker have led the charge, saying they will block approvals for University development projects--such as the Knafel Center and the proposed new art museum on Memorial Drive--unless the University adopts a living wage.

At a living wage rally in front of University Hall in April, Braude issued an ultimatum.

"If Harvard wants to build a new building and comes to the City Council, all nine of us will say, 'Implement a living wage, and we'll talk,'" he told the 200-person crowd.

But other councillors have been less belligerent, saying zoning matters should not be tied to the living wage.

"I feel it's a little bit hard to mix apples and oranges and throw zoning in there," Davis said last month. "Not all the council supports that."

But Born says that even if the zoning stands apart from a living wage, the University still has a responsibility to act.

"Harvard should stand as a model employer and should set the standard," she said.

Winters said he believes the strong stances on the living wage come from the new councillors' desire to make their names when few other issues have come before the council.

"It is when there is just a little bit on the agenda that it turns into an opportunity for speech-giving," he said.

Despite the lack of policy work this spring, the council decided last month to consider a pay raise for themselves and school committee members.

The issue was hotly contested by local residents because of how it was proposed--no clear mention of the pay raise was placed in the city manager's agenda, and the council voted not to allow a public hearing to discuss the matter.

Many councillors stood behind the decision, saying the council should not waste its time on a public hearing.

"I voted for something that was going to happen anyway so that we can focus on issues that are important, like affordable housing, the budget and the school merger," Decker said after the vote.

Davis, Born and Braude all voted for having a public hearing and Born and Braude publicly said they planned to vote against a pay raise.

"The city council is a policy making body," said Born, who voted against the last pay raise. "In most other cities our size, the city council is not a full time job."

No matter what happens in the final month of the council's spring session, most agree the new council is struggling to find its identity.

"There is not a clear, five-person majority," Reeves said.

In the past, he said, councillors usually strongly identified themselves as either progressives or left-of-center independents, unlike today.

"It is difficult to read anyone in terms of politics," he continued.

"It is not clear where the alliances lie, or if there even are any," Born said.

Winters agreed, saying the absence of real issues has left the council's future in doubt.

"In terms of actual goings-on, it just isn't there," Winters said. "It's almost as if the council's irrelevancy is the rule right now. Whether it will stay that way is hard to tell."

"It's a story unfolding," Born said.