Cronin held up the contract and presented four technical objections to the legality of the proposal. PSC director Bill Kirby said, "Two of the objections are pretty petty, but two of them affect the guts of the program."

"The City Council took two months to pass this measure, and the one thing we did right was to carefully consider all the legal aspects of the contract," explained Councilwoman Barbara Ackermann.

Vellucci offered to call a special meeting of the City Council tonight to "air any further grievances of the Model Cities people," but a board meeting last night chose a different course.

"We've got to pursue two directions at once," explained Brown. "We're going to take this thing to the courts, and we've also got to gather community support for our position, and take it back to the City Council, and force them to do something."

A meeting with staff, the board, and members of the community early next week will decide what precise steps are to be taken.