After an hour of debate punctuated by the boisterous cheers of a gallery full of East Cambridge youths, the City Council last night appropriated $16,120 to the Youth Resources Bureau (YRB) to develop a youth employment program for the city.

The program will replace the 600 Neighborhood Youth Corps summer jobs which the city has lost in Federal cutbacks and a year-round job placement program of the Chamber of Commerce, which will also be discontinued next year.

The order passed only after a motion by Councillor Robert Moncreiff to table it for a week failed. Moncreiff and Councillors Saundra Graham and Frank H. Duehay '55 questioned the ability of the agency to serve all the youth of Cambridge, citing a Crimson feature story which criticized the operation of YRB. "This article could be the worst piece of yellow journalism ever written," Duehay said. "But there is an undercurrent of criticism about this agency that deserves to be answered."

Kerry V. Saravelas, director of YRB, said that he would be willing to answer the specific allegations of the article in a closed, executive session with the Council.

Graham said that she doubted whether YRB would provide as many jobs for minorities and other groups in the city as for East Cambridge.