The city without a mayor was the topic of a speech last night by the last man to hold the job.

Avoiding much of the political infighting surrounding the failure of the Cambridge City Council to select a mayor for the past seven weeks, Councillor and former Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 spoke about his life experiences and how they have shaped his political views.

Reeves told about 12 students at Boylston Hall's Ticknor Lounge that as the first African-American mayor in Massachusetts history, he places himself in a larger tradition.

"I come from a tradition of West Indian politics," he said. "Marcus Garvey had Jamaican roots. Malcolm X had Jamaican roots."

Reeves said his political development was the result of his time spent volunteering while he was a student at Harvard.

"I spent much of my time here at Columbia Point, [a public housing development in Boston]," he said. "There I learned that all people want the same thing. They want good housing, good health care, a good life."

Returning to Cambridge after law school, Reeves said he became involved with housing issues, which piqued his interest in politics.

"The former mayor Alfred Vellucci said to me, 'If things make you so mad, why don't you run?' And so I did."

Reeves ran for the city council in 1985 but lost. In 1989, he was elected and is now serving his fourth term as councillor. He was elected mayor in 1991 and was re-elected in 1993.

Despite the current gridlock on the city council, Reeves does not count himself out for a third term. He said after the speech that he intends to vote for "a good candidate" for mayor.

While members of the Cambridge Civic Association and the Alliance for Change have cast their four votes for members of their own party, Reeves, an independent, has generally voted for himself.