In a deadlock reminiscent of Major League Baseball labor negotiations, Cambridge finally decided on a mayor February 26, after two months of stalemate between rival factions on the Council.

On its 20th ballot, the Cambridge City Council unanimously elected Councillor Sheila T. Russell as mayor.

The election ended a 58-day impasse between the moderate Alliance for Change and the progressive Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), which each hold four seats on the Council.

The tie-breaking seat on the new council was held by former mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who refused the endorsement of both of Cambridge's political factions.

Russell, a six-term council veteran endorsed by the Alliance, said she was "exhilarated by the election."

Councillor Kathleen L. Born, who was endorsed by the CCA, was elected council vice-chair.

Quiet Election Year

As Cantabrigians geared up for their biannual selection of the city council, rent control, generally the city's most devisive issue, was not a factor in the election for the first time since 1971.

The startling defeat of rent control at the statewide level in 1994 ushered in a new political era in the city.

Without the heated issue of fixed rents hovering over the process, Cambridge voters went to the polls November 7 to decide the issues and select the candidates who would shape the city's future.

The city's housing policy, education, the search for a new police commissioner and crime were some of the issues which dominated the election.

The eight incumbent councillors--Reeves, Russell, Born, Francis H. Duehay '55, Anthony D. Galluccio, Michael A. Sullivan, Timothy J. Toomey Jr. and Katherine Triantifillou--won re-election in November.

The only open seat was the one previously held by retiring Councillor Jonathan S. Meyers.

Since Meyers was endorsed by the CCA, many in the progressive community were worried that Meyers's retirement would tilt the 4-4 balance that had existed on the council in favor of the Alliance.

However, the worst fears of CCA supporters were never realized after Cambridge voters selected CCA-endorsed Henrietta A. Davis, a four-term school committee veteran, to fill the open seat on the council.