About the only thing Cambridge Mayor Sheila T. Russell and former mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 share in common is the first letter of their last name.

Russell and Reeves differ in gender, race, sexual orientation, background, style of dress, political philosophy and their approach to running this diverse city of 100,000 residents.

Last January, their differences caused the longest debate in the selection of the city's mayor since 1948, as the Cambridge City Council remained deadlocked for eight weeks.

By city charter, the nine councillors elected in November meet the first week of January and choose a mayor from amongst themselves.

Reeves had previously served two consecutive two-year terms as mayor and was re-elected to the council in November. But several councillors wanted a different leader sitting in the second floor office in City Hall.

In late February, the Council unanimously chose Russell as mayor.

But many observers still see large ideological rifts between both camps, and some tensions have surfaced during the first four months of Russell's term.

Reeves:Strong Mayor

Although councillors usually rotate the mayorship biannually, Reeves served two complete terms as mayor and was one of America's highest-ranking black, gay officials.

He was an activist who appointed special commissions, organized parades--including Cambridge's own inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade--and reached out to Cambridge's minority groups.

This year, however, many thought Reeves was seeking to expand his powers beyond the scope appropriate for a city whose charter calls for a strong city manager and weak elected officials.

"The problem a number of city councillors had was that [Reeves] acted like he was making every decision himself," says Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55, a former mayor and 13-term Council veteran. "He lost touch with the councillors who voted for him."

After its longest deadlock since 1948, the Cambridge City Council selected political moderate Sheila T. Russell as mayor, thereby ending the four-year reign of Kenneth E. Reeves '72. Irked by Reeves' attempts to expand mayoral power, councillors turned to Russell because she was a voice for restraint and it was .....

A Different Approach

And so they turned to Russell, 60, a lifelong Cambridge resident who was first elected to the council in 1985 after the death of her husband Leonard, who himself was mayor at the time.

An Irish-Catholic who never attended college, Russell identifies more with the working-class residents of the city than Cambridge's social liberals and activists.