William H. Walsh, the only council member to dissent, no longer sits on the council, following his conviction and sentencing on state fraud charges.

As of Jan. 1 this year, the last rent-control apartments in Cambridge lost their protected status. Since some rents have tripled since then, council members have focused on developing affordable housing for low-income families as an alternative.

But liberal advocates in the city are trying hard to keep the issue alive.

"There will probably be enough housing for the elderly, but that is not the case for single-parent families," said Geneva T. Malenfant, a leader of the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). "There is no question in my mind that there is a lack of adequate housing for tenants in rent-protected apartments."

Harvard helped the state to alleviate the problem recently by selling 100 apartments below market value so that they may be used for permanently affordable housing, said Malenfant.

But the council this spring defeated a transfer-tax petition that would have raised money from the sale of property to subsidize low-income tenants.

Although Cambridge is almost entirely Democratic, the debate over rent control allowed city politics to be viewed along "party" lines, with the CCA considered the more liberal group and the Independents a more moderate faction.

But Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio contested this widely held depiction of city political lines.

"Just because an individual was critical of rent control does not mean that he has to be conservative," said Galluccio. "It was important for us to be able to use means-testing to determine that the housing was being distributed properly."

Traditionally, the CCA has included many intellectuals and middle-class social progressives, while the Independents have drawn support from the city's blue-collar and immigrant families.

"Here is the classic difference between the two groups: If you have a problem, the Independents want to fix that particular problem today, while the CCA wants to change the underlying cause of the problem," said Koocher.

The council is currently evenly split between two factions. Henrietta E. Davis, Vice Mayor Kathleen L. Born, Francis H. Duehay '55, and Katherine Triantafillou are affiliated with the CCA. The Independents include Toomey, Galluccio, Michael A. Sullivan and Mayor Sheila Doyle Russell.

The ninth member of the council is Kenneth E. Reeves '72, who is currently unaffiliated. The city's first black and first openly gay mayor, Reeves split with the CCA in 1993 when he ran successfully for a second term as mayor. The mayor is elected by the City Council.

The mechanics behind the election favors the two-party system. The voting system, called "proportional representation," allows voters to rank their candidates from one to nine according to their preference. After one candidate is elected, his or her ballots are transferred to the next candidate listed on the ballot.

The CCA and the Alliance for Change, the Independents' umbrella group, both put together a "slate," and voters are called to vote for a particular slate in order to insure that each party's candidate gets the trickle-down votes.