Now, City Manager Robert W. Healy has been in office for nearly two decades. Though the length of his tenure has come under severe criticism recently--councillors Kenneth E. Reeves '72, Timothy J. Toomey and Katharine Triantafillou voted to not give him a contract extension in September--Healy has led the city to become one of the six best financed cities in the U.S.

Duehay's role in affordable housing was more visible, however. A strong supporter of rent control since its inception in 1969, the system was voted out by a statewide referendum in 1994.

"It wasn't the city manager or the mayor or the city council that lost rent control, it was through a statewide referendum," Duehay says.

Duehay also filed state legislation to create the city's Affordable Housing Trust. The city was able to bring together all of its housing agencies' resources because of the Trust, he says.

"[The trust] could allow the city to bid for and take land for housing without going through the normal channels of public bidding," he says.

After the loss of rent control, Duehay developed the CITYHOME program. At a council meeting Oct. 25, Healy said 1,761 units of affordable housing have been created or preserved since the program began in July 1995.

Time for a New System?

In Cambridge's "weak mayor" system, Duehay has been mayor, councillor and citizen.