Councillor Kathleen L. Born, one of two current councillors not seeking reelection this year, said that unlike some other councillors she talked to at the installation’s reception, she didn’t perceive a slight in Summers’s speech. Instead, she said she found it “inspiring.”

“I thought the speech that he gave was about the academic priorities for the University and that he wasn’t attempting to talk about government relations,” Born said.

And Born perceived discussion of Allston to be a matter of real estate and not a community relations statement, she said.

“Frankly I was relieved that he didn’t put expansion in Cambridge at the top of his list,” Born said.

Superintendant of Schools Bobbie J. D’Alessandro, who also sat on the stage, echoed Born’s assessment of the speech, as well as Galluccio’s desire to bury the old hatchet of tense Harvard-Cambridge relations.

“I thought his speech was visionary and important,” D’Alessandro said in an interview yesterday. “I feel [Summers] shows a committment [to Cambridge]. I was hoping to hear a little of that in his speech.”

Gallucio said he is hopeful that the relationship between Harvard and Cambridge will move forward, he said.

“I was surprised because I’ve had excellent conversations with President Summers about Harvard recently,” Gallucio said. “My surprise comes out of my optimism.”

—Staff writer Andrew S. Holbrook contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu