Even though Grogan and then-President Neil L. Rudenstine worked to patch things up between Mass Hall and City Hall after the 47-acre debacle, Menino says that Harvard has work to do before it can gain his trust.

“I’ve seen other universities and how they’ve reached to their cities, and been a real part of the progress of a city,” says Menino. “I’d like to see the same thing happen with Harvard. They could be a very beneficial part to the growth of Boston, and I’d like to take advantage of that,” Menino adds. “But it seems like they want to keep an arms-length relationship.”

Stone admits that Harvard’s relationship isn’t great, but says difficulties can arise unpredictably from both directions.

“Our relationship to City Hall is not perfect—there’s always so much going on, we have new projects all the time and lately the city has had it rough economically. It’s a dynamic relationship.”

On Sunday—after the political fallout from the 91-acre deal began—Stone said he planned to meet with city officials this week to address their concerns.

“We’ll work hard at our relationship with the mayor, we’ll work very hard,” Stone said.

The Summers-Menino Connection

March 12, 2000, the day the Harvard Corporation named Summers the 27th president, was a busy one for the former treasury secretary. His whirlwind visit to Cambridge was spent in press conferences and introductory meetings with University administrators.

But before arriving at Loeb House to discuss faculty recruitment, the state of the sciences at Harvard, and land expansion into Allston, Summers first priority was to make some phonecalls. Mayor Menino was one of the first people on his list.

As a Washington insider entering a politically intense and widely influential post, Summers knew the importance of getting to know the local leadership. Grogan, who as Stone’s predecessor who helped guide the president-elect in his early days, says that Summers’ drive to build political relationships is a new and important one for the University.

“Summers came in with the idea that forging these connections was part of his job,” Grogan says. “He’s spent far more time with local officials than any president in Harvard history.”

Sensitive to the President’s enthusiasm, Menino carefully acknowledged the potential for a relationship with the University in his third-term inaugural address in January 2002

“If Boston has a friend in President Larry Summers, then Harvard has a friend in City Hall,” Menino said in his speech, which was otherwise focused on the beleaguered municipal economy.

But Summers wasn’t at the speech.

The friendship between Mass. Hall and downtown Boston has been sustained by phone.