Turmoil Rocks Cambridge's Oldest Political Association

elected n mayor in January 1992, Reeves has expressed increasing support for the city's business community.

In the past, neighborhood- oriented citizen groups have been at odds with the business community in CAmbridge, The tension has manifested itself in a struggle between the CCA- dominated City COuncil and the more development- oriented city manager.

CCA President R. Philip Dowds said the association's platform dictates that its members act in a concensus on the issue of the city manager.

"The CCA, even before the council took action, had two prior positions which were significant," Dowdssaid. "One is a platform that required that all CCA councillors work activley to achieve concensus in matters invovling the manager. More recently it was that no city manager should have a contract."

Dowds said that the CCA is "unhappy" that the council has voted to extend Healy's contract. HOwever, CCA cannot take any action against the councillors who did not follow the party's position.

"The CCA really has no control over what any of them do," Dowd said. "The board has explicitly decided not to take any such action ifonly because it's a meaningless action."

The CCA opposes granting any city manager a contract because it is concerned about the balance of power between the council and the manager, Dowds said.

Cambridge's "Plan E" form of government creates a relatively weak city council and a city manager with wide-ranging powers.

While CCA members, including Councilor Alice K. Wolf, have voiced reservations about "Plan E", the alliance has expressed support for a strong manager. "I'm a big suppotor of Plan E. Most of the people in the Cambridge Alliance feel comfortable with Plan E," Winters said.

The alliance's new members are more pro development than the CCA's platform. Phoebe M. Bruck said she and her husband Frederick BVruck '41 left the CCA after 35 years because of ideological differences including the organization's position on economic development.

"The CCA has benn increasingly controlled by rigid anti- development forces," said Phoebe Bruck, who calls herself an advocate of "sustainable development."

Phoebe Bruck said their leaving the group was not part of an organized exodus from the CCA to the Cambridge Alliance. "This was not an organized move but something that had been building up for years," Phoebe Bruck said.

It is not clear how many people left CCA and joined the alliance. David R. Leslie '69, the executive director of CCA, said that he was only aware of one CCA member besides the Brucks and Winters who joined the Alliance.

Winters served as a member of the CCA's board of directors last year but says he was asked not to return to post because of ideological differences with the organization's leadership. "I was asked not to return because of my vocal position about the city manager," he said.

Leslie denied that Winters had been forced to leave the civic association. "Bob Winters was not kicked off our board," Leslie said. "It was sort of an amicable parting of the says."

Zamparelli said that members of his organization will probably form a group to endorse candidates for the next day city council election.

Although he praised Cys and Reeves for eating for according to their own bullies instead of conforming to the CCA platform. Zamparelli said he has not conducted them about joining his group.