In an April rally on the steps of University Hall, City Councillor Jim Braude said the living wage issue would become a stumbling block that would hinder the University in other council matters.

"If Harvard wants to build a new building and comes to the City Council, all nine of us will say, 'Implement a living wage, and we'll talk,'" Braude told a 200-person crowd.

And while Braude was joined by fellow councillor Majorie C. Decker, other councillors are reluctant to stymie Harvard development based purely on its living wage stance.

Rudenstine recently approved recommendations to increase benefits and training to employees while side-stepping the $10 wage standard the City of Cambridge has adopted for its employees. He had previously met with Decker and Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio to discuss wage levels.

But despite differences of opinion on development and labor issues, the council plans to continue working to improve relations with the University beyond Rudenstine's tenure.

"My approach is one more of partnership than quid pro quo," Galluccio said earlier this month. "[I want] Harvard not reacting to the city, but Harvard joining the city."

And last week, the council approved a policy order calling for the development of an annual town- gown report on relations between the city and Cambridge's universities.

Councillor Henrietta Davis, who proposed the order along with Kenneth E. Reeves '72, said open communication with the University was the main objective of the order.