CITIES: SHATTERED ELECTION PATTERNS

THE ills that beset U.S. cities have caused some able mayors to give up: they have announced that they would retire voluntarily as their terms expire this year. Yet in this fall's mayoralty elections, there is no shortage of bold -- some would say foolhardy -- politicians eager to succeed them, while elsewhere embattled incumbents campaign desperately to retain their posts.

The joy of winning is apt to be short lived. "Everywhere the cities are tottering," reports TIME Senior Correspondent John Steele. "They face near-bankruptcy, decay, population loss, lower property values and ever-increasing tensions. Tomorrow's cities may be deserted at night, their streets foreboding and empty, a nocturnal black ghetto of despair. Even the fringe communities are in danger of becoming slum-burbs."

The atmosphere of crisis is having strange effects on local politics. Some campaigns have become polarized conflicts between those who advocate tough anticrime measures and exploit fears of blacks, and those who take a more conciliatory, reformist position. But in most cities, race and crime are turning out to be volatile and unpredictable issues.

The strains have further weakened Democratic political machines, diminished mayoral patronage powers and eaten into old special-interest coalitions. Republicans, independents and rebels suddenly have solid chances to win in unexpected places. Some examples:

PITTSBURGH GLAMOUR The retirement after ten years of May or Joseph Barr, who found himself "con demned by the blacks because I didn't do enough and by the whites because I did too much," leaves the once invincible Democratic machine bereft. Democratic City Councilman Peter Flaherty, 44, moved into the breach, challenged a mediocre organization candidate in the primary, and won. He looks like a Kennedy and is running independently of party headquarters. His main pitch is anti-bossism. He pleads for harmony between blacks and whites, who are bitterly divided by a Negro drive for more construction jobs.

Although Flaherty remains the favorite, Republican John Tabor, 48, a Yale classmate of New York's John Lindsay and a politician with similar personal appeal, is posing the first serious G.O.P. challenge in 25 years. His Czech background suits ethnic groups, and he is trying to attract the city's blue-collar workers by hinting that he will oppose right-to-work laws if they will yield slightly to black demands. A former state secretary of labor and industry, the moderate Tabor promises to switch millions of dollars from patronage jobs to strengthen the police department. "If that is a law-and-order campaign," says Tabor, "so be it."

DETROIT MODERATION Mayor Jerome considered a boy wonder when elected eight years ago, has had enough. "It is misleading, even dangerous, to suppose that a mayor can control the destiny of his city," he says. The nonpartisan race to replace him is not the clear-cut case of black v. white that many outsiders assume. Wayne County Sheriff Roman S. Gribbs, 43, is a moderate who has thoroughly integrated his department, appointed a top Negro deputy, eliminated brutality in a sorry county jail, and avoided simplistic solutions to crime problems. His opponent, County Auditor Richard H. Austin, 56, is the first Negro to make a serious bid for the Detroit mayoralty. Austin topped the primary and can expect the support of most black voters, who amount to about 25% of Detroit's registered voters. Yet he also is a moderate seeking to mute the race issue. Austin expects the support of white liberals and progressive union members, but the sheriff's bid has become a strong one.

ATLANTA FRACTURE Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. closes out eight years in office with the simple explanation that "I've shot my wad and it's time for somebody else to come along."

The long dominant coalition of white industrialists and black business and professional leaders is fractured. Though a Negro, Attorney Maynard Jackson, was elected vice mayor on Oct. 7, this week's run-off election does not focus on race. It pits a handsome Democratic liberal, the outgoing vice mayor, Sam Massell, 42, against a personable moderate Republican, Rodney Cook, 45, who is both a city alderman and a state legislator. Blacks are expected to vote heavily for Massell, while Atlanta's white business community supports Cook.

Massell, a former real estate dealer and member of one of Atlanta's wealthiest Jewish families, has earned black support through his leadership of a statewide civil rights committee and local antidiscrimination efforts. Yet Cook also talks about the need for harmonious race relations and contends that he is "the only candidate able to bring people together." To cope with Atlanta's financial crisis, Cook urges that the city be consolidated with surrounding Fulton County. Massell bravely proposes a city income tax and invites nearby municipalities to join the city. The contest is close, and both Massell and Cook seem capable of carrying forward Allen's enlightened racial policies.

CLEVELAND TENSIONS Two years ago, Carl Stokes overcame defections by fellow Democrats to become the first black mayor of a large city. His plurality was only 1,600 votes.

This year he again had to fight a primary. Though he can point to advances in economic development and housing programs, Stokes is handicapped by a scandal in police civil service examinations and by continual wrangling with a city council controlled by his own party. Racial animosity remains high in the blue-collar city.

Thus it would be no surprise if Cleveland elected its first Republican mayor since 1941. The G.O.P. has fielded a strong candidate in Ralph J. Perk, 55, auditor of Cuyahoga County and, like Pittsburgh's Tabor, a man of Czech descent. That helps in Cleveland, where identification with the old countries of Central and Eastern Europe is still close.

Perk stresses strict law enforcement and attacks what he claims are the declining levels of most city services. When re-elected as auditor, he became the first Republican in 25 years to carry the city. And as the G.O.P. grows stronger, black registration has dropped by near ly 10,000 this year.

BUFFALO PATRIOTS The clearest case of a city divided over issues of crime and race may be Buffalo. There, liberal Democrat Frank A. Sedita, 62, a career politician who has served two terms as mayor, is in danger of being unseated by Mrs. Alfreda Slominski, 40, a conservative Republican. It is something of a grudge match.

In 1967, Sedita refused to reappoint Mrs. Slominski to the city's school board because of her blunt opposition to using buses to help integrate the schools.

An attractive mother of two, Mrs. Slominski is a more engaging version of Boston's Louise Day Hicks.* Her campaign refrain repeats themes of "law and order," "safe streets" and "no bus sing." She once headed the ultraconservative Good Government Club, which has defended the John Birch Society as one of the nation's "finest and most patriotic organizations." However, when the club's newsletter recently belittled Jews and blacks with bad jokes, Mrs. Slominski, who is of Polish-American ancestry, decided it had gone too far and repudiated its support.

Mayor Sedita's chances are also hurt by the third candidate, Ambrose Lane, 34, a Negro who has headed antipoverty programs in the area. Running as an in dependent, Lane has little chance himself, but could draw black votes from Sedita. An effective mayor who has improved race relations and helped cut crime, Sedita is in such trouble that both Hubert Humphrey and Democratic National Chairman Fred Harris have come to campaign for him.

* After losing the mayoral election to Kevin White in 1967, Mrs. Hicks took her first step toward a comeback in September by winning the right to compete for one of nine seats on the Boston city council next month.

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