Photo puts a focus on City Council rift

The City Council was about to adjourn. Important business had been attended to -- matters of redevelopment in Downtown Crossing, an antiviolence measure, and an update on transit projects. Then came a resolution congratulating a Dorchester church on its 100th anniversary.

It was the kind of measure the council routinely passes with a perfunctory tap of the gavel. But that didn't happen yesterday.

``I've had enough!" Councilor at Large Stephen Murphy snapped, waving a piece of paper at his colleagues.

It was a copy of a certificate that would go to the church, commemorating the council's congratulations. Above the listing of the good works of St. Mark's Episcopal Church was a photo of Councilors at Large Felix Arroyo and Sam Yoon and Councilors Chuck Turner of Roxbury and Charles Yancey of Dorchester.

Murphy and several of his colleagues refused to vote for the resolution unless the photo was removed. A heated debate ensued that trickled into a deep divide on the council.

The four councilors in the photo have apparently been spending a lot of time together, meeting each week to discuss council business, appearing together at community meetings, and chatting regularly on the phone. They have adopted a name for themselves -- Team Unity -- and their photo has appeared on newsletters.

The other councilors said yesterday that they feel left out, and that Team Unity is a divisive force on the 13-member body.

``Are we the non-unity team?" said Councilor Maureen Feeney of Dorchester, adding that she and other left-out councilors should print up some T-shirts of their own.

Turner said Feeney and six other councilors have been cooperating on council business for years, calling themselves the Young Turks and using their majority power to dominate the council's legislative agenda. Team Unity is simply a group of nonwhite city councilors trying to promote their agenda, Yoon said. ``I'd like to have an Asian caucus, but I'd be its only member."

The council passed the measure for St. Mark's yesterday, after Team Unity councilors agreed to remove the photo from the certificate. Yancey said he will present it to the church this weekend.

Council President Michael Flaherty said after the meeting that he would join Team Unity if he could.

``Many of us would like the opportunity to work cooperatively with all the members of the council to address the many critical issues facing the city of Boston," he said. ``They don't want anyone else playing in the sandbox."