Only modest changes expected in council focus

After one of the fiercest and most expensive council races in recent history, observers predicted modest changes in the council's focus, not the more sweeping reallignment some had predicted.

Boston turned to one fresh face yesterday, electing the first Asian-American city councilor, Sam Yoon, but also returning veteran Stephen J. Murphy, despite suggestions that he was vulnerable after his fourth-place finish in the September preliminary election.

Voters also denied Felix Arroyo top-of-the-ticket bragging rights he had sought, handing Council President Michael Flaherty his fourth straight first-place finish by almost 5,700 votes.

The at-large wins mean that Flaherty is more likely to be reinstalled as council president. With just one new member, the council could take on new issues, including the possible return to an elected school committee, but isn't likely to tackle more dramatic changes, like rent stablization.

''Every election is different; every situation is not part of an enormous trend," said Lawrence DiCara, a former councilor and political observer. ''What I sense happened today is that a lot of people who stayed home in September came out today. Flaherty's numbers were bigger than anybody predicted."

For Yoon supporters, it was a night of celebration. ''Yoon! Yoon! Yoon!" a crowd of more than 100 hollered at his election night party at the Blarney Stone on Dorchester Avenue.

An exhausted but ebullient Yoon gave his wife, Tina, a dozen red roses and spent so much time thanking his volunteers and staff that he barely squeezed in a victory speech. He began it by giving a ''shout-out" to various Asian-American groups, saying: ''This is for the Chinese Americans! This is for the Japanese Americans! . . ." -- and called it an ''incredible honor" to make history.

''It's not a 'New Boston' anymore," he said. ''It's just the way Boston is. This is today's Boston."

The at-large race was marked by a fiercely contested fight for at least one open seat on the council, vacated by Maura A. Hennigan. It attracted a slew of young, well-funded challengers. Flaherty, who began running for a citywide seat 10 years ago, said it was the strongest field he'd ever run in.

In the race, Flaherty was hotly pursued by Arroyo, who had sought to ride a wave of voter participation in minority communities in recent years to the top of the ticket.

Last night, Flaherty seemed shocked by his margin of victory. He credited a strong field organization, which allowed him to send as many as 20,000 get-out-the-vote phone calls yesterday, on top of the 18,000 he had done previously, and penetrate every community in the city.

''It wasn't about New Boston and Old Boston, it was about our Boston," he said. ''There's 22 wards and 254 precincts, and I work for everybody. That was the message I brought out to the city."

In Chinatown, David Moy, a 64-year-old resident of Chinatown, who works part-time in a restaraunt, said he cast a single vote for Flaherty because he wanted to stick with an incumbent.

''He takes action, he's friendly, and he has the experience to lead the Boston City Hall," he said.

Flaherty said he will run again for council president if his colleagues want him to, and that he expects the council to revisit the possibility of returning to an elected school committee, which he and some other councilors feel has lost some accountability, 15 years after it became a mayorally-appointed board.

Turnout was higher than usual in many minority neighborhoods. Lines snaked out the doors at polling places in Chinatown, while Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and parts of Dorchester saw higher-than-usual turnouts as of 6 p.m.

At English High School in Jamaica Plain, Kathy Evans, 54, a social worker, voted for Yoon and Arroyo.

''The city is very diverse, and it's about time that the council represented that," she said.

Murphy, at his victory party last night at Doyle's in Jamaica Plain, seemed relieved as he thanked several dozen loyalists. He gave a speech congratulating the mayor and welcoming Yoon to City Hall.

''I felt pretty good the whole way through," he said. ''You always have a little trace of doubt."

Among other things, he credited his push to overhaul the state's criminal records system, a popular cause in minority neighborhoods. Support from laborers' and city workers' unions also helped him hold onto his seat, Murphy said.

''I've stood up for workers, and I think they returned the favor," he said in an interview.

With Murphy reinstated, the council probably won't take up the Community Stabilization Act any time soon. The act, which would establish a limited form of rent control, was a hot issue in the race, and if Murphy, a staunch opponent of the concept, had lost, it might have gained ground. But Kathy Brown of the Boston Tenants Assocation said her group was outgunned by rent control opponents who put out automated calls warning that rent control could raise property owners' taxes.

Though Arroyo's campaign manager told the Globe last week that anything short of a first-place finish for Arroyo would be tantamount to ''a failure," the candidate declared, at his victory party last night, that his second place showing, along with Yoon's win, would help redefine the council.

''It's electrifying. We are going to continue with our platform and trying to challenge the council and show them that this is the will of the people," Arroyo said.

Cristina Silva of the Globe Staff and correspondents Chase Davis, Kristen Green and Emma Stickgold contributed to this story.