Although other New England cities also reap the benefits of college and university presences, Cambridge is the quintessential "college town." It was with an uncomfortable appreciation for this value-added aspect of universities that the author, as a newly elected city councilor in 1993, found herself in the offices of a VP for government affairs at one of Cambridge's well-known universities to ostensibly discuss local unease over university plans to build numerous new facilities. While owing much prosperity to the universities, increasing housing costs began to make the city inaccessible to long-time residents, new development began to change to historic look and feel of the community, traffic choked city streets, and locally-owned establishments were replaced by national chain retailers. In this article, the author discusses the "pomp and whine" divide between the universities and elected officials in Cambridge with regard to major projects built in the city, and some calculated, but real, gestures from the universities to the city.