If the Mayor does not reverse himself, he risks burdening the city with immense costs, even a health crisis, before the turn of the century.

But Mr. Molinari contended that the next Mayor might reverse course.

The Mayor quickly reversed himself, which was a wise move because many in the Bronx office are deeply troubled and burdened, unlikely to hold a job no matter what their accommodations.

A day later, the Mayor partly reversed himself: He canceled the contracts, and questioned the way they had been awarded to the Queens-based agency, the Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee, or Hanac.

Instead the Mayor has reversed himself time and again, and now, faced with a newly discovered budget gap, City Hall is doing a very good impression of panicking.

New York's Mayor, David Dinkins, has reversed previous city policy and opposes the home port.

By Friday, the heat of the week's political battles was cooling, as the Mayor reversed himself and agreed to pay $45 million toward student transit passes, and Mr. Dyson had begun talking about working with the M.T.A. to make changes.

The Mayor reversed himself because the cut would reduce city pensions, which are based on earnings.

Four days after the radio interview, the Mayor reversed himself.

Though he had initially pooh-poohed the idea of forming a commission, claiming it was unnecessary and premature - "We just had a Charter revision," he said - the Mayor blithely reversed himself and appointed his own 13-member panel with a $3 million budget.