Father Doyle is part of a citywide coalition of 23 churches called Camden Churches Organized for People, which is leading the sewer protest.

It created a HomeBuyers Club to prepare first-time buyers and organized three neighborhood groups and two citywide coalitions.

Robin Brown, the president of United Parents Associations, a citywide coalition of PTA's, said she was outraged.

"We asked D.C. 37 if they wanted to be part of a citywide coalition, and they said no," Ms. Weingarten said.

Within three blocks are about 200 homes sponsored by a citywide coalition of religious congregations under its Nehemiah Houses program.

Still, Mr. Jackson has been bucking the Daley government for a while and has had significant success in building a citywide coalition of his own.

"There is a citywide coalition of individuals who oppose R.O.T.C.," he added.

"The board and the unions support the idea of the new schools," said Ms. Atwell, vice president of the United Parents Association, a citywide coalition, who helped found the academy.

A broad citywide coalition of opponents was formed in September that included dozens of Queens civic groups.

The project, known as the Nehemiah Houses, is sponsored by a citywide coalition of religious groups that has built 2,570 low-cost homes in Brooklyn and the Bronx since 1982.