21.   The city cannot afford to do better for them on this contract.

22.   The city cannot afford to let gambling gain a surreptitious foothold with no public discussion or oversight.

23.   The city can hardly afford not to be.

24.   The city cannot afford to lose many existing beds.

25.   The city cannot afford to wait for full implementation of its reform plan to take action, they said.

26.   The mayor has said the city cannot afford any raises in the next two years unless they are financed by increased productivity or other union concessions.

27.   The mayor has said that the city can no longer afford to operate such an extensive and costly hospital system.

28.   The president of the New London Development Corp., Claire Gaudiani, said the city could not afford to forgo development that would follow Pfizer to Fort Trumbull.

29.   The simple math is that cities just cannot afford to be held hostage by sports teams.

30.   The union tried to run around Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and get the Legislature in Albany, N.Y., to arrange for higher wages than the city can afford.