June 9, 1985

AFTER years of luring developers, four Connecticut cities are now searching for ways to cope with the resulting booms. Officials, developers and neighborhood groups in the four cities - Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk and Stamford - have recently been debating so-called linkage proposals that tie office and condominum development to low- and moderate-income housing and jobs for local residents. Linkage is a relatively new issue in urban politics. Its supporters consider the concept a safeguard against ''giving away'' cities to the wealthy. Detractors say the concept violates free-market principles and drives away investors.

A long day followed the long night, but this time, things worked out better for the Yankees. They beat the Brewers here this afternoon, 2-1, when Dale Berra hit a line drive single to right field off the reliever Bob Gibson that sent Dave Winfield home from second with the winning run in the 13th inning. Winfield singled to open the inning and then stole second. After seven scoreless innings, the Brewers went ahead when Cecil Cooper, batting against the Yankees' starter, Dennis Rasmussen, singled Paul Molitor home from second with two outs in the eighth inning. The Yankees tied the score in the ninth after Ray Burris, Milwaukee's starter, loaded the bases with two walks and a single. Rollie Fingers came in to pitch and Dan Pasqua, a pinch hitter for Bobby Meacham, hit a sacrifice fly to even the game.

SINCE last Monday, even the Havasupai Indians living at the base of the Grand Canyon are able to receive next-day delivery of letters via the United Parcel Service. Under a complicated plan devised by the company in case the need ever arises, a U.P.S. driver with an urgent letter will drive 50 miles on a dirt road from Valentine, Ariz., to the rim of the canyon. He will then hand over the letter to a mule-train operator who, for a $35 charge to U.P.S., will transport the letter on its rocky final leg. The price of the letter to the sender is the standard fee: $8.50. Sending a letter by mule train - and at a loss -may be the most extreme use of U.P.S.'s week-old service. But it illustrates how serious U.P.S. is about entering the overnight-letter market, the fastest-growing but most competitive segment of the parcel delivery business. U.P.S.'s new service promises next-day delivery of letters between any two addresses in the nation, a service that even the United States Postal Service does not offer. By blanketing the country, wooing new customers and using a distribution network already in place - many letters will be carried in the same vans as parcels -U.P.S. hopes that its sheer volume to profitable destinations will cover any losses associated with going to such places as the Grand Canyon.

For decades, the West Side between Houston and Canal Streets has been an industrial neighborhood where printing and graphic arts companies have congregated. But recently, as the traditional boundaries of the financial district have been pushed to the west and north, office uses by companies in other businesses have begun to expand.

According to Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, the state of ''Taxachusetts'' no longer exists. In fact, Mr. Dukakis boasts, the tax burden in Massachusetts - the amount residents pay in state and local taxes and fees as a percentage of personal income - has fallen below the national average. And he plans to keep it that way with a temporary tax cut this year and opposition to what he considers excessive increases proposed for teachers' salaries and welfare payments. Mr. Dukakis is a leading example of a trend among liberal Democratic governors who have changed as the country has become more conservative and as states have sought innovative ways to fill a vacuum caused by the reduction of Federal assistance. An Increasing Independence Those governors have used what had been considered Republican practices: keeping taxes low, instituting stern measures to save money and offering incentives to business and industry in the hope of providing jobs. At the same time, the governors have sought to maintain their old Democratic coalitions of unions, the poor, minority groups, civil servants, urban interests and others, through innovations in social programs that go beyond the Federal Government.