During the nearly 20 years that he’s been in office, Boston Mayor Tom Menino has defied political gravity. Starting as an accidental city CEO, elevated to the mayoralty when Ray Flynn left for an ambassadorial post, Menino has confounded the skeptics, outlasted his rivals, pushed the city slowly but steadily forward, and vaulted into the record books by winning an unprecedented fifth term. He’s succeeded by virtue of an unmatched ubiquity, an unflagging attention to the nitty-gritty of neighborhood matters, and an intimidating don’t-make-the-mayor-mad style.
But now, on the cusp of the fourth year of his fifth term, one can almost feel the Menino era beginning to end. Mind you, no one is saying the mayor won’t run again next year. The official word is that Menino hasn’t made up his mind. All that can wait, his team says. What’s important is reclaiming his health, which is where Menino, a heavy man in late mid-life, will be focusing his energy in the weeks ahead.
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Five terms is enough. There is such a thing as staying on too long. Time for some fresh blood, fresh thinking, fresh ideas. Time also to set term limits.
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I really hope the people of Boston prove me right and stand behind the mayor. My friends think I live in a city with open-minded people. I really hate to show them some of the comments about a man who continues to change and improve Boston. Give it a rest, give the mayor the rest he deserves!
Mayor Menino has been a productive and effective leader. He embraced Boston's diversity by going out into the community with a handson approach. His policies helped to shape Boston into a world class city. If he needs time to work on his health issues, let's grant him that. He deserves it more than most politicians.
Do other cities have the same history of unique Mayors? Mumbles, Kevin White, Flynn, Curley....
In Baltimore we had William Donald Schaefer. He was certainly unique. Chicago had Daley for what seemed like forever. New York had Ed Koch. I am not so sure Boston's mayors have been all that well-known outside of MA, and Schaefer certainly didn't have tremendous name recognition outside of MD, but you do bring up a good point that, locally at least, there have been more than one giant in a relatively short space of time.
How come we have so many writers putting together pieces with no new infomation.
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Menino's "legacy"? By all means, find one, meaningful, effort Menino has made to improve the city. ONE. You can't because it doesn't exist. The city is run for city employees, by city employees, first, last and always. Menino is yet another perfect example of the necessity of term limits. The longer a politician stays in office, the more "favors" they can do for all kinds of factions and individuals which increase their probability of getting re-elected with less and less effort and with a lower probability of meaningful competition arising. This isn't a "healthy" dynamic for all citizens much less taxpayers. As time passes, the plutocrat finds less and less urgency to act on anything BUT something politically beneficial. Doing something to actually improve the functioning of city government is less than an afterthought. That the Globe and writers like Lehigh can't do enough to suck up to mediocrities like Menino instead of holding him accountable for trying to do anything meaningful makes the need for limits all the more critical. When the most powerful press in a city can never seem to find anything worthy of criticizism, to ever speak "truth to power" to a politician with so little accomplishment as Menino is pathetic.
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les, "angry"? No, I'm reconciled to the fact that most voters in the city don't care about the mediocre Menino, having lived here for 40 years. If I'm "angry" its at people like Lehigh who not only accept the Menino's of this state but actually attempt to paint them as something they are not. Menino, I'll give him, doesn't appear corrupt like all the recent Democrat heads of the state house. But that's damning with faint praise is it not? Again, no one here as put forth any "accomplishments" of Menino unless one considers no accomplishments "success". Given the way Democrats run this state I suppose that IS an "accomplishment.
JJag:
Not one? Oh good lord. I know my neighborhood of Charlestown has a couple of great new parks and redone ballfields for the kids, a police station, plus the new rent-a-bike program.
Scot
Mr. Lehigh, I imagine you're joking. I hope you're joking. Redoing a few playgrounds, over 20 years, isn't particularly heavy lifting, is it? Generally, even the most incompetent can find a way to manage that and, of course, such, highly visible things (replete with the sign designating "Mayor Tom Menino" as the "benefactor") are about as valuable a bit of politically oriented spending as one can get, no? A new police station? Like I said, for the public workers, first and foremost. The rent-a-bike program? Hardly creative thinking is it, having been in place, around the world, for quite sometime? But, yet again, another visible, politically useful, bit of spending. The greatest "accomplishments" of Menino? Maybe its his continuiation of the, fully unAmerican, policy of enslaving city workers to live in the city to establish a reliable voting block (it certainly doesn't accomplish anything else and it, artificially, reduces the number of otherwise competent potential employees from even applying for a job in the city). Or maybe its his ability to put signs with his name on it endlessly throughout the city, in brass in front of the school department building downtown, on streets entering various parts of Boston and on EVERY piece of literature the city sends out.....oh, all pieces of city communication but for.......the spiraling property tax bill. On those scores, yes, Menino has quite a "legacy".
Look at the Miller and Ford mayoral disasters in Toronto and one realizes how lucky we've been in Boston to have Menino.
'drubinoff' - are you suggesting that 'someone' in Boston needs to file a court ruling to have Menino ordered from office? That may be o.k. for Toronto Mayor Rob Ford - but a stretch for what is required here. Menino and & family should make an official announcement for the sake of his health, which is a legitimate reason in his situation.
@Cantabrigian01, I wasn't saying Menino should be removed by court order; I'm not sure how you concluded that. I was saying we should appreciate what a good mayor he's been. We've been blessed compared to some other cities.
I was not commenting on Mr. Lehigh's question at hand.
Tom deserves time to deal with the many health issues and this neighbor would be happy to help him getr back into shape.
Got a swimsuit Tom? Let's go!
Splash...
Menino's neighbors do not have the authority to perform the duties of Boston Mayor: This means someone must loosen Menino's death-grip hold upon the title & office.
I do not live in Boston. How are the schools doing?
The article, “Putting a face on Boston school reassignment proposals,” by Anna Ross (11/28/ 2012) tell the travesty of Boston schools.
We've had very good experiences with the primary schools.
Where's "WayToo"?
"Mistah Kurtz—he dead. A penny for the Old Guy" - (ah, just kiddin'!)
Of course the Mayor’s “lieutenants are laboring to preserve his political options.” If he goes that means they go . . . so, they all like the view from City Hall, and their nice pay-checks.
But, get serious. There is too much to be done in Boston and major issues for those folks living in the city to have a 'pretend-Mayor' working from his sick bed.
We are witnessing a very power hungry man engulfed in GREED.
I've been a pretty close observer of Tom Menino's character and behavior over the years. Something tells me that telling him to retire isn't the way to get him to do so.