Tom Menino outlasted a generation of political contemporaries who once dreamed of becoming mayor. With this week’s State of the City address, the five-term mayor put another generation of dreamers on hold.
A long bout with serious illness spawned speculation that Menino no longer has what it takes to run Boston. But he quashed that story line, first, by nimbly using a cane to navigate a 50-foot walk to a specially constructed stage at Faneuil Hall. Then he gave a speech that so exceeded expectations it might go down as the best one ever delivered by the eloquence-challenged mayor.
Comments
This is a great column. To me, Mayor Menino stands out because I've lived in other cites where the mayor is just a name on the door. Whether or not you agree with Tommy Menino, you really know his hands are on the control panel and he's driving the ship.
Mumbles is yet another Massachusetts poster boy for term limits.
We have term limits. They're called elections.
In the words of the legendary bostonsheppard, "We truly have crossed the Rubicon, where the political elite and the public employee unions have created an insurmountable patronage-driven, taxpayer-financed political feedback-machine. Too many paychecks now are printed by this system for elections to matter."
A very good political column, Joan. But to quote you, "They’ve kept the faith, although some important promises remain unfulfilled despite Menino’s best intentions." Question - What are these unfulfilled items? Please elaborate in another, hopefully, very good column.
It's rare for an elected admistrator to do his job well enough that he can be re-elected for decades. Such longevity is common among legislators, but mayors and governors (like corporate CEO's) have a much tougher job.
Menino is far from perfect, but there's no such thing. Staying on top of his game year after year, such that the citizens are basically satisfied with their city, is quite an accomplishment. He was an accidental mayor who proved his worth on the job. Boston has been blessed.
As Curley & Flynn demonstrated before him, the bar to become mayor of Boston is a hair above qualifying to buy a T pass. Recall the old Seasame St ditty: one these things is not like the others...Gullianni, Kevin White, Bloomberg, Menino, Bradley in LA...between the perpetual Downtown Crossing pothole, crime, the scandalous BPD OT at sporting events & his garbled pronouncements, clearly nobody has truly been keeping score. Big-city mayor is too hard & thankless a job for realistic, bright and well-intentioned people to seek it, so you get other types in it...but I wouldn't want to mention Ray Naggin, Buddy Cianci or Marion Barry by name. If I allow the Filene's site to look like Dresden for years and stay in bed for two months while drawing a salary, can I live at the Parkman House too?