Tom Finneran: Hall of Famer Tom Menino
Friday, April 05, 2013
Shelf life. Everyone and everything has one. Fashions come and fashions go. Hula hoops are red hot and then hula hoops become a punch line about foolish fads. And politicians? My how quickly they fade in the public’s embrace. The shelf life of elected officials is usually about two blinks of the eye. Today’s darling is tomorrow’s bum………………………………………..
Except for Mayor Menino. If there is a Massachusetts Political Hall of Fame, he is a unanimous first round selection. We will never see his like again.
Twenty years as the Mayor of the City of Boston and he still has favorability ratings above 70%! This is unheard of in modern life. It’s not as if Boston is blessed with natural resources, broad wealth, unique economic engines, or advantages that other cities lack. Boston has its strengths---its colleges, its hospitals, its special history--- and its challenges---its schools, its parochialism, and its racial reputation. Mayor Menino looked at both sides of Boston’s coin, analyzed the strengths and built upon them, dissected the weaknesses and addressed them, and made Boston the best city in America.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTI’m a Boston kid my entire life. So is my wife. We are citizens and taxpayers here. Our children went to school here, at the Boston Latin School. We have a history and a stake here---financial, social, psychological, and personal. I knew and admired Kevin White. He was a tremendous Mayor. I know and admire Ray Flynn. He was a complement to the White years and he too was a distinct blessing for Boston. And then came Tommy Menino……oh what a story is his.
It’s only my opinion, and perhaps not worth much, but I think he studied the styles and actions of Kevin and Ray, adopting some of their best practices and adapting others to suit his own unique makeup. Think of a major league prospect who wants to play in the big leagues, getting to closely watch two well established pros. Then that prospect takes all the lessons he’s learned, along with a million hours of batting practice and he becomes a Hall of Famer. That’s Tom Menino.
Those million hours of practice were community meetings and community events. When every other elected official was dropping from frustration, fatigue, and exhaustion, Tom Menino was moving on to the next event! He has earned his legend. More than half of the residents of the city have said that they have personally met and spoken with the Mayor. That is awesome! And it has proven to be politically potent whenever the Mayor’s name was on the ballot.
Two areas of accomplishment stand out in my mind---two out of many.
First and foremost, the fiscal strength and condition of the City, its credit rating, its reserves, and its reputation are rock solid. I admire elected officials who are fiscally conservative and I have a keen appreciation for the Mayor’s discipline on this front. For a full twenty years he has been superb. The words “thank you” come to mind, particularly when one considers the complex needs of urban America. Solid credit ratings do not occur because you are a Democrat or Republican, a “good guy”, or any other superficial standard. Solid credit ratings are not accidental. They are earned, and they occurred because the Mayor did his homework, day in and day out, making some difficult decisions while strengthening the city’s future prospects. Simply saying “thank you” seems quite inadequate to the achievement. Bravo is better. Bravo, bravo, bravo is better by three.
Secondly, the Mayor proved to be the best political leader in America on the issues of race, diversity, inclusion, and opportunity. Let’s be honest here---Boston’s reputation on issues of race was not good. School busing was a nightmare. Poor black kids and poor white kids were pitted against each other, fighting about a crappy school system. One wishes that they may have at least been battling over a Milton Academy education. They were not. Black parents were desperately demanding better schools for their children. White parents wanted the same. And no parents really relished the idea of putting their sons and daughters on pre-dawn buses to distant city neighborhoods. Let’s remember those neighborhoods, historically the enclaves of concentrated ethnics…….the Irish lived here, the Italians lived there, blacks lived somewhere else, and no one was particularly comfortable out of their own ‘hood. This was a toxic Boston brew, with lots of suspicion and fear for the worst.
Mayors White and Flynn navigated those shoals and the city began to calm, but Boston’s reputation at that point was in tatters. To his eternal credit, Tom Menino, all Italian I believe, saw a changed and changing city with the sympathetic eye of an immigrant and a Christian. He welcomed newcomers to Boston no matter where they were from. He celebrated their children’s achievements in learning our language and succeeding in school. He visited their shops. He made sure that they knew about City Hall, its functions, and its purpose. And he did not merely preside over this transformation of Boston. He led it, and he led us and our better angels to higher ground. He has been a great Mayor.
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