|
| |
| |
|
|
Menino finally gets some love
by Adam Reilly
|
|
|
|
|
WEDNESDAY, July 28, 2004 -- Sometimes it seems like the Democratic National Convention is turning Tom Menino into a Job-like figure. Before the convention opened, labor unrest dominated the headlines and threatened to give out-of-towners an unpleasantly bracing introduction to Boston. Now it’s evident that the economic benefits of the convention--or, more accurately, the economic detriments--will become Menino’s new albatross once John Kerry makes it official Thursday night. So unless you’re a hard-core Menino hater, it was refreshing to see the mayor get some love Wednesday. At 11 a.m., a caravan of buses bearing delegates and other interested parties left Copley Square for a three-hour tour of Boston’s neighborhoods. Swankier sections like Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and Charlestown weren’t on the list; instead, passengers were steered through the South End, Roxbury, a narrow swath of Dorchester, and Jamaica Plain. The ostensible goal was to showcase the work Menino, municipal agencies like the Department of Neighborhood Development and Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the city’s community development corporations have done in revitalizing once-depressed sections of Boston and augmenting the city’s affordable housing stock. But in addition to detailed explanations of how developments like Tent City came to be, there was also a bevy of paeans to the mayor and his achievements. On Bus #2, where I rode during the three-hour tour, Peter Roach--a development consultant working with the Boston Archdiocese--told riders that Menino’s "dedication to the community and commitment to the neighborhoods is unparalleled." Later, as the bus climbed Blue Hill Avenue, neighborhood development director Charlotte Golar Richie spoke first of Jewish flight from the neighborhood and then of Menino’s decade-old promise to rejuvenate the thoroughfare. "It was a bold thing to do," Golar Richie said of the mayor’s vow. "Would he be able to deliver? Other people had promised it, but had been unable to do it...And he has been delivering." On Columbia Road, Golar Richie pointed out a new school and gave Menino further credit: "The mayor has very much championed the cause of bringing in new schools to where the kids are. He hasn’t done it for political reasons, in terms of putting the schools where the voters are; he’s doing it where the kids are." The Menino love fest climaxed during a luncheon at the Sam Adams brewery in Jamaica Plain that was hosted by the mayor and Congressman Mike Capuano of Somerville. Aaron Gornstein, the executive director of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, introduced Menino as the "best mayor in the country." R.T. Rybak seconded Gornstein’s emotion, telling the audience that Menino drove the creation of the US Conference of Mayors’ housing agenda and calling him "absolutely the best mayor in America." Menino didn’t shy from talking up his own achievements, but also made a point of praising his department heads and the city’s CDCs, which he described as "the best network of community development corporations in America." And, even though Menino is known as a mediocre orator, he offered some damning condemnations of the Bush Administration’s housing policies that generated loud applause. Of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Menino said this: "They’re decimating it. We as mayors can’t forget about those people who live in public housing projects, because they’re human beings. But HUD is saying, Forget about it, folks. That’s wrong--and that’s why this election is so important." A minute later, Menino actually tugged on this reporter’s heartstrings while lauding the Orchard Gardens housing project in Roxbury. "We treat people with dignity," he said. "We give them a front door, a back door, a little piece of grass. I can start my car any day and walk through there, and it’s as clean as a whistle." A moment later, he urged the nation as a whole to pay more attention to affordable housing."This is America’s problem," Menino said. "And we’re not dealing with it." Menino’s had his share of frustration this year. But Tuesday’s speech stood out as a victory.
|
