Looking ahead

Mayor Menino

Mayor Tom Menino can proudly cite a number of accomplishments from his first elected term. On the two issues voters raise most often -- safety and schools -- he has pushed the city in the right direction. The Boston Police Department, under the leadership first of Bill Bratton and then Paul Evans, has become a national model for its neighborhood policing and for reaching out to involve the community. The city's schools, after many, many years of neglect, are finally making headway under another Menino pick, Thomas Payzant. And on the convention-center issue, Menino has shown that he can muster the kind of steadfastness of vision that Boston needs.

Yet these very successes make us wonder why the changes under Menino's tenure have not been more far-reaching.

Some are fond of saying that the mayor's problem is his focus on the nuts and bolts of city government -- that his well-known enthusiasm for "urban mechanics" keeps him from developing a broader vision.

This is wrong-headed. As Michael Crowley argues in this issue, changing the "mechanics" of a city can change its very nature. This is the lesson to be learned from the great reforming mayors of other cities -- mayors such as Philadelphia's Ed Rendell, Indianapolis's Stephen Goldsmith, and Chicago's Richard Daley. The problem, ironically, is that Mayor Menino has not shown enough energy to change the way Boston works for its residents. The city government is significantly more expensive than comparable cities'.

It is true that Boston is a more optimistic place than it was four years ago. Crime is way down, the economy is humming -- in short, there is no political incentive to take bold action. But to take comfort in this is to ignore a vulnerability: what happens when the national economy slows?

It is also to ignore an incredible opportunity. Mayor Menino finds himself now in a position of great strength. He could literally remake Boston -- not just its skyline, but the way its citizens think about their city. Boston, one of the nation's intellectual hubs, should be at the vanguard of urban innovation. It is not.

It could be argued that the only forces holding back the mayor are psychological. He must decide that his instinct for conservatism doesn't always serve him well, and that boldness could often serve him better. He must also work harder to inspire talented individuals to join his cause -- and be willing to give them the space they need to get the job done. We think of Barney Frank, a key aide in the White years, or former Boston Redevelopment Authority chief Stephen Coyle, who served during the Flynn years. Menino must realize that he cannot do the job alone.