Menino legacy gets lost in convention planning
SINCE ENTERING office, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has put his weight behind a number of big projects, each of which was said at the time to represent his legacy.
The first was the mayor's quest for a new convention center, which is near completion if not much immediate use. Another proposal, for a downtown baseball park, never got close to first base.
On a much grander scale, Menino hailed a new minicity of public and private space along Fan Pier and other South Boston waterfront land. That project has mostly stalled, been detoured to Los Angeles, or otherwise fallen off both the front page and legacy list.
Whatever their flaws, these proposals represented serious vision for the city. They involved huge investments of real and political capital in major infrastructure that could also generate real economic activity. But now Menino is targeting a far different kind of priority.
His focus -- which invariably influences the city's overall decision-making and operational structure -- has shifted to a four-day run of politics, garish partying, and big spending glitz called the Democratic National Convention. This July event at the Soon-To-Be-Renamed Center is the latest to bear the mayoral legacy label.
No one disputes that the convention places Boston on a high-profile stage, which incessantly insecure Hub boosters somehow feel is the only way to make this city -- despite its cultural, environmental, and historic wealth -- really world class.
Will the Democratic National Convention generate interest in the under-booked convention center? Maybe. Will it boost local businesses and state coffers? Sort of, as long as you don't deduct the cost of lost business activity, such as the return of the Tall Ships or US Olympics gymnastics trials, both of which cited the convention in canceling plans to bring bodies and bucks back to Boston this summer. And if you don't consider the potentially enormous disruption and other public costs.
The mayor desperately wanted the convention and should focus on its success. But his near obsession with it detours badly needed attention from projects and problems of far greater import, such as the troubled convention center and coherent waterfront development. The problem is compounded by the fact that Menino operates with a pretty thin crew of trusted aides. A Globe report in December said Menino would finally fill the long-vacant post of chief of staff. But that reported appointee is still not officially on the job.
Contracts remain unresolved with the city's unions, which are using the Democratic National Convention -- and the mayor's fear of political embarrassment at it -- for major clout. The outcome of these labor negotiations will do far more to define Boston's future fiscal fitness than any purported revenue stream from the convention.
If Menino wants a real legacy, one is literally opening up in the middle of the city, even if he has been slow to seize the opportunity. The Central Artery is coming down, creating 27 acres of new downtown land.
"Not since Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Emerald Necklace 120 years ago has Boston had the opportunity to shape such a large stretch of open space," Menino correctly noted in December. But turning such opportunity into actual legacy requires consistent involvement and leadership.
For nearly a decade, key issues of finance and governance of the new Rose Kennedy Greenway have remained unresolved. A report in Saturday's Globe said the city and Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which controls the land, may be nearing agreement on a governance structure. But even that potential deal is fraught with pitfalls, including possible Romney administration opposition and serious doubts about financing. If the mayor's goal is a truly viable greenway agreement -- and not just one that gets the issue out of the way before July -- he must be prepared to spend the same kind of political capital he was willing to burn to secure the convention. As Boston Municipal Research Bureau President Samuel Tyler put it, "What happens with the Greenway will have much more of a lasting impact on Boston than the convention, even with the benefits that event could bring."
In his Jan. 13 State of the City address, Menino declared that the greenway has a potential even Paris would envy. But a single sentence was about all the issue merited. By contrast, the convention ranked five gushing paragraphs.
Menino entered office as the everyday guy determined to make Boston a vibrant and livable city. He truly cares about education, neighborhoods, and affordable housing. But now this proud urban mechanic risks morphing into a mega-party planner. And that's not exactly the stuff of legacies.
Phil Primack is a freelance writer.
