Where's the passion, Boston?
IT'S ONE of those cliches that long held true. Sports, politics, and revenge were always Boston's passions.
But today, passion for politics is in precious short supply. ''Even the revenge has been tamped down," says Michael J. McCormack, a former city councilor who is regularly called upon to say something funny and incisive about Boston politics.
You want tepid? Voter turnout for Tuesday's preliminary election was only 15 percent. This low number was attributed to the Sox-Jays doubleheader and Gulf Coast hurricanes. Baseball does distract the average Bostonian, but weeks-old Louisiana weather?
In case you missed it, here is the preliminary election news: John Connolly, a first-time candidate and the son of former secretary of state Michael Connolly, placed third, ahead of incumbent Stephen J. Murphy; Sam Yoon, the first city-wide Asian-American candidate, placed fifth. Patricia White and Edward M. Flynn -- the children of two former mayors -- finished sixth and eighth, showing the old names have less pull.
The eight finalists chosen by a tiny slice of the city's registered voters now compete for four at-large seats. Looking at the surnames of six of the eight, McCormack asks: ''This is the new Boston? . . . a Flaherty, a White, a Flynn, a Connolly, a Murphy, and an O'Malley?"
Some of the passion gap can be blamed on entrenched incumbency, symbolized currently by Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
The phenomenon ''has taken the spirit out of Boston politics. It ain't there anymore," says Joseph F. Timilty, a legendary Boston politician who lost two fiery head-to-head contests against Kevin H. White, a legendary mayor who held office from 1968 to 1983.
The last great mayor's race in Boston occurred when White decided not to seek a fifth term. Since then, two mayors -- first, Raymond L. Flynn, then Menino -- controlled City Hall. Since then, also, the Boston City Council lost colorful characters and the will to tackle substantive issues; with that, they also lost media coverage.
Menino moved from the city council presidency to the mayoralty when Flynn left to become ambassador to the Vatican. As mayor, Menino now moves to stifle critics and debate.
''A joke" is what Samuel Tyler, head of the business-backed Boston Municipal Research Bureau, bravely calls the mayor's commitment to only one televised forum with opponent Maura Hennigan. Tyler's assessment is correct. But the joke is on the people of this city. If the people don't demand serious, sustained public discussion of issues that touch their lives, why should Menino?
There is plenty to be passionate about.
For all the good intentions and genuine hard work aimed at improving Boston schools, families with young children still decamp to the suburbs.
For all the attention paid to boutique hotels and luxury condo plans, average working people cannot afford to live in the city. A circle of insiders controls development; the entire Fenway neighborhood may be quietly transformed according to the will of the owners of the Boston Red Sox, at partial cost to taxpayers.
Certain Boston neighborhoods are hotbeds for gang activity. So far in 2005, Boston police report 49 homicides. On Sept. 22, a 23-year-old Boston man was killed during a violent struggle with another man around 5:30 p.m. at the Fields Corner MBTA station in Dorchester, which, according to this newspaper ''was teeming with dozens of afternoon commuters."
Where are the new jobs for the new Boston? Who are the new private sector leaders, and who in the public sector will press to make sure their Boston plans address more than corporate profit?
But maybe the one goal this city truly cares about now is whether the Sox win another World Series championship. It could be that the political passion that once defined a grand and feisty city is gone, homogenized by the same forces that turned Jordan Marsh into Macy's and Gillette into
Of course, the good old days did not benefit everyone, and at times, certain passions, like the fight against forced busing of school children, threatened to rip the city apart. But still, Bostonians were fighting over ideas, and fighting to elect people who shared their passion.
Show me the passion in today's Boston. If it's not wearing a Red Sox uniform, it's nowhere to be found.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com. 
