Hennigan kicks off drive, targeting schools, housing
By turns harshly critical and buoyantly optimistic, Maura A. Hennigan launched her campaign for mayor yesterday, shaking her fist outside the Boston School Department, which she called a symbol of the city's failing schools.
Hennigan, a city councilor since 1981, stood on the stairs of the towering stone building and proclaimed that she would outwork Mayor Thomas M. Menino by campaigning neighborhood to neighborhood to fulfill her vision of a City Hall that listens to residents' concerns about housing, education, and property taxes.
The daughter and granddaughter of state legislators, Hennigan cast herself as the scrappy underdog in the race, as she sketched a broad agenda for change. She laughed, waved, and blew kisses as The Monkees' song ''I'm A Believer" sent her supporters into a dancing, sign-waving frenzy.
''I run for this job," she told some 60 supporters in a biting wind, ''so who else is running or not running is of no consequence to me."
Though his name was inscribed on a plaque hung on the building behind her, Hennigan didn't mention Menino once, railing instead against the city's leadership, which she said had become ''entrenched and unchallenged."
She listed the reasons that compelled her to challenge the 12-year mayor: lack of affordable housing, a weak business climate, and soaring property taxes. ''I am running to change that," she said.
As mayor, Hennigan said, her first act would be to launch a nationwide search for the next superintendent of schools. Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant's contract expires in June 2006, and Hennigan said she wants a ''person who will help lead this city in the right direction."
If current trends continue, nearly one-fourth of Boston's ninth-graders will drop out before graduating, Hennigan said. ''This is the most important issue, providing excellent education for the children of the city, which is not what they're getting now."
In a city that is mostly non-white, Hennigan said she wanted to let voters decide whether School Committee members should be elected to increase representation among people of color.
''A very real weakness in our present school system is the parental involvement and accountability," Hennigan said. ''And people need to feel there is someone they can go to when it comes to their child's education."
Though she lacks the mayor's name recognition, Hennigan said she wants to quickly raise $500,000. She said that would be enough if she campaigns door to door, as did her father, James W. Jr., a former state senator.
''You don't have to match anyone dollar for dollar," Hennigan said. ''What you have to do is deliver your message. And I will take my case to each and every neighborhood and look forward to doing it."
After her speech, Hennigan's supporters waved signs emblazoned, ''Believe in a Better Boston," and chanted, ''Maura! Maura!"
Regla Gonzalez, 57, a Spanish interpreter from Roslindale, sang, ''I'm a believer," and Pedro Garces, 45, a community organizer from East Boston, stood on the stairs and shouted in Spanish. ''Maura Hennigan!" he proclaimed, shaking a blue-and-white sign. ''Futura alcalde de Boston!" The phrase means ''future mayor of Boston."
Hennigan worked her way from the lectern to the crowd, shaking hands and holding brief conversations.
A Jamaica Plain resident, Hennigan, 53, prides herself on becoming the first woman to head the City Council's powerful Ways and Means Committee, which she chaired for seven years.
A former teacher, she also touts her efforts to start the Patrick Lyndon Pilot School in West Roxbury and her work financing the first citywide mammography van. After she tumbled in a pothole during the Haitian Unity Day parade in May 2003, breaking her ankle, she set up a website for residents to report potholes.
''I've never supported another politician before," said Sandra Walter, a retired schoolteacher from West Roxbury who clapped for Hennigan yesterday and said she was impressed by Hennigan's focus on education. ''I didn't think that there was an honest politician. I really didn't. But Maura is a person of integrity." 