‘We won’t have all of the solutions in Boston, but we can start here.’
Upbeat Menino lays out ideas for tackling toughest issues
Casting aside crutches and standing upright at a podium, Mayor Thomas M. Menino last night outlined a simple but sweeping vision for Boston in the coming year, taking aim at intractable urban issues such as crime and the rising cost of health care.
Just two weeks after surgery on his right knee, the mayor spoke to hundreds of dignitaries and elected officials at Faneuil Hall. He entered to the theme from Rocky and used his 18th State of the City address to unveil a handful of initiatives, including a plan to boost the use of community health centers, easing the burden on emergency rooms where costs are higher.
In the poorest neighborhoods, Menino made a commitment to double preschool seats for 4-year-olds in the next five years.
The speech lacked a splashy headline-grabbing proposal. But that has been Menino’s style in this fifth term, using his major addresses to push nuts-and-bolts issues instead of 1,000-foot skyscrapers. He announced the addition of a second class of recruits this summer at the police academy and vowed to cut City Hall red tape for businesses.
“I’m upbeat about our prospects, confident in our neighborhoods, and energized for the coming days,’’ Menino said.
A theme emerged as the mayor focused repeatedly on those being left behind by the economic recovery. Some city residents are living in neighborhoods with pockets of violence, the mayor said. Others face a lack of opportunity that gives way to economic disparity, which the mayor termed “the issue of our time.’’
“Growing inequalities now threaten to divide our great nation and its great cities,’’ Menino said. “We won’t have all of the solutions in Boston, but we can start here. Many other great journeys have.’’
Though violent crimes have dropped in the past year, the mayor acknowledged the tragic increase in murders, and announced the formation of a new task force that will work with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The city will also expand training and job opportunities, Menino said, for people returning to Boston after leaving prison. And the mayor renewed his push to make public buildings more energy efficient, announcing a new $100 million green stimulus initiative that he says could create 1,000 jobs. To cover the program’s costs, the city will try to use available federal money, along with utility bills savings.
Last night’s speech was as much about the mayor’s vitality as it was about his agenda. After surgery on Menino’s left knee in November 2009, it took a month before he made a public appearance, delivering a speech to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce while seated at a table.
Menino’s aides point out that his first knee injury was much more serious than his most recent problem, when he partially tore a tendon. But there was still a conscious effort to push him quickly onto a public stage and onto his feet this time around.
Menino made light of his medical struggles. First, there was the Rocky-themed entrance and then he compared himself to a winning athlete with a lucky charm, his knee brace, which he noted he wore once again to deliver a speech in Faneuil Hall.
In his opening remarks last night, the first person Menino identified in the crowd was US Senator Scott Brown, the Republican who has developed a close relationship with the mayor and sat front and center, next to Governor Deval Patrick. Later in the speech, Menino tweaked Brown, whose Republican party is pushing to repeal President Obama’s health care overhaul.
“Some in Congress now seek to limit access to health care,’’ Menino said, quoting Brown’s late predecessor, Senator Edward M. Kennedy. “In Boston, we remember what a good man told us: Health care is a right, not a privilege.’’
Menino’s major political push of the night came when he reiterated his plan to curb health care costs for municipal workers, which will cost the city almost $300 million next year.
Last year, Menino put forward an initiative that would give the city the same flexibility as the state to curb health care costs. But that measure would still need to be approved by the City Council, the Legislature, and the governor.
But John Zuccaro, president of SENA Local 9158, said labor leaders were “100 percent against’’ removing health care benefits from collective bargaining and gave the mayor’s measure little chance of passing.
“A lot of these city councilors are pro-union. I think they would rather see both parties sit in a room and hash out the differences and come up with a compromise,’’ said Zuccaro.
Andrew Ryan can be reached at acryan@globe.com. 
