Tom Menino ambles toward third term

7 September 2001

This is the season of Tom Menino's content. Eight years as mayor and his numbers are strong, the city is flourishing and he looks forward with confidence to election to a third term.

One beautiful late-summer evening he strides easily along Columbus Avenue, just a few minutes late for dinner. As he enters the restaurant's outdoor patio, a number of patrons greet him. "You're doing a great job," says one, shaking his hand. Later one of the restaurant's owners says, "It's an honor to have you here."

It's been a good day. That morning Menino announced a handshake agreement with the city's firefighters union. That labor dispute had been a year-long burden. Firefighters had noisily disrupted Menino's State of the City speech, constantly followed him around the city with picket signs, and they had given succor to Peggy Davis-Mullen, his principal opponent for re-election.

But tonight no protesters interrupt dinner. The mayor is relaxed and talkative.

Menino arrived to his position as the accidental mayor, the man who was in the right place at the right time - City Council president in the spring of 1993 when Mayor Ray Flynn was named Vatican ambassador. Through deft use of the powers of his office, Menino bested more favored candidates to win election that November.

The circumstances of his win left many doubtful he deserved the job. They openly questioned whether he had the gravitas necessary. They mocked his way with words, giving him the sobriquet "Mumbles."

Those kinds of arrows have doubtless stung, but so what? After eight years, if he were to be measured by the standard made famous by Ronald Reagan ("Are you better off today?"), Menino would come out a winner. In 1993 Boston was "Fear City," a place people moved FROMan aging city doomed for extinction.

No more. The themes of Menino's first two terms revolved around quality of life issues, causing columnist Mike Barnicle to dub him the "urban mechanic." Those efforts are apparent block by block. Downtown is booming and, more importantly, the city's neighborhoods are cleaner, safer and more attractive.

Boston is financially secure, its budget balanced and its bond rating high. Early on, Menino merged the publicly owned Boston City Hospital into the private Boston University Medical Center, a politically difficult exercise that removed a potentially catastrophic financial burden for the city.

To be sure, the strong economy helped. Lots of U.S. cities saw their fortunes improve. Yet Boston has done it better.

New York, for example, also made dramatic improvements in public safety, but at the cost of alienating blacks and Hispanics. Boston instead has seen those tensions ease. Rather than turning crime fighting into a black-vs.-white issue, Menino involved minority communities in creating safer neighborhoods.

Indeed, Menino's attention to the needs of those outside the mainstream may be the unsung hallmark of his mayoralty. He may come across initially as an old-fashioned, ward-heeling Democrat, but he has reached well beyond the boundaries of the white neighborhoods that first elected him, focusing city resources on long-neglected areas like Blue Hill Avenue, boosting city services for new immigrants and pushing for domestic partnership benefits for gays.

These achievements make it hard on Menino's opponents. The truth is, most Boston voters do believe they are better off today.

Yet Boston has its problems, some of them new: the increasing likelihood of a recession, frustration with the slow pace of school reform and an unexpected disturbing increase in high-profile crimes (such as last Friday's shooting in Downtown Crossing). There are minefields out there too: a politically messy ballot measure to hike property taxes, difficult relations with the unions and carping about Menino's cozy relationships with developers. And Menino is as aware as anyone of the dangers of a third term, something that has been a pox on past Boston mayors.

So what does he offer for the next four years? The same as the last eight? Menino says no. But if there is a vision for the next term, it's not yet apparent.

It may be that Menino and his handlers think it unnecessary. Possibly they figure he'll win simply as a reward for his record.

And perhaps that's enough. In the soft night air, grim thoughts seem far away. Menino is well liked. He loves the city and revels in being mayor. And he is, quite unabashedly, happy with the job he has done.