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EDITORIAL
Op-Ed; Menino's speech worth talking about
Thomas M. Keane Jr.

01/17/2003
Boston Herald
All Editions
023
(Copyright 2003)

Tuesday evening Mayor Thomas Menino delivered what may be the best speech of his life. Somber and serious, it addressed the financial challenges Boston now faces without whining and without blaming. Menino took responsibility for managing the city in a time of diminished revenues, perhaps laying the groundwork for a new era.

More than just charting a new course for Boston, however, Menino also staked out a new course for himself - one that sees him increasingly as a player on the national scene.

In his first State of the City speech in 1994, Menino laid out a vision of a more inclusive and resident-friendly city. And he made promises: more cops, guarantees of a college education to city children, new money for AIDS and so on.

Since then, the speeches have largely kept to those themes. There were always promises of more and, as the years wore on, some justifiable bragging about how far the city had come.

Of course, it helped that the U.S. economy was in the midst of an unprecedented boom. Tax collections had grown and funds flowed from Beacon Hill. If you're a politician, there's nothing better than available cash. You can hand it out to those who ask for it, you can accomplish enormous good, and tough decisions can be deferred.

No more. As new Gov. Mitt Romney began to deliver the bad news - state assistance to municipalities would be cut not only next fiscal year but this year as well - local officials reacted with dire warnings. Lawrence's school superintendent threatened to shut schools in April. Malden's mayor called the cuts "devastating." An official in Boston warned of "humongous" teacher layoffs.

In his speech, however, Menino shied away from the fear mongering. He didn't blame Romney or the Legislature or someone else for his problems. "The national recession is crushing tax revenues," he said. As mayor, he acknowledged, it was his responsibility to deal with its effects. He laid out his first steps: "We are reducing the size of municipal government, imposing a hiring freeze and offering early retirement to hundreds of workers." He vowed to hold tough on upcoming negotiations with the city's unions.

"We need to do more with less," he said.

And, while Menino reiterated his old appeals for state legislation that would allow him to boost some local taxes, it was made in a half-hearted, I-know-it-probably-won't-happen fashion (in large part because other municipalities are opposed: "It's a Boston bailout," according to Lynn's mayor).

One odd note: Early in his address, reviewing his tenure as mayor, Menino claimed, "We shifted the property tax burden off homeowners." Seeking credit for lower taxes is, of course, a time- honored tradition in politics. Doing so in the same speech when you're begging for the right to raise taxes, however, is somewhat jarring.

But quibbles such as that aside, Menino spoke well and convincingly. Of course, speeches - even good speeches - are easy. The hard part is translating the theory of "doing more with less" into something concrete.

Doing so means abandoning Chicken-Little scare tactics - all of which continue to emanate out of City Hall. It means identifying and protecting key priorities - public safety, education and basic services - and largely jettisoning everything else (which is why threats to fire teachers and not train new cops seem wrongheaded). It means reorganizing departments and rethinking ways of doing business. It means getting rid of patronage and deadwood. It means making a serious effort at introducing competition into the provision of city services.

Boston has done few of these things over the last 10 years because it didn't have to. Now it does.

The mayor's speech was also striking because of his willingness to place his remarks not only in a statewide context, but also in a national context. When Menino talked about local government being closest to the people, he was talking about all local governments. Moreover, he spent the last third of his speech eloquently discussing the importance of cities to the nation and the need for the federal government once again to become their advocate. Menino knows of what he talks; he is presently president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "We have been retreating on the homefront for too long. We need a new urban Marshall Plan from the only place we can get it - the federal government," Menino said.

Well, he won't be getting that from a Bush administration or from a Congress dominated by suburban representatives. But Menino's passion was deep and he quite clearly seemed to be setting himself up as the guy with the understanding and enthusiasm to make it happen.

Someday soon, perhaps even as early as 2004, Sens. John Kerry or Edward Kennedy will leave office.

Sen. Menino, anyone?

Tom Keane can be reached at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.

Caption: MAYOR MENINO: Successor to Kerry or Kennedy?