Four More Years?

Will Tom Menino run for mayor again?

  • Yes, but I really wish he wouldn't

    Votes: 7 58.3%

  • Yes, and I'm delighted he will continue to run this town

    Votes: 2 16.7%

  • Yes, and he'll lose to Flaherty or Tobin

    Votes: 1 8.3%

  • No, he'll take a private sector job and put some cash in his pocket

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • Total voters
    12
  • Poll closed .
why? he's relatively good as mayors go, and while you may all have gripes with him, he's done a fairly decent job. None of the challengers are as good or qualified as him to be mayor, and i'm pretty certain that the development atmosphere wouldn't improve with menino gone. You may have his gripes, but his pie-in-the-sky ideas encourage development and development is actually encouraged by menino (1,000ft tower), unlike any of the challengers and unfortunately many mayors in New England (want to preserve that "New England ambiance", whatever that is).
 
The zoning and development process is a mess and it needs to be completely overhauled. The failure to properly plan and execute a development vision in south boston rests at his feet and the city streets and parks are a mess. He's a good man and he cares about the city, but enough is enough.
 
^^That's true, but have any of his opponents proposed to overhaul zoning or have a vision for South Boston. Menino might not be great, but he's the lesser of 2 (or 3 or 4) evils as far as planning and zoning is concerned.
 
The other potential candidates haven't announced their candidacy never mind their plans regarding zoning and development. What we do know is that Tom Menino has been tied to the whim of the neighborhoods more than any mayor in the past fifty years. As a result, the development process is controlled and thwarted by a small group of unelected, amateur loudmouths with too much time on their hands. This is not the way to design and plan a city.
 
We'll see what the opponents' plans are. For now though, I'm not holding my breath. (Menino may be beholden to the neighborhood, but not to NIMBYs; he supports many projects that NIMBys oppose, ex. Columbus Center)
 
sidewalks said:
What we do know is that Tom Menino has been tied to the whim of the neighborhoods more than any mayor in the past fifty years.
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More than Southie's Ray Flynn... more than Kevin H White and his Little City Halls?
Neighborhoods are full of taxpayers and voters. Are we suggesting that this city should be run as a dictatorship of the elite? In some way isn't that what we have now? 500,000 people get merely a fraction of the services, like the T, enjoyed by the other 100,000? So I suggest that Menino is little different than any other mayor in the city's history.
 
Scott said:
More than Southie's Ray Flynn... more than Kevin H White and his Little City Halls?
Neighborhoods are full of taxpayers and voters. Are we suggesting that this city should be run as a dictatorship of the elite? In some way isn't that what we have now? 500,000 people get merely a fraction of the services, like the T, enjoyed by the other 100,000? So I suggest that Menino is little different than any other mayor in the city's history.
Click to expand...

I don't think the responsibility for planning and development should be ceded to NIMBY activists. That does not mean that the citizenry don't have a crucial role to play in the governance of this city. I applaud efforts to engage the voters, but there is a middle ground that has been lost in the arena of development. As for the other mayors, Kevin White could get things done in a reasonable and timely fashion. The existence of 'little city halls' that respond to a neighorhoods needs is not mutually exclusive with an administration that has a streamlined and reasonable development policy.
 
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