Hairbrained Menino Schemes

[justin]

He's a visionary alright, of the worst kind: all his great ideas are bad.

 

[ChunkyMonkey]

Don't forget his new plan to change Boston into a biking mecca, complete with public showers.

What's wrong with turning Boston into a biking mecca. It works in lots of European cities and it can work here. The problem with Menino's grand plans is the follow through. He would make a big announcement and then it languishes to be forgotten within a few months. I hope making Boston bike friendly won't suffer the same fate.

 

[LeTaureau]

Don't forget his new plan to change Boston into a biking mecca, complete with public showers.

What's wrong with turning Boston into a biking mecca. It works in lots of European cities and it can work here. The problem with Menino's grand plans is the follow through. He would make a big announcement and then it languishes to be forgotten within a few months. I hope making Boston bike friendly won't suffer the same fate.

I agree, this is a good idea that is worth pursuing.


As to the other comments that have been posted on this board, do you think it is the mayor's lack of leadership that has stifled progress, or the bureaucracy that is local government at all levels? I think that Menino is a good mayor, even if some of his ideas are just pie in the sky. But what's wrong with dreaming? Isn't that something we all do about our fair city?

 

[sidewalks]

follow through

I am all in favor of our mayor thinking boldly and offering up grand visions. The problem with Menino, it seems to me, is that he appears to be flailing about in an effort to achieve something truly noteworthy in the last years of his tenure. Again this is a mayor who has always been viewed as an urban mechanic. Suddenly he has become cognizant of his legacy and has wildly, almost desperately, offered up an array of half baked plans. These plans appear poorly conceived and simplistic. Worse yet, they seem to be abandoned after a few weeks on the front pages of the globe and the herald. You lose credibility if you consistently fail to execute plans.

 

[palindrome]

Don't forget his new plan to change Boston into a biking mecca, complete with public showers.

What's wrong with turning Boston into a biking mecca. It works in lots of European cities and it can work here. The problem with Menino's grand plans is the follow through. He would make a big announcement and then it languishes to be forgotten within a few months. I hope making Boston bike friendly won't suffer the same fate.

oh don't get me wrong, i love the idea, it's just that we will never see the public showers part.

 

[underground]

The two things I absolutely love about Menino are that, you can tell he has absolutely zero ambitions to have any other job, and he absolutely loves Boston. As a fellow Bostonian and Boston lover, I find it refreshing that our mayor actually likes us, unlike our old Governor who openly makes fun of us.

 

[atlantaden]

The 23 acres in South Boston's Seaport District have been barren for decades, home to nothing but parking lots. But in a few years, a 2,500-unit housing complex could spring up, along with a performing arts center, two health clubs, a public garden, and an unusual perk: a private school.

Developer John B. Hynes III said he hopes that the school, which will serve 1,500 children from kindergarten through high school, will help attract families and company executives to the area. Owners and renters of the mix of condos and apartments in the development would get first dibs on seats in the school, which would be open to outsiders if room is available, he said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino called Hynes's school proposal a "hare-brained idea," saying not enough families live in the Seaport area now or in the near future to warrant building a new public or private school.

This is where I lost a lot of respect for the Mayor...this certainly isn't a statement from a visionary. Not one positive word about Hynes's project...and it wasn't the school....the mayor just wanted to stick it to Hynes over personal issues and nothing more. Very petty!

 

[tocoto]

The 23 acres in South Boston's Seaport District have been barren for decades, home to nothing but parking lots. But in a few years, a 2,500-unit housing complex could spring up, along with a performing arts center, two health clubs, a public garden, and an unusual perk: a private school.

Developer John B. Hynes III said he hopes that the school, which will serve 1,500 children from kindergarten through high school, will help attract families and company executives to the area. Owners and renters of the mix of condos and apartments in the development would get first dibs on seats in the school, which would be open to outsiders if room is available, he said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino called Hynes's school proposal a "hare-brained idea," saying not enough families live in the Seaport area now or in the near future to warrant building a new public or private school.

This is where I lost a lot of respect for the Mayor...this certainly isn't a statement from a visionary. Not one positive word about Hynes's project...and it wasn't the school....the mayor just wanted to stick it to Hynes over personal issues and nothing more. Very petty!

None of really know if this is vindictive. We do know the Mayor is a political animal. He has to protect public schools and votes. I think that is the main reason for this public statement.

 

[sidewalks]

How does building a private school negatively affect public schools? It is undeniable that legions of young professionals leave the city to raise their children in the suburbs where educational options are better. Building a private school in the city, with private money, should be welcomed by municipal leadership. Menino's statement that Hynes should build a public school with private dollars is ridiculous, populist nonsense. He is pandering to a certain segment of the voting block who don't have the ability to afford private school education. This is an instance in which the developer, John Hynes, was being bold and visionary, and the mayor was being parochial and myopic.

 

[Beton Brut]

He's a visionary alright, of the worst kind: all his great ideas are bad.

Word.

People call Tommy an urban mechanic; a shame Boston isn't a Jiffy Lube.

If Guiseppe Verdi were alive today, he'd pen an opera about Menino, although I can't guess if it would be a comedy or a tragedy.

 

[Scott]

I have to admit I'm surprised, to an outsider it appears East Boston has done pretty well under Menino.

 

[Beton Brut]

I have to admit I'm surprised, to an outsider it appears East Boston has done pretty well under Menino.

Not looking to pick a fight Scott, but can I ask what you mean by "done pretty well"? I'm happy to share some examples from my neighborhood where the quality of life have slid since the "accidental mayor" took office. Take a stroll up Eagle Hill some night and tell me what you think.

Also, I may live in East Boston, but I work in the LMA, and have friends and family across the entire city. Where I live has little to do with how I interact with the city. I'm at Doyle's or Deluxe or Crossroads or the Model Cafe as often as Santarpio's.

 

[chumbolly]

None of really know if this is vindictive. We do know the Mayor is a political animal. He has to protect public schools and votes. I think that is the main reason for this public statement.

From all appearances, Menino wants to hold back Hynes to benefit Fan Pier. And Hynes appears to have the better project. Menino is a dope. No, that's too harsh. He's fine. But Boston deserves much better.

 

[Scott]

I'm not looking to pick a fight either but just zinging the guy without giving any reasons of what you mean makes me wish people would elaborate. I respect most opinions on this board and was just asking why. I'll certainly give an example of good things I see in East Boston; I went to Constitution Beach this summer and was impressed by how nice it was but also how easy it was to get to from the northern suburbs.

Until recently, 'East Boston' and 'easy to get to' have never been synonymous, nor has East Boston and going to the beach.

 

[Beton Brut]

I'm glad you like Constitution Beach, Scott. The results you see there come in part from a community meeting at which my father (an Orient Heights resident since 1936) castigated then-Senate President Robert Travaglini about the general conditions at the beach, as well as the demolition of the old bathhouse (ca. 1950) and the MDC's failure to replace it with equivalent amenities. That was 2003/4. Since then, community members have worked with state agencies to maintain and program the beach. During the Summer months, there's a pretty good farmers' market on Thursdays.

Tom Menino had nothing to do with this.

I intend to more fully answer your questions about my disdain for Hizzhonor, but my desk is a busy place at the moment. Will post more later.

 

[whighlander]

Menino and the Hub

Tom Menino is not a visionary although he has been responsible for some interesting ideas.

First realize that Tom Menino is -- a creature of the structures both physical and mostly organizational put in place by the "Then - Still Yankee Dominated Legislature" as a reaction when the Irish Pols took over the City of Boston. First, the Legislature made it difficult for the City to enact its own laws and regulations, preventing any locally instituted non-real estate taxes for many years.

Then realize that Tom Menino has been dominated by the immense, monolithic alphabet soup of Authorities. All own some and control more of the land in Tommy's Boston than does the Mayor. Then there are the Mega Universities and numerous smaller colleges that help make Boston/Cambridge not only the Athens of America but the "True Athens of the World." ? they also act as feudal principalities within the Hub -- only more or less susceptible to the Mayors leadership

Finally, although Tommy has benefited by their muscle -- there are the Mega Unions that prevent reasonable solutions to many nagging problems.

So in summary:
1) Tommy is no visionary although he's had some innovative ideas.
2) He proclaims himself the "Urban Mechanic" and does as best that can be expected under the circumstances.
3) He falls far short of what should be possible in a situation where the Mayor of the City of Boston might have a freer hand to shape the Winthrop?s "City on a Hill" -- to its ultimate potential.
4) Give a true Visionary-Mayor the resources of: Massport, MBTA, Metopolitan Highways, MWRA, and Metropolitan Parks -- and Boston could realize its potential to become the pre-eminent city for finance, education, medicine, technology and innovation on the Planet.

Everyone else would be fighting for 2nd place.

Westy

PS: It wouldn't do to poorly as a historic site and sporting venue either