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Menino to exit political stage
By Josh Resnek on Wed, 03/27/2013 - 8:46pm
Mayor Thomas Menino will announce Thursday that he will not run for re-election this fall.
The mayor has set an announcement for 4 o'clock at Faneuil Hall - after telling his top City Hall administrators at a meeting in the morning, sources say.
"It appears to be the end of the line," said one of the mayor's close friends, who wished to remain unnamed.
It is believed his doctors have told him the rigors of a full fledged campaign might be too much for him to withstand in his present physical condition. The mayor has apparently said that he does not want to enter a campaign and fail to go through with it.
Menino, now in the final year of his fifth term, had appeared fitter and stronger following several months of sketchy health and hospitalization and rehab. He recently moved back to his Readville home from the city-owned Parkman House.
Close associates claim he appears better than he is and that he weakens at the end of the work day.
Several sources, among them present and former elected public officials close with the mayor, said it is the people who won't call anyone back who hold the secret - spokesperson Dot Joyce, the mayor's strategist Mike Kineavy, and the mayor's best friend Mike Galvin.
"They are saying nothing because the mayor will say it all tomorrow," said a source.
Menino first broached the topic with friend in East Boston two weeks ago.
A source claims the mayor will be taking some type of position at Boston University when he leaves office in 7 months, although this could not be confirmed.
Menino, then a district city councilor from Hyde Park, became mayor in 1993: His colleagues made him city-council president, which meant he became mayor after Ray Flynn resigned as mayor to become ambassador to the Vatican.
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Comments
It will a great day when
It will a great day when muffin mouth is out , hopefully the GOP can find a good person
imagine
trying to lessen to an hour lecture from this guy!
GOP?
Seriously? A Republican Mayor in Boston? Really?
Scott Brown is looking into
Scott Brown is looking into establishing residency.
Great day
when we have a Mayor who will march in the St Patty's Day parade, return to an elected School Committee, make Public Works improve their snow removal tactics, get rid of the BRA and let those who toiled to shovel their parking spots use space savers.
No such thing as St. Patty's Day
It's St. Paddy's Day. Sorry - huge pet peeve of mine.
toiled, give me a break. We
toiled, give me a break. We need a mayor who will cut through that small town crap with a machete. No space savers, it's time to grow up and be an adult.
Give you a break?
Who shovels your minivan out? Your mother?
with the exception of the
with the exception of the blizzard this year, most (95%) of the morning after snow shoveling is pretty inconsequential.... it takes 10 minutes, and you might work up a moderate sweat. MIGHT
I know. I know.
And with a 74% percent approval rating! Imagine that.
can we please let his legacy
can we please let his legacy be mayoral term limits?
twelve years
Why always the fixation on 8. Twelve would b fine by me. But 20 is too long.
Term Limits = Bad Idea
Thought Curt Schilling & Donald Carcieri was a textbook case against term limits.
While you might not like long time elected officials, their constituents (in majority numbers) seem to. I'm all for limits on executive power, but term limits really do nothing but make office a prime target for smash and grab opportunists to enrich their buddies at any cost, as they know their time is very limited and they won’t have to face constituents at the end of their limit. Case above, giving 75% of the RI economic fund to one popular guy because “screw it, I’m out of office in 6 months”!
I don’t like Menino lately either and think he’s holding the city back, but he’s keep lots and lots of the people who normally vote for him very happy. That’s politics and good leadership, and those of us displeased need to do better with our message and candidates.
I love term limits.
Incumbents spend so much time "enriching their buddies at any cost" that it's almost impossible to defeat them once they've formed the proper alliances and have thus consolidated their power. They can develop hack armies and special friendships with private-sector power brokers who will do whatever it takes to keep their Patron in office. I can't imagine the presidency without term limits- can you? I think Bush would probably still be president if it wasn't for term limits- whatever his apparent unpopularity, Rove and Cheney would have found a way for him to "win". There is almost always an air of corruption that attaches to incumbency over time, and the prospect of eventually being forced out of office by term limits provides at least some incentive to behave. When attorneys general and even federal prosecutors can often be of the same party as a powerful executive with a loyal hack army, they cannot be counted on to provide that incentive.
term limits are a nice
term limits are a nice check/balance against the biggest pitfall of our representative democracy, the Romney Effect--that politicans are forever campaigning and having to weigh every decision against a poll of voters. To my mind, 2 term limits are great, they mean that at any given time only about half of the politicians need to be concerned with reelection.
Won't stop campaigning
That just means that you only get three useful years out of them - one in the first year, the remaining three campaigning for re-election, then two years in the second term, and then it's time to gear up for campaigning for your next job that's in the next tier.
Funny that you'd cite Romney, since he basically used his second term to run for president.
The best solution to your "Romney Effect" that I can think of is to stop having competitive elections and make all incumbents simply engage in a recall-style campaign three months before the end of the term where you either successfully defend your office, or if you lose the recall, then you compete against the nominee(s). Basically it goes like this:
Did I do good enough to merit re-election?
1. Yes - I get re-elected
2. No. Am I better than the best that you can come up with to run against me?
a. Yes - I get re-elected
b. No - I lose to the winner, and am excluded from any runoff.
This way, a politician's campaign is focused more on the positive things he did and not the negative things and whatever I *didn't* do. Rather than campaigning, I can focus on doing good things that will also make me look good in the campaign. I don't have to worry right away about making some other candidate looking bad or finding dirt on him. And no candidate would be allowed to register or campaign against the politician unless he loses the initial re-election campaign.
What about term limits for city councilors?
What if it was changed from 2 to 4 year terms for city councilors? That way, they wouldn't have to constantly be running. Perhaps they could get more involved (especially if the city charter was rewritten and they were given more power).
But, they'd also have to agree to term limits - two consecutive terms. (Could always skip a term and come back.)
But, would all 13 councilors run at the same time or would they be on a schedule so that there were several elections every fall? Should all citywide councilors get voted in at the same time? Maybe it' better to have one election per year, so that voters get involved every year.
Hizzoner
is the poster boy for term limits.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Connolly who? The gates are
Connolly who? The gates are wide open...
LaMattina should step right
LaMattina should step right into the Mayors race, with the Mayors endorsement he will do fine..
hahaha
...that's hysterical
This is real life
"White Will Run"
http://dankennedy.net/2012/02/04/the-never-ending-...
Heaven help you if you
turn out to be wrong....
My thoughts exactly—it's a
My thoughts exactly—it's a ploy to suss out who forgot their loyalty while he was away.
can't envy his successor
Health care, pensions and collective bargaining are driving costs through the roof. However, the only revenue stream that is growing is property taxes. If the current music stops we'll see another 1000 city employees cut and budget hawk that I am I'm not sure there's that much fat left in the payroll.
Speaking of successor
I can't envy the election. With the 'big guy' gone, everyone will come out of the woodwork and we're gonna have a ton of candidates...
This is Doug Bennett's
This is Doug Bennett's moment.
His scooter
Would look good parked at City Hall.
Ha
I'm sure there's plenty of fat in that payroll. Start w/cutting salaries of the City Council. $85k a year to meet 3 times a month. (and yes, I realize there's more to the job than those 3 meetings, but not enough to justify $85k a year)
So...
Did Connolly get a tip-off? Is the fix in?
It's Boston. The fix is
It's Boston. The fix is always in.
I always thought they'd take
I always thought they'd take him out of City Hall in a box. The hospital stay and long recovery must have really knocked him down.
Leading front runner will be
Leading front runner will be Michael Flaherty he proved himself in the last Mayors election with several hundred thousand votes . Second to him is City council at Large Presley, Third one in line if he runs is Michael Ross, fourth I can see Rob Consalvo or LaMattina , Connolly,still young, inexperienced to be Mayor, but he attended Harvard, that could give him a boost.
Lord Jesus No
If any one of those people become the front runner in the next 45 days, I'm running.
I think Flaherty is
Irrelevant at this point. Regarding some district councilors, it's tougher for district city councilors to be known across the city.
don't forget...
menino was a district city counselor when he ran for maya
Actually, he wasn't
He was a district councilor when his fellow councilors made him city-council president - which automatically made him mayor when Ray Flynn resigned. So in his first run for mayor, he was already mayor.
This.
Huge machine already in place. I remember the bumper stickers too--"For Mayor Menino"--very artful.
thanks for clarifying that
adam...i had forgotten how it happened obviously!
Some names to watch
Besides Connolly and, um, Dorcena and Clemons, that is. The Dorchester Reporter lists some names.
Having a race is important
I sure hope we have at least 3 candidates. We need to make sure we have a primary in September, otherwise the 2 candidates will just coast into October without being forced to debate and communicate their ideas.
Connolly's statement
Who are other potential candidates that could campaign?...
Who are other potential candidates that could campaign?... any from outside the usual crew at City Hall ?... Comparing other candidates with more wide ranging credentials, none of the Boston City Council members would be as good a Mayor.
Martha Walz, G-d help us.
Martha Walz, G-d help us.
Andrea Cabral?
Ex-Suffolk Sheriff Andrea Cabral has hardly been seen since becoming Governor Patrick's Secretary of Public Safety. My guess is she's practicing to run for Mayor. She'd likely have the GLBT and African American vote, whatever's left of Patrick's organization in Boston plus she has won citywide. Meanwhile, when do the tractor-trailer shredding trucks / hard drive destroyers start pulling onto City Hall Plaza?
Can't win
Cabal is too tainted by association with Boston police. Nobody concerned about corruption would vote for her.
Candidates. Michael Flaherty,
Candidates. Michael Flaherty, Rob Consalvo, John Connolly, will all enter the race , who knows East Boston Chamber of Commerce President and Former Boston city councilor Diane Modica could enter the race, Maybe Stephen Lynch could change his mind about vacating John Kerry's seat and run for Mayor of Boston and win!
Question about Flaherty and Yoon
They resigned from the City Council prior to their mayoral runs, right? If so, why did they do it? Obviously you're not required to do that, because Connolly is still a councilor.
Did not resign
No, they didn't resign, they just said they weren't running for re-election. They kept their seats. No special elections.
Thanks for the clarification, John.
n/t
Did you just scoop the Globe and Herald on this, Josh?
If so, nice job, man. I swear the top story on Boston.com was still the piece about the sex offenders living near day care centers when I first saw this right here on UHub. Don't know about the Herald.
Oh and btw Adam, if you ever start making enough money on this site to hire people, I'd love to cover occasional City Council meetings or something for you. :)
Yes he did and congratulations
You beat the majors by almost two fucking hours. In your face,McGrory!
Bernstein had it first..
Looks like Josh wasn't the first - David Bernstein of the defunct Phoenix had been tweeting and posting on FB for a few hours earlier. But Josh appeared to have the story as well with more details than what Bernstein had. According to Dave Wedge, the Herald had an exclusive interview yesterday with the Mayor. My guess is it was embargoed until this morning but leaked out ... With Josh and Bernstein no longer affiliated with a newspaper, they were able to scoop the dailys and major news networks.
Press thinktank takes note
Poynter: Unemployed reporter breaks huge Boston politics story on Twitter.
Good for Bernstein
Beautifully ironic. Seems like he should have been retained for the Phoenix website and/or the Portand and Providence papers.
friendship has its privileges
Bernstein may have been first but Josh had more details?
Could very well have been that Resnek himself was the friend in East Boston. Already mentioned in this space how his paper (East Boston Times) is straight-up Menino-pravda.
The interesting thing to note is the effect, if any, of this decision at this critical moment in the casino gestation process. Who knows, maybe he will devote more effort to advocating for it in the community.
Howie Carr Hardest Hit
Howie Carr Hardest Hit
Good thing that
Someone really needed to hit that SOB... ;-)
His successor needs to clean house at the BRA
"Having commuted via the MBTA on a regular basis in the past decade" would be a great quality, too.
Possessing both would go a long way to moving Boston forward.
You mean
his successor needs to empty his BRA?
What happened to the other 12 councilors
Allston Brighton Newsflash gives us the rundown on the other people serving on the city council when Flynn left and Menino became mayor.
Best mayor ever
Where this city was in 1993 and where it is now in 2013 is unreal (I know repubs, 'it's so terrible now in the city, so awful') and I will miss him dearly.
Ya 20 years!
The School system is doing wonderful and youth violence is under control. There is plenty of affordable housing, Downtown Crossing is amazing and City Officials are extremely Transparent. Best Mayha Evah!
It'll be like he never left
His name on everything will outlive us all.
Examples?
I didn't live here in '93, but I'm interested to know what you would consider the major things that have been accomplished in the last 20 years? I'm not trying to be negative/sarcastic...I've only been in Boston for about 7-8 years, so I don't know what it was like in '93.
lowered sights: Menino's secret
Big ethnic cities at the time often ran as if they were operating their own little New Deal and Civil Rights campaign at the time, so big payouts to whites and blacks alike, lots of Elizabeth Warren-style yammering at the powers that be, lots of national ambition.
At the same time bread and butter issues like drug dealing in parks, terrible streets went unaddressed.
Menino's strength was to bring the focus down, because he was never personally inspiring enough that people expected him to lead some kind of bigger effort (that would have led him towards a federal election). Racial equality, economic revolution, all-trains-no-cars or whatever other cause the progressives were always trying to drag him into. Gay equality maybe, but that turned out to be a pretty cheap fix, like bike lanes.
That progressives love Menino just shows how much lower their sights are now.
Boston in 1993
Sky high (for Boston) crime/murder rates (thanks to crack and the rise of some well run gangs)
Resurgence of racial issues (Charles Stuart)
Abysmal schools (we bought our home in Roslindale from a family fleeing to Norwood).
Today: Crime is way down, Boston is a much more inclusive city and the schools, well, while many still are abysmal, there are pockets of excellence in the system.
Not all of that was Menino's doing (as somebody mentioned, crime rates dropped in cities across the country), but by concentrating on "local" stuff, he got things done: If you call 911, the police will come, potholes do get filled and trash is picked up when it should.
One example: Those big-ass recycling bins all homes now have. We used to fill two trash cans a week; now, we're down to one (and sometimes only a half) - instead, we do a much better job recycling, simply because it's so much easier with those bins.
Another thing he did: Supermarkets. Back in the day, there were large parts of the city that didn't have easy access to supermarkets. Early on, Menino made sure to get supermarkets into more neighborhoods. As with recycling bins, hardly sexy, but a really important improvement to the urban fabric (cheaper food, easier access to healthier food, etc.).
In my own little neck of the woods, Roslindale Square is a far cry from the desolate, half empty place it was in 1993 (when what is now the Village Market was a hole in the ground, there was no Fornax, no restaurants save the Blue Star, etc). At least part of the credit has to go to the Roslindale Village Main Street program, which Menino helped set up (when he was still a city councilor).
Examples?
I didn't live here in '93, but I'm interested to know what you would consider the major things that have been accomplished in the last 20 years? I'm not trying to be negative/sarcastic...I've only been in Boston for about 7-8 years, so I don't know what it was like in '93.
Keller sums it up
While I usually have images of wringing chicken necks when I'm watching/listening/reading Jon Keller, he captures my opinion pretty well in today's piece on Menino:
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/03/28/keller-large-lessons-from-mayor-tom-menino/
In a state where the going away gifts for the past three Speakers of the House have been indictments and stories like the Chelsea Housing Authority, Lt. Gov, former Treasurer, etc. etc. help feed the general cynicism about pols, and the "anyplace but here" governing style of our Governors, well, one can understand why a character like Menino is appreciated despite the flaws.
I like Keller but...
Some of his stuff is factually just wrong. Thriving commercial centers - would that be the financial district everyone is moving out of to move to Back Bay and the Seaport or would it be DTX and its hole that may or may not get filled in the next 2-3 years?
Decent public parks - you mean on the park budget that hasn't grown in 10 years? (the better parks are supported by private funds). The playground in my neighborhood has to beg just to get fresh mulch once a year.
Schools - our ranking on statewide exams - as one albeit flawed measure - haven't budged. The major improvements in our schools can be tied to making MCAS a graduation requirement.
Finance - the city has eked out a tiny surplus just about every year (not hard because the city has slush funds they can draw from to artificially make surpluses if there aren't any). What have we done with every penny of those surpluses? Two years ago 100% of them were transferred to the pension fund - sure it shores up the pension fund - but with no reform for a system that could pop with the slightest breath of wind - what good?
Public safety - not bad - but that's true nationwide - are we any better over the past 20 years than most other cities - a lot of demographic tailwinds helped.
Look at NY - it's probably come just as far as has DC despite a virtually dysfunctional city government/political structure.
Menino hasn't been bad - especially his first 10 years - but the past 10 we've been coasting and in some cases (financially) treading on VERY thin ice (we had to let go 5-10% of city employees since 2008 - next recession could do serious harm).
He was great at the everyday tactical stuff (and I truly think part of his strategy was to make sure things broke so he could run out and fix them - no political points from making sure things don't break).
Right man, right time perhaps - but it's time for that big picture visionary - with the execution skills to get it done. Sadly, I don't see that candidate anywhere in the mentions so far.
Progressive here
I agree, but the last 5-6 we seem to be slacking in doing what needs to be done to keep the trend going. Boston can be the city on the hill, but there's still a lot of problems that need to be fixed and Menino in his later terms seems content with how things are (not bad, could be better).
Housing is a major problem. Limiting bars, entertainment and restaurants in a city that increasingly is working later or around the clock is a problem (and drives down lower/middleclass wages along with economic activity). Rush hour and late night transportation is an issue. Schools and the continued violence in Dorchester/Rox is a big problem. Housing and affordability for lower middle class / new college grads is a major problem.
There's a long list, time to get cracking. Menino saved and got the abandoned rust bucket running, time to give it a full restoration.
I've thought for the past two
I've thought for the past two mayoral elections that Menino was past his prime. Not that I liked his opponents, just that I thought there needed to be some fresh blood in the Mayor's office.
Does anyone have an idea on what Menino's health problems are?
Boston.com has them outlined
Boston.com has them outlined pretty extensively here:
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2012/11/27/...
Overall, I thought he has
Overall, I thought he has done a good job. I can't count the number of times I've seen him talking with people on the streets of Boston. Lived in Chicago for an equal number of years and never once ran into Mayor Daley, though I thought he was a good mayor regardless. I'll miss Menino as mayor. Now, please excuse me while I gird my loins for the spew of Mumbles/Boston bashing I'm sure to I'll have to endure during my Easter supper in the 'burbs.
I don't really care who
I don't really care who becomes the next mayor, just as long as he or she has an equally-excellent accent as Mr. Menino.
Next stop: Floriduh!
Next stop: Floriduh!
Good luck and God Bless
Wow, a new mayor in November. There have only been three in my lifetime....
Obviously the people of
Obviously the people of Boston want to elect a mayor that has personality, along with wit, and humor, someone who smiles alot, and doesn't take things personally.. If you don't have a personality don't even bother running for mayor.
Where have you been?
So how did we get Menino for the past 70 years?
Did Sam Yoon rent or buy in
Did Sam Yoon rent or buy in DC?
City Hall officials violate open government principles routinely
Will there be a candidate who will advocate for a more open city government?... Boston City Hall officials routinely violate FOI Freedom Of Information public records principles of open government.