An endorsement for mayor should not be a choice between the best of the worst.
The current incumbent, Thomas M. Menino, has his detractors, and some say this is the closest challenge to his 16-year reign as he tries to gain a record fifth term.
The schools are in bad shape with 100 out of the city’s 143 schools under-performing, his chief of policy has been embroiled in a deleted e-mail scandal which has critics – and law enforcement officials – calling for an investigation, while developers and a former mayoral candidate have complained he rules planning with an iron fist and thin skin.
Still others wonder why the mayor of a major city cannot seem to stop wrecking the English language.
But his challengers really have brought little ammunition in their battle to unseat the mayor. City Councilor Michael Flaherty boasts he has had numerous “kitchen table” and “front-porch” discussions with citizens in an attempt to “better understand how we can work collectively together to improve the city.”
But in a major economic downturn, you do not want a mayor-by-committee. You should want a strong candidate who, though you may disagree with some of his decisions, in the end makes them, and takes great pride for doing so.
If Flaherty, a former Suffolk County assistant district attorney, had a vision for the city’s development that inspired us, we might be inclined to throw our endorsement his way. But instead he only complains about the status quo: “[The Boston Redevelopment Authority and Menino have] consistently failed to grow our city with responsible, thoughtful and accountable planning.”
Oh, really?
Look at what has grown in Boston in the last four years. The W Boston in the Theatre District is open for business, and looks like a scene-stealer. The Mandarin Oriental is a looker, too. The Archstone tower in Chinatown is bringing in top-rate rents. The Avenir apartments at North Station are renting. And the Intercontinental Hotel gleams while overlooking Fort Point Channel.
Granted there’s a hole in the ground at Downtown Crossing, but there’s plenty of other construction continuing in this Great Recession: Russia Wharf is busy with construction and nearly halfway complete, while the first Fan Pier building will be completed early next year. Meanwhile, Liberty Wharf is under construction at the former site of Jimmy’s Harborside.
Which of those projects are irresponsible, and lacking in thoughtful and accountable planning? The development successes clearly outweigh the setbacks.
Before e-mailgate took over the last weeks of the mayoral race, the major gripe Menino’s challengers had when it came to his business leadership was how tight a hold he had on the BRA. Many critics cite his “thin-skin” and his favoritism in the development field. But what if it is all simply a matter of taste?
In a recent Boston Globe ride-along with His Honor, he showed an absolute giddiness about buildings he is proud to have mid-wifed in Beantown, pointing out successes faster than the camera operator could capture them.
He seems to like the aesthetics of his city as much as someone who loves to cook. And his administration has been cooking up a storm. Boston’s rate of 288,000 square feet per square mile of new office space developed in the last 10 years is good for highest in the nation. Here’s what he told the Globe about how he views developers’ dreamscapes: “I believe [a new building] has to fit in; it has to look good. When people come to me with buildings, sometimes I say, ‘That’s the ugliest building I’ve seen. Go find something else.’”
Voters, however, should not. Menino has earned another term as mayor of this great city.
