Mayor Thomas Menino succumbed to cancer this morning. He served as Boston's mayor for twenty years, longer than any other mayor.
In what was once a cesspool of corruption, Menino served without so much of a rumor of scandal. He was affable and good-natured. Boston is a sharp elbow kind of place and as far as I know, Menino lived and died without knowing a single enemy.
Boston could have been Detroit II but she is not. She is viable and thriving. It would be a nice place to live if it were not so pricey. Contrast the real estate prices with the motor city where you can buy a house for the price of a used car.
Mayor Menino will be remembered as a master of the malpropism. My favorite is "An Alcatrez around its neck." He had a pronounced speech impediment and was often the butt of jokes. Having said that, he did little to help himself with his pronunciation. Menino had trouble prounouncing the letter R or the letter L. It seems that he would use substitute words when available.
When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 it involved a victory parade.
Menino could have said they were hosting a "prayed" and everyone would have known what he meant. Instead, His Honor announced that Boston would host a "rolling rally." The announcement came out as a "woe-ing wowie." The proclamation created a humorous scene where all the press said "Huh?" "What is it?" They did not want to embarrass the poor guy but it was not clear to anyone what a "woe-ing wowie" happened to be.
Local radio host Howie Carr was tough on "Mumbles." His oratory was a staple of Howie's show. There was one announcement about school lunches that would have been ignored and forgotten were it not for Howie. The mayor was reading a prepared statement that could not have been more boring. However, there was one word that kept tripping up the beloved mayor. That word was "menu." He navigated several polysyllabic roadblocks but "menu" would do him in. Go figure.
Tom Menino might be remembered as the Yogi Berra of politics but he was also a good mayor. He kept the streets plowed and the trains moving. Blizzards were no match for this guy. Give it your best shot, Mother Nature. The mayor will scoop it up for you. And no, he never took himself too seriously. He really was one of the people.
There is a larger political lesson here. People usually prefer a work horse to a show horse. People respect work and integrity and security more than optics. The least flashy politician in American history served five terms as mayor of a city in a state where politics is considered high entertainment. You will be missed, Mr. Mayor.
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