Menino’s Time at BU: Cut Short, but Indelible

During his five terms as mayor of Boston, Thomas Menino (Hon.’01) was known for visiting neighborhoods throughout the city and participating in city events. Photo by Jeff Myers

Former Mayor Thomas Menino’s time at Boston University was short, but he leaves an indelible impression with his fellow faculty, students, and staff. Signing on last February to co-direct the Initiative on Cities, Menino (Hon.’01) spoke often about the shock of shifting gears from the around-the-clock responsibilities and trials of running a city to the more human pace of academia.

Settled into his swivel chair in an outsized mahogany-trimmed office on Bay State Road, the five-term mayor, who made no apologies for—and gleefully capitalized on—his slurred diction, had the opportunity to share his thoughts on what makes a city great, what he accomplished at Boston’s helm, and what remains to be done. Menino was particularly passionate about the ravages of climate change and the need for Boston to step up on behalf of future generations. Often pointing to his beloved Hyde Park as a model of urban livability, the former mayor routinely expressed hope that his city’s diversity would increase along with its population. And he was proud of the low-budget human touches that make Boston more livable—the landscaping around subsidized housing in Roxbury, the well-maintained pocket parks, the inner city ball fields verdant with Astroturf.

Father of two and grandfather of six, Menino adored young people. In his months at BU he tried to combat what he saw as growing cynicism about public service and government in general. While students may have had to lean in to make out his precise words, he had a rare gift for getting at the meat of an issue. There would be no florid prose from the man who never strayed far from his blue-collar roots, but with young Menino Scholars gathered around, he’d offer an honest, memorable description of what makes a good mayor: “You have to be a good listener. And being mayor, you have to work at that. It’s not one of those jobs with a lot of pomp and circumstance.” In all his years of listening (“People yell at you all the time,” he recalled), here at BU Menino found himself in a position to do most of the talking. Here is some of what he had to say during a series of interviews with BU Today.

On City Hall versus academia:

As mayor, you have to make most decisions right away. Over here in academia we have to plan things, we think things out, and try to use what we are doing to help make a difference in policies and procedures and educate individuals about the issues out there. And here we can work to make sure we have an educated workforce out there, to make this the best city in the country. That’s what it’s all about.

On young people’s cynicism about government:

They’re cynical, and I don’t blame them. There is a perception that the government isn’t working. But the government is where it starts. You learn so much when you deal with people every day. What I tell people going into government is, you’re helping people, and that should be your first goal. You have to adjust to situations, so what you do still has meaning. I’d like young people to think about going back to government, and helping out—to get the “Me” generation to think about being an “Us” generation.

On college students and voluntarism:

Honestly, this generation in college now, they are more into voluntarism than the previous generation. Can we do better? We can do better. But I‘ve seen an improvement over the last two or three years and a huge improvement from the previous ten years.

On Boston’s growing appeal:

You know, people want to come to the city; they’re coming back in. They see the advantage of living in the city. This isn’t the big, bad, ugly city it used to be. There are so many attractions to living here. There are universities, museums, and such a range of cultural groups.

On the importance of cooperation:

The most important thing mayors can do once they get elected is to find good people to serve with them and not have the ego that the people around you can’t be smarter than you are. When they are, that helps you. Also, reach out to people to come and help you with issues on education and public safety. Other elected officials are willing to help. They love to help.

On quality of life issues:

This is so important: what the playgrounds look like, what the sidewalks look like, the trees, the streetlights—all this is part of the ambience of the city. To make a city look good, they all have to be in good shape. I always made a priority of this. I put Astroturf on baseball and soccer fields because suburban kids don’t have that, and I wanted them to come to Boston and go back to their town and say, “Boston has it, but we don’t have it, how come?” It gives the city an advantage.

On Boston’s strong economy:

Boston is very unique. We have higher education, health care, financial services, and tourism. We have four foundations of our economy. When one goes down, the other picks up. Especially universities and hospitals—they’re always expanding, they’re always growing.

On setting an example for the city:

The mayor is the guy who sets the tone for the whole city. Is he involved in communities of color, in issues with young people? People get a perception of the mayor who cares about those problems. It was my job to be out there. It was my job to be on the front line—if tragedy happens in the neighborhood, if there’s a shooting, you have to be there for that family, for those parents.

On climate change and sustainability:

We’re only going to go so far, because the problem we have in this city with sustainability and climate change is that we have too much scientific talk and not enough street talk. People don’t understand that. They don’t understand sustainability. They don’t understand carbon footprint and climate change. I believe that this could be the issue that creates jobs for us, if we could just change the vocabulary.

On the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings:

Boston matured that day. We really showed our best. After we made the arrest, our people were standing in streetcars singing “God Bless America” and raising American flags, and the Boston Common was filled with people. I got one call from the police department that said, “All the students are making all kinds of noise at Fenway about this thing. What are we gonna do?” I told them, “They’ve been stuck in dorms for 12 hours–leave them alone. They’re not causing trouble. They’re just celebrating.”