ONEin3 Council Member Bessie King Reflects on her experience with Mayor Menino and her desire to continue his legacy of bettering our city.
My family arrived in Massachusetts during Mayor Menino’s second term and Boston was not quite the attractive city it is today. We lived in the suburbs and it wasn’t until the time came for me to go to college in the city that I truly got to know Boston.
In my first two years, I learnt of our restrictive T-curfew and refused to photograph our infamous City Hall when friends came to visit from other schools. I was not impressed. By my last two years of college I became aware of the reputation shift certain parts of the city had, understood why retaining a younger demographic was integral to the city’s development and even got to enjoy the introduction of city-funded programs like bike-sharing. Boston changed, in my mind and in reality, within the ten years that I arrived, attended college and was beginning my master’s.
I became proud of being a Bostonian and grew a collection of sports teams, United Way or Paul Revere-circa the 2004 DNC, t-shirts that I still sport on weekends or vacations. What I had not realized until two years ago is that all this change happened thanks to our Mayor. For the past two years my family has been searching for space to relocate our food business due to redevelopment in the building we were located in. We searched for help everywhere, women’s groups, business associations, banks, real-estate agencies, far and wide across the city. We found a place but, unfortunately, our surrounding community did not feel comfortable with its location inside of a neighborhood block.
We were ready to give up until we met Mayor Menino at a non-profit event we catered. My mom, a direct and uninhibited Mexican woman, asked him pointedly if he could help her save our business during his greeting. He said, “Will I get free food?” and made her laugh. After taking out his business card and scribbling down his secretary’s name on it, he assured us he’d try his best to help us. That, he has.
The Office of Neighborhood Affairs, directly or indirectly through the Mayor’s influence, has supported us in our continued search for a business home. It is this care that has made us think of alternate business ideas to keep serving our city, even if the possibility of having a store-front may not happen. Getting support from city departments has made us feel involved and accountable for bettering Boston.
That is how Mayor Menino effected change.
He has made you and me responsible for a city that can and should have it all. Has he been perfect? No. Has he made everyone happy? No. Has he fixed all the problems? Certainly not. What he HAS done, though, is improve our city’s morale, introduce innovation and health-improvement programs, promote our local economy to increase tourism, defend education and work opportunities or fight for basic rights. Nobody can refute this.
This proof that change can happen when a single person cares enough about the place he calls “home” is what made me want to serve the city- my city. I joined the Onein3 Council, another initiative founded by the Mayor, to serve as a community resource and representative of Boston’s 20-34-year old population. If I knew I’d end up planning my future in Boston back when I was a freshman in college, I would’ve taken more photos of the city to remember how things looked back then.
Now, as the Mayor plans his last nine months in office, my only hope is that his or her successor will realize what’s at stake. The next Mayor cannot re-polarize the city; he or she must remain of the people and for the people. If behind closed doors some city services get the axe, due to budgets or personal sentiments, they need to be replaced with something better. More importantly, if issues with gun control, gay rights, immigration or education come to light, our next Mayor needs to be prepared to take the lead to protect our community, regardless of criticism. Mayor Menino will be Boston’s Mayor for life, and without a doubt he will be cherished by natives and Boston-adoptees alike.
