Stale ideas
None of this would matter all that much if it wasn’t such an important time for the city. Violent crime is at a 10-year high. The population is shrinking. Jobs are vanishing. The gap between wealthy and poor is widening. The public-school dropout rate is soaring. Long-stagnant agencies — notably the fire department — desperately need reform.
Menino insists that the vacancies present no obstacle. “We’re not missing a beat,” says Menino. “We’ve got a lot of fresh ideas.” Menino cites recent initiatives on WiFi, racial disparities, and drugs, and says that he has “three or four ideas” to launch after Labor Day. “The things we’re doing don’t get the publicity they used to get,” he says.
But these are hardly the big plans people expected from Menino’s post-election rhetoric and the eight cross-department task forces he launched. “The expectations were that we would see some big innovations” when Menino addressed the MBRB earlier this year, bureau-president Tyler says. “There was the idea for the big downtown tower, but that was about it.” The budget process was similarly short on change, he says.
Nobody doubts Menino’s dedication to and energy for the job — which they contrast with the later years of the White and Flynn administrations. But he can’t be a one-man show, many say, and before Menino can hope to revitalize his administration, he has to get his own house in order. “He needs to get the fifth floor straightened out,” says a supporter, speaking of the Office of the Mayor, “and he needs to get new ideas flowing.”
People are watching the chief of staff position closely and say that Merita Hopkins, who worked for Menino for 11 years, leaves a huge void. “She was strong,” says the veteran pol. “She protected him from things he shouldn’t be in the middle of.”
The two most obvious choices for her job are long-timers, Policy Chief Michael Kineavy and Deputy Chief of Staff Amy Dwyer. Maybe Menino will bring back an old-timer, or spring a surprise out of left field. Regardless, most agree that he can’t leave the job vacant for a long time — as he did after James Rooney’s departure in 2001.
But they also fear that he will: people like Tyler believe that Menino views a chief of staff as something other people want him to have, but not something he personally finds necessary.
Filling that position, finding a press secretary to replace Seth Gitell, and solidifying the government-relations staff, which Bo Holland will now head after filling in as acting CIO, would allow — or force — Menino to back into a more big-picture position. But as long as those and other high-level positions remain vacant, the perception of a lifeless administration will remain.
