Name It For Menino

Published May 21 2007, 12:46 PM by David S. Bernstein

Is the Mass. Convention Center Authority dragging its feet on selling naming rights for the South Boston convention center, to keep open the option of naming it for Tom Menino? Probably. And I say, good.

I'd much rather see the thing named for a local figure -- like New York (Javitz), Chicago (McCormick), San Francisco (Moscone), Detroit (Cobo), Pittsburgh (Lawrence), and of course our own Hynes -- than for a company that will move away or change names or go bankrupt in a few years anyway.

And, much as I criticize Menino, he deserves to have major facilities and landmarks named for him when he's done (whenever that may be). He's done more than anyone in the last quarter-century to shape what Boston is today and will be in the future. And for all its flaws, this is still, and will continue to be, the greatest city in America.