Keller @ Large: Why Isn't Boston As Appealing As it Should Be?

BOSTON (CBS) - At his mayoral campaign announcement event Tuesday, Boston City Councilor John Connolly was all over Mayor Menino for his handling of the public schools. But he also complained about the city's alleged failure to coax young professionals without children into settling down here.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

"Facebook and Microsoft were born here but they didn't grow up here," said Connolly. [Fixing that is] "about infusing new ideas and new energy into city government."

Actually, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates did their brainstorming in Cambridge, not Boston.

And beyond keeping the T running all night, which we don't have the money to do, it's hard to see what city hall could or should be doing to make it unbearable for other young entrepreneurs to consider moving elsewhere.

According to the new Travel & Leisure Magazine survey of what visitors and residents think are America's best cities, Boston faces some difficult barriers to cracking the upper echelon.

We're in a twelfth-place tie with Providence and Austin, Texas, mainly on the strength of our history, our cultural stuff, and our insane sports fans.

Outside of that, we rank depressingly far back in the pack on most of the things people find attractive.

Out of 35 cities, we're 25th in friendliness, 30th in affordability, and of course, 33rd in driving skill, just barely ahead of New York.

Perhaps Mayor Menino should be doing more to make the city less of a clip joint. It'll be up to his challenger to make that case.

But if Connolly has a plan to make us friendlier and better drivers, my advice is to release it now. We can't wait for relief.

And if his ideas work, forget about being mayor.

We'll crown the guy king, and smile when his entourage cuts us off in traffic.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.