Carl Stevens' Journal: A Poem To Boston's Mayor
BOSTON (CBS) - Mayor Tom Menino will not seek re-election when his term expires.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens wrote a poem remembering Boston's longest-serving mayor.
Listen here:
Podcast
With a determined soul and a tireless heart,
Tom Menino, as a mayor, was a breed apart.
For Twenty years he plodded and toiled,
And planted some goodness in this Boston soil,
Driving staff members crazy, 18 hours a day,
If potholes weren't patch, there was hell to pay.
From River Street, Broadway, to Blue Hill Ave.
Narrowing the gap between the have nots and the haves.
From Dorchester, Charlestown, Mattpan,
He followed a particular fix-it-up plan.
When something needed growing, he planted the seed,
And made this city a better place to be.
New buildings went up, old ones were repaired,
He won those elections because he cared.
He cared for the children, the elderly too.
If you lived in Boston, he probably talked to you.
He'd look and he'd listen, and then he would act.
He established right here, a special pact.
To never rest on laurels, to never stay still,
Until he thoroughly polished this city on a hill.
You want someone pretty who talks real nice,
Goes to fancy restaurants, doesn't care about price?
Has a trust fund, a gold spoon, a brand new limo,
Don't go to Readville to see Tom Menino.
But if you're looking for an urban mechanic
Who'll find a solution when others might panic,
Someone who stands firm when others might fly,
Then I'd have to say that he's you guy.
I look at this city, and go back 20 years,
From the violence, the filth, a mother's tears,
And I see something better beneath a new day's sun,
Thank you, mayor, for a job well done.
