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Commission considers renaming convention center built by Tom Menino after Ray Flynn

The newly convened commission charged with figuring out a way the city can permanently honor former Mayor Ray Flynn recently held its first meeting. According to a press release from City Council President Bill Linehan:

The Commissioners all came with ideas for how to best commemorate the legacy of Mayor Flynn. The brainstorming session produced such ideas as renaming the Massachusetts Convention Center, which connects the neighborhood of South Boston with the Waterfront and downtown - a mantra of Flynn’s tenure - and reshaping the Government Center entrance to City Hall, making it more accessible and welcoming as symbolic of Flynn’s work to build bridges and include people others overlooked, particularly the disabled. Mayor Flynn’s legacy of helping the forgotten in our society was a common thread in the discussion, and one Commissioner suggested commemorating Flynn’s legacy with a basketball tournament or league for disabled children.

Frank Doyle and Rosemarie Sansone, both of whom served under Flynn as mayor co-chair the commission, established by the city council in July. Other members: Jovita Fontanez, Juan Lopez, Gregory Ashe, Bill Chin, Jack Hart, Patrick Walsh, Ted Landsmark, Kevin Phelan, Thomas McIntyre, Michael McCormack, Bob Consalvo, Marcus DeFlormonte, Bill Doherty, Judy Evers, Ed Flynn, Don Gillis, and John Nucci.

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the Massachusetts Convention Center

What? It has never been called that. It's the BCEC which is owned by the Mass. Convention Center Authority.

which connects the neighborhood of South Boston with the Waterfront and downtown

Wtf? How exactly does the BCEC connect S Boston to the Seaport??

There are no words for how ridiculous that statement is.

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By diverting money which might be used for other stuff like schools, infrastructure, parks, dealing with long term unfunded pension costs, etc..., things that would help many Boston residents toward feathering the nests of a select group of MCCA people, hotels, restaurant people and local freight companies. Charming, isn't it?

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2014/03/pioneer-institute-...

Note - I'm not a Tea Party defund everything type at all, but this thing is an albatross from most perspectives. The core BCEC argument is essentially, you've already sunk $1B into this, you'll waste your money if you don't double down.

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I'm not trying to start a BCEC argument. Just pointing out bizarre factual inaccuracies. I support the BCEC and its expansion.

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There's a walkway from the World Trade Center to the BCEC and then you can take the #7 up to Murphy's Law. It doesn't get any more connected than that.

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prior to the BCEC that wasn't there?

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deserves anything named after them.

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the well deserving like the Gucci dog park or the Ralph Lauren library or the Louie Vuitton bag carousel at Logan.

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It is where he used to duck out through the side door of Foley's, a lot.

Getting back to a theme posted earlier in the day here, can we name a failing school after him? How about the road to Terminal E at Logan? Things started to get a lot better in the city after he drove over there and went off to Rome.

Hate to harp on Ray, but the city did not get that much better through his works of 1984 to 1992.

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For one thing, he started healing the city after busing - Nixon to China and all that (yes, even with the Stuart case towards the end of his tenure). That's no small thing.

And as a resident of Allston/Brighton at the time, I remember being very grateful for the simple act of restoring snow plowing to the Comm. Ave. carriage lanes that White had eliminated.

Yes, crime in general and murder in particular were at all time highs, but that was an issue across American cities at the time, not something I think we can blame solely on Flynn.

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The city is supposed to plow the carriage lanes. The city is supposed to give us good schools. The city is supposed to stop crime. You and I paid for it then through rent or direct property taxes.

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Yes, you're right. But White seemed to use 2 1/2's passage to really go after Allston/Brighton. Maybe it never voted for him (or much at all). But city services seemed to go to hell a lot further there than anywhere else.

So yes, I was grateful when Flynn came in and restored basic services. I'm not sure why that's such a problem.

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Let's not forget that boob Flynn is also a rabid homophobe. Be honest, his "basic services" we're not for all Bostonians. And to this day his anti-gay stance has not changed one iota. You really think this dirtbag should have anything more than a sewage treatment plant named for him?

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Sorry that's your memory... I remember being honored by my Mayor for excellence at don Bosco

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It's F A C T ; the man is a bigot.

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Christ, I live across the street. Nothing more than this would make me move immediately.

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Kevin White has a statue, Curley 2 statues, Tom Menino at least three builings that bear his name, Mike Dukakis South Station, Tobin a bridge, Hynes a Convention Center and now we need to name somethingafter Ray Flynn. What about John Collins? He could be the only mayor since 1937 not to have some public memorial.

When does it stop? Why do people need to be honored for simply doing their job. These folks were elected to do a job. They did it. A simple thank you should suffice.
,

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It's that Big Brotherish metal thing right by the main entrance to City Hall.

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Rename Hynes Convention Center after Flynn. There is no reason to honour the mayor that destroyed the West End.

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currently meet the most important criteria in naming a building after someone. He's alive.

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"Mayor Flynn does not currently meet the most important criteria in naming a building after someone. He's alive."

Tell that to the Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center.

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alive?

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Since when does being an average to slightly above-average mayor (so far, his accomplishments listed above are plowing streets that were supposed to be plowed) for 9 years get buildings named after you??

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"...renaming convention center built by Tom Menino...'' There seems to be too much of this kind of belief around here. The place was built by the taxpayers, bondholders and people who rent cars or stay at Boston hotels.
Politicians should get away from naming things after each other. If the place has to be named maybe they should try selling the naming rights.
Better still, pick the name of one of our fallen military from this state and name it in their honor.

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nails it. Lots of great residents of Massachusetts have done really amazing things....much more than a 2 term mayor.

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A two term mayor who abandoned the city so he could hold the umbrella for another rabid homophobe.

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One day there will not be enough bridges , buildings and parks to name our Boston Politicians, they will have to retire street names like Boylston street, Atlantic ave , Commercial street or they can rename all the wharfs in Boston harbor.

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Maybe they should name it after Menino.. since the waterfront really was his brain child.

Plus Menino is dead, Flynn is not.

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lots of people in this thread are making this point about how Flynn is alive and therefore nothing should be named after him. I'm pretty sure the Menino Pavilion (i.e., the enormous building at Boston Medical Center) was named after Menino not only while he was still alive, but while he was still serving as Mayor.

I think Ray Flynn is a nice enough guy, and don't care one way or the other about what the next name of the BCEC might be, but if it was ok to name a large building at BMC after Menino shortly after he played a deciding role in the development of that institution, and in any event long before he had died, I fail to see why naming a building after Flynn while he is alive and well after he was Mayor can be such a bad idea.

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I think my main point was that the BCEC is really Menino's brain child, not Flynn's. And not so much who's dead and who's alive. But most of the time you name something for someone who is dead in remembrance..

And to be honest, and this is my gayness speaking.. I cannot forget how vile Ray Flynn became after he moved to the Vatican. He was downright nasty toward gay people.. Sorry I can't forgive and forget that too easily.

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thanks for clarifying, now i get your point.

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Am I the only one who hates the practice of referring to people who are not in office as if they are in office? All last month headlines and news stories and even signs handed out by BPD kept referring to "Mayor Menino" instead of "Tom Menino" or "Thomas M Menino" or "TMM". Remember this is a person who broke a term limits pledge, twice, and then repeatedly said "We already have term limits. They're called elections." Yet after the election is over and the city has a new mayor, we still refer to the old person as mayor.

How does this make sense?

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A pretty long established practice - whether it's Mayor, Senator, General, Doctor, etc. Doesn't bother me.

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Menino really deserves to be memorialized with something that reflects how much Bostonians appreciate his service and how important his legacy to this town is. Go big or go home! When the new Government Center T stop is finished, the time will be right for finally redeveloping the plaza above, and rename it Menino Plaza, including the T stop.

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He deserves something iconic ionic.

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Since taxpayers, and anyone who uses Zipcar or rental cars in Boston has kicked in a billion and looks like another billion is coming, why not sell the naming rights like they have tried with MBTA stations. If Linehan and the people of Southie want to pay to name it after Flynn, or Meninos supporters want to name it after him, let them bid with other organizations and whomever pays the most can name it whatever they want.

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I met Menino five times. The only time I've ever seen Flynn in person was at Menino's wake a couple weeks ago. As far as I'm concerned, the only things Raybo ever did was coddle Southie and keep some bars in business.

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...and that is exactly how Tom Menino handled his job as a mayor. Instead of running city hall, he was out attending four or five events every single day, shaking people's hands. He used the job of mayor as a way to get reelected as mayor.

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BS

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