The Mayor's madness

The parallels aren't exact but, reading today's featured book, I was struck by that old truism that power tends to corrupt. Does Boston need a five-term mayor? That's for the voters to decide. I have a lot of admiration for what Mayor Curley, that Rascal King, accomplished, but even he didn't have serve back-to-back-to-back terms. He gave the public a little breathing room.

Mayor White has an oversize statue downtown where he is depicted walking with purposeful stride on his way to conduct urgent city business. His neck tie flaps in the wind of history. Mayor Curley has two statues, side by side, both life sized. One statue depicts him puffed with pride, full of power, a bull pulling the plow for his constituents' harvest. The other depicts him contentedly sitting on a bench, a man resting in the midst of the fray of city life, both observer and player. What will Mayor Menninno's statue look like? I picture a squat, stocky pygmy wearing overalls and pointing a monkey wrench at a topographical map of Boston. The Urban Mechanic set in bronze with a few crescent wrenches hanging out his back pocket.

What is today's featured book? A little light reading from Tacitus that illustrates what happens when people get too used to thier office. The volume is slim enough to fit into your back pocket to read on the T.
No offense intended toward the incumbent should I ever need to apply for a permit. No endorsement for Messrs. Yoon, Flaherty or McCrea either. The voters will decide who they want to run the city. Let us hope Boston won't be like Rome.