For many years WGBH’s Greater Boston hosted an annual tradition on Thanksgiving Eve. It was a two-part special half hour featuring Boston Mayor Tom Menino and my dad; the late 60 Minutes guy Andy Rooney. The struggle for us was always – who should go first? My dad died a year ago this month and was not up for the travel the year before, so half the tradition ended two years ago.
But the mayor always came though – including last year. I know he would have liked to come this year too as it was always a time to reflect on the good things about the city of Boston, even though I would give him a hard time about a few things “not so good,” like dirty streets. “What are you talking about?” he once demanded - I told him about a broken fountain that had been pushed over and had been lying on its side on Dartmouth Street for over two years. It was gone the next day.
Mayor Menino has a very special relationship with many of the 625,000 residents of Boston. We think we do too. I hope he’s not eating hospital food tomorrow.