We Built This City, Part II

Leave it to one of the Herald's online commenters to elucidate the news. In response to the death of Kevin White, Boston's mayor from 1968 to 1984, the person thanked White for saving Boston and stopping it from heading down the same path as Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, et al did in those years. As hard as it is to believe today, this person is right. In the late 1960s, Boston was phenomenally different from what it is today: Like all U.S. cities of the time, its relevancy was in great doubt, as only a handful of new buildings had been built downtown in about the past 40 years and (white) people scattered to the suburbs, but it was also racist in a way that other Northeastern cities weren't. Reading the Globe's obituary of White provides a rich reminder of this era, with rival Irish political clans, corruption and an overall tense, doubting atmosphere. Now, Boston is comfortable with its diversity, has wonderful cultural amenities (even if it will never be cosmopolitan), a relatively healthy economy oriented toward the 21st century, and great neighborhoods for living.

Even though White was mayor when Boston's public schools were desegregated by court order, much of the praise for him has focused on urban planning. He oversaw the redevelopment of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, an outdoor urban mall that became a nationwide development trend, and the construction of many new downtown towers, one beautiful (the John Hancock building) and many architecturally questionable. Barney Frank, who began his career working for White, said last week that he thought White's greatest achievement was helping block the construction of a new "inner belt" highway and instead using the money for public transit. In "Planning the City on a Hill," a history of Boston's urban development, White is criticized for controlling the Boston Redevelopment Authority and clearing the way for his favorite business partners, without much consideration of their proposals' merits. He seems to fit the category of "growth coalition" mayors -- promoting big businesses, big buildings and downtown over the rest of the city -- but at a time when the city's raison d'etre was in question, maybe that's what it needed.

One of my uncles lived in Boston during the middle of White's tenure while in college and graduate school (on the other side of the Charles River, but close enough). He tells me how he could walk to Fenway Park or the old Boston Garden on game day and buy tickets because they were never sold out; the Red Line stopped at Harvard Square; riding the Orange Line wasn't a pleasant experience; and there were parts of town and bars that a nice Jewish boy didn't want to walk into for fear of the consequences of looking at someone the wrong way. I don't recognize any of this Boston because it no longer exists.