{"id":1895,"date":"2014-11-04T06:50:11","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2014-11-28T06:54:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-28T11:54:06","slug":"mayor-menino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/?p=1895","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Menino"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10174796_10152508586540983_1133840600726831071_n\"<\/a>It was a sad day for Boston the day Mayor Menino died. \u00c2\u00a0I was in my office when I saw the news and immediately social media took over. \u00c2\u00a0Many of my Mayor’s Youth Council friends are on Facebook and Twitter and the tributes from them were the ones that touched me most, they were most like mine.<\/p>\n

My Mayor’s Youth Council time were the second and third years of Menino’s MYC. \u00c2\u00a0Our group worked on the establishing and implementing the Boston Youth Line and working with the MBTA to extend student T passes. \u00c2\u00a0I know at the time I appreciated everything I learned and had the chance to experience on the youth council but looking back, we had so many opportunities.<\/p>\n

I kept in touch with some people and saw the Mayor as the years past. \u00c2\u00a0He never forgot anyone. \u00c2\u00a0After college and a year in Philly, I became the Director of the Bowdoin Street After School Program, where I was for five years. \u00c2\u00a0Twice I asked the Mayor to come- twice he came. \u00c2\u00a0He loved Bowdoin\/Geneva. \u00c2\u00a0The kids loved seeing him .<\/p>\n

Last year, the day after Thanksgiving, with only two months left of his twenty years as Mayor, there was a big reunion of all the years to thank the Mayor. \u00c2\u00a0So many old friends and new friends, all there with the same story- the Mayor’s influence. \u00c2\u00a0His belief we had a voice. \u00c2\u00a0His trust that we would make the city better.<\/p>\n

When I was on the youth council he would tease those of us who wore our school uniforms. \u00c2\u00a0“Why are your parents paying for those fancy schools?” he would ask. \u00c2\u00a0He knew the answer, busing and years of decline made BPS not as desirable an option for many families. \u00c2\u00a0“I’m going to make the schools better,” he would say. \u00c2\u00a0“I don’t want any of you leaving your city.”<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7510\"<\/a>Perhaps the greatest gift he gave- a reason to stay. \u00c2\u00a0One of our many reasons for staying. \u00c2\u00a0Our kids are in one of those schools he promised to make better. \u00c2\u00a0He beamed when I told him.<\/p>\n

His wake and funeral were impressive. \u00c2\u00a0His legacy is large, but its the small things and the humble leader I will tell my kids about for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a sad day for Boston the day Mayor Menino died. \u00c2\u00a0I was in my office when I saw the news and immediately social media took over. \u00c2\u00a0Many of my Mayor’s Youth Council friends are on Facebook and Twitter … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1898,"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions\/1898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obriensr.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}