Following Tom Menino as mayor can’t be an easy task. I imagine it is like being the performer who had the distinct misfortune to play after Beethoven. The pressure is on and everyone is expecting something as magical as– if not more magical– than what they just heard. In his speech, Mayor Walsh certainly made his point clear: roll over Beethoven, because there’s a new sound in town.
The speech began with all the appropriate welcoming of those in attendance. Government officials, city workers, his family, and, most importantly, the people of Boston all got their due shout-out. He honored fallen heroes.
He reached out to the people of Paris during their tumultuous time — a move I found slightly funny, considering the rumblings I have heard about his signing of an order that forbids city workers to voice their disapproval of hosting the Olympics.
Emphasis was placed upon the future. The mayor was not thinking about 2016, but rather 2050 and beyond. As cliché as it may be, the children are indeed our future and our new mayor knows this. Improvement upon education was a theme pervasive in the speech.
Improvement on high quality pre-kindergarten will hopefully reach every 4-year-old in the city. Last year saw the dawn of a new STEM program in Roxbury. Similarly in the works is a pipeline that begins at Charlestown High School and terminates at Bunker Hill Community College.
I do not live in Peninsula or Harbor Point. I live in Dorchester and I can see what the mayor is talking about. I see young children heading to and from school as I make my own way to school. It saddens me to think about the lack of genuine opportunities these children have.
A statistic the Mayor stated was that 30 percent of students in Boston High School Scholars won’t graduate in five years. It certainly is not due to a lack of intelligence but rather a lack of opportunity. Or should I say, a lack of scholastic opportunity.
There’s plenty of opportunity to get involved in the illegal underworld of the city. At night I hear gunshots in the distance. What I hear is more than just the vibrations of killing machine. I hear the systematic oppression that boxed that shooter into a position with few to no options. I hear the hunger of poverty. I feel the desperation of a young man with the world upon his shoulders.
I have high hopes for Mayor Walsh. He is determined to help the marginalized people of Boston. He seeks to house the homeless, feed the hungry, educate the unknowing, and unite Boston into one community.