| Menino wants to showcase 'all of our city' during DNC
By Pat Healy Boston Mayor Thomas Menino wants to bring the 2004 Democratic National Convention beyond the city of Boston and into the neighborhoods. “I see Boston hosting the Democratic National Convention as an opportunity to showcase our city to the rest of the country, and that means all of our city,” he said Thursday. “The center of activity will be downtown, of course, but Boston is a city of neighborhoods and I'm going to encourage all of our DNC visitors to explore our neighborhoods and discover all of the wonderful things they have to offer,” he said. City officials have estimated that the crowd from the Convention will pump about $150 million into the local economy and Councilor Rob Consalvo, who represents Hyde Park, West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan and Roslindale, hopes the communities in the Parkway area will catch the run-off from the flood. “My guess is there will be trips into different neighborhoods, and I look forward to working with the Mayor in helping plan these trips,” he said. “The city is really more than just downtown. Boston’s neighborhoods are the lifeblood of this city.” City Councilor John Tobin, representing Jamaica Plain, Mission Hill and West Roxbury, said the many Parkway residents who work in Boston will also feed the local economy. “The Convention will bring a ton of revenue into our restaurants, our shops and our hotels downtown,” he said, “and there’s no shortage of residents in the Parkway who work in those arenas. “That’s the immediate return, but the long range goals are even better because the Convention advertises the City and its neighborhoods to the entire world.” |
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