Image via Creative Commons/ Cliff (CC BY 2.0)

In the wake of Mayor Menino’s death, a loss to not only Boston but everyone across the Commonwealth and across the country, it was only a matter of time before talk ignited of memorializing him in some form or another. The possibilities are endless for how he’ll be immortalized, a testament to his innumerable and invaluable contributions to the City of Boston for more than three decades.

One of the first suggestions comes in the form of a petition to rename Christopher Columbus Park in the North End after the longest serving mayor in the city’s history. The petition, at the time this article was published, has already garnered 1,199 signatures with an ultimate goal of 10,000.

“All of Boston’s neighborhoods will want a tribute to Mayor Menino,” wrote the petition’s author Michael Cohen. He continued,

From the new Tom Menino Park, though, residents and visitors will have a view of the skyline that he helped to build, of the Innovation District that he so championed, just a few minutes walk from City Hall and the job he so loved and where children play, where languages from all points of the globe blend and where the city comes together for festivals and community events.

Should the petition garner the prospective 10,000 signatures, the backers hope Mayor Marty Walsh will revise the park’s name by the end of 2015.

Charlestown already boasts a park named after Menino, aptly dubbed Mayor Thomas M. Menino Park near the Spaulding Rehab Center. But if Cohen’s inclinations are correct that every single Boston neighborhood, all of which Mayor Menino visited and aided over the years, will honor him then perhaps this movement will gain some steam.

Cohen’s initiative, however, isn’t popular amongst everyone, at least not yet. Several comments on the petition page respectfully disagree with renaming the park and an unofficial poll taken by local publication North End Waterfront shows that more people are in favor of keeping the park as is. There’s only a difference of five votes, though, at the time this article was published.

Whether or not this renaming comes into fruition it’s clear there’s an eagerness for Bostonians to honor the mayor many knew for the majority of their lives. Even if this campaign fizzles out, there will surely be another one that picks up the torch in its place. And if it’s not the general public that continues this effort, it’ll likely be the City of Boston.

What do you think, Boston? Should Christopher Columbus Park henceforth bear the name of Mayor Menino? Are there better alternatives to commemorating him and his legacy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

 

Image via Creative Commons/ Cliff (CC BY 2.0)
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