Boston's Outgoing Mayor Spent 20 Years Putting His Name on Everything

There's a solar-powered trash compactor in Boston Common with Tom Menino’s name on it. "Boston Shines 365 Days a Year!" reads the gray poster plastered to the side of the high-tech garbage bin, which was sponsored for the people of Boston by their baseball team. Tucked between that sunny slogan and the bold-faced BOSTON RED SOX, in smaller, playful type, maybe a cousin of Comic Sans: Thomas M. Menino, Mayor City of Boston.

I walked by this trash bin last month, shortly after the first municipal election in 20 years here that did not include Menino’s name. The city’s longtime mayor endeared himself to Boston with his mumbling manner and his care for the minutiae of neighborhood services over national political fame. He’ll step down on January 6 having occupied City Hall for an entire generation. But spend some time walking around his city, and it slowly becomes clear that he’s leaving his fingerprints everywhere.