Newspaper Article

Boston Ignores a Trend In Re-Electing a Mayor

Butterfield, Fox

1991

Overview

Mr. Flynn's father was a longshoreman, often in poor health and out of work, and his mother was a cleaning woman. Mr. Flynn made his way out of poverty by getting a basketball scholarship to Providence College and eventually a tryout with the Boston Celtics. He didn't make the team, and instead got involved in politics, working on Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey's Presidential campaign in 1968 and later being elected to the state legislature to represent his old neighborhood, South Boston. Today he still lives in a modest row house in \"Southie,\" a working-class district on the waterfront. Voters have reacted differently. \"The vast majority of the people who voted for him actually know him,\" said Ira Jackson, a deputy mayor under Mr. Flynn's predecessor, Kevin H. White, and now a senior vice president of the Bank of Boston. \"In today's world, with problems spiraling out of control, that is very reassuring. The voters know [Ray Flynn] will be there.\" In his first two terms, Mr. Flynn was widely given credit for easing racial tension that had grown out of a conflict over court-ordered school busing in the mid-1970's. Although he had opposed the busing himself at the time, Mr. Flynn as Mayor made a concerted effort to reach out to Boston's black population, opening predominantly white housing projects to blacks. He restored many of the city's neglected neighborhood parks. And he increased the number of blacks, Hispanics and Asians on the city payroll to 22 percent from 6 percent. Minorities make up 35 percent of Boston's population.

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: BUTTERFIELD, FOX / ELECTIONS / Flynn, Ray / Flynn, Raymond L / FLYNN, RAYMOND L (MAYOR) / Marttila, John / MAYORS