Universal Hub reports that Dennis Royer, the DPW chief who did good work in Denver has been cleaned out of City Hall.
I met his wife Linda, who was appointed to the Main Streets program when she got to Boston, when I was out collecting signatures for Mayor. She signed my nomination sheets, and said she knew who I was and we ended up having an involved conversation.
I was amazed how much she told me about the "inside" knowing that I was running against "the man". She compared her and her husbands experiences in Denver with how things are in Boston. I thought about using her quote in one of the debates:
"I am amazed at how Bostonians tolerate such a low level of services from their government." This from a woman who works for government agency and whose husband was head of DPW. I asked about how her husband found working here, and she specifically talked about the unions and Menino. She said her husband found that the city workers didn't care about the city and about trying to improve it, they just cared about their job and their perks. I asked if Menino would let him do his job and institute reforms, and she explained how Menino would let him do some things but not other things and that he absolutely micromanaged. He was frustrated with not being able to do what he wanted to improve things.
It does not suprise me one bit that he has left, and I wish him and his wife all the best.
So there are two positions open now. Don't keep holding your breath for a "new" Menino administration full of reform.
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The various main streets groups are independent non-profit organizations, not city agencies or departments. They get funding from a number of sources, which can include government grants (including municipal).
Each main streets organization has its own board of directors that hires its executive director, as Washington Gateway Main Streets presumably did for Linda Royer.
While I don't discount the possibility that political influence could have helped her land that job, it is not a mayoral appointment -- nor is it a city job, nor does she work for a "government agency." That's why she doesn't appear in the database of salaries of employees of the City of Boston.
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