Henry Lee has stepped down as the Chairman of the Friends of the Public Garden.
He has become its president emeritus.
His departure after 41 years leaves a void as Mr. Lee came to personify the idea that example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
In every way, at every turn in the road, Mr. Lee tended to do the right thing leading the Friends.
During the past four decades, Mr. Lee’s exhaustive efforts helped to build a 2500 -member organization backed by an endowment of about $17 million.
Mr. Lee came on at a time when efforts were being made to change Boston to make it more modern. This implied that taller buildings were needed, even along Boylston Street.
Mr. Lee was against towering skyscrapers that cast shadows onto the Public Garden or the Common from the very start of his long tenure. He remained absolutely aligned to that idea until the day he stepped down from his chairmanship recently.
Above all, Mr. Lee was a fighter for what he believed was right.
He made many, many friends during his years as chairman.
He seemed to always intuitively know what would be right for the Garden and the Common.
To him, the parks were sacred land, for the use of the public and to be watched over in perpetuity.
Now 86, and wanting more time for himself and believing someone else should take over where he is leaving off, he decided to step down.
The Public Garden and Common are better places for his extraordinary 41-year effort.
We congratulate him for his service. We wish him many more years of good health.
The mayor is right about cable charges
Mayor Thomas Menino believes Boston’s cable viewers are being ripped off by Comcast, Boston’s major supplier of cable.
Cable costs for those with Comcast in the city have doubled in price in the past two years, a situation the mayor does not wish to condone.
He wants the city to be able to set its own cable rates and has asked the Federal Communications Commission to give him that right.
There is good reason to believe the FCC will do just that.
Once again, the mayor has shown he remains capable of thinking outside of the box.
Why put up with cable rates that are doubling when the cost of delivering the service remains the same or has dropped because of new advantages and developments gained with technology?
Thank you Mayor Menino.
1 comment for “Henry Lee’s Example”