Life After Kevin

For about three minutes, all Kevin H. White did was discuss the progress in the City of Boston over the past 15 years. He had purchased for that evening, May 26, a monopoly on area commercial airwaves between 6:55 p.m. and 7 p.m. The purpose was to announce whether or not he would run for an unprecedented fifth term. And, to the end the maestro of manipulation and drama, he kept the momentous decision virtually a secret until more than halfway through his videotaped speech. He finally indicated his choice by saying. "There does come a time in the life of every man when change is appropriate, and that time has come for me." With those words, he paved the way for a new and uncertain era for Boston.

White's reign has been constructive and controversial. He was first elected on a liberal reformers platform, and with the enthusiasm and energy of the city behind him, he championed the renaissance of the downtown area. But the mid-70's marked the dissolution of such united optimism, as racial strife tore at the city, while schooling and housing disintegrated. White the progressive became White the boss, as a close scare in the 1975 election induced him to convert his little City Halls into a machine. His image has been further tarnished by the corruption convictions of several key sides, and the ongoing federal investigation of his administration.

Now, 10 candidates are vying for the office. And with the announcement that the four-time champion is out, the race may become as popular as the Boston Marathon.

Most analysts say the contest--which includes a non-partisan primary in September, and a final runoff between the top two votegetters in November--is wide open. One reason is that most of the wide array of candidates are unknown outside their own neighborhoods, the result in part of White's long political shadow over the city. Another explanation for the volatility of the election is that Boston is a city in flux.

The most noticeable change apparent from the 1980 census figures is the changing racial composition of the area. The city's population has in the past 10 years dropped 12.2 percent--from about 640,000 to 560,000. That drop comes from the falling white population--a loss of 22.4 percent over the decade, from 525,000 to 395,000.

Meanwhile, the number and proportion of Blacks has increased substantially. There were 105,000 Black Bostonians in 1970--or 16.3 percent of the population. In 1980, the 126,000 Blacks made up 23.3 percent of the city.

This massive demographic shift will probably benefit the two candidates who have emerged as advocates for the lower-and middle-classes, city councilor Raymond L. Flynn, and former state Rep. Melvin H. King, the only Black candidate in the field. Flynn comes from South Boston, King from Roxbury--both considered among the poorest regions in Boston. The two finished second and fourth respectively in a recent poll.

White himself speculated at a recent press conference that "the Black candidate" would benefit from his withdrawal as the mayor claimed a fair number of minorities as part of his base. King finished third in the 1979 primary and is confident he will make the runoff this time. But while uniting the Black camp may garner enough votes in the scattered trial heat, King's hard time on race relations in this notoriously polarized city may hurt him with the white voters he'll sorely need come November.

Some analysts have predicted that a large number of White votes could go to David I. Finnegan, former school committee chairman and radio talk show host, or former MBTA chief Robert R. Kiley, two candidates who have been labelled conservative by the local media. Both candidates, who would appear to be nearest to the mayor on the political spectrum, have, however, been playing down this perception in interviews and public appearances.

Finnegan at a recent candidate's forum nervously joined in response to a reporters question that he was only a candidate of the "right people." And Kiley, a former deputy mayor under White, has been busy defending a former stint on the CIA and his reliance on Beacon Hill and Back Bay friends for campaign donations.

Both Flynn and King have made housing--or the lack of it--the cornerstone of their campaigns. And most of the rest of the field has made a point of damning White and "downtown business interests," who, they say, have allowed the neighborhoods to disintegrate.

It was no coincidence, then, that nine of the 10 announced candidates watched White's videotaped announcement from a run-down church in the heart of Roxbury, where they were attending a forum that would deal with the plight of lower-class tenants.

But while the candidates are plugging their pet formulas for neighborhood valhalla, from the construction of neighborhood shopping centers to selling parking garges, the mayor has stuck to his guns on the issue of downtown development.

At the first press conference after his dramatic announcement, White told reporters that the neighborhoods would never have survived without the downtown boom because, he said, 80 percent of all property taxes are paid by office buildings, while the neighborhoods pay a mere 20 percent.

The Mayor provides the public with a different view of the city than do his would be successors. White, who in 1982 received large contributions from developers, emphasizes three major projects under construction, and the number of hotels recently finished or still under construction. To the visitor, the Hub is nothing if not a boom town.

But the downtown area does not appear to matter so much to the neighborhood residents, who have been plagued by condominium conversions. In fact, the mayor's policies have so angered some neighborhood residents that the press had dubbed White, "The Mayor of the Rich."

The greatest accomplishment of White's early years was the development of the downtown. One of the worst legacies of his last term in the polarization between the neighborhoods and business interests who want to put the Hub on the fast track to megabucks. The next City Hall administration will have in successfully mediate between the two.