A push on Beacon Hill to rename the massive convention center in the Seaport after former Mayor Thomas Menino drew praise from another man who had a front-row seat to the redevelopment of the neighborhood.
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney served for more than 14 years at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, including as director of development and construction in the early 2000s when the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center was being built and later as the organization’s executive director when the building opened.
Rooney said a proposal from Democratic leaders in the House to rename the building the Thomas Michael Menino Convention and Exhibition Center is a “terrific idea.”
“Oftentimes you see naming proposals for public buildings, roadways, highways, and the person really had nothing to do with it. In this case, Mayor Menino was the driving force behind the convention center and what has become the Seaport,” Rooney told the Herald as he left an unrelated event at the State House Wednesday.
House lawmakers packed the idea into a massive $3.5 billion economic development bill they plan to take a vote on during a formal session Thursday.
House budget chief Aaron Michlewitz, who once worked for the Menino administration, previously told the Herald the turnaround of a neighborhood that was once mostly parking lots and smaller buildings was “a testament” to Menino’s vision.
The proposal would need to survive negotiations with the Senate and Gov. Maura Healey for it to become law. The Senate’s top budget writer, Sen. Michael Rodrigues, said he hadn’t “really thought about” the idea to rename the building.
“I think I’ve been in the BCEC twice in my life,” Rodrigues told the Herald Tuesday. “I consider something like that a local issue. In that case, I believe it’s Sen. (Nick) Collins that represents that district, so I’ll certainly have conversations with him.”
Menino died in October 2014 after a long battle with cancer and the tenth anniversary of his death is approaching this year. Menino spent years advocating for an overhaul of the Seaport and eventually opened the convention center in June 2004 alongside then-Gov. Mitt Romney.
Rooney said he had a “front-row seat” to the push to stand up the Seaport and the convention center.
“I think that in honor of his legacy as mayor and what became of the success story of the BCEC and the Seaport, it’s a deserving honor,” he said.
