BSO: Billy Sullivan

I am saddened to hear of the death last month of former Springfield Mayor William C. Sullivan at the age of 95. Here is a picture I took of Sullivan (right) with fellow former Mayor Charles V. Ryan in 2012.

Mayor Sullivan was a likeable guy in the charming ways of the old style of Springfield Irish politicians. His mayoralty came at the end of his political career, which stretched back to the 1950's and included peers such as Eddie Boland, Matty Ryan, John Pierce Lynch and Judge Daniel Keyes.

Elected in 1973, Sullivan succeeded Springfield's last Republican mayor Frank H. Freedman and thereby ushered in a nearly half-century of uninterrupted Democrat Party misrule. Unfortunately, Sullivan was not one of Springfield's more influential mayors. Writers of his media obituaries struggled to come up with notable achievements, finally settling on the Basketball Hall of Fame moving to the riverfront and Sullivan's role in surrendering in the fight against court ordered busing. Incredibly, his surrender was presented in his obits as if it were a virtue.

Actually, the abolishment by judicial fiat of Springfield's neighborhood school system was the single most destructive act of Springfield's long decline, surpassed only by the closing of the Springfield Armory in 1968. The massive white flight that followed in the wake of forced busing forever altered Springfield's demographics, to the point where the entire school system itself became minority-majority, making a complete mockery of the busing plan's goal of racial integration.

As for the Hall of Fame, its relocation to the riverfront was the result of many years of efforts far preceding Sullivan's mayoralty and continuing for years afterwards. While Sullivan was one of the cheerleaders for that effort, it seems an overreach to give him so much credit, especially since the Hall of Fame didn't even open until 1985, nearly a decade after Sullivan left office.

But never mind. If Sullivan's tenure was not notable for its accomplishments, it was also without the scandals and incompetency of those who would follow him into the mayor's office. His was a transitional mayoralty, the last gasp of the old guard before the younger generation, personified by those such as his top mayoral aide Richard E. Neal, would step up and take over. Interestingly, a similar passing of the torch to a younger generation appears to be happening now in Springfield, with Neal and his cohorts now in their 70's.

Springfield has fallen so far since the 1970's that even the lackluster Sullivan Administration now seems bathed in the nostalgia of a lost golden age. In the wake of his passing, there was universal agreement that Billy Sullivan was a good man who did his best and who loved Springfield. Subsequent mayors will be lucky to be so praised.

Recently I went to the McDonald's on King Street in Northampton.

It was drive-thru only for months, but now you can go inside, at least to order. The dining room itself is closed off.

However, they do have a picnic area in front of the restaurant, where you are free to sit at tables and enjoy your meal, at least as long as it isn't raining. The view isn't particularly charming either, as I sat facing a trash can, a stop sign and the entrance to the parking lot of a liquor store.