At last night’s event at The Cedars on Island Pond Road, Mayor Charles Ryan announced his candidacy for mayor before an audience of a few hundred people. Some children in attendance gathered at the foot of the podium, just in front of the cluster of media professionals eager to document the mayor’s decision, which up until the speech had been kept quite secret.
"Supposedly, no one but Charlie knows what he is going to say tonight," said Sheriff Michael Ashe, who served as master of ceremonies. "There’s more secrecy involving the content of this event than any event in Springfield since I took over the Armory. I can’t say that I welcome you to a campaign kick-off or announcement event, because none of us are supposed to know if it is gonna be that."
"On a serious note," Ashe continued, "we know that we can begin by calling it a celebration of a fantastic statistic, and fantastic reality—violent crime has gone down in this city 24 percent. Let’s applaud that."
Ashe went on to laud Ryan: "Charlie Ryan is a man who has dedicated much of his life, and a good deal of his abundant capabilities, to public service. Charlie Ryan is a man who, at two widely-spaced junctures of his life, answered the call of his fellow citizens to lead his beloved city. At a time of great peril, when the ethical and fiscal survival of Springfield was at stake, the people wanted Charlie Ryan’s fiber and substance to lead them out of the shadows and back to the light."
"And the results are in," Ashe said. "Charlie Ryan has righted the course of this city, and steered her strong and straight. At a time when we’ve heard the term ‘family values’ so much in political discourse, Charlie Ryan has been a real-life role model of family values, not only by leading a principled public and private life, but also by having a sustained and active involvement in the public life of our community."
Ashe concluded, "The hope and vision that I have, that you have, that we all have for the city of Springfield, is that its leadership is honest, competent, wise, principled, able and infused with the spirit of public service. It is because Charlie Ryan is all of these things that you and I wholeheartedly urge and endorse him to once again bestow his abundant abilities and character on us as our mayor."
Then Ryan took to the podium. Below is a transcript of his speech.
Mayor Charles Ryan: Thank you very much, Mike. I would invite you to pull in a little bit closer. I tried to cut a corner and rent the hall without bothering to have the electricity on for the speaker, though it’s come back to bite me.
I’m just so grateful for you all being here tonight. I do feel bad, Rico, that you put Caleb Rice in third place [in the top five mayors of Springfield award, see bottom of post]. He was a very good friend of mine. [Laughter] He went on to become the first president of MassMutual in 1852. [More laughter] And he really loved this city.
I want to thank Mike Ashe for being the master of ceremonies. I’ve known Mike a long, long time, and I can tell you that one of the great satisfactions that I have as mayor is to not only work with Mike, but so many of his people and what they do for this county, and for the mostly young men and women of this county who have found their way into problems with the law. Usually, a sheriff is thought of as somebody who just kind of runs a place where people stay until their term is up. But I think we all know by now that Mike and his associates and his team are really writing the book of compassionate care and rehabilitation of these people, and I see so many of them really taking that second chance, and putting it to great use.
Pastor [Howard-John] Wesley [pictured, with family], I’m so grateful that you’re here tonight. I so admire you, my wife admires you; you have come to this community eight or nine years ago; you play such a strong part in the spiritual leadership of Springfield. And I can tell you that it’s a profound religious experience for Joan and I to go and sit at Symphony Hall on Easter Sunday and hear this message. And while he’s a great orator, it’s really the substance of the message, and he’d be the first to admit it. But he’s preaching somebody else’s word, and I’m so grateful for Pastor Wesley and the tremendous influence for good that he has in this community.
My colleagues in government that are here tonight, I’m grateful to you for our partnership and our relationship. We try and make it as constructive as we possibly can, but we also know that we’re in a field where you have opinions, and sometimes the opinions clash one with the other, but it doesn’t mean that we have to lose respect for each other and their point of view.
When I ran first in 1961, one of the points that the opposition made was that I was too young to be mayor. [Laughter] And that really bothered me. And I said, someday I’ll come back, and I’ll show them that I’m not too young to be mayor. [More laughter] I’m beginning to hear the whispers that maybe there’s another end to the pendulum that might be affecting me. As a matter of fact, I was at the dentist about a month ago, the semi-annual cleaning and checkup, and I said to him, doctor, I’ve been noticing that as I get older, that my teeth are getting a little yellow. What should I do? He looked at me; he said, "Wear a brown tie." [Laughter] So I followed that advice.
On July 1 of 2003, not even four years ago, I embarked on the most rewarding experience of my professional life. At the age of 75, I announced that I would run for the office of mayor of our city. A lot of thought went into it. I asked many who were close to me, especially in my family—it clearly was a split decision, as some thought it might work, and others were a little bit apprehensive, and I was too, because I was not sure that I could do it. But with Joan’s support, and an abundance of faith, we set sail. I might also point out that none of my decisions have ever been made, since December 24, 1949, without Joan. [Applause] And in a couple of months, we will celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary. [Applause]
When I made the decision almost four years ago, at that time, the city was broke. It had just fired, in February, 500 city workers. It had reneged on a whole host of union contracts. The government had come to a halt, and they had even turned off many of the streetlights. There had been no infrastructure expenditures or repairs of buildings, or highways, or parks. A grand jury was indicting one official after another, 35 in all.
Forty years earlier, I had presided over, and left, office. I took some satisfaction in the fact that we had a safe and sound and prosperous city with solid neighborhoods and strong schools. And so, in the spring of 2003, I, like many others, was sick at heart at what had happened to our city. I took a deep breath, and began a journey that no one else dared to make.
Within a few months of taking office, the full extent of our city’s collapse became apparent, because we were $41 million on a deficit basis, we had been reduced to junk bond status—the only community in Massachusetts with that stigma—we had a free cash account, which is really the city savings bank, of minus $27 million. I think it’s the first time in history that had ever happened, to have a bank account with minus money in it. Unpaid taxes of over $50 million, with one illegal tax agreement after another. And the fakers and the crooks and the fixers had feasted on our bones.
Some city officials knew it was a mess, and they didn’t care, or they didn’t know how to fix it. And then the control board was created by the legislature.
We are not the first control board city. They happen every now and then, when a city loses its way. I follow these matters fairly closely, and I see, time and time again, when that happens, that the control board is sent in to do a job, and those that are left in the city government decide to fight with them. I knew that was an expensive luxury that would be absolutely foolhardy to indulge in, because if all we were going to do is have acrimony, and chaos, and finger-pointing, between the five people who were supposed, under the legislative act, to straighten out the city, we would have had paralysis.
I knew that we had one chance, and one chance only, to get out of the pit, and that was really by acting together. That road, while it’s easier now—certainly, the first couple of years were tough—because of the fact that we had many, many hard decisions to make; almost every one of them was controversial, and in all too many instances, loud and public criticism was coming, in many cases, from the same people who had been responsible, at least in part, for the mess that had been created. So far, and it’s almost to our third anniversary, we have been enormously successful.
Our bond ratings have been restored, with significant praise. We are dealing now in the area of balanced budgets; $25 million in back taxes have been collected, and are helping us mightily to do some of the things that we’re doing. We’re actually back in business, repairing our schools, and trying to restore the devastating conditions. So far as roads, which to me, is some sort of a measure of whether a city is capable of doing what communities are supposed to do, in the four years previous to taking the office of mayor, the city did 50 streets in four years. By the end of November of this year, we will have done 300. [Applause] In those four years, they did 17 miles; by the end of November, we will have done 72 miles. In sidewalks—and I look at Jack Maloney, who is a partner with us in this—in the previous four years to our administration, one mile of sidewalk was built in Springfield. By November, we will do 19 miles. [Applause]
By the end of this year, we will have taken down, in the last two years, almost 2,000 dangerous and dead trees. By the end of this year, we will have planted—and this is the first time in anyone’s memory—1,300 to 1,400 new trees to begin that long road back, of one of our crowning glories, which was the shade trees along our public ways. [Applause] Derelict after derelict building has either been torn down, or will be torn down, because of the fact that they are a cancer in whatever street, whatever neighborhood they’re in.
It’s hard to ask homeowners to try and improve their place, and fix it up, and take care of it, if they’re looking continually at a broken-down building that burned down ten or 15 years ago, but still sits there as a stigma, and an emblem, of a city’s collapse.
For the first time in the history of this city, every citizen of Springfield, young and old, will get free admission to our world-class museums. [Applause] The history of our civilization, and the high points in our civilization, are in those museums and in our libraries. I feel we have a solemn duty, especially to the young people who are coming after us, that they will have a chance to begin to understand and appreciate and live and cherish the great heritage that we have. And last, but not least, the library, and the branches, have been saved from decimation. [Applause]
Now you might ask, how come we’re able to spend all this money on streets, and fixing schools, and libraries, and planting trees, and taking down dead trees, when it didn’t happen before?
I want to just make this as crystal clear as I possibly can, because this is what it’s all about. If you buy stock in a good corporation, and that corporation is well-run, and honorably-run, it will pay dividends. You will get a dividend every year! And the better it does, the higher your dividend. We’ve been living in a city where there’s been no dividends, because of the fact that it wasn’t run properly, and it wasn’t returning a dividend! These streets, and these sidewalks, and these new trees, and the tearing-down of derelict buildings, are the dividend that we’re getting for clean, effective, and honorable government. [Applause]
So much has been done, and yet there is so much left to do.
Economic development. Public safety. Quality of life. Financial policies. Our school system. The list goes on, and on, and on. The job is not over. I wish it were. But I know that we need more years to strengthen and to stabilize the city. The easy way, perhaps, the sensible way, perhaps the sane way, would be to call it a day, wish our city good fortune, and begin, with Joan, to finally, seriously enjoy the time that we have left together in good health. It’s tempting. And yet, yet there is hard work ahead, but a job has to be done. Experience is a critical ingredient. Courage is necessary, and integrity is the bedrock. I’ve long believed, and, I think, many in this room believe, that if you want to achieve something important, there is no shortcut. There is no free lunch in life. And that doesn’t mean it’s bad or harsh; those are just facts. You get what you give. And if you don’t give anything, you’re not going to get anything.
And so because I believe in this city, and because I love the people of this city, there can be only one decision. I am yours, if you want me, for two more years. [Applause] We will continue, for two more years, a government of integrity where those who would plunder our city will have no access to the decisions of our government. [Applause] We will continue, for two more years, cleaning, planting, and building, in every neighborhood of Springfield. [Applause] We will continue, for two more years, hiring people on the basis of competency rather than cronyism. [Applause] And we will continue, for two more years, to do everything we possibly can to strengthen our schools and to lead our children into a better tomorrow. [Applause]
Let me just explain one thing. There are different forms of local government. There’s a strong mayor-council system. There is a city manager-council system. And in a few places, which have gone astray, you end up with a control board system. And in that control board, there’s two local officials, the mayor ex-officio, and the president of the city council ex-officio, and three people from someplace else, who supposedly are, in most instances, immune from local pressures, and they have the deciding vote. And so, it’s a unique form of government. I feel it’s similar to really being on a trip—you’re on a trip, and this city is on a trip, in a different, and a strange and unusual environment. And we’ve been in that environment now for some three years. My expectation is that within this third term, if I am given that privilege, that sometime in that term, probably in the latter part of it, we will return, as a community, to our old environment of mayor-city council government.
Let me tell you that this return trip will be complex and delicate. I led the movement to our present Plan A government 48 years ago, and since that time, I’ve been elected five times as the mayor of this city for a total of ten years. I believe I know the perils, and the challenges, and the difficulties of getting from where we are today back to our old form of government, and making it work. I was on the control board when this journey started. I’ve been at the wheel for three years. I know all of the sensitive and intelligent moves that I believe have to occur if we are to be successful. And I believe that with that kind of experience, I am uniquely qualified to bring our ship to safe harbor sometime in the latter part of 2009. [Applause] And wouldn’t it be a shame to spend the last three years, and struggle further, and then mess it up, and not have that safe landing, not have that intelligent landing? Not realize what the pitfalls are, for those that come after us in city government, and have got to make sure that this city never falls and fails again?
This is not some sort of a blithe trip where it makes for a lot of good jokes and a lot of newspaper headlines! This is serious business! We’re running a city of 150,000 people! And I am struck by the men and women all over Western Massachusetts who come to me with a heavy face, and say, "Do you realize the impact that you’re going to have on this Western Massachusetts area if Springfield fails?" We are the job engine, certainly of the Valley, with 65,000 jobs a day, 30,000 of them in the surrounding communities; those people come in, and we are the first or second employer of every single city and town, and there are seven of them that border Springfield. So there’s an awful lot of eggs in this basket, and I don’t know how long the business community can be patient with a city, if it shows that it just can’t get its act together. So this is serious, and extremely difficult prospects that we face.
Let me say this in closing: this has been a sublime adventure for Joan, and for me, because I am really a part of a partnership. It’s not that Joan sits in on cabinet meetings, like some people who are running for president say they’re going to do, but I can tell you there is no way I could do this, there is no way I could succeed; there is no way I’d do much of anything except sit on a park bench, if I didn’t have her trust, and her companionship, and her bright smile. [Applause] You, and so many others, have given me your trust, and indeed, your hearts.
I’m strengthened and uplifted daily, many times a day, as a matter of fact, by kind words, kind gestures, thoughtful things being said, several people today told me, in several different meetings, I pray for you every day. I can’t believe it, but it happens. And so, for a man who’s been around for a long time, as I have, and who cares about our form of government, and the fact that it’s gotta work, with really a passion, and who has always kept the faith as to the preciousness of democracy, your support, your consistent support, is a dream come true.
We, my friends of Springfield, are no longer sailing on the Titanic. The good ship Springfield is now headed for a bright horizon. Our mission together is to lift up this vulnerable city, with its vulnerable, beautiful people, in this Valley of ours, and redeem it, for a new period, and a long period, of success, stability, and honor.
It will take every single one of us, and ten times more than every single one of us, working together. I’m ready. I know you are. Let’s get to work. God bless you all.
–end transcript
Before the speech, Pastor Wesley had offered a prayer, and Rico Daniele of Mom & Rico‘s offered up a plaque emblazoned with the "top five mayors of Springfield" award. "We’ve had 52 mayors since 1852," Daniele said. "In fifth place: Robert Markel, Mary Hurley and Richard Neal tied for fifth place," Daniele announced, to some laughter from the audience. "Fourth place: Daniel Brunton, 1946 to 1957. In third place, he was our first mayor of Springfield, 1852 to 1853, Caleb Rice. He was our first mayor."
Daniele pronounced Rice’s first name as in the first part of the word "celebrity." There were titters of laughter in the audience, and then a few people called out the name, "Caleb!" Daniele then corrected himself, spelled out the name, "C-E-L-E-B," then begged forgiveness: "I’m a salami slicer." (Perhaps the name is misspelled on the plaque?)
He continued, "Second place: one of my idols, also, Emerson Wight, 1875 to 1878. I grew up at Emerson Wight playground."
"And our first mayor, of all time, in the city of Springfield, started in 1962: Charles V. Ryan, to ’68, to 2004, to 2007 and beyond—we’ll know tonight, I don’t know—so the best mayor of all time in the city of Springfield is Charles V. Ryan." There was applause.
"Thank you all for making Springfield a better place to live," Daniele quoted from the plaque, "Donated by Mom & Rico’s, playbocce.com, and there’s a movie coming out," and here the audience laughed some more, "called ‘Bocce Bella.’ Stay tuned. I could use some extras. Thank you very much."
