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Hub legends lend luster to DNC effort
11 join campaign to showcase city for convention They made their names on the parquet of Boston Garden, amid the majestic brick and plaster of Symphony Hall, or in the labs and lecture halls of Harvard and MIT. Now, 11 highly successful people who achieved prominence in Greater Boston are coming together for the city in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention. The honorary cochairmen of the "Celebrate Boston 2004" marketing campaign are ready to lend their fame to a convention and a city in search of image makeovers. "This city has evolved terrifically and is probably the most progressive city in the country," said Bill Russell, the Boston Celtics legend who was critical of Boston's racial climate during his playing days of the 1950s and 1960s. "This is a good way for the rest of the country to develop a new respect for the city of Boston." Russell and the other cochairmen will appear at public events starting the Fourth of July, and in advertisements that will appear in local newspapers and on local broadcast outlets starting in June. Most of the events are still coming together, but Mayor Thomas M. Menino and his designees at the convention host committee are promising a monthlong "community celebration" designed to showcase Boston to the world and sell the convention to a still-skeptical Boston. "We have a couple of audiences who are going to form an opinion of Boston: media and opinion leaders from around the world, and also, more importantly, ourselves," said Chris Gabrieli, who is heading up marketing efforts for Boston 2004, the host committee. "The spotlight will be on Boston, and all the more so because one of our own will be taking center stage to accept the nomination," he added, referring to Senator John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. While the campaign has been in the works for months, it is being announced at a crucial time for the convention. Organizers have been beset by a series of negative headlines, including stalled fund-raising, labor unrest in the city, and predictions of traffic nightmares. The Secret Service announced last week that it would order North Station and Interstate 93 closed down for major portions of the convention, moves that will inconvenience nearly 1 million commuters. In addition, convention planners have come under criticism for not adequately involving members of the minority community early in the organizing process. Horace Small of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods in Roxbury said their outreach has improved greatly, but said the real question will be whether contracts and jobs related to convention spending go to minorities. "They listened to people, and they're trying to correct it," Small said. "It's an improvement, but what we need to see though is the jobs and the resources brought into this community." Yesterday's announcement was made at the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Roxbury, which is planning neighborhood tours to highlight historical sites in the area. Along with events being planned by several medical facilities and colleges and universities, Citizen Schools is planning an event at the Children's Museum with indoor and outdoor activities for kids. The month will be capped by a gala public event on City Hall Plaza -- possibly featuring a free concert -- on Sunday, July 25, the day before the four-day convention kicks off. Menino called on businesses, community groups, and nonprofit organizations to put together their own events that tie into the themes of citizenship, diversity, creativity, and innovation that are being touted by Boston 2004. "Celebrate Boston 2004 is a real great opportunity for everyone to take part in the excitement of this convention," Menino said. The list of cochairmen is light on A-list celebrities. But what the group lacks in star power it more than compensates for in brainpower. It includes Nobel Prize-winning scientist Walter Gilbert, African-American studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., world-renowned cancer doctor Judah Folkman, and Tim Berners-Lee, who wrote the "HTTP" computer language -- Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- and is credited as inventing the World Wide Web. From the corporate world, Monster.com CEO Jeff Taylor and Liberty Mutual chairman and chief executive Edmund F. Kelly join former Fidelity manager Peter Lynch -- a veteran of TV commercials -- as cochairmen. Also among the group are Linda Mason, cofounder of the day-care provider company Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, and longtime community leader Frieda Garcia. "Celebrate Boston 2004 offers us a unique opportunity to show the world why we all love living and working in the city," Lynch said. The ad campaign is being designed for free by Arnold Worldwide Partners Inc. and Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc. All of the major local broadcast and cable stations have joined The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald in promising free advertisements for the campaign. Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company. © Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company |