September

For the past three weeks everyone has been busy. Neighborhood organizations are throwing welcome-back parties and holding meetings, confident that people are back in town.
Kids gather again at bus stops. They carry backpacks and sports equipment, looking determined and full of anticipation for what their school day holds. The BPL has begun homework-helping sessions. Sunday schools have started up. Youth soccer is in full swing in all the downtown neighborhoods.
City workers are visible. They were out sweeping the streets after the September move-in day. Later they were fixing lights. The mechanical street sweeper last Wednesday went over my street several times. This attention to detail may not seem unusual today. But when I moved here the Public Garden was in shambles, street sweeping was haphazard and I rarely saw a city worker doing anything. It’s a dramatic change to have people working hard to keep Boston in good shape.
The fall schedule is full. The Esplanade Association is holding its annual Moondance on September 23. The Boston Athenaeum is hosting Nancy Schon, the sculptor of the 30-year-old ducklings in the Public Garden, at 1 p.m. on October 23. She will talk about her new children’s book, Make Way for Nancy: A Life in Public Art. The symphony, the Huntington Theatre and the ART, as well as smaller performing groups, begin their seasons.
The number of people who actually leave town in July and August is possibly over-stated. Nevertheless those who stay in the city in summer apparently don’t like to be bothered with schedules. So we make up for lost time in September.
A friend said she had not been looking forward to the summer ending. But now that she was back in town she was enjoying the energy. “It’s so much fun to be back,” she said. (She is one of the people who does go away.)
In some ways September is the best month of the year. It’s the energy, but also the weather—usually sunny and warm, with a nip in the air that requires only a light sweater. Everyone seems happy. We’ve got both the Red Sox and the Patriots to entertain us. Tourists are still around to add vitality and a mix of languages.
We can still dine outside. The farmers’ markets are at their best. Cauliflower comes in dozens of colors. The tomatoes are the tastiest they will ever be. The arugula I bought at Copley Square one Friday was still edible 10 days later because it must have been picked the morning I bought it.
The river and the harbor are still open for kayaking, sailing, rowing and commuting. The docks still hold those large private yachts that, with their dark windows and sinewy lines, look like they belong to drug dealers.
This fall has many matters to entertain us.
The mayoral election is coming up. One question. Will Marty Walsh this year campaign on Beacon Hill as he did not do four years ago? C’mon, Marty. You know Beacon Hillers didn’t like your cheap handicap ramps that break as soon as they are installed. They insulted the disabled, as if they weren’t good enough for something that lasts. While Beacon Hill leaders proposed a long-term solution respectful of that community—that they would pay for—you stuck with your low-priced plastic spread. But even Beacon Hillers have interests beyond ramps and might like some of the other things you’ve accomplished. Don’t be shy.
We’ve also got Amazon for our leaders to go nuts over, trying to persuade Jeff Bezos that Suffolk Downs, with its two Blue Line stations, is just what he needs. Jeff may say to our leaders, “You call this transit? I want a 21st-century system—new, clean trains, a rail connection through both North and South Stations so my South Shore employees can get to work, trains to the South Shore down to the Cape and to the north into New Hampshire, and a comfortable, fast Silver Line that doesn’t require drivers to leave their seat to manually change from electric power to diesel. How can I put my innovative company in a region so behind the times?”
I could be wrong. He may not say that, depending on how sweet the pot is and how dazzled he is by our universities and hospitals, which our promoters claim are unmatched. If he passes on Boston, will our leaders have learned something about our still-19th century T?
So enjoy this fall. It lasts until December when we go into the holiday season. Then winter is only three months long. By April we’ll again be enjoying flowers, a few warm days and that gorgeous season called spring.