A couple of weeks ago I was on vacation. I thought I would probably not be thinking much of home while I was gone. But there it was, wafting all the way across an ocean—the sound of Boston’s daily newspaper reporters’ breathless prose: The Vault is back. We are saved.

A lot of the reporters working on the story probably wouldn’t be old enough to remember the Vault. It is supposed to have been most active in the late 1950s and 1960s, but was still sputtering along though the end of the 1980s. It was composed of a bunch of old guys in the business community who reportedly got together in the vault of one of the banks that no longer exist and solved the problems of the city. At least that was the story.

Over the years the tale took on the stuff of myth. We can’t remember a thing they did—maybe they just played poker—but the resulting urban legend has them pulling strings and working the phones to secretly manage Boston. Not that they always did such a good job. The 1960s and ‘70s produced the regrettable high-rise architecture that is partly responsible for a lot of present-day Bostonians’ distaste for new towers. Those decades destroyed the old West End. And the truly terrible schools of the 1960s produced the events of 1974, tying us seemingly forever to an expensive busing scheme that prevents us from rehabbing gritty school buildings and enriching the curriculum.

As for the business community that the Vault represented? The results there too are mixed. The high tech and bio-tech industries arose mostly because of the universities and the hospitals, not the business community’s efforts. And the businesses Vault members led have all been sold to corporations located elsewhere.

The reporters covering the new Vault quickly got skeptical. This isn’t the 1950s after all. They pointed out that the new Vault comprises—you guessed it—mostly old, rich, white guys. That’s not necessarily bad, but they will need to work hard not to seem paternalistic or patronizing. There’s little representation from the small businesses that are believed to be the most promising areas for job growth, nor is there yet representation from minority communities. There’s a token woman, but more women could join over the next few months. And surely the group will include representatives from the universities at some point, since these operate like businesses and are what Boston leaders like to characterize as important economic “engines” of our city’s economy.

So while we could make fun of what on the surface seems to be an anachronism in 2010, we could also say, “Bring ‘em on,” especially if they can truly help solve problems that imperil our economic well-being.

They could start with focusing on improving the state’s large urban schools and the public libraries that educate the future workers in the new Vault’s businesses. Raising money and supporting the innovative leaders that we enjoy right now in both those systems would be a good start for their efforts.

A group such as this could deteriorate into becoming beggars for business subsidies and anti-tax brutes. But, given the makeup, I’m hoping it won’t.

They’re calling themselves the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. If they can truly form a partnership with government officials and work for all our well-being, not just their own, they’ll be a welcome addition and an entertaining group to follow as they find their way.