Top O' the Hub, Meet Tip O’ the Hub

Bostonist was happy to read today about the homage to the late, great Tip O’Neill given in the form of naming rights to the I-93 tunnel. After Romney proposed naming the tunnel system running through the city "Liberty Tunnel" to honor the revolutionary spirit of Boston and to confront the terrorist attacks we’re happy to have had a win for the Democrats. The "sneaky" legislation put into the federal highway funding bill this month is a welcome rememberance now that we can once again see the North End. Thomas P. "Tip" O’Neill Jr., who the tunnel will be named for, brought great pride to the Bay State as speaker of the house for many years. The man who is often quoted as saying "All politics is local" served in the House as the first ever Democratic Speaker of the House (who better than a Massachusetts man) and second-longest at that position. Both the North- and Southbound tunnels that travel through the Hub where the Central Artery once stood will hold his name after Bush signs the bill into law. The legislation, containing some $286-odd billion dollars of funding for highways and transit systems nationwide, includes the naming of the tunnel system thanks to a Somerville democrat, Michael E. Capuano, who quietly added the amendment to the bill while it was in the house. Bostonist thinks it might have been Michael Moore who most recently reminded us that no one in Congress actually reads the legislation they vote for (in reference to the USA PATRIOT act), so a pat on the back goes to Capuano for adding the few words under the cloak of a behemoth legislative act.

Photo from saralovering.com