On Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 11 a.m. Mayor Martin J. Walsh will gather with Ambassador Flynn and his family at the Marine Park in South Boston to name the facility in honor of the former Boston mayor and ambassador to the Holy See. The ceremony will take place at 660 Summer Street, in the South Boston Seaport District . Flynn served as mayor of Boston from 1984-1993 and as US Ambassador to the Holy See from 1993-1997.

“Naming this facility for Ambassador Flynn is symbolic of so much of what he has fought for every day over a 45-year career in public life,” said Francis J. Doyle, co-chair of the city commission that recommended the honor for Ambassador Flynn. “He is a lifelong South Boston resident who built a reputation in Boston and around the world as a bridge builder, the champion of working families, of bringing people together across divides of race, opportunity and nationality. Everybody counts in Ray Flynn’s Boston. Whether you arrived here yesterday or many generations ago, upholding the dignity and respect of all was the guiding principle. He continues the good fight today for social justice and religious freedom.”
The Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park will comprise the current Marine Industrial Park, owned by the City’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation (EDIC). It is a 191-acre site. Formerly an Army/Navy base, the site was nearly empty and abandoned until the property was granted to the EDIC between 1977 and 1983 In their report to Mayor Walsh and City Councilor Bill Linehan making recommendations for ways to honor Ray Flynn, the Flynn Commission said,
“The Park is about what the Flynn Administration was about: economic development that creates jobs. It is now home to over 200 businesses and more than 3,000 employees. It supports major seafood processing and wholesale companies. They join the Boston Design Center; ad agencies; research organizations; life sciences; and clean-energy companies in the bustling Raymond L. Flynn Marine Industrial Park. Given all that Ray Flynn stands for, we can think of no more appropriate place for the Flynn name to stand.
Raymond Leo Flynn was born & raised in South Boston, the Irish-American son of a union longshoreman and a cleaning lady. He graduated from South Boston High School and won All-America honors in basketball at Providence College. He was drafted in 1963 by the NBA Syracuse Nationals in the fourth round. He was the last player cut by the Celtics in 1964. At the Celtics 1986 world championship celebration at City Hall, Red Auerbach told the crowd jamming the Plaza, ''If I didn't cut Ray Flynn, he might still be with us and K. C. Jones would have been the Mayor.”
Flynn served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1971 to 1979 and on the Boston City Council from 1978 to 1984. In 1983 he Flynn won the mayoralty in what most observers see as one of the most historic mayoral elections in Boston. In the final election Mr. Flynn and Melvin H. (Mel) King conducted an electoral contest in which they modeled racial tolerance as much as they fought very hard to get elected. Mayor Flynn went on to make the building of bridges across communities and classes his signal initiative.
"Boston has for too long been a house divided against itself. . . our resolve now is to bind old wounds, put the memories behind us, and carry worthwhile lessons into the future,” Mayor Flynn announced in his First Inaugural. An editorial in the Bay State Banner in 1985 indicated that Mayor Flynn had delivered on the promise. "But that (racial conflict) may be history now. True to his word, the new mayor, Ray Flynn, has made dramatic moves to bring the city together."
Flynn is known for building social and economic bridges that linked a prosperous downtown to affordable housing, jobs, and other opportunities for better lives in every neighborhood. The mayor earned wide national recognition and many awards for his leadership on reducing homelessness and ensuring quality housing and health care for homeless individuals and families. The City partnered with community development corporations, unions and other like-minded organizations to develop affordable housing across the city.