Mayor on the New Menino Community Center in Roslindale

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino spoke with Patch before the grand unveiling of the newly-named Menino Community Center in Roslindale on Monday.

Menino helped save the center when he was just a city councilor. It was called the Archdale Community Center and is located on Archdale Road in the Archdale Housing area.

"Councilor Menino spent so much time with us and taught us how the process worked and how to create a plan," said Cynthia Johnson, who was the president of the Archdale Tenants Task Force at the time. She is now the Boston Centers for Youth & Families Center Administrative Coordinator. "Once we had a plan, he went to the city council and pushed them to allocate the funding to renovate and reopen the center."

The center now has a new gym floor, new backboards, installation of a climbing wall, a new roof, HVAC upgrades, painting throughout and more, with more than $1 million going into the renovations.