The Jamaica Plain Gazette checks in with a 2,200-word article on Mayor Thomas Menino: Spending 90 minutes chatting in one of the city’s neighborhoods, Menino was clearly in his element. Picking up a bottle of water that had been damaged so that the cap was bent to one side, Menino joked, “It’s leaning to the left. It’s Jamaica Plain water.” But in emphasizing the importance of one-on-one contact, Menino was dismissive of concerns about government transparency raised by his opponents and most of this year’s City Council candidates—even when the secrecy issues were indisputable ones encountered by the Gazette itself. He also talks about the Harbor Islands, and how one of them could be an economic engine.