and condom distribution as a city councilor, both of which were aimed at preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Menino's support for condom distribution included supporting distribution in schools. In his role as Ways and Means Committee chairman, Menino advocated for increasing the funding of AIDS programs. In 1988, Menino authored a 5-point plan outlining steps to stop the spread of AIDS among users of intravenous drugs, including use of needle exchanges, community health vans, street outreach workers, and increased drug rehabilitation facilities. Menino sponsored a study by municipal government of homelessness. Menino also advocated as a city councilor for the Boston City Hospital to be reorganized. Acting mayoralty In March 1993, President Clinton nominated Mayor Flynn to be the United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Mayor Flynn accepted the nomination, effectively making Menino, who was President of the Boston City Council at the time, the presumptive future acting mayor. Menino had had a longtime friendship with outgoing mayor Flynn. However, their relationship was noted to have become somewhat terser during the period in which Flynn was preparing to hand over the office to Menino. One cause for their rift was that, after Menino had promised he would appoint 100 new police officers when he took office, Flynn beat him to the chase and did so himself, which angered Menino. Upon Flynn's resignation on July 12, 1993, Menino became acting Mayor of Boston until the upcoming November 1993 election. He was the first Italian American to lead the city. Some initially saw Menino as likely to be a sort of "caretaker" of the office, with Brian McGrory of The Boston Globe writing at the start of Menino's acting mayoralty, that to some, "Menino is believed to be a caretaker, a known quantity, a moderate compromise builder who is unlikely to bring great change or wreak serious harm on the city." McGregory also reported that some of Menino's City Council colleagues believed that Menino had an undistinguished legislative record as a city councilor. During his acting mayoralty, Menino temporarily appointed Alfreda Harristo to fill a vacancy on the Boston School Committee. After Harristo cast the decisive vote in the Boston School Committee's rejecting of a teacher contract proposal, the Boston Teachers Union sued, questioning Menino's powers as acting mayor to make such an appointment. A judge dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing. In early August 1993, Menino signed a grant