AMERICANS REALLY WANT to host the 2024 Olympics. They want it more than they have in the past. They want it more than other countries do. They want it more than almost any country ever has. US cities were in the running for the Olympics twice in recent years, with 54 percent and 61 percent national […]
Olympics 2024
Posted inOlympics, The Download
When it comes to the Olympics, vote early, vote often
The ancient Greeks liked their games. And they liked their democracy, opening up the rule of law to the people in the way of votes. Here in the Athens of America, we’re looking to emulate them in all ways, apparently. There are potentially so many scenarios for voting on whether Boston should host the Olympics […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, Transportation
Boston 2024 promises a lot at ‘minimal risk’
BOSTON 2024 on Monday promised an Olympics that will produce more than 60,000 jobs, 8,000 housing units, tens of millions of new tax dollars, two new neighborhoods, and the missing link in Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace – all at “minimal risk” to taxpayers. Steve Pagliuca, the chairman of Boston 2024, said every financial projection […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Support for Boston 2024 is not too low to win Olympic bid
IT’S NO SECRET THAT BOSTON 2024 has a perception problem. The public is skeptical and the polling on Boston’s Olympic bid has been consistently ugly for the last several months. But it has been unclear how much of a drag Boston’s polling woes will be in the international race to host the Olympic Games. A […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
How Boston 2024 documents went public
The secret Boston 2024 bid documents that surfaced this week in Boston Magazine and the Boston Business Journal found their way into the public domain via a circuitous route. Boston 2024 released most of its bid documents in January after being selected by the US Olympic Committee to represent the country in the international Olympic sweepstakes. […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
What is “is” in Olympicspeak?
Well, now, this is a fine kettle of fish, as Laurel and Hardy would say. And it’s beginning to smell. The Boston 2024 people have said repeatedly and publicly that this will be a privately-funded Olympic Games with no reliance on public dollars save for security and previously planned infrastructure upgrades. The key word there […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
“Pom-Pom” Leung to the rescue
We’ll never know what the return would have been on the $7,500 a day Boston 2024 was prepared to pay Deval Patrick to shill for the Olympic bid. Let’s just stipulate that the organization is getting a whole lot more positive play — at no cost — from Shirley Leung‘s nonstop efforts on its behalf. […]
Posted inThe Download
Olympic bid suddenly more sprint than marathon
True, the final decision about what city will host the 2024 Summer Olympics is still two years away. And even the sanctioning of Boston as the US Olympic Committee’s official entry is still four months off. But don’t be fooled by those timelines. A whole lot of giddyup has suddenly been put into the pace […]
Posted inOpinion
Setting our sights on 2024
THE YOUNGEST COMPETITOR in the Boston 2024 Olympics is 6 years old today. She is just starting to be singled out as exceptional, in a gym or in a pool, in some corner of the world. Her coaches will recognize her potential today. “You have a gift,” they’ll say. Her parents will support her, waking […]
Posted inOpinion, Transportation
Here’s one problem Olympic planners can address
I RIDE MY BIKE a lot from the South End to Southie: under the Expressway (my real subject here), up to Dorchester Heights for the sweeping views (and a well-deserved rest after the climb, whew), along the beaches to the Kennedy library, Castle Island, and back. Since the last time I navigated this route with […]