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Comments
Guess someone finally asked Harvard
and Harvard said "NO!" What will they do with a 2,500 seat stadium in Dorchester after the fuss is over?
Tennis went from more than 30
Tennis went from more than 30 million players across the country in the 1970s to somewhere between 15 and 20 million today -- while the population of the U.S. has increased by 50% -- suggesting that Ms. Wiley is interested in attracting a bigger slice of an ever-shrinking pie to Dorchester.
Faulty reasoning
"ever-shrinking pie"? Says who? You show two data points; you don't show a trend, or provide any reason why it be "ever-shrinking". Tennis in the US has transitioned away from being an elite status sport, but so what? Tennis is a great popular sport, particularly in urban areas: it doesn't require much in the way of equipment (nor need it be expensive), and the courts don't take up much room.
Was tennis ever elite?
In the last 4-5 decades, was tennis ever elite? Sure, there's an elite element, but that's true for just about every sport and surely doesn't define it. You can find public courts in just about any town around.
You can now
Public courts were not as numerous, say, 30-40 years ago as they are now. More to the point, coaching was very hard to come by if you weren't a member of a private club. Nowadays, with outreach and development programs by organizations like USTA, that's changed.
Imposing an unwanted stadium
Imposing an unwanted stadium in a neighborhood where most residents wouldn't be able to afford a single ticket to the Olympic event they would be hosting. Organizers of Boston2024 are ignorant.
What are you
doing to revitalize the neighborhood?
Apart from you, who says its unwanted?
The park was originally designed for playing sports, and has had a history of integration. This would be a restoration, not an imposition.
When will our philanthropic
When will our philanthropic overlords and their sycophantic political "leaders" realize that Boston2024 is over?
Time to move this puppy to someplace that wants and needs it.
Crawford Texas has never really recovered from it's loss as the Bush vacation White House - they might enjoy the Olympics.
Let them have their fun
The IOC is never, ever, going to pick Boston. They are going with whatever city offers them the most cash and freedom and it most certainly won't be Boston.
I don't see why people get worked up over this. It's more telling of how pathetic Walsh looks in supporting something which is doomed and can only has the possibility of making him look bad.
When Boston 2024 evaporates
When Boston 2024 evaporates into the ether and he's packed the Library Board of Trustees , he Mayor can always latch onto the War on Drugs.
He already has. He said a
He already has. He said a bunch of dumb stuff last week like weed ruins lives.
IOC
Maybe the FIFA arrests have put IOC on notice.
sip sip sip
Boston2024 really should stop releasing small bits of information.. and just wait and release it all at once.
Each little 'leak' just erodes what support they have because it just makes them look bad, like they have no idea what they are doing or even how to run such an event. (or even the biggest thing, they didn't plan this at all and picked spots without ever talking to people who would have interest in such discussions such as landlords, property owners, and parks people.)
Release it all at once. Like a bandaid off a wound. It hurts a lot if it's done at once, but that's all of it.
Honestly I wish these folks would realize that they should put a fork in themselves because they are done. With a trailing 39% approval rating and sliding, it's just going to erode from here. No matter how many times they re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic as many times as they want, but the ship is still going to sink.
FREE PARKING @
Franklin Field!!
39% = Hamburg 2024!!!
The current IOC head is from Germany. There is actually enthusiasm in Hamburg and they have an appropriate space ready to use.
At this point, the USOC is just humoring the overlord and poohbah hick gaggle here, as they have blown it out of the gate with nothing but more choking on the plate.
Sounds good to me!
Sounds good to me!
The negativity here
is why I sound more and more like a supporter of this thing every day.
So, Boston2024 has proposed bringing the Olympics to a part of the city that gets overlooked 364 days a year save when something bad happens (and the one day being Carnival) and leaving a public amenity and all you guys want to do is dump on the very idea.
Like I always say, there are important things to be looked at with this whole Olympics thing, mainly in the realm of financing, but reading some of these comments, maybe Leung is not that stupid after all.
Also Adam, you missed the story of the possible resolution of the Widett Circle issue.
If you call it a resolution
Highway access to the proposed site is abysmal. I don't see why they don't just build the stadium on the waterfront property and that will solve a lot of stadium traffic and access issues as they could use ferries.
Pretty clear that it is still a land grab.
Long Island 2024?
All events on the harbor islands! IOC Officials can get exclusive marina slips or something. And if the Islands are under water by that point, oh well.
Good points
I would say that the Marine Park has decent access, considering it is opposite the Conley Terminal and closer to highway access with the possibility of rail access (and I know food barely rides the rails anymore), but the question of why they are not looking at the South Boston Waterfront for the stadium is a good one.
Probably a land grab (legit issue, as opposed to tennis in Dorchester), but could this mean the start of a move to redevelop Widett regardless of winning the games?
Worcester
Worcester has an International Airport, already built and paid for by taxpayers, operated by Massport, with virtually no regular carrier service. Put it all there. Fly the frogs, krauts and towelheads directly there and keep them out of Boston fachrissakes. Just put roller derby in City Hall Plaza and I'm good to go. Used to watch it every Saturday morning with Pixie and Freddie.
I saw some nice astroturfing shill accounts on another site
Lovely talking point they had going on.
Phooey on "negativity"
The Olympics in Boston in a lovely idea. Most people support the lovely idea of it.
Having critical thinking skills and knowledge of local history regarding big, expensive public projects, and using them to treat the stubborn lack of transparency on the financing of this one with distrust isn't negativity: it's well-earned skepticism and common-sense hugging of our pocketbooks, the way one does around thieves.
If you are cheerleading this initiative despite the current level of skullduggery exhibited by the organizers, you're not a paragon of positivity: you're a hopeless naif, a sucker who deserves to be fleeced. Let me know where you and your fellow Pollyannas are standing so I can be far away when the Olympics steamroller flattens you.
Difference between being critical and being negative
I can be quite critical of the bid. Heck, I get all hung up on the fiscal side that I forget to mention how the original bid was made on the assumption that the owners of the land where they want to put things would just up and sell it to them. That's even leaving out the transparency part.
No, being negative is taking this part of the proposal and in a knee jerk manner announcing that it is stupid. That's the difference between being critical (which is good) and being negative.
Boston2024 approval rating
By combining several handy sources, I've been able to extrapolate the following:
Boston2024 currently polling well behind The Terminator, Darth Vader, and the shark from Jaws. They're slightly ahead of Voldemort, but the margin is less than the margin of error in the poll, so statistically we're safe saying "People like the Olympic bid as much as they like the Dark Lord himself."