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Shirley Leung just can't quit the Olympics
By adamg on Tue, 06/12/2018 - 9:04pm
Will Shirley Leung ever get over the loss of the Olympics? No, of course not:
I can’t help but get wistful when I hear Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti gush about hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Those were the Games that could have been Boston’s had we not self destructed, paving the way for LA to win the bid.
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Comments
Why won't you stupid peons ever learn?
Giant mega events like this are good for newspaper sales ! They are great for wealthy, connected people to get contracts, special seating, special commissions, special travel lanes .... all paid for by the masses to the benefit of the Upper Crust.
Shirley is a bought and paid for spokesperson for us. As one of the 'good minority' she knows that she can be tolerated and even partially accepted when moving from the South End to Milton. She knows the Boston Public Schools aren't good enough for her kids....she is a staffer for the Boston Globe after all...the elite. And people in Milton wouldn't have had to pay the debt service (just like us in Brookline, Wellesley, Wayland...)
Shirley knows that giveaways to the rich, tax breaks for mega corporations, will end up with her getting a special seat or two on the adjacent bleachers of the beautiful people.
If it wasn't for that darn Chris Dempsey and that Z fellow with their darn logic, facts, and degrees in economics and understanding of history we would really have had another boondoggle on our hands full of special Massachusetts kickbacks. Silly Chris should have sold out and become one of us!
https://www.amazon.com/No-Boston-Olympics-Cities-Passing/dp/151260058X
We could have had the Olympics like Putin, or Xi, or like Rio....with all those left over wasted facilities and debt up to their eyeballs. Darn and drat.
More cocktails!
#MeToo
She's going to ban your
She's going to ban your natural gas, lawfully owned guns, straws, leaf blowers, fertilizer, pet stores with actual pets,, plastic bags, water bottles, families with more than 1 child, dogs, dancing without a permit, cars, air travel for people making less than 100k a year, non-craft beer, coffee that costs less than $3.00 a cup, Styrofoam, Italian restaurants actually staffed by Italians, smoking, mumbletypeg, parking meters which accept quarters, laundromats, affordable tickets for working and middle class people to sporting events, transfats, talk radio, devout Catholics, toilets that flush, reruns of Cheers, non-pink baseball hats, national fast food chains, bjork, gluten, seafood from restaurants other than Legals, cold tea, window air conditioners, and karaoke for the good of all 'Bostonians' whom really live in Wellesley, Weston, Lincoln, Sudbury, Newton, and Brookline.
And yet you silly simpletons remain ungrateful for the care and consideration of your betters looking out for you!
Mumbletypeg
"Don't play mumbletypeg with him, he'll steal your leg"
-David Crosby
4 Way Street
Holy shit...
n/t
Shirley Leung Moving to Globe Spotlight Team
Can you imagine?
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Mostly word order
Had we won, we'd have self destructed.
Close Shirley. Close.
Self destruction
The carnage was incredible! Gridlocked streets from morning into the night. Food rotting in trailers with nowhere to go. Residents fleeing the city. Restaurants forced to change their names. Free speech suppressed. It was awful.
How did we come to this?
Remember when newspaper columnists, whatever their political leanings, were of the people or for the people? Or at least pretended to be? From her impenetrable elitist bubble Leung is the most clueless, out of touch writer ever, and she doesn't even care.
The plot of the next Avengers
The plot of the next Avengers movie:
Iron Man collaborates with Ant-Man to use Pym Particles to construct miniaturized event venues and athletes' village (and miniaturization portals for spectators) that fit unnoticed on the mezzanine level of Courthouse Silver Line station (just up the road from Stark-Gillette world HQ)
The foreshadowing of ironic tragedy casts a pall over the opening ceremonies when the pre-miniaturized blue-bike cyclist carrying the last leg of the torch relay is denied boarding to a Silver Line bus at South Station because it's rush hour, blue bikes don't fold, the bus' external bike rack is full, and rules is rules (even if she is miniaturized and the bus is not). The intrepid cyclist prepares for a desperate trip through the Silver Line tunnel, wondering how much the ceremony will be delayed (since relative to her shrunken state, the normally one-half mile trip is something like 75 miles). Tragically, the question becomes moot when the faint glow is seen by former Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis, who's taking the T to the Olympics. The full-size Duke, ever on the alert for recyclables or garbage, sees the whispy emanation (doubtless from a carelessly disposed (and illegal in T property) cigarette). Thinking quickly, he grinds his heel into it to snuff it - saving the T from a potentially system-crippling smoke condition!
Shirley you jest
"I'm doing everything I can.
"I'm doing everything I can. And stop calling me Shirley."
Hold on...
I'm starting to think that Shirley's got an agenda.
Just confirming she hasn't
Just confirming she hasn't boarded the T in 15 years, if ever.
If our infrastructure were up to the task - and the mayor didn't sign away our first amendment rights without reading the contract - and they didn't plan on hacking down all the trees on the Common for beach effing volleyball - and the IOC weren't a cartoon mafia even by the standards of the place that practically invented corruption in America - maybe Bostonians could have mustered some cautious optimism!
But that would've involved like, effort and stuff, so... nah. Let's just shame everyone who wanted a realistic plan.
Oh, you must've missed her Red Line opus
Now that the Globe is downtown and no longer provides free parking to the lesser classes of employees, she has to take the Red Line from her Milton home. And a couple months ago, there were delays on the Red Line when she was on it, and she was all sorts of dumbfounded.
This is why
Shirley Leung's experience is a good example of why Brendan Halpin asked Governor Baker to take the T to work for a week. He refused.
Chris Dempsey on The Take at NECN, "Assessing the Troubles on the T"
Secretary of Transportation Steph Pollack
Or, you know, if it had made some kind of sense.
Despite my comments about the out-and-out negativity (never mind naked hostility) we express in "Our Fair City" towards anything non-provincial, in the end Boston and the Olympics just wouldn't have been a good fit.
And considering the demands the USOC was putting on the city just to keep the bid alive, the decision to kill it was the right one.
Still, I say to people, "If the Boston Marathon hadn't started over 100 years ago, and someone said today, 'Hey, maybe Boston should have a marathon!' that person would be ridiculed mercilessly. After all, Boston is a complete city just as it is.
Haha!
I was JUST wondering when she was going to do this again. As of this writing, 37 out of 37 comments on the Globe site are anti-Olympics.
Gotta love it. It's a person from the suburbs, living in the suburbs, whining about how "we" lost the Olympics...on purpose.
The best one
"What next, Shirley, a column doubling down on the one you wrote urging the Market Basket workers to go back to work?"
For once, a good Globe comment! Something something blind squirrels …
Comments
Shirley, like the Boston Olympics, is a subject best put to rest. The most disturbing thing about this story is that people are coming to Uhub to comment on comments in the Globe’s comment section.
Why we don't let people comment on the Globe site
One of the biggest hypocrisies I love about the Globe is how we don't allow free speech. Adam, at least, mostly allows free speech and even allows comments negative of himself. Because he is a real mensch and understands that he is not perfect and occasionally makes a minor error and is open to personal growth. Unlike President T, Shirley Leung, Jim Braudie and Brian McGrory who never think they made a mistake in their life and believe that saying "I'm sorry" or "I made a mistake" is a huge sign of weakness.
The Globe reflects this and does not allow comments critical of their policies, their agenda, the power brokers and certainly not the writers of their articles.
Being the great hypocrites that we are, we tell the people what to think, how to think it, and don't accept criticism. If you do criticize me you are a misogynistic radical right wing troll who in the interest of the greater good we will not give people that option.
That is one of the best reasons to have a paywall and to make everyone sign up to put down comments. Big Sister is watching you ! Do not look at that Woman behind the Curtain running the Globe!
#Metoo
Because newspaper comment sections have become a cesspool
And if Adam had the kind of comment volume to moderate that a major newspaper has, my guess is he wouldn't do them either.
Nope
No 'free speech' about it. It's a private website You have a right not to read or comment. No one is forcing you to comment. No one is infringing on your rights to free speech. The courts have deemed this time, and time again, in favor of the website. It's not a free speech issue at all.
Now the rest of your comment about it being a 'not so nice thing to do' and whether they should or not is up for debate.
You are correct legally
I don't at all mean to suggest that the Globe should be required to allow free speech, they are perfectly in their rights to do what they want with their website. But unlike, say, the NYTimes or UHUB, or the Herald, they closely monitor each and every comment. If anything is strongly said about their false news, biased message or incompetent writers, they will edit it out. Not because it is abusive, filled with personal insults, or inappropriate language, just because it doesn't fit into their message and might give its few paying readers something to think about.
I am saying that the Globe is no fortress of Free Speech, not that they should be forced to do anything. I think we are in agreement.
Not like I have a degree in journalism or anything ;)
Watch out there, Jimmy Fallon
You're breaking character.
Comments have nothing to do with free speech
Most people who comment on news are usually angry trolls, who will just try to be biased or racist. Nothing is stopping you from blogging with a link to an article bashing it.
I think people forget what the first amendment really means - it is about not being punished by the government. If you are a garbage person and decide the whole world should know your opinion about 'libtards' or 'darkies' or 'durn foreigners' or 'fruits' then the government cannot punish you, but the public can - and before you say your employer fired your for your free speech, most companies have a code of conduct. For example, Walgreens and CVS have in their employment contract they can terminate employment for various things, part of which is trashing them on social media.
The framers of the constitution didn't ever consider some fat tub would be typing out racist conspiracy theories with their thumbs over a coffee dahk on the way to work in the morning.
You think THAT's disturbing?
Some guy actually posted a comment commenting on people commenting on comments in the Globe's comment section!
And that's why NPR axed their
And that's why NPR axed their comment section.
Only one thing to say about that:
No comment.
I used to care about the
I used to care about the Olympics, back when it had a captive audience and I've even attended a couple with my parents(Montreal 1976 and Lake Placid 1980). I've lost interest, with the exception of hockey at the Winter Games. By saying no, Boston avoided a lot of hassle for one fortnight of sports that we generally don't care about. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to the World Cup, even taking days off to watch particular matches.
I know that hosting the
I know that hosting the Olympics would have been a huge waste of money and resources and would probably have strained Boston's infrastructure,
but
It would have been cool and exciting to have Olympic games right next to us.
Kinda/Not
I already had a family member and two old swim club friends (now coaches) dibsing my house.
If you were here during the DNC shitshow, when they made up all sorts of security theater bullshit for the MBTA and Commuter Rail but would not shut down the MIT reactor, you might think twice about what you consider "cool and exciting".
I was wondering what sport you participated in
Since actual Forrest Gump had football. Did somebody hold up a stop sign at the other end of the pool?
"actual Forrest Gump"
Actual? I hate to break it to you ...
"Shirley, Boston ain't your kind of town."
Gotta love someone who loves her previous home so much that she's making the greatest efforts to reshape her 'new' (she's been here for a few years now) home to make it more like it.
However, Leung's sense of what makes Boston great is so off base that it seems destructive itself.
In her view, what makes L.A. and New York "great" world-class cities is identical to what ought to make Boston "great".
i.e. Boston is lacking that....shall we say? that " world-class-ness". Her writing often suggests a patronizing superiority characteristic of not only transplants but of a certain economic class as well. "We get it, Shirley. We all know that you think you are an authority on these things."
"Sorry, Shirley. Maybe you should think about returning to L.A. in time for their Olympics. You'll be happier.
Boston ain't your kind of town."
Apologies to Dave Loggins
"There ain't no gold and there ain't any Olympic $ for you, Shirl.
But you're the number one fan of yourself from Milton-ee".
The Glob site sucks
Once the article finally loaded I was able to make an attempt at reading the comments. Dumb site would only show me 4 at a time and I was unable to scroll through them. Why does anyone even bother with that "news" site?
Shirley sure loves to remind
Shirley sure loves to remind people how foolish and wrong she is. The only people who benefit from the olympics are corrupt politicians and their greedy billionaire friends. It is a con to funnel tax money and other resources from the middle class to the worst of the 1%.
Actually...
...just the bid process alone was leading to about $2000 a month in freelance work for me.
My income is at the lower side of five figures, before you ask. And I have no politicians as friends.
I'll defend her
And I think that people's obsession with an effort abandoned 3 years ago speaks poorly to both sides.
But like I wrote in the subject line, I'll give her credit for this. She thought it was a good idea. She saw it as Boston's chance to be on the global stage for a few weeks. She's also right that Boston could have probably landed the games had the powers that be didn't pull the plug on the effort. Since she thought it was a good idea, she laments that Boston didn't get it when she hears the mayor of Los Angeles talk about how great it is that they are going to host the games. This is not a complex concept to understand.
Some commenters on this website throw around the phrase "world class" when talking about some failure or other in the city (ignoring that "world class" cities also have similar, if not worse, problems.) Sure, the games probably would have bankrupted us, but it also would have given us the opportunity to work on some of our failures. You need a push to get into motion, but for the likes of Leung, Boston likes inertia.
I understand your point that
I understand your point that Shirley believed that the Olympics were a good idea. I fault her for her blind allegiance to the cause despite at the very best a thin veneer of a plan if not outright misrepresentation.
I fault her for holding the repairing the MBTA hostage until the Olympic agreement was signed. Throwing out so much of what makes Boston great for the sake a dog and pony show put on by some pretty croaked operators.
Finally for those of us who have been around here for more than a few years ago, we know how political deals work in this area. For Shirley to firmly tighten her blinders in light of thoughtful questions that were raised suggests an advanced degree of synchophancy rather than the questioning mind of a columnist.
Wait
How was a columnist for the Globe keeping the T from being repaired?
You really think she's done?
You really think this won't come up again? If you really think this is done and over, I got a nice piece of tideland you might be interested in ...
Shirley is not done because Fish is not done. And Fish will keep trying year after year to promise the moon while draining away the stars from everyone around.
If Shirley can't STFU about this, then someone is planning to try again.
Or
Now that I’ve read the story, I have a theory. Because the mayor’s meetings were in Boston last week, maybe she saw the presentation on the Olympics and got curious about how things were going.
So, I guess we can blame the conference of mayors for this. That’s a large conspiracy, but whatever
World Cup 2026
Well, they announced this morning that the US (and Canada & Mexico) are hosting the World Cup in 2026. Foxboro is on the list of possible stadium sites, so there is still a chance to have a big world event right here without all the debt associated with the Olympics.
Seems like a decent trade-off.
...
Was a bad idea from the start and almost never works. But I completely would not even entertain the idea once they started talking about chopping down 100+ year old trees to get stuff through. Wish I could find the link about that.
Also, it's not like our transit even works?
The entire concept that actual beaches
are unacceptable places to host BEACH volleyball games was what got me about the Common proposal, even before I found out they were going to cut down trees to build the venue.
Time to face facts Shirley
Boston didn't need the largest McDonalds restaurant in the chain, which is apparently one of the requirements for hosting the Olympics.
Maybe we can host the World
Maybe we can host the World Cup instead? Kraft can build that new stadium then!
https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/06/13/world-cup-2026-vote-us-soccer-impac...
Cities don't host World Cup
Countries do.
The US hosted in '94.
North America will be hosting in 2026! http://www.united2026.com/
1994, not 1996
Typo
Corrected! Thanks.
If World Cup comes here, it will be to Gillette Stadium
not to any possible new Revolution stadium. They need the capacity of Gillette.
We've had the World Cup here before, in 1994, at the old (pre-Gillette) Foxboro Stadium.
The only place that Shirls is relevant
Is on the Eagan and Braude Echo Chamber of the Air. (All Boston Elites All the Time!)
And the only place that is relevant is in the Range Rovers that patrol Concord, Lincoln, Wayland and similar 'burbs.
Shirley, you lost. We won. Give it up.