Is the Olympics right for Massachusetts? (Boston: home, cost of, cars)

[CaseyB]

Centennial Park in Atlanta was bombed. I don't think Boston is ready to go through something like that again.

[UKWildcat1981]

Originally Posted by metalmancpa

I think it's a bad and expensive idea. One problem already we deal with is traffic. Having a city with 3 sides instead of 4 makes for a huge traffic issue as it is. To have the Olympics would be a nightmare. Also in this economy, the costs are too much to bear IMHO. It's not laid out as a nice neat little Olympic Village. It just doesn't make sense to me. We should stick to conventions that fill up hotels. I mean we can't even get these casinos off the ground - think of the political red tape and posturing that would happen given the economic impact and everyone trying to get a piece of the pie.

Good post, I don't understand why any US City or any city for that matter would want to host the Olympics you lose billions and its a security nightmare

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Centennial Park in Atlanta was bombed. I don't think Boston is ready to go through something like that again.

But at the same point we dealt with the marathon bombing as well. The centennial park bombing was more of a right wing person that was some pro life extremist ironically.

By the time the games happen it would be 2024 I'm pretty sure we can deal with security.

[Cape Cod Todd]

By 2024 more of our infrastructure will be failing and in need of repairs.
In 2024 there will be even more traffic, more congestion and possibly more security concerns. Two terrorists shut down the city for days, a group of hippie clowns shut down 2 highways in the name of a silly cause. Imagine welcoming hundreds of thousands into the Boston area and having just one security breach/ incident and what a messs that would be. Of course that kind of terrorism and civil unrest can happen anywhere at any time and I don't think Boston has anymore NUTZ than anywhere else but in the end it is how it is handled.
Having the Olympics in Mass. would be exciting but I don't want ot be saddled with higher taxes and fees for years after to cover it. Mass. doesn't have a good record when it comes to large projects.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

Mass. doesn't have a good record when it comes to large projects.

To put it lightly...

[mdovell]

Then again there was this 2007 Boston bomb scare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the most part I would say traffic is getting somewhat better.

[Cape Cod Todd]

I just saw on the news this morning that the Boston Globe Newspaper came out and said that the Olympics in Boston will cost the city 10 million dollars.... Ten million?? that is not going to go very far for anything. If that were true I would say lets have the Olympics but I don't think 10 million will cover the cost of the porter potties!!

[mdovell]

I think they meant billion. Anything of security would be picked up by the feds. There's some other things to factor into this. By that date the MBTA will have new subway cars because the factoriy is going to be made pretty soon. Manufacturing should be totally finished by 2021.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

I just saw on the news this morning that the Boston Globe Newspaper came out and said that the Olympics in Boston will cost the city 10 million dollars.... Ten million?? that is not going to go very far for anything. If that were true I would say lets have the Olympics but I don't think 10 million will cover the cost of the porter potties!!

Meanwhile, to update the T to be operational during future snowstorms (much less Olympic sized crowds and continued deferred maintanance), it will cost at least $5 billion. With Widespread Delays, MBTA’s Long-Standing Issues Come Into Focus | WBUR

Yeah, no. If there are any silver linings to the total breakdown of transportation in the last 2 weeks (and what I assume will continue this week), it will hopefully spell the end of any Olympic ambitions.

[LeavingMA]

Nope. Great for prestige to say you have it, but to provide structures for basically two to three weeks is a complete waste of money. Most will eventually sit vacant. Or something that was more productive could have went there but instead they put some Olympic structure.