Boston 2024 Olympic Bid Promo Video (Medford, Orange: apartments, promotional, college dorms)

[Flashpoint922]

Watch 2024 Boston Olympic Bid Promotional Video

There is the link for the promotional video for Boston to host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games. What are your thoughts on it? I know people I've talked to personally think it's a stretch and that our infrastructure couldn't handle it. On the other hand, some people think it would bring much-needed economic and cultural boosts to our great city. Remember, Boston is considered to be an Alpha- Global city on the same wavelength as Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Munich, Prague, Atlanta, Melbourne, Barcelona etc. So could we pull it off?

[pennyone]

No, sorry.

[Cliff Clavin]

Bring it!

[Flashpoint922]

Originally Posted by pennyone

No, sorry.

Wanna elaborate why not?

[jayrandom]

Will we win the US bid? Probably not. Even if we did win the US bid would we actually be awarded the Olympics? Probably not. If both of those things happened could we successfully host the Olympics? Sure. Of course we could.

Should we? No. Our money is better spent on something else or returned to taxpayers. And the benefits are extremely dubious. How exactly will hosting a two-week sporting contest bring long-lasting economic and cultural boosts to our area? There may be a slight bump in name recognition, but is that really important?

[Dport7674]

It's been proven that the Olympics don't do much for the local economy, and Boston already has a good reputation and is well known. Boston's one of those cities that everyone is fond of, even for those who have never been there.

Otoh, I don't live in Boston, soooo...What do I know?

[Parsec]

If we won the bid that would be awesome. It will force us to improve our infrastructure. Look at what it did to Atlanta in 1996. The city was forced to build several new train stations and a new spur which added miles of new tracks. The Olympic village used to be a wasteland of gang activity and homeless people. Now it's a very trendy and expensive place to live in the city.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint922

Watch 2024 Boston Olympic Bid Promotional Video

There is the link for the promotional video for Boston to host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games. What are your thoughts on it? I know people I've talked to personally think it's a stretch and that our infrastructure couldn't handle it. On the other hand, some people think it would bring much-needed economic and cultural boosts to our great city. Remember, Boston is considered to be an Alpha- Global city on the same wavelength as Buenos Aires, San Francisco, Munich, Prague, Atlanta, Melbourne, Barcelona etc. So could we pull it off?

Why on earth would they expect our infrastructure to remain "as-is" if we were awarded the Olympics? Just about every city that wins the Olympics makes major infrastructure improvements to accommodate the event. Moreover, places like Atlanta and Salt Lake City don't have nearly the existing infrastructure that Boston does and they've both hosted Olympics. Of the other cities in the U.S. nominated, only D.C. has better multimodal transit infrastructure already in place. Boston could pull it off with its existing infrastructure, but there would definitely be significant improvements if Boston won and you can bet the Olympic Committee is very well aware of that.

My favorite part of the potential Olympic bid is that I think it would force the region to make some much needed infrastructure improvements. For example:
1) Red/Blue Line connection at Charles/MGH (Run the Blue under Cambrdige from Bowdoin)
2) The Green Line Extension (will be done anyway, apparently) to Medford
3) updated trains on Red/Blue/Green/Orange
4) Urban Ring transit (at minimum, a Bus Rapid Transit route ringing the city center... preferably light or heavy rail)
5) upgrade the Silver Line from South Station through the Seaport to light rail (the tunnels were designed for this anyway) as the Seaport is the fastest growing neighborhood and is without major transit links
6) South Station expansion and electrification of all commuter rail lines (this will improve speeds and headways)
7) Commuter Rail Line upgrades (minimize at-grade road crossings to improve speed and safety, double tracking in places, etc.)
8) SOME direct linke between North/South Stations... either a surface trolley/tram along the RK Greenway, or go all out and complete a North/South Rail Link.

Completing even a handful of those upgrades would significantly improve our transportation infrastructure and make the city more appealing as an Olympic host. They'd also improve our transportation situation for a long time to come as well. Infrastructure improvements are one of the biggest "pluses" for submitting a bid.

That being said, the economic "benefits" are often minimal and don't match the enormous costs. Tourism boosts, especially for established cities like Boston are not necessarily long-lasting or as big as anticipated. Places like Sydney and Athens went all out and lost big. It's not sustainable to spend billions on massive complexes only to have them rot after two weeks of use. Most cities are catching on after the disasters that are Rio, Sochi and Athens.

Boston needs to follow London's lead and incorporate existing infrastructure (our stadiums and dorms could save us a fortune in creating new venues and residences for the Olympics) and only build new venues that can easily be converted and used for every day purposes once the Olympics are over (i.e. Olympic village that converts to market rate apartments, a stadium that can be partially deconstructed and used for our local MLS team or as an upgraded college facility).

If the IOC wants everything shiny and new, Boston should tell them to shove it. If they're willing to play ball (as the were with London) and allow the city to use some of the existing venues and build only what is currently unavailable, then Boston could be a good candidate.

Those who are saying that it's "unlikely" that Boston will get the nod shouldn't be so certain. Boston is seen by the USOC as one of the favorites (along with DC and San Francisco). DC's mid-summer heat and San Francisco's lack of buildable space as well as worse transit infrastructure put both of those cities at a disadvantage. The IOC and the USIOC are very impressed with how Boston handled the Marathon Bombings and a city's ability to handle terrorist threats and attacks is a major, major factor in the decision. I would not be in the least bit surprised to see Boston selected as the U.S. candidate for the Olympics.

Personally, I'm lukewarm on the idea. I really like the thought of major transit infrastructure upgrades. I would support it ONLY if there's a way to incorporate existing venues (Fenway, TD Garden, Harvard Stadium, etc., college dorms, etc.) instead of spending billions to build everything new.

[nepatz11]

This is a great idea do it. Trust me, if they didn't know Boston had a great shot, they wouldn't have come this far. I know some people are well connected, and all the insiders think Boston has a great shot for the United States bid.

[Taajsgpm]

Makes good sense Boston is the city of Champions , it would perfect and long overdue