At a recent public meeting on Boston’s 2024 Summer Olympic bid, an Allston resident cited the work of Andrew Zimbalist, a Smith College economist, on cost overruns that host cities […]
Olympics 2024
Posted inOlympics, Opinion, Transportation
Pride alone won’t fix things
PRIDE IS A tricky emotion. Even in ancient times, thought leaders cautioned people about the dangers of pride. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall,” is […]
Posted inOlympics, State House News Service
Boston 2024 backs state referendum
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE CHIEF BACKER of a Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics is now supporting the idea of a 2016 referendum on the bid. Suffolk Construction […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
Marty’s Games
Think of it as the Pottery Barn rule turned on its head. While he was tending to mayor-type things such as snow piles and the search for a new school […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Olympics bad news for W. Mass
THE OLYMPICS IN Boston in 2024 sounds like a grand plan. It certainly would put Boston and the Commonwealth on the international map; but, leave western Mass off the same […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Boston Olympics? Yes!
IT’S TIME TO get serious about a possible Boston Olympics – and to ensure that the benefits of such a global event are shared fairly with all. While there is […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
Is Deval worth $7,500 a day as Olympics ambassador?
Hillary Clinton charges $300,000 a speech, and that’s her special university rate. Her husband, Bill, earns about $189,000 per speech and once raked in $750,000 for a talk to a […]
Posted inOlympics, State House News Service
Patrick’s Olympic pay: $7,500 per day
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FORMER GOV. DEVAL PATRICK will be compensated $7,500 per day when he travels on behalf of the backers of a bid to bring the 2024 Summer […]
Posted inOlympics
Olympics once-in-a-century opportunity
Remarks prepared for delivery to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. As I said last month, this isn’t Loon Mountain, it’s the city of Boston. But with 100 inches of snow […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
An elephant in the Olympics financing room
There has been all sorts of talk about the costs of a Boston Olympics, with elected officials left and right stamping their feet, drawing lines in the sand, and otherwise […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download, Transportation
Blizzard burying Olympics bid?
It’s easy to forget in the mind- and finger-numbing midst of Snowmaggedon about Boston’s 2024 Olympic bid – easy to forget, that is, if you don’t pay attention to everyone decrying […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Great Scott!
MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott’s press conference on Tuesday was one of those rare moments in political life when an official just lets it rip. We in the press are […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
The real Olympics debate
EVALUATING THE COSTS as well as the benefits of hosting the Olympic Games needs to extend beyond considerations of economic or infrastructure changes. We should talk also about an even larger […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
Why I went from no to yes
IN THE BEGINNING of 2014, I was one of the co-founders of No Boston Olympics, a group of volunteers formed to oppose Boston’s Olympic bid. By December I had left […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
How about a Gateway Cities Olympics?
EVEN NAYSAYERS BELIEVE the 2024 Olympic bid is a rare opportunity to generate fresh ideas about the future of the Commonwealth. For a productive conversation, a shared understanding of priorities […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
A new Speaker-for-life?
If there is one man who is happy about the blizzard that will white-out coverage of almost any other news for the next few days it may be Bob DeLeo. […]
Posted inOlympics, State House News Service
Falchuk spearheads statewide Olympics referendum
EVAN FALCHUK, WHO waged a spirited run last year as an independent candidate for governor, is back in campaign mode, hoping to drive a statewide ballot question that would forbid […]
Posted inOlympics
Olympics numbers don’t add up
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH and representatives of Boston 2024 have made claims about levels of public support for the idea of a Boston Olympics that are not supported by the […]
Posted inEconomy
A vision for a Boston Olympics
BOSTON’S OLYMPIC BOOSTERS on Wednesday performed a rerun for the media of their winning US Olympic Committee presentation, emphasizing the close proximity of venues inside the capital city and the […]
Posted inState House News Service, The Download
Walsh’s Boston Olympics hot potato
What a difference a day makes. In 24 little hours, the prospects for a Boston Olympics have gone from full steam ahead to dubious if put to a vote. Boston […]
Posted inThe Download
Olympics fact vs. fiction
Thank goodness Boston 2024 is going to start releasing details of its bid for the 2024 Olympics this week because reporters are starting to fill in the blanks on their […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Romney, Boston 2024, and the White House
Can Boston host an event that’s the equivalent of “20 Super Bowls at once?” Mitt Romney thought so two years ago. Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston 2024 chairman Dan O’Connell told the […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Olympics a regional effort
AS ORGANIZERS AND community leaders work to put together an Olympics bid for metro Boston we need to cast our thoughts to 2124, not 2024. I support bringing the Olympics […]
Posted inEconomy
2024 Olympics campaign begins
BUSINESS AND GOVERNMENT leaders on Friday launched what appears to be a very sophisticated campaign to win support for Boston playing host to the Summer Olympics in 2024. A day […]