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A 'secure perimeter' would enclose much of Franklin Park for the horsey set and athletes with 19th-century military training
By adamg on Thu, 01/22/2015 - 7:29pm
White Stadium entrance might need a bit of paint.
The Boston 2024 organizers have proposed using Franklin Park for equestrian events and for the pentathlon, a sport whose athletes run, ride horses, swim, shoot a gun and fence each other, in emulation of the skills that might be needed by a 19th-century European soldier behind enemy lines.
White Stadium would host some equestrian events - dressage and jumping - and part of the pentathlon. According to Boston 2024, the city has promised to refurbish the little used facility, which could seat 10,000 spectators.
The equestrian cross-country race and part of the pentathlon course would run over the golf course, which would also be covered with stands and video monitors for spectators.
A Boston 2024 map shows a "secure perimeter/fence line" (in red) for the equestrian cross-country race surrounding both the stadium and the golf course:
Guess the uprights will have to go:
Well, they've got the lanes all set for the running part of the pentathlon:
Athletes would get to the park by way of a dedicated Olympians-only lane on Columbia Road from the athletes village on Columbia Point. Spectators, Boston 2024 says, could take the Orange Line or the Fairmount, Franklin or Needham commuter-rail lines. The report does not specify which stop they would get off at, however.
Neither Shattuck Hospital nor the Franklin Park Zoo would be directly affected by the events, although people who normally go to the zoo by driving through the park would have to find another way to go, since Jewish War Veterans Drive between the stadium and the golf course would become part of the Olympic venue.
Stick some horse heads on these guys atop one stadium entrance and they'll fit right in:
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Comments
I'm starting to like the Olympic idea
I ate lunch with a view of Fenway today and started liking the Olympic idea. Or a modification of it. Don't build anything. Have the opening/close at Fenway. (The Sox can play in Pawtucket for a month.) Have every event at a stadium already built. Put the athletes in BU/NEU/BC dorms. Let everyone else duke it out over the existing hotels. Let them swim in the Mystic. Rafting can be in the Muddy River once it's daylighted outside Landmark center. Cycling in the Cyclorama.
Horses? Go rent someone's barn in Weston.
Done and done. A no cost, no build olympics. I'm on board.
NEU has classes during the
NEU has classes during the summer because of being a COOP school.
Fenway Park is waaaaay too small for an Olympic stadium.
The Muddy River even if it is fully restored by the Army Corps of Engineers in time isn't wide enough for the competitive events.
What groups are around Boston for folks interested in horses?..
What groups are around Boston for folks interested in horses?... riding?... or caring for horses?...
There are barns, stables,
There are barns, stables, elite competition barns and a rich history of foxhunting all throughout Boston and Eastern MA...
Yes, just simply send the Sox
Yes, just simply send the Sox to Pawtucket for a month. That'll make season ticket holders happy.
Apart from the fact that
Apart from the fact that there's no "rafting" in the Olympics, your idea is, um, brilliant...I guess...
(and yes, I get it, you were
(and yes, I get it, you were joking...but really, "rafting"?)
Whitewater Slalom
Whitewater slalom. Happy now?
Dedicated lane?!
If they really want to capture the spirit and tradition of Boston, make the athletes sit in traffic and take 45 minutes to go 4 miles. Maybe have some cabs cut them off for good measure.
Something of a tradition
Finally something our taxi
Finally something our taxi drivers could be good at!
You have sold me
On the pentathlon.
Run, swim, shoot, fence, and ride horses. It sure does make the biathlon seem lame.
It's called the Modern Pentathlon
Because nothing says modern like fencing and horse riding.
Well, it was modern
When they came up with it in 1912.
Coincidentally the year they built the Bear Cages!
Maybe we just need to add some bear-related event?
Indeed.
Indeed. It's only a century old, as Adam says, but it's a simulation of an idealized day in the life of a Prussian cavalry soldier. They need to drop "modern" and pick up "Napoleonic" as a qualifier. A true Modern Pentathlon for the Boston games would be more like running, shooting, banging a U on Mass Ave at rush hour, filling in forms, and Halo.
Filling In Forms?
How about robbing a bank, banging the U, biking just about anywhere, shooting, and installing a new operating system?
Let's make this exciting
19th c. Military skills? Major omission there. Let's get some reenactors from the mass 54th or something to shoot cannons at the pentathletes while competing. Now that would be exciting.
Seems to me these skills are
Seems to me these skills are pretty current in Afghanistan.
I thought there would be no expense to the taxpayers
Paid for by whom?
About that ...
Boston 2024 has always said it will rely in large part on public expenditures that were going to be made anyway, such as all those new Red and Orange Line cars the state's planning to buy. Just because you and I were unaware of a White Stadium renovation project doesn't mean it wasn't already in the works (in my case, I don't cover BPS anywhere near as well as I should).
White Reno
This actually was in the works prior to Boston2024
http://www.franklinparkcoalition.org/white-stadium-renovation/
It's an actually worthwhile Fish project.
Not only was it planned, but
Not only was it planned, but they were supposed to start already! Last summer, as I recall. But it was delayed for "unspecified reasons," winkwinknudgenudge.
TBH that was when I began to think all that noxious Olympics scuttlebutt was for real.
BPS
If Boston Public Schools is spending money to refurbish stadiums to Olympic quality then either the system is a whole lot better then I had given them credit for or it would seem they have a hard time with priorities.
But point well taken; a lot of these projects will suddenly find funding for "the good of the Commonwealth" with absolutely nothing at to do with the Olympics.
Excuse me while I punch my computer repeatedly
First: I want to know what the plans are for the pederastastic friezes on the outside of Schoolboy Stadium.
Second: I knew those bastards wanted the Bear Cages! I knew it! Sure, they'll leave some of it, but they won't let expensive horses skirt that uneven land and rusty fencing. I bet all the metal gets yanked out of there before winter is up.
Third: 10,000 people in the Stadium? How, exactly, can they fit 10,000 people in that tiny stadium without risking an STD epidemic? They seriously want us to believe they aren't going to rip down the stadium?
Fourth:
Sweet jeebus, do they have any idea what they're talking about? Or do they think we're stupid?
Why yes, it is a 25+ minute, largely uphill, 1 +/- mile walk from Jackson, a slightly shorter but extremely uphill walk from Green or Stony Brook.
In the summer.
And it's not a walk AT ALL from Forest Hills-- over a mile and a half, with some of it without sidewalks. So buses...
...or a MONORAIL!!!
will have to run up Seavern or Pierpont.
I run the Franklin Park perimeter, well, clumsily jog it, and I consider my walk up Montebello Road to be my warm-up.
Forest Hills
Mea culpa. The proposal doesn't actually specify which stop they're thinking of, just that the venues are "within walking distance" of the lines. I assumed Forest Hills because it mentioned the three commuter-rail lines, which stop there. Yeah, Forest Hills would be kind of nuts for the subway, but then, it would also be for commuter rail for the same reasons. Changing that section to be vaguer, now.
No apologies necessary...
...because the idea that everyone can walk from any of the other stations, besides Forest Hills, is also ludicrous. It won't be a problem for folks in good shape. But since most observers don't have to actually be athletes themselves, it's slightly nuts to think everyone can tromp up Montebello or Green Street, in the middle of the summer no less. If for no other reason than to make it more handicapped accessible, they will have to run shuttles.
Or build a MONORAIL!!!
Sorry, mom, the mob has spoken
Well, sir, there's nothing on earth like a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car Monorail!
Monorail?
Monorail!
That's really more of a
That's really more of a Shelbyville idea.
Update: Forest Hills
I'm looking at the transportation plan now, and it lists Forest Hills as the Orange Line station people would be expected to use to get to the Franklin Park venues; says it's a mile away.
Idiots.
Idiots.
Only the Needham Line stops at Forest Hills
The Franklin and Providence Lines pass by the station but don't stop there. I suspect substantial construction would be needed to make Forest Hills a station on the through line, if it can be done at all.
The Fairmount Line is a possible way for people to get to Franklin Park (with a fair amount of walking), but it doesn't go through Forest Hills at all.
it'll be a walk in the park.
not a bad mile long walk, though - especially if the road is closed to cars. maybe there will be hubway stations. Hell, I'll shuttle people back and forth on my cargo bike for a small fee. rickshaws!
You should run from Forest Hills
My route is Rozzie Square to Forest Hills, then up to the rotary, then on to the typical running route via the Shattuck. The only real hills I face are Schoolmaster and over by American Legion, but the approach is not that tough. I have gone downhill from White Stadium to Green Street, and I did appreciate that I didn't go up it. Still, you know that there will be shuttle buses for the events.
But that's neither here nor there. This could be seen as something that the George White Fund would be used for. I suppose the question would be how nice will the new stands be. But yeah, if they tear down rather than pull some kind of Soldier Field type rehab, good architecture will be lost.
They will not take our bear cages!!
Over my dead, bear-cage loving body.
It's just a stretch of the
It's just a stretch of the leg from Egelston.
But there's no T station in
But there's no T station in Egleston.
Really next thing you will
Really next thing you will tell me the trolleys are gone from there too...
Spectators, Boston 2024 says,
Ahem, only the Orange and Needham lines stop at Forest Hills. The commuter rail platform is located outbound from where the Needham line splits from the corridor, and Fairmount trains don't even use the corridor!*
Between this and the erroneous new branch of the Green Line up Cambridge St, I'm starting to get the feeling that no one working for Boston 2024 knows anything about the T.
* Although Four Corners / Geneva is about equidistant to Forest Hills from Franklin Park.
EDIT: And of course right after I post this I see you've addressed it!
Yes, I was especially stupid with Fairmount
I mean, seriously, I should know that! But that leaves the Franklin Line. What stop are they thinking of? And why not the Providence/Stoughton Line while we're at it?
sucks for those who live on
sucks for those who live on green street/glen road.... but great for the boylston street iphone thieves
Will shotspotter have to be
Will shotspotter have to be shut down for that even?
Modern pentathlon uses laser
Modern pentathlon uses laser pistols, so no
Franklin Park musings
The Fairmount Line? Seriously??
People could walk from Geneva/Four Corners, but it's 6/10 mile just to the zoo entrance, and still a ways to go to the venues.
The Talbot stop is closer to Franklin Field than Franklin Park.
Morton Street?
I agree that the walk from the Orange Line stations isn't really any better.
Maybe they're working off an old map and think the Washington Street elevated is still in place. That would be convenient.
I presume that the #16 bus (which runs through the park) would be rerouted.
Does anybody know if Franklin Park or Boston Common has any landmark designation which might be used to oppose these plans?
I don't know about landmark
I don't know about landmark designations, but the Friends of the Public Garden are against the Common nonsense, at least.
Oh, yeah! I forgot to add -
Oh, yeah! I forgot to add - "Olympics-only lane on Columbia Road"??!!
I do love that the ad running
I do love that the ad running next to this article as I read it was for Perimeter Security Systems - Electric Security Fences.
Athletes would get to the
hahahahahahhahahahahahahhaha
hahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha
haahahaha
ha.
I can't wait for the Olympics to try and move the 39 permanently double-parked cars in front of that barber shop at Devon. They spawn faster than rabbits.
Any horses around Franklin Park these days?
Any horses around Franklin Park these days?... there was a small poorly maintained stable with dogs running around on the roof and emaciated horses!
The Atlanta games were
The Atlanta games were ridiculed by the international press - mostly European - as a total and typical American cluster-eff. At the end of the games, the head of the IOCC broke with tradition and did not say that 'these games were the best ever.'
And now this? This is exactly what shouldn't be done. Half-assing transportation - 'let them walk' - is the equivalent of a high price restaurant telling customers to peel their own carrots. And it is sooo typical of the Boston attitude. Use college dorms for the athletes? Today's athletes want an Olympic village, where they can meet and hook up with each other for a couple of weeks. They want luxury living, not BU dirty sock-smelling cells.
They'll get their hookup village
See the Columbia Point post for info on the all new athletes village they're proposing.
Speaking of which...
Is it too late to get the condom franchise for the Olympic Hookup Village?