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Globe business columnist to Boston: You suck, you pathetic worms
By adamg on Wed, 04/01/2015 - 6:12am
Now shut up and help poor John Fish get the Olympics and fix the T so we don't become a global laughingstock, Shirley Leung admonishes.
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Comments
Accompanying photo
I like the 'Sad John Fish' photo that accompanies her finger-wagging piece.
if Shirley, and John Fish, and Richard Davey want the Olympics so badly they should offer to fund the cost overrruns.
cost overrruns
The only topic I hear from 2024 Olympics is how much we as a city will benefit from the games being here. The prospect of paying higher taxes for decades in the future if all doesn't go as planned isn't acceptable. Please guarantee that no public money will be spent on this effort and I'll be interested. Until that happens...move along to the next city on the list!
Don't forget
There are other externalities that get pushed on the local populace.
Those include a month of unemployment checks for anyone working in the Olympic zone. The folks that set the rates that local businesses pay for unemployment insurance are already looking into increasing costs to offset that expected bump in claims.
Those also include removing businesses from areas where facilities are built, which can export jobs from the city (and ultimately reduce the tax base).
Then there are the areas where the people who see the profits are not the ones who made the sacrifices ... as in clearing moderate income and low income housing for redevelopment as luxury condos.
Except the IOC requires,
Except the IOC requires, *requires*, as part of accepting a city, that the city guarentee they (or the state) will cover cost overruns. There is literally no way the bid can guarentee no public money will be used because it would disqualify them.
Shirley you jest
Shirley you jest
The problem, dear Shirley, is that we do understand very well, and apparently the majority of us don't want the Olympics.
Furthermore, the time to build consensus was before submitting the bid, not after submitting the bid.
Understanding the Olympic Dream?
The Olympic Dream is for the athletes.
The Olympic Dream is the IOC continuing their spoiled brat lifestyle anon.
The Olympic Dream is for those who are positioned to hijack tax dollars for a huge party that we cannot afford.
For us, there is no Olympic Dream. Unless bad dreams count.
2 words
Shirley Leung = shameless tool.
I lied. More than 2 words. And not a very clever one either.
Just out of curiosity…
Has anyone calculated the exact number of days between the Globe announcing the bid and the first critical article appearing in its pages? I expect it's going to be a nice, round number.
At the time of the Globe's unified cheerleading session I joked with Mrs Wiffleball about the publisher telling the columnists that there would be a two-week period in which all negative articles would be spiked. Anyone who didn't want their job title to become "unemployed blogger" would submit at least one glowing article, including that chick who does the relationship column: "My boyfriend asked me to marry him, but I can't see spending the rest of my life with a man who doesn't see the value of bringing the Olympics to Boston…"
Not quite unified
Yvonne Abraham hasn't bought her ticket yet for the Olympic bus.
Unlike the Universal Hub
I take your postings about the Olympics and the rabid reaction of the regulars with a grain of salt, but I do think that it is hypocritical of readers here to note that a media outlet has an editorial stance on the Olympics and their coverage is slanted in that direction.
That criticism of your coverage aside and leaving the slant out, your coverage has been decent.
Thanks. Now about the difference between the Globe and UHub
Aside from the fact that they have a cast of thousands while UHub's paid staffers could (and do!) fit in a single chair in the Uhub Dining/Newsroom.
The Globe has defined sections for news and opinion. You expect the former to play things straight down the middle while the latter, you'd be disappointed if you didn't read some opinionating. UHub, obvously, is just one smush-all cornucopia of things all thrown together in a delicious stew of local happenings (hmm, do I need lunch?). I generally play it straight, but, yes, I admit my bias has been showing on the Olympics.
I didn't post about Leung's column to criticize the Globe's overall coverage (which I think has gotten much better in reflecting opposing views on the Olympics), but to take issue with her specifically, in particular, her apparent belief that opponents are just a bunch of squalling toddlers who need to be corralled into supporting the Olympics or be sent to bed without dinner. It's good that, as a columnist, she is taking a stand (even if, in my opinion, anyway, she's wrong). It's not so good she does so by insulting those with whom she disagrees. At least she's not rocking a red Jheri curl yet.
Don't be too offended
You and I both know there is a difference between news and editorials, you being a onetime employee of a fishwrapper, you know that there are editorial stances that affect news coverage. Sure, papers (or TV stations or perhaps even websites) will try to convey the news, but there is always an editorial bias that creeps in. An odd example, the Herald columnists' obsession with EBT cards is one thing, but their repeated articles on unsolved murders in Boston is a part of an urban bias they have.
That said, I only saw the part of the article on the front page (I peruse the front of the sections of the Globe at breakfast, reading the rest of the paper after work) and yes, he is writing like she is that jericurled red head over in the sports pages with her views of those who take issue with the Olympics coming to Boston.
EDIT- this is what I get for commenting before reading further comments. As shown below, I guess a lot of us see Leung as the Shank of the business pages.
Read (red) my mind:
I was going to post a comment to the effect of "Are Leung and Shaughnessy having contest to see who can be the worst writer employed on Morrissey Boulevard*?
(*for the time being...)
nope
Theres clearly a difference. The Globe stands to gain a heap from having the olympics here, but what does universal hub stand to gain by having it not here ? The chance to say told you so ? Big whoop.
Get a grip.
Way to go lumping all the "readers" together.
"but I do think that it is hypocritical of readers here to note that a media outlet has an editorial stance on the Olympics and their coverage is slanted in that direction."
Gosh....because as we all know - that NEVER happens.
Perhaps, you should re-read the columns and articles.
And if that doesn't do it, a little more salt?
You read the Olympic comments here, right?
Leung is a tool, but she has a point in the global scheme of things.
Mentioning the Olympics on this site is like waving red meat at a lion- lots of carnage. Like I said to the man, his coverage is good, but what gets posted on this website, in many ways, is the antithesis of Globe coverage, down to the editorial slant.
I thought the Uhub headline must be overstated
Then I read that Leunger of a column. Adam's got it. She says we're a pitiful, worldwide laughingstock because we haven't bowed down to the oligarchs who have a grand plan and know what's best.
Here's a hint for Shirley: this particular city does not exist as a profit-center for your billionaire pals. It exists to provide a comfortable living environment for masses of ordinary people. The Olympic project would have a serious long-term negative effect on that environment, and would not produce any real benefit for those masses. Your stupid idea is not popular, and insulting the people who see it for what it is will not change that, any more than my insults to you will change your mind. Get over it.
Dan's got a new buddy
My new name for Shirley is "Shankette".
SHB
Because she has straight hair.
SHG
not being a guy and all.
B
It can stand for a number of things.
Well, let's be fair here:
In Leung's world everyone everywhere are pitiful, worldwide laughingstocks because they haven't bowed down to the oligarchs who have a grand plan and know what's best.
I'd be offended by this
I'd be offended by this column if I gave one iota what Shirley Leung thought or believed she spoke for any measurable percentage of the Boston-area population beyond the 1%.
"Spruce up Franklin Park" is my favorite.
Whaaaat??? How could you not WANT that, ya big losers? A few years of not being able to use the park AND a place to ride your horses FOREVER--what's not to like? And tell me you didn't always secretly think that the Common had too many trees! You were like "yeah--this place needs a volleyball court!" Duh.
Lets strive to be like
Lets strive to be like Atlanta with their equestrian park that sits empty for 360 days a year...
Olympic supporters ignore facts because they have none on their side.
Unlike Leung, I was actually at the Franklin Park meeting
And what Davey and Manfredi specifically promised was a) a revamped White Stadium and b) A swimming pool. The rest of the sprucing up consisted of vague hand waving by a landscape consultant who started out by admitting he didn't know anything at all about Franklin Park until after he was hired. Let's take them one by one:
A) A prominent local developer who has done a lot of good works for Boston generally and in Franklin Park specifically had previously committed to revamping White Stadium anyway - before the Olympic bid became public. What was his name? Oh, yeah, John Fish.
B) Of all the things park proponents and users have been asking for, a swimming pool was not one of them. It would be another concrete thing in a park already full of decaying concrete things, with absolutely no commitment from anybody to actually run and maintain it once the Olympics were over.
C) Davey and the landscape guy said maybe they could do something about clearing up the stream in the southern end of the park, and leaving the golf course in better shape than they found it. Not exactly specific there.
This is an April Fool's
This is an April Fool's column she wrote, right? She can't possibly be this insane.
Think Larry Bird with an MBA...?
I am going with Aprils Fools
Another example of Shirley doesnt get it
Many of us loved Larry as a player, and some of us might care what he thinks or says about basketball.
But I don't think any of us cares what he thinks about the Olympics or any other subject, even if he had a MBA. Wrong again Shirley.
if only
Tool yes, Fool? Not so much.
Writing that drivel takes no work or thought. However, it generates tons of comments.
Comments show (tangible) reader engagement. Comments are like "clicks" in advertising.
Digital currency.
Perhaps she should be shunned like the trolls.
I doubt it will happen though because it's about the only outlet for readers to engage with other readers.
That said, the resulting comments are highly entertaining and often informative.
... that Larry Bird comment, well, where to even start?
Gotta hand it to her though, to actually get paid to write that crap? A fool I think not.
Fix The T?
Nah, Boston 2024 said they don't actually need to do that any more. Just a few new train cars & an update to Government Station.... hey wait a minute, that's already happening! How convenient.
Good deed for the city #1, already back tracked on.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/03/17/olympics-mbta-...
Please, Mommy, I Promise To Fix The Ⓣ
Just buy me this big expensive useless toy that we don't really need, and I'll clean my room. You'll never even have to do the dishes again, I promise!
Boston 2024 Tactics 101
Boston 2024 Tactics 101
Q: "Will you please fix the T?"
A: 'Good news! The Olympics be a catalyst to fix the T!"
Q: "What guarantees can you make that public dollars won't be wasted?"
A: 'Good news! The only public money will be for already planned infrastructure, like long planned upgrades of some parts of the T. We're not proposing to spend additional public dollars otherwise.'
Of note
The people who are making these promises are the same people who promised the Federal Government that they would improve the MBTA as part of their contract ...
Then got the legislature to pay for overruns without building the transit amenities that were in their contract ...
Then got the MBTA saddled with the debt for the overruns.
#wontbefooledagain
Fixing T is easy
#1 Get T workers to show up and do their jobs:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/03/absent_t...
#1(a) accept that they don't and enlarge pool of back up substitutes to take their place when out.
Fixing traffic is easy, too
Just ban all private cars.
Problem solved.
Equally likely
MBTA workers not using up all their sick days and all private cars getting banned.
I can tell you haven't ridden the train in a long while
Either that, or you honestly think that people all showing up at once will create a magic harmonic resonance which will modernize and repair all the equipment and deoxidize and repair all the rust holes in the orange line cars.
Freaky.
Ignore Shirley Leung
She isn't relevant. The article that she referenced is really interesting and worth a read.
That article
had some interesting points.
But it was weird in terms of formatting.
There were a lot of single line 'paragraphs' sprinkled in with multi-sentence paragraphs.
My favorite one is "It should
My favorite one is "It should be: let us in Boston show how via the Games we can make the world better."
Priceless. I'd rather host Scientology cause theres less brain washing involved.
If Shirley Leung wants to pay for it
That would be great.
Otherwise, properly fixing the T is seriously at odds with this Olympic nonsense.
Shirley brought tears to my eyes
There are rumors that the USOC might be reconsidering it's decision? A couple of tears of joy just rolled down my cheek. I had to wipe them away before I become the laughingstock of the office.
I worked with a team of developers in Krakow earlier this year and they were laughing at us because we weren't smart enough to withdraw our bid like they did.
That's my favorite part
Boston is pretty much on a par with places like Munich, Krakow, Oslo and Stockholm - second tier world cities. All of those places decided, due to lack of local support, to withdraw their bids.
If this falls through due to lack of popular support, that's a big plus for the city - showing that we believe in the basic concept of democratic (small d) rule. If a local business man wants to get the Olympic bid, raise funds to hire operatives to run the bid and then fails, that's his failure, not ours.
Shirley Leung is like a year
Shirley Leung is like a year-round April Fool's joke.
Push polling
They're already push polling. I got the call last night and I couldn't stop laughing. It was full of questions like:
"Considering that the Olympics will result in an expanded, cleaner, and more on-time T, do you highly support it, somewhat support it…" and "Since the Olympics will not result in any tax increase for Boston residents, are you in favor of…"
You want to ask, "So should I respond as if what you just told me were true?"
Last question was whether the poll affected my opinion of John Fish. Damn straight it got worse.
Did the voice sound like Stephen Colbert?
Question: Will 2024 Boston be a great Olympic or the greatest Olympic ever?
Aha - singular!
An Olympic - a one ringed circus instead of a 5 ring circus. Now that we could do. As long as the ring isn't a volleyball court on Boston Common.
Ms. Leung certainly will know the pain of inconvenience
that the Olympics may cause in her lovely city of Milton!
She left out Fish's palatial manse in Milton, where ( and correct me if I'm wrong) Deval Patrick also resides.
A bit of a low blow there?
I have no idea where Leung lives specifically, but you do realize not all of Milton is 7-figure mansions, right?
Milton
How soon you forget Leung's lament about being forced to move to Milton http://www.universalhub.com/2014/globe-columnist-doesnt-know-first-thing...
.
.
details, details
Shirley lives in Milton as well perhaps that's why she omitted that little detail.
His manse, on a private lane, is currently on the market for a mere 7 mil.
If Boston doesn't have the Olympics
It will become a laughingstock? Like Sochi?
We are brilliant.
Laughingstocks? When we successfully fight off being hoodwinked into this boondoggle for the powerful we will be lauded for being the smartest city in the world.
Fish Quote
"The Olympics can, and will, unite us."
I think he may be right, just not how he envisioned.
Why does anyone care about the opinion
of blow in Shirley Leung? Her suitcase isn't even unpacked and your going to give her and a washed up newspaper no one reads sway in this or any other matter? It's like watching a community cable access program and worrying about the opinions of Wayne and Garth.
Washed up?
The Globe is still one of the biggest media platforms in town so when someone is cheerleading for something which will impact all of us, it's worth fighting back.
A paper
tiger. Honestly in the digital age who reads the Globe or any newspaper? The Globe is one of thousands of digitally available news sources so their editorial positions are like gnat bites. Thats the funny thing about this whole Olympic roll out. Having the Globe on board means nothing.
glob
I can't tell whether this columnist is an idiot or (much worse) a shill, but it's fat that could be trimmed from a good newspaper.
The Globe is an embarrassment
The Globe is an embarrassment. Clearly, this is a new low for this formerly decent newspaper. Remove Boston from its name since it doesn't reflect this city at all.
So now Mr. Fish says we're not patriotic
because we don't support his Olympic plan.
http://www.wcvb.com/news/boston-2024-head-questions-patriotism-of-bid-op...
Clearly Fish has no idea what true patriotism is. I am very patriotic Mr. Fish, and you are no more than a pitiful little turd. But thanks for driving another nail into the corpse of the 2024 Boston Olympic plan.