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Olympic fallout: IOC president says we weren't submissive enough for his tastes
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Bad, bad Boston
Not willing to sign a blank check to the IOC! The nerve!
Walsh owes the city an apology
The story of Boston 2024 is an important story to tell, but it's being told by people who had a vested interest, and it's being told untruthfully.
We're wicked smaht but only because some citizens stepped up BIG TIME and dedicate themselves to doing a job journalists would not or could not do. Yes, there was stellar reporting at Dorchester Report, Boston Magazine and Boston.com, I bet you can name the reporters (Lauren D, Kyle C., Adam V) but the Globe, OMG, the Globe was worse than useless, it sold the con. Our paper of record pimped the Olympics for the people who stood to profit the most and to this day, they're letting players like Walsh and the IOC to define the post- Boston2024, a narrative that is counter-factual.
Boston 2024 is huge con game wealthy interests played on the public. They make bank developing temporary and permanent facilities with revenue from television and sponsorships while taxpayers carry the risk of a bid process that creates bids that underestimate final cost, on average, by 3.5x original bid.
Walsh's narrative is bs. He's known since the first time he sat down with USOC that the IOC would require a taxpayer guarantee. He didn't present Boston2024 to Bostonians impartially, he pushed hard for it and he even argued the public should not have a vote. Kate Crockford is right, Walsh owes the City of Boston an apology.
Boston2024 was act 1. The same folks still want to build Midtown and whateverthey'recallingit, which is fine if they'll pay for they land they want from sellers who want to sell, and if the neighborhood is invited into the process upfront and not as an afterthought, and if they build neighborhoods everyone can afford to live in, and if it has schools, fire stations, and a library and it still makes economic sense, and taxpayers aren't on the hook.
Let's not forget
Now let's not forget our own Adam Gaffin and Shelagh Dolan for the excellent reporting also.
The only place with an actual
The only place with an actual rational discussion of the engineering feasibility and financial details related to all the bid information was Archboston.com. Everything else was cheerleeding or purely emotional, including this site. Regardless of the correctness of the final outcome, this has not been a bright spot in city history.
I disagree
I really disagree. This has been a phenomenal feat in our history. As I said in another post, it just shows the strength and power to unify to defeat something. I can't say many other cities and/or regions have that ability like us New Englander's do. It's in our blood. Remember, the American Revolution started here, so it's natural that we quickly rise up against things we don't like. It's just what we do, and that strength shows that it still rings true today.
I'm gonna go out on a limb
I'm not gonna claim to know your inner motivations, but if your argument is that your motivation wasn't more emotional than logical, you might want to stop short of comparing yourself to American Revolutionaries.
Still disagree
Still disagree. First off, you don't know my stance. There's more to my opinion than what I posted on here and on twitter. I have a very personal experience with the Olympics, so my opinion is *very* different than most.
Secondly, you're thinking too much into what I am saying. While sure, It's a loose connection, but I think the mentality of standing up for what is right or wrong (regardless if its emotional or logical) is the essence of the AR. And as a New England native, it's here all around us. The Olympics show that this fighting mentality is alive and well in New England.
Like cybah...
... our family lived through the Atlanta Olympics ... and did not enjoy the experience. It was not an event for the "ordinary" people of the region, seats for most of the good stuff were way too expensive. And everyday life was massively disrupted for almost a month.
This. Considering the
This. Considering the shameful history of things like the Central Artery and the demolishing of the West End, that the Olympics were defeated by opposition by citizens - taxpayers all over, and the property owners and the working class in Widett Circle - shows who has the power (and who doesn't) in Boston now.
Incorrect
First, I don't think anyone was really claiming infeasability of engineering. Can we build a 100,000 seat track stadium on top of Widett Circle? Absolutely. Before 2024 even.
However, should we sacrifice future tax revenue to do it and mortgage that area that is clearly desirable for redevelopment just to do so, spending millions in potential tax dollars EVEN IF THE BID ISN'T WON? Hell no. It's obviously desirable and the idea that the developer won't regain their investment fast enough without a tax credit is fucking absurd.
Then, the idea that anywhere was discussing the financials accurately is laughable considering the entire financials didn't come out until about a week ago. There were also people here and in some of the other news sites discussing the track record of Olympics to end up costing taxpayers a lot of money and the recent dismissal of the Olympics by numerous world cities because the citizens are wisening up to the costs associated due to IOC demands and corruption.
There was nothing emotional about my opposition. In fact, I'd state that *emotionally* I wanted to host the Olympics. It would be awesome to live in an Olympics town for a few weeks and be able to have the life experience of going to some of the games (which I'll likely never do if it's in Rome or Paris or even L.A. instead). So, claiming that I was opposed due purely to emotion is just flat out backwards. My opposition was from what the Olympics and the IOC have proven to be, what the motivation of the PRIVATE entity involved was showing to be, what the public was being forced to endure (i.e. beach volleyball on the Common originally!), and how poorly our representatives were either being involved (i.e. not letting the City Council see what it was being asked to agree to without redactions) or were getting involved (i.e. Marty blankly signing the original agreement, etc.). Opposing all of those facts doesn't require emotion.
I wanted this to work, but it was approached completely wrong. Boston 2024 promised shit it had absolutely NO RIGHT to promise. The USOC assumed Boston 2024 spoke for all of us. The City originally went along with anything Boston 2024 had to say without vetting it.
Maybe we need a Ministry of Sports like most other countries in order to handle the Olympics, World Cup, and other international competitions/gatherings in a way that puts the people in charge via the government rather than these private entities making the decisions for all of us before we've even had a chance to hear what they've decided for us. Maybe then the process would have been more open and we'd have known up front who would be on the hook for cost overruns (we'd be a host *country* and the federal budget would have to find the money from sponsors or its own pockets instead of the city/state). But Boston 2024 rolling in here and making demands and putting events in stupid, damaging places and selling OUR land away to developers however THEY wanted...it's not emotional to reject such a bald seizure of our right to determine our future by public process and not private enterprise.
This post
...is awesome.
What a baffoon
Facts? Here you go blowhard:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/244484259_Olympic_Proportions_Cost_and_Cost_Overrun_at_the_Olympics_1960-2012
TL:DR version:
We discovered that the Games stand out in two distinct ways compared to other megaprojects:
(1) The Games overrun with 100 per cent consistency. No other type of megaproject is this consistent regarding cost overrun. Other project types are typically on budget from time to time, but not the Olympics.
(2) With an average cost overrun in real terms of 179 per cent
(emphasis mine)
The Power of Power
And keep in mind - this would be a Mass megaproject.
Emphasis unnecessary.
It would have made the big dig
Look like a repaving project
All of the anti-NIMBY whiners
All of the anti-NIMBY whiners have us NIMBY residents to thank for Boston not hosting the Olympics! You're welcome!
No, we have smart people like
No, we have people like Chris Dempsey to thank. The NIMBYs, like a broken clock, just happened to be right this time too. And now they can go back to being a drag on the city as per usual.
Unsung hero of No Boston Olympics
I worked with Kelley Gossett at No Boston Olympics when I was NIMBY'ing as hard as I could about the Quincy beach volleyball proposal.
You hardly ever hear her mentioned but she deserves a lot of credit for the work she did as one of the co-founders of No Boston Olympics.
Nice to see that there are
Nice to see that there are still some folks willing to educate themselves about issues then stick their necks out for the average working Bostonian instead of going with the flow like a lemmings. Nice work NoBoston2024! Sick and tired of the anti nimby cowards. Get off your behinds and learn about the issues facing our community. Have a voice!
Walsh
Are we hurt because scammers were inconsiderate about our feelings?
Wasting time
To think that he could have gone and spent his time and staff time on major efforts to exert pressure on whatever and whomever necessary to get federal disaster aid for the snowpocalypse and get the transit system sorted out!
If he's a big project man, he should get on that!
Meanwhile, in Rio 2016.
Bach is making a pest of himself there.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/jul/29/rio-olympics-2015-organiser...
I have a feeling the whole Olympic imposition is going to choke in Rio.
The LA Times seems to think so.
http://www.dailynews.com/events/20150728/a-year-away-brazils-olympic-org...
This could be us, save for the money we already spent fixing the harbor.
Here's Martinho Da Vila out of sympathy for their plight. https://youtu.be/gebFrqwLwws
Doesn't look so bad
Insisting that the sailors and rowers have a venue reasonably free of floating animal carcasses seems like "doing his job" rather than "making a pest of himself. "
Rio is poor and has major problems.
Ordinarily I'd agree that it's just due diligence for Bach. But the articles cite the favela gang war crime, the trash avalanche into the bay and so on.
From the Guardian piece.
From LA Times.
So if the host has baldly maintained they can't really do it, Bach is making a pest of himself or Brazil was disingenuous. In that case, it was another dumb selection and is visiting the same kinds of cost problems on Rio that we just dodged here.
Submissive?
Sounds kinky. But hate to break it to you IOC, I'm the daddy here. I am not submissive for anyone.
Creepy!
Anyone else suddenly picturing Olympic doubles-spanking as a demonstration sport?
No? Just me?
how about
How about restraints and a tassle.. I have a set we can use.
(okay okay waaay TMFI)
Not So Far Fetched
I can bet the IOC has members just as guilty as people in the past from FIFA, FIA, and F1:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1033319/Our-kinky-games-Max-Mosl...
Moving on... In other news...
Moving on... In other news...
Never have so little
been so upset about trying to rip off so many...
No, you're going to have find other ways to screw the public.
So it wasn't about showcasing Boston, it was about a moron with self esteem issues. One thing about Menino, he prided himself as coming off as a mush mouthed buffoon but he was both smart and tough. Walsh is nothing more than a clown and a puppet who might go down in history as quite possibly the worst Mayor this city has ever had.
Obviously the IOC recognized who they were dealing with and afforded him the respect one should always give to a bought and paid for politician.
The IOC acts like it has some
The IOC acts like it has some kind of divine right to influence itself over any possible host city. Let's be honest, the chances of Boston 2024 going outrageously over budget were quite likely.
As everyone knows, hosting an Olympics is a financial crapshoot, and "breaking even" is even considered a major victory. Hell, the verdict is still out on whether London broke even, or lost billions of dollars hosting their Olympics. How can there be such a discrepancy years later? That's pretty telling of how discombobulated the situation can be.
Boston is a rapidly growing and improving city. With or without the Olympics, we're on the cusp of being a great city (or world class as Adam likes to say!). I feel that hosting an Olympics simply would have forced the wrong decisions upon the city too quickly and many mistakes would likely have been made, and taken decades to fix or recover from.
I'm not 100% opposed to Boston hosting an Olympics in the nearish future, but certainly not in the year 2024.
Parasites
A handful of moneyed interests and politicians isn't "Boston making promises".
Thankfully, the area has cleared its system of the IOC Parasite with minimal damage. Let's see if "public outcry" will work its magic on our infrastructure without the olympics and that massive overhead it brings with it.
yawn
I'll get right back to caring about the IOC's feelings. Promise.
Are the Olympics still necessary?
We have sports coverage around the clock and the world. The days of waiting for the Olympics to get a chance to see sport are long since over. I'm a huge track and field fan. It used to be very difficult, outside of the Olympics, to see elite-level competition. Not anymore. I've seen national and NCAA championships, Pan-Am Games, and Diamond League meets in the last few months with the World Championships coming up next month. I'm sure the same is true in other sports. What does the Olympics add other than increasingly dumb opening and closing ceremonies?
Surprise!
Translation: We tried to play them like the other marks, but they turned out not to be fools.
boo hoo
Good piece in The Guardian yesterday about why on earth anyone would ever want to be a host city anyway:
Flawed article
The author's thesis, that only authoritarian states will want to bid on the Olympics, seems contradicted by the many 2024 bids from other democracies -- France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, and possibly now Canada.
yes, but
The point was what will happen after 2024 has been decided:
If the IOC keeps insisting on these insane demands, the only places stepping up to the plate will be authoritarian states. I don't think that's such a farfetched premise.
Correct
For example the winter games in a few years will either be held in Kazakhstan or Beijing. No major winter Olympic nation wants to host (Nordic + northern European, South Korea, US or Canada) So the fine people of Astana are going to be buying a bobsled run I guess?
Ah, China
China has what looks like a massive inferiority complex, and that's why they keep bidding on these things. Example: a long-running TV show (all the TV networks are government-owned and operated) is called "Foreigners Singing Chinese Songs," in which people from other parts of the world attempt to sing in Mandarin. Some of them can sing; many should refrain. The government thinks that things like that show somehow prove that China is important, which is something the rest of the world already has no doubt of.
And yes, they are going to have to manufacture all the snow. It gets cold in Beijing, but it doesn't snow much. If air pollution were an Olympic event, Beijing would be a perfect location. That's still true after their broken promise to clean up the air for the 2008 Olympics.
After the BIG DIG, this is how we all feel
Poor USOC. They put their
Poor USOC. They put their most alluring 10-year-old photos in their profile and Boston still swiped left.
Or at least 10 people on Twitter did. Can't wait to bring that up to the barrage of canvassers demanding to know if Maahty can "count on my vote" in a couple of years.