Planners propose more planners as the best response to the Olympics. Globe:
State lawmakers should establish and fund a new public commission with the power to impose binding conditions on Boston’s Olympic bid, and the responsibility of overseeing a vast planning effort to guide the long-term legacy of the Games, according to a new report by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and two other planning organizations.
Isn’t that what we have governments with elected representatives to do?
Please share widely!
kirth says
It seems that this is what we have elected officials for:
TheBestDefense says
back in January when MAPC E.D. Marc Draisen sent out this press release:
“The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the land use planning agency for Greater Boston, congratulates the City of Boston and Mayor Martin J. Walsh on Boston’s selection as the U.S. candidate for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We are confident that all residents of Greater Boston feel a sense of pride for this great honor. These are exciting times!
“Now, the real work begins. Our bid before the International Olympic Committee will be even stronger if we can meet the following goals:
Make this an Olympics that athletes, residents, and visitors can truly reach by transit, walking, and biking. We have the capacity to avoid clogging our roads with traffic, and that will make the experience better for everyone.
Build Olympic facilities and infrastructure that will serve the City, Greater Boston, and the Commonwealth for decades to come. We should choose and build infrastructure projects that will provide jobs, homes, mobility, and recreation in the future, well beyond two weeks during the summer of 2024.
The private sector must step up and help fund these facilities. Government has a role to play, for sure, but public agencies and taxpayers can’t do it on their own.
Make the Olympics a catalyst to build a more equitable region. Involve neighborhoods, community groups, and small businesses in the planning process. Strive to make decisions that will provide more jobs and expand long-term opportunities for low-income workers and minority/woman-owned businesses.
“Each of these goals is in our reach, and entirely consistent with the bold vision already laid out by Mayor Walsh,” said Draisen. “As the planning agency for all of Metro Boston, MAPC stands ready to work with our partners in government and in the private sector to make them a reality, and to help Boston succeed in this bold endeavor.”
Does this feel like a request by Draisen to be the chair of said Super-Duper Planning Committee of Planners. He is definitely smart enough for the job. If you don’t think so, just ask him and he will be glad to tell you that is not what he was seeking but, awww, if you insist on drafting him, then sure. I think we can plan on it.
TheBestDefense says
that a LOT of the policy recommendations are good, but MAPC was in the cheerleading section long ago and without any of their current good stuff. Lots of others weighed in on those same issues long ago.
Mark L. Bail says
The urban planning should be done propter, rather than post hoc. It’s hard to know if they will have enough time to make the urban planning drive the Olympic development or if the Olympics will drive the urban planning. One of the reasons for Barcelona’s success with the Olympics was that they had a well-developed master plan that was updated and applied to the Olympics. That’s not the only reason for the success. Barcelona also had a lot of untapped potential as a tourism and business destination.
Trickle up says
and urban planning is, actually, a technical profession.
Given that the hard sell for the games is all the wonderful urban smart-growthy things we’ll magically get from it, it’s entirely appropriate that some actual planners be involved.
In fact it is kind of weird that they have not been so far.
I hope we do not get saddled with this turkey but if we do it is probably best that someone try to collect as many as possible of the crumbs that will be scattered.
Peter Porcupine says
…if there are Jobs for the Boys and state health insurance.
They think.
Al says
leaves viewers with a case of Olympic warm fuzzies, unless an epic display of malfunctions occurs. Those will be the people who lead with their emotions, instead of thinking about the cost and wasted money.
hesterprynne says
Before we have a new public commission, shouldn’t there be a bipartisan task force to achieve consensus on the commission’s goals?
TheBestDefense says
And a statewide listening tour!
SomervilleTom says
Surely the participants must visit the past dozen or so sites around the world in order to better inform themselves.
TheBestDefense says
for all participants!
scout says
That tack force is going to need a consultant to guide it on best practices.
scout says
not tack. But maybe that too.
hesterprynne says
Now, how to find someone who can help us select a consultant who excels at choosing task force members who know how to rally stakeholders and engage multiple constituencies?
scout says
some kind of software we can buy that will do that for us? Synergistic management software perhaps? It might cost millions but will surely be worth it. Can’t be too careful.
SomervilleTom says
Absolutely correct, so long as that software is sold through a process that provides lucrative commissions (oh, but NEVER kickbacks, that would be illegal) to “friends” of the panel. A process that results in commissions paid to family members is preferable.
Oh, and be sure that all involved in the acquisition process understand that nobody expects the software to actually WORK or to help solve the problem at hand.
petr says
… exactly what they have already done?
The problem, as I see it, isn’t that this hasn’t been planned… it’s that nobody knows of, or believes in, the planning that’s been done. The calls for ‘transparency,’ after all, are little more than “i don’t believe what you say.’
Mark L. Bail says
The planning has been poor, particularly in anticipating opposition; HOWEVER, Boston 2024 didn’t plan things any worse than the average bidder.
Exceptions to the average bidder phenomena were L.A., to which the Olympics came begging, and didn’t need a lot of new venues, and Barcelona, which had been planning a breakout as a tourist destination and business center, and had already had a master plan for that breakout.
I haven’t finished reading Circus Maximus, but I suspect one of Zimbalist’s suggestions will be that cities/countries make much more detailed plans prior to bidding. And that those plans are developed democratically, not by a self-appointed elite. Planning before bidding. Not ad-hoc planning prior to bidding.
Christopher says
…the HOWEVER sentence is the acknowledgement I’ve been looking for!
Trickle up says
is the plan for Boston and metro area. I mean the transit networks are in tatters and the “plan” is to muddle through. The development vision for Boston is Houston, faceless generic high rises. Though maybe that is unfair to Houston.
All this talk of world-class this and that re the Olympics. I just want to say, take care of the basics first, then get back to us.
HR's Kevin says
The calls for transparency are calls to show us the plan and the details. Claiming you have a plan without showing it is not transparency. Perhaps they have an absolutely wonderful secret plan — although I doubt it — but there is no way to tell until they show us. And there is no particular reason to trust them either. This is a brand new organization with constantly changing leadership, no track record to go on, and no credible outside oversight.
I see absolutely no reason that we should trust this organization a priori without a solid basis for that trust.
But that shouldn’t matter, if they have a good enough plan with sufficient details they should be able to show it and thus gain our trust. The fact that they have not done so indicates that they are either not confident that the details would actually be palatable to the public, or that the leaders of Boston 2024 have inherited practices of secrecy and lack of transparency from their previous occupations, probably a combination of the two.
SomervilleTom says
When a “plan” is assembled for the express purpose of offering a successful bid, that “plan” is a summary of requirements for hosting the event. Planning — especially local, state, and regional planning — is done in order to assure the long-term well-being of the town, state or region.
In the absence of the second, the first is a prescription for long-term local, state and regional disaster.