As Bob wrote yesterday, support for Boston 2024 is waning. And wherever you stand on the overall benefits a Bean Town Olympiad could bring to Boston, I think we can all say that one of Boston 2024’s biggest problems is they haven’t sold the electorate.
I’ll admit to leaning towards the Olympics as a prod to force our government into action on a number of fronts – nothing gets stuff done in government like a deadline.
However even my tepid support hasn’t been inspired by any of the visions put forward by Boston 2024. Which I why I’ll suggest that if they want to gain support around the city & state, they need to propose something radical that would make even the most ardent opponent give pause and consider.
My suggestion is that Boston 2024 needs to give us a new MBTA.
The original Olympic bid said that Boston 2024 would ride on the back of current MBTA proposals such as new cars for the Orange & Red Lines, a new West Station, and new DMU trains to ferry spectators to the Seaport. However after this winter’s snow, the only one of these plans that seems to be moving forward with any speed are the new Orange & Red Line cars. West Station hasn’t been discussed for months, and Gov. Baker’s MBTA Board dropped DMU trains from this year’s 1 year capital budget.
But what if the Olympics, and the inevitable development that will follow, could help finance these problems? Post-Olympic development of Widdett Circle would see it developed into a new “Mid-Town” neighborhood pumping millions of property tax dollars into the region. Post-Olympic development around Beacon Yard and near JFK/UMass will be similar.
Whether it’s through direct payments, joint development (Like the new Assembly Landing development & Assembly Orange Line station), tax incremental financing or other means, Boston 2024 should find a way to give us a vision of a modern Boston with the public transit we all dream of, but Beacon Hill has yet to deliver.
A few ideas that could & should be part of this vision:
- Build & Finance the Indigo Line
- Getting the Indigo Line built would be a huge boon to Boston. It would connect West Station to North Station with links in Cambridge and allowing for commuters to make their way through the city without transferring downtown.
- It would also add much higher frequency service on the Fairmount line and inner-urban areas of the Lowell and Newberryport/Rockport lines, making the train a much more appealing alternative to driving in these areas
- Upgrade the Silver Line to real BRT, or better yet, light rail
- Completing the Phase III tunnel, adding Charlie Ticket machines at all stops and working with the City of Boston to add traffic light preemption to all surface level runs
- Building The North-South Rail Link
- Allowing our two separate Commuter Rail systems to work together, especially in conjunction with an Indigo Line, would allow for all sorts of new rail alignments in the region, allowing non-downtown commuters to move onto rail and allowing our two different Amtrak stations to actually have a link
- Building The Red-Blue Line Connector
- Long promised & never delivered, would allow for a direct interchange between the Red & Blue lines at Charles/MGH and unload extra cross traffic off of State & Government Center (Once re-opened)
- Building Out The Urban Ring
- Building out more ways to connect our region without all traffic going through downtown Boston
These are all ideas that the MBTA has floated over the years, but has never been able to find the money for. These ideas are all tremendously popular as they’d benefit residents and commuters alike & could easily be financed through the Olympics or post-Olympic development. If Boston 2024 wants to show us a vision of Boston in the future, they need to show us more than how our region’s property developers will benefit, but how we’ll all benefit.
The Olympics is about real estate and TV ads. Real estate is the drive for the local backers. TV ads and sponsorships are why the big companies get involved. If it’s not going to be on TV, then the IOC and the USOC don’t really care. (Example: You don’t see the militarization of the host city–security checks, et al–on NBC, but that’s an essential part of the Olympics. It’s just not made-for-TV material.)
Upgrading the MBTA is important. But it shouldn’t be driven by the needs of the IOC, which are different from the needs of the people of Massachusetts.
And I’ll note that, although deadline are helpful, they also–in terms of the Olympics–lead to rushed work at the end and spiraling costs accordingly.
then just do it. Don’t need the IOC or the Olympics.
We’re doing a lot of thing right in MA, so I’m not going to buy any argument the the gov is inept. There is just no appetite for the large expenditure.
I’m just so done with this whole thing. What would be better is if you take your own advice and discuss how everyone would benefit from the investment rather than the Olympics is the answer to or problems.
are going to deliver any of the things you wish for from an improved “T”? What the Olympics want is transportation between venues, the Olympic Village, aka UMass Boston dorms, and common public areas. What we need as a community is not quite the same thing. My thinking is that we might be better served by a “T” strengthened because of resolve brought on by last winter’s transportation meltdown. Just do it without the accompanying drama and demands of an Olympic development.
So what if the Olympics takes a four year break? What if Boston2024 came out and said — we hear you, we need more infrastructure, we’re going to work on that and come back. What if Boston metro spent the next year figuring out what MBTA proposals make sense and could be done in the timeframe [with time to spare!], and then spent the following two years moving things forward? Then, three years from now, we’d hear a new pitch for Boston2028, only this time with
* Indigo progress
* Silver Line BRT / TSP
* Red – Blue connector (which is a home run because the Blue Line is the only line under capacity — making it more desirable will result in more passenger revenue from Blue with little additional operating costs)
If they did that, and showed real progress toward making these items reality by 2028, would you then support Boston2028? Or would you instead think: we’re getting our MBTA upgrades we deserve, so what do I need the Boston2028 group for?
that arguably delivered these kind of improvements planned them ahead of time. This was the case in Barcelona.
Even those cities that tried to plan ahead–Brazil (ha, ha, ha), ended up not doing the infrastructure the country actually needed. Transportation infrastructure was also bypassed in London’s East End and a lot of existing, affordable housing was eliminated to make room for Olympic stuff, and the new housing ended up going to yuppies.
Bottom-line: megaprojects are not great way to make infrastructure projects happen.
Given that infrastructure projects are not supported, or even actively opposed, by the MA Dems in the Legislature, this might be the only way to make that happen, absent a change of the party in control of the Legislature.
The question is, will the Olympics bring about the needed infrastructure? It’s a little like doing bathroom renovations in your house during a family reunion with 150 people. It’s hard to stay focused, and you never know when you’re going to have to keep making a big, unbudgeted packy and pizza run. Soon you’re buying cheap materials and taking on debt.
There’s no money for infrastructure problems. The issue of tax revenue is not far from the horizon. Until then, nothing happens.
” …But what if the Olympics, and the inevitable development that will follow, could help finance these problems?” The Olympics never, ever fund themselves, let alone major infrastructure development.
It is obvious enough that MBTA expansion is something that would be a great thing for the Commonwealth, but simply does not have any political support among the Democrats in control of the Legislature. If it did, it would have happened sometime during the last 25 years.
The Olympics might have been a way to leverage the inherent corruption of this Legislature to get to a desired result– sure it would be an MBTA expansion that is more expensive than necessary, but at least it would happen.