I was always very skeptical but never decided to publicly oppose the bid for Boston to host the 2024 Winter Games. I did, however, write about the possibility of a good bid process starting us in the direction of better behavior– how the bid and perhaps the games themselves provided a good opportunity to demonstrate that as a city and region we have made progress toward inclusion. I did a blog post on the same topic here too. In fairness, mine was a very thinly veiled critique of the initial steps by the bid committee, which I was very disappointed by on a number of fronts. But I was never convinced that a good bid was impossible or even a bad idea either.
In any case – here are five takeaways that are important to me – and perhaps not to everyone. I am sure if you disagree, you know how to comment.
1. There should be no ad hominem attacks or mockery of those who tried to make the bid happen. From John Fish to Steve Pagliuca and the elected officials, everyone intended to do something good and something visionary. Whether they did it in a way you think is appropriate or effective is a different story. We should critique and criticize – it is more than fair to do so; it is important. At the same time, the line does not need to be crossed into personal attacks or mockery of decent, diligent people.
2. Whenever we are ready to fully acknowledge grass roots leadership, that would be great. Hopefully after the grass-roots election of Patrick as a candidate, the grass roots rejection of Coakley as a candidate, and the grass roots rejection of the Olympics, we can start respecting the grass roots for real in the Commonwealth. We are not a people well suited to top-down leadership based on conventional wisdom and “trust me.” The internet makes this even moreso — but so does the burn many who are repeatedly marginalized feel in their collective chest and jumping on board for the civic leadership’s “next big thing” is just not our style as a people unless it is earned. Are we done yet learning this lesson? The energy burned up on the Olympic bid can be the last time it happens, if we want.
3. The Olympic model may be ready for a permanent physical home – a place of its own. The best idea I heard was that the world build a permanent Olympic campus in one place and then rotate the responsibility of playing host there to a new nation every time – and in the in between years, let all sorts of other world events take place there. The magic will be gone? The TV revenue would be less? Not necessarily. You could re-interpret that campus every four years for a good deal less than starting from scratch.
4. Resist the temptation to say this confirms Boston is a “just say no” kind of place. Those like Shirley Leung will do it (again) but you don’t have to be that way. This episode is an example of civic engagement and tough questions that ultimately had inadequate answers. That’s it. It is not connected to any past episode of us doing whatever we did when other things happened in the past. Our narrative is whatever we want it to be. It is not a destiny that makes us naysayers. Calling us that is cheap headline writing and just plain old beneath us.
5. Let’s organize around what both pro and con forces said were the goals from the beginning. Pro or con, we seem to passionately want fiscal responsibility, transparency, infrastructure investment, affordable housing, long-term planning and equity. Superb. Let’s build a 2024 agenda around those great concepts.
Andy Tarsy is a consultant to leaders in business, government, non-profit and higher education institutions to close the gap between vision and impact. He is a Senior Fellow in the John W. McCormack School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston.
You’re asking for us to assume good will of people who lied to our faces to try to get us to pay for a colossal land grab for developers. They deserve every bit of mockery that comes their way.
They cynically lied to us time after time. I can forgive them for their misguided vision, but I am not going to give them a pass on deceit.
The immediate call by some folks that we must all make peace and never speak ill of the boosters’ actions is very transparent and telling.
The boosters — including the Mayor — went way out on a limb for months and repeatedly lied to the people of this City and state, disparaged citizen activists who care about their neighborhoods, and got behind putting Massachusetts taxpayers on the hook for millions in cost overruns. And we only know about that because of multiple FOIAs and a subpoena from Tito Jackson.
The boosters should be held accountable for their actions & statements. They may all be very nice people, but they did what they did. Asking those of us who opposed this boondoggle to pretend that they didn’t do what they did is absurd, imho. If you can’t stand the heat of being called on your actual actions and statements, then get out of the kitchen.
And the notion that they did what they did out of benevolence — when most/all of them stood to realize enormous financial gains from the Olympics — sorry but it’s a tough sell.
…and produce a better bid, including doing things in the right sequence, for a future Olympiad.
Glad to hear No Boston Olympics isn’t shutting down shop, but turning towards those priorities. Maybe bid proponents can get on board that agenda, and we can all work towards a new common goal.
2, and 3 are good points as well. 3 may be inevitable if it keeps ending up in totalitarian states or bankrupting democratic ones. Maybe forcing Greece to reopen its 04′ venues and be a permanent host can be a condition for full debt forgiveness, wouldn’t that be a win win?
speak on behalf of “No” and does not try to represent himself that way. “No” will speak for itself and decide its future.
Correct – I speak on behalf of no-one, and align myself with no-one in this discussion. Just a citizen expressing some thoughts.
Keep it up.
From the beginning this has seemed like a bunch of Wealthy White Guys having a Brain Fart …. those who don’t attempt to navigate in the ‘real world’ or travel the MBTA to get from Point A to Point B.
Ya wanna plan to increase Boston traffic?
Try addressing the major failures of public transportation that were sacrificed on the altar of Big Dig.
Folks, Let’s get real!
There’s only so much lipstick you can put on a pig.
The MBTA is QUAINT! .
The disconnect between the Boston 2024 boosters and the common person was a hidden source of resentment and opposition to this idea.
Although you can point at scores of ways in which Boston 2024 and the USOC messed this up, this really came down to cost. There was no way the Olympics was going to pay for itself. Massive amounts of public money is required. Boston 2024 greatly exacerbated this by trying to hide this fact from the public, but I doubt it would have really made a difference even if they were open about it from the beginning.
Perhaps 15 years ago, with Boston sports fans feeling bad about our always finishing second best (or worse), you might have been able to tap into that. But after winning four Superbowls, three World Series, one NBA championship and the Stanley cup, there is no longer any sports inferiority complex to tap into.
Perhaps someday if we just happen to have most of the venues and transportation infrastructure in place, and if the IOC puts some brakes on the endless expansion of Olympic events, perhaps then someone could propose a Boston Olympic plan that would pay for itself. However, I think the IOC is too much in love with itself to ever seriously reform as long as there are cities willing to host the Olympics the way the IOC likes it.
Tarsy gets it about ten percent right.
First, there are two Olympics, Summer and Winter.
Second, there are geo-politics involved.
I agree that the world would be well-served by having a few locations that rotate the hosting of the Olympics, both summer and winter. There would be large construction savings and the host countries could use the facilities for other events, maybe even FIFA and UEFA games and the infinitude of other games.
But lets recognize that the games cannot be limited to one or two continents. When the games become the property of the west, the developed world, they are no longer a world wide sport.
Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Nice try, however.
Between Evan Falchuck, the extension of the ‘tank the tax’ team and Chris “Mini-Mitt” Dempsey there was enough carpetbagging on this one issue to wall-to-wall any stadium you can name. If you’re thinking that’s ‘grass roots’ I, respectfully, submit that next time you spell it correctly: A-S-T-R-O-T-U-R-F.
Let’s resist the temptation to let our naivete get the better of us. This isn’t anything but a black eye for Boston and for the CommonWealth and if you think there aren’t going to be repercussions to this you shouldn’t be allowed near a keyboard, never mind being so quick to post a tidy, five-point, spin sheet moments after the news breaks. (did you write this in January?)
Between the Big Dig, the nationwide meningitis outbreak that, in 2012 was traced back to Framingham, the long held belief that Massachusetts is difficult for business, last winters MBTA debacle and now this, do you think the CommonWealth is getting a reputation for having it’s act together?
So much for civility. Not sure why the personal attack. You are some kind of would be ambassador for what’s best in the region where I live and you talk that way? Not spinning for anyone, and wrote it yesterday. Sorry if sharing one’s own ideas is out of fashion. Sounds like you have a strong opinion that this will be a black eye for Boston. Others may agree. Perhaps you want to flesh out your argument so we can consider it, or say more about your interest in the muppets. Either way is fine with me.
Civilty, sir, doesn’t mean you get to come here and tell me what to think and how to act without being called on it. That’s altogether uncivil of you to do so and expect me to act upon your suggestions regarding which temptation I should resist.
The ‘personal attack’ was merely pointing out the flaws in your argument: any ‘grassroots’ in this issue is pure bunkum. You don’t like being called a purveyor of bunkum… then don’t purvey bunkum. It’s really simple, see…
petr. He tries to bully every writer with whom he disagrees. I only respond to him when I fear that his BS might be believed and spread.
… if you want to reserve the right to tell people it’s raining when you piss all over them.