Asked this week to reflect on the long-gone possibility of Boston hosting the 2024 Olympics, Senate President Karen Spilka didn’t hesitate. “I’m glad it’s in Paris,” she said. “That’s my quote.”
Olympics
Posted inOlympics
Decarbonizing economy requires lot more electricity
THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS have brought into sharp focus the urgency of climate action. From 16-year-old Greta Thunberg sailing across the Atlantic to deliver a dramatic plea at the UN, to debates on Beacon Hill over what kind of energy and how much of it we need to meet regional compacts, there is broad consensus […]
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Don’t ‘fly-over’ Mayor Pete
IF YOU THOUGHT you could get through the 2020 election cycle without needing to learn the proper pronunciation of “Buttigieg,” guess again. On Friday, March 8, the three of us drove to New Hampshire with open minds to hear Pete Buttigieg make his case for the presidency. We left at 5:30 a.m. to get to the […]
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Fact-checking Walsh’s Olympics claim
BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH said during Tuesday night’s mayoral debate that he pulled the plug on the city’s Olympics bid. “I was the person who actually pulled out of the bid and I was very clear from the very beginning that I was not going to mortgage the future of the city,” he said during […]
Posted inOlympics, Opinion
The gay marriage-Boston 2024 connection
I CLOSELY FOLLOWED the debate around the Boston 2024 Olympics bid, and it seemed odd to me at first, but I just kept connecting it to the gay marriage fight, which I lived through as a citizen of Massachusetts 10 years ago. Eventually, light dawned over the South End and I realized why. Just like […]
Posted inOlympics, The Download
An Olympic accounting
Thank God it’s over.That was the overwhelming sentiment among the area’s columnists and editorial pages. Boston Globe columnists Joan Vennochi, Dan Shaughnessy, Dante Ramos, John Powers, and Kevin Cullen all welcomed the end of Boston’s Olympic dreams. So did the Boston Herald’s editorial page and columnists Howie Carr and Steve Buckley, as well as Boston magazine’s Kyle […]
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Finish line for Boston 2024
BOSTON’S DREAMS OF Olympic glory are over. Did we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Did we blow a transformational opportunity, with all that talk that the US entry for the 2024 Summer Games would be the odds-on favorite to win the bid? Boston 2024 boosters argued that a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Boston was […]
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What does Boston’s withdrawal say about the city?
Statement of No Boston Olympics Boston is a world-class city. We are a city with an important past and a bright future. We got that way by thinking big, but also thinking smart. We need to move forward as a city, and today’s decision allows us to do that on our own terms, not the terms […]
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Olympic end signals bright future for Boston
THE END OF the Boston 2024 Olympic bid says a lot about Boston 2015, and what it says bodes well for our future. Perhaps the most important take-away is that Boston is a city energized by a younger cohort of activists who have a clear and specific vision for this place, and who will not […]
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Boston drops out of running for Olympics
THE PRIVATE GROUP seeking to host a Boston Olympics in 2024 dropped its bid on Monday, shortly after Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker told the US Olympic Committee that they needed more time before committing to the effort. Scott Blackmun, the CEO of the US Olympic Committee, issued a joint statement with […]