Boston 2024 released major portions of its bid document today. Boston Magazine has the details and bird's-eye views (including a planned beach-volleyball stadium and related structures that would take up much of the Common). One interesting bit, noticed by Ari Ofsevit, would turn Long Island into the shooting venue.
The bridge serving the island will be restricted for Olympic use only during the Games.
What bridge? The bridge a contractor is even now tearing down? Oh, yeah, that bridge. Those'll be some fun hearings the city of Quincy will hold on a new bridge, which they get to do because the bridge terminates there.
And what about the summer camp Boston runs on the island? Boston 2024 wants to use their docks for shooting spectators, volunteers and workers.
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Comments
Pretty scary
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:11pm
> Boston 2024 wants to use their docks for shooting spectators, volunteers and workers.
Rmind me NOT to get tickets for this.
If you criticize the IOC, you
By AllstonHipster
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:41pm
If you criticize the IOC, you might not need tickets....
;-{
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:33pm
I do believe in ghosts, I do, I do, I do....
"Anticipated Hurdles" include
By Ari O
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:13pm
nothing on the order of "bridge doesn't exist."
But when you're John Fish, you don't have to worry about the homeless. They don't have houses, so there's no construction.
Lots of other nuggets in that slick presentation (i.e. "Track 61 increases transit capacity" by routing DMUs across the entirety Northeast Corridor at grade; MBTA can somehow move Cabot bus yard, even though MBTA ops are constricted by the size of bus yards currently; long-term plan for the stadium site is a parking lot) to poke holes in, too.
there will be no homeless
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:15pm
They will all live in the Temporary Worker's Village, where their room and board will be deducted from their minimum wage pay for the duration of the event.
At the end of the games, there will be cake.
It'll be like Beijing
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:30pm
where they tear down the slums and then build a decorative wall to hide what wasn't torn down. No, no poverty here, just a cement wall covered in murals of multicultural children exchanging traditional foods of their native cultures!
The Cake Is A Lie
By BlackKat
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 9:54pm
[img]http://www.destructoid.com/elephant//ul/user/7/721...
shooting what
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:21pm
Sounds like they are going to stand there with guns and shoot at people :)
Caddyshack!
By Angry Dan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 6:04pm
Check me if I'm wrong Adam, but if I shoot all the spectators, volunteers and workers, they're gonna lock me up and throw away the key...
Looks like they plan to use
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 6:52pm
Looks like they plan to use Long Island for the target shooting competitions. Neighboring Moon Island is already home to BPD's range.
Please say it ain't so...
By whyaduck
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:30pm
A planned beach-volleyball stadium and related structures on the Common!!?
I feel sick.
Beach volley ball on the Common....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:32pm
Sketch here:
https://nbcolympictalk.files.wordpress.com/2015/01...
(I don't know how to get this to show up as an image)
Michael
[img]http://example.jpg[/img]
By Elmer
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:40pm
[img]https://nbcolympictalk.files.wordpress.com/2015/01...
Last time I tried that....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:45pm
... it didn't work. ;-}
Filtered Text
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 6:04pm
Filtered Text
Change the drop down "Text Format" to "filtered text" and it should work. If it doesnt show up in Preview, it didnt work and try again.
(i've had this problem)
What better way to show off the city
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:43pm
What better way to show off the city than to build a volleyball facility on the center stone of the Emerald necklace? They're kidding right? Is the plan to have beach volleyball players change in the frog pond locker room? How many trees are coming down?
Franklin Park is the crown jewel of
By JPRunner
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:13pm
the Emerald Necklace. Just sayin.
Franklin Park?
By Paul Fisher
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:17pm
Oh, right, the place they want to commandeer for the equestrian events.
Lets rob the citizens of
By Kinopio
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:49pm
Lets rob the citizens of Boston of their use of the country's oldest park so that NBC and Coca Cola can make money off it!
Boston 2024 is a ridiculous scam. This becomes clearer every day.
Bravo
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:30pm
Bravo
They'll probably take a
By anon
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 11:24am
They'll probably take a chainsaw to our beautiful old trees and replace them with plastic palm trees to mimic true beach volleyball.
sad
By cybah
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:33pm
This is just sad. We're going to spend big bucks for the Olympics yet we still have homeless on our streets. We can't even built a fucking shelter to provide for our citizens, yet we have $ for this boondoggle. So fucking sad. Our priorities are messed.
It's pretty clear now what happened with the Long Island Bridge. Doesn't anyone find it funny that the homeless were moved out, bridge was closed, and now that place is part of Olympic bid? Come on, Marty we're not stupid. This was planned all along.
That island will never be a homeless shelter again. Mark my words. After the Olympics it will become something else that isn't related to the homeless shelter. ("Luxury Condos" anyone?)
Another way to look at it...
By Jenny
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 10:52am
It does open up a different avenue for funding. If it's going to be used in the Olympics maybe that means that the structure would be updated as well.
I totally get where you are coming from, as there have been a lot of human rights violations in the past regarding the Olympics, but in the past MA has been one of the states with the least amount of unsheltered homeless. While losing the Long Island services has been a mismanaged mess, hopefully the long term process will continue to serve as well as they did in the past.
in the present, we are one of the states with the most
By Anonymous
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 3:51am
Cybah, The same thought crossed my mind about the closing of Long Island. A timeline analysis might substantiate the theory. I'd be seriously pissed if it were true. If so, we're talking about the Mayor of Boston using Shock Doctrine-- creating a crisis to separate both homeless and recovering addicts from services in order to evict them from Long Island properties. Of course we'd need evidence to substantiate the theory and a timeline could provide it.
Please don't lump me or
By anon
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 11:25am
Please don't lump me or anyone else who is or has been opposed to Boston Olympics from the start. My priorities aren't messed up.
The John Fish
By Tommy Jeff
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 11:42am
Resort & Casino.
Pg.33:"Transform Somerville Into The Cycling Capital Of America”
By Elmer
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:37pm
Sure that's in their 10 year plan...
By Anonymous
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:44pm
..or it will be after we tell them at an Olympic 2024 community meeting.
Somerville was. Well,
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:16pm
Somerville was. Well, Somerville, NJ. http://www.usbhof.org/history
swimming
By BostonDog
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 5:56pm
It looks like many if not all the swimming categories take place in the Charles next to magazine beach in Cambridge. The river has improved considerably but to the point of hundreds of people swimming? Hope there isn't a big storm before the event. Don't forget to tell the athletes not to touch the bottom.
The water quality will be perfect
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:35pm
Just ask any city worker.
Well Said
By BostonDog
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 10:47pm
n/t
Magazine beach is a real beach??
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 10:55pm
I'd love to be a fly on the wall when IOC members take that tour.
It was once ....
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:08pm
http://www.cambridgehistory.org/postcards/%E2%80%9...
Seen the articles about the
By vne
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 9:16am
Seen the articles about the cleanup for the swimming events in Rio? Sounds like we may be an improvement. At least I haven't seen too many couches and other furniture sailing past on the Charles.
I can't wait!
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 6:00pm
I've always wanted the North End to look like a scene from "Soylent Green"! You think they'll ship all of the homeless out to Amherst or Greenfield for the Olympics? Plenty of room out there.
That
By be
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:18pm
or whatever relocation they were doing with the dogs / other undesirables in Sochi, I'd imagine.
Northampton. That's, like,
By anon
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 9:06am
Northampton. That's, like, New York, right?
[img ]
By kvn
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:20pm
[img ]
Shouldn't beach volleyball be on a beach?
By Ron Newman
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:44pm
Like the perfectly good ones we have in South Boston and Revere?
Can't find Long Island details on bid
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:46pm
Am I missing something? In the USOC bid on Boston Magazine's website I can't find the detailed page on Long Island that Ari has a snapshot of on his Twitter.
Section 4 of proposal
By JohnAKeith
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:45pm
In "Submission 4", Venues, on Page 92 (not the 92nd page of the document, because there are several intro pages). I don't know if Boston magazine has the whole document but you can also find it at boston2024.org/docs
http://cdn.2024boston.org/docs/USOC_Submission_4.pdf
Why Long Island?
By Kaz
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 7:48pm
Why wouldn't they just improve/use the range on Moon Island that BPD owns and uses for license qualifications?
I doubt the BPD range is
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 11:08pm
I doubt the BPD range is large enough to be renovated to accommodate Olympic standards. It seems dumb to me to waste the money building the Olympic shooting venue as temporary. Just move the BPD to the nice new Long Island range after the Olympics. The fire department could then expand their training facility into BPD's space on Moon Island.
I have a feeling that Durban
By Tanja
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:02pm
I have a feeling that Durban will get the Olympics. I hope so, anyway.
I had no idea that David
By anon
Wed, 01/21/2015 - 8:22pm
I had no idea that David Manfredi was co-chairman of the Boston 2024 planning committee. He is one of the founders of Elkus-Manfredi Architects. Has anyone else caught on to this yet? Obviously, that shows what kind of people are really pushing for the Olympics here, which is only those who stand to gain large amounts of money from it. The average citizen's best interests have no part in this. We need to start making our voices heard. No Boston Olympics.
if you think long island is
By TheTruth
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 7:45am
if you think long island is ever going to go back to being a homeless shelter your deluded the city will sell it and it will become a secure gated community for rich people !
No Quincy Olympics
By Nancy
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 8:39am
As a resident of Quincy, I knew we were going to get tangled up in this somehow. I know, I know - Long Island is part of Boston, not Quincy - but they have to use our roads to get there.
If you've never been to Long Island or Squantum, the road that leads there is a lovely one that goes through a beautiful and quiet residential area. It's one lane each way.
No Quincy Olympics. Not even if Boston pays us to use our roads.
Just the MBTA impacts alone...
By octr202
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 8:40am
In a very quick reading yesterday, I started to get an idea of the number of MBTA facilities that will either need to be relocated or otherwise heavily impacted:
-Cabot Bus Garage (one of the larger ones on the system - As Ari noted above, the T currently can't add bus service due to the lack of garage space as it is.)
-Cabot Red Line shops and yard - can't tell if they'd be built over or removed.
-Southampton St Commuter Rail S&I Facility - also can't tell if it'll be decked over or forced to move. (If this goes, the closest maintenance facility to South Station ends up being Readville.)
-I would assume that the loop track stays put under the stadium - otherwise you can't operate the (highly disruptive) track 61 DMUs out to South Boston from Back Bay. That loop track is also important for Amtrak to turn trains during servicing (I'd assume that'll be important during the games, as the Northeast Corridor might be a key transportation link.)
-On the other side of town, part of the BMX complex near Assembly Sq will remove the MBTA's maintenance of way vehicle shop. This is somewhat more easily replaced, but currently it's located in a cluster of other MBTA facilities.
Since we don't see any costs discussed, my concern is whether the cost to replace all these facilities is included in the $4.7 billion price tag, or if this assumes that the state and MBTA will pick up the tab for all of this. To my knowledge, I don't think that these are really facilities that are in need of replacement - other than they'll be in the way of Olympic venues.
Show Us the Money
By Stevil
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 9:23am
I'm trying. But there's a lot of mystery money floating around.
Anyway - if I heard correctly there are three components:
a) Event management = $4.7 BN
b) Venues = $3 BN (I think they forgot the 3x multiplier for all government plus the additional2x for Mass government projects)
c) Infrastructure = Have a McSubway billions and billions and billions served up - or otherwise what the state and the feds can spring for - which is apparently a negative number these days
d) Security - who knows, who cares, DC is paying
They claim that broadcasting, sponsorship and tickets will cover event management - let's grant them that for now
One way or another the infrastructure will get built. It might be a piece of duct tape on that subway door that fell off while moving, it might be a whole new train set for us to play with - but it will get paid for by state/feds
Security will be provided by our friends at Homeland Security - no mention of the role the NSA would play on spying on everyone.
Venues - hmmm - this is where we need mystery money. Anybody have any suggestions for where we can find (3x + 2x) x $3 BN?
I'm not opposed to this - but somebody needs to tell me where the money for all these "temporary" buildings is coming from.
The 60,000-seat temporary stadium is the one that kills me
By merlinmurph
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 9:48am
I mean, really?
Even a temporary stadium is hundreds of millions of $$$
I think I figured that one out
By Stevil
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 10:10am
Fish talked about replacing this with offices/apartments etc. etc. after the Olympics - my guess is there would be a real estate deal that gives someone post event rights to develop the land and that's what funds the stadium. Don't hold me to this number - but I think they said the whole thing was like 80 acres - it's not S. Boston -but it's pretty damned big.
so
By cybah
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 10:51am
so basically a sweetheart deal for a developer after the Olympics.
Boondoggle... just a one big boondoggle.
total speculation
By stevil nli
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 1:03pm
But someone has to pay and I doubt anyone is donating a billion dollars to the cause.
Extra Green Line branch in Cambridge?
By Ron Newman
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 9:37am
The maps in the bid document show the Green Line from Lechmere going to Union Square and Tufts ... but also a third branch that appears to go west along Cambridge Street towards Harvard Square? Where did that come from?
A few thoughts...
By Rob
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 10:32am
- "Midtown"
That's between SOBO and Little Italy, right?
- "Olympic Boulevard"
Also known as Dorchester Avenue
- Looks like "infrastructure improvements" will include a fifth bridge across Fort Point Channel
- They've added a flyover ramp for I-93 southbound exit to Massachusetts Avenue Connector
- They've airbrushed the South Boston Bypass Road (at least the part that goes over the rail yards) out of existence. Is that really a good idea? They might want to have some convenient connection between their waterfront venues and all the regional hotels.
- Beach Volleyball on Boston Common
What a shame that we're landlocked. If only we had some beaches somewhere along the waterfront - or maybe a regional park system with ponds and beaches!
This just in...
By Rob
Thu, 01/22/2015 - 10:37am
Penalty/settlement announced in Patriots investigation.
Belichick, Brady, & Kraft to underwrite cost of deflatable stadium on Olympic Boulevard!
Spare Change News story on Long Island
By Sam Baltrusis
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 3:15am
Here's the Spare Change News story about the proposed Olympic shooting range on Long Island. The proposed shooting venue site is actually Camp Harbor View, which is away from the historic shelter. However, why couldn't we ferry over the homeless if we can ferry over 7,000 spectators?
http://www.sparechangenews.net/archives/exclusive-...
Simple - $$$$$$
By merlinmurph
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 9:04am
It takes money. Right now, Jack Connors is scrambling around trying raise money to get kids to camp on the island during the summer. It's a lot of money - ~$500k per summer.
Kudos to Jack Connors
By anon
Sat, 01/24/2015 - 12:37pm
Who is putting thousands of his own money to make sure kids still get their camp, fundraising for it, and according to the Globe has politely declined to give a check to Boston 2024.
He puts John Fish, Mayor Walsh, and others in this deal to shame.
"Historic" shelter?
By roadman
Fri, 01/23/2015 - 1:50pm
To quote my best friend (who was a History major in college):
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