Some Thoughts on a Boston Olympics

I’ve waited a week to see if the overwhelming negative reaction to the possibility of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympcs by Bostonians changed. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t. Not only is requiring an Olympic games as a prerequisite to improving mass transit and housing a fundamental failure of governance–these are problems that should be solved without hosting the Olympics–but it also doesn’t make sense on its own terms. While there has always been a minority of Bostonians who suffer from an inferiority complex (truthfully, I can’t figure this one out–Boston is a great city), Boston really doesn’t need the Olympics to increase tourism: Fanueil Hall alone is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world*. Unlike Barcelona, which used the games to great effect, Boston is already ‘on the map.’

Anyway, it seems there’s an opportunity for both local Boston politicians…