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Five-ringed circus: Now here's an idea - hold the Olympics at Assembly Row

Olympic vision for Boston

One of Boston 2024's many visions.

Wicked Local Somerville reports Joe Curtatone wants a slice of Olympics action:

Curtatone told the Journal Friday he would be open to bringing the games in some capacity to Somerville and did not rule out the possibility of constructing a stadium, hosting an event or building Olympic housing in the city.

Amazingly, nobody from Boston 2024 has yet reached out to the mayor of the Brooklyn of New England.

In other Olympics news, the Times, a newspaper in a city whose placid, contented residents never complain about the weather, the traffic and, usually, the Jets, took time out of its busy news cycle to survey the Olympic-sized angst in our provincial outpost, or as they drolly called us, the "city of curmudgeons:"

Kvetching is a blood sport in Boston, a city of skeptics who seem to relish complaining about the weather, the traffic and, usually, the Red Sox.

Among those cited by the nation's newspaper: Dig News Editor Chris Faraone, who pounded out a lengthy rant about how Boston's Olympic nightmare is only beginning, in which Faraone said the Olympic press conference/stroke job yesterday got him as angry as that time at his grandfather's wake when "I wanted to throw rocks at the priest for pretending it was a positive moment."

Meanwhile, Matt Martinelli at the Improper Bostonian can't decide whether to welcome the games with open arms or cower under his bed.

The No Boston Olympics people want to hold a big organizing meeting this Wednesday, but don't have a place yet.

The Globe maps out potential venues and reminds us that:

Some of the city’s neighborhoods would be transformed into something approaching armed camps with security personnel carrying automatic weapons - and possibly even anti-aircraft batteries ...

The Herald reports Mayor Walsh is loving the idea that organizers have taken out an insurance policy against overruns, say it guarantees Boston won't be on the hook for anything.. OK, granted the policy has a $25 million cap, but it's a start, right? Meanwhile, organizers continued to promise a completely "open" planning process even as they continued to refuse to release the actual bid document they used to win Boston's USOC nod.

Aly Raisman is loving the idea of a Boston Olympics.

WBUR poses five questions about the Olympics - and then answers them.

One guy who's really excited about the idea of a Boston Olympics is Tim Warsinskey, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, who enthuses:

The Summer Olympics and Paralympics could be a day's drive away from Northeast Ohio in nine years. How cool would that be?

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Comments

We need a Giant Clam mascot!

(a steamer, though - geoducks need not apply!)

Boston is going to need Somerville to pull this off. Good thinking for Somerville to make that obvious early, in exchange for trinkets.

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And everyone can park at the Wynn over in Everett! SUPER SCORE!!1

Seriously, I would've thought Mayor Joe would be against the Olympics. I guess there weren't any corrupt IOC officials worth suing or something.

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The Olympics is a huge opportunity for Curtatone to get world-wide publicity for himself, rub elbows with world leaders and star athletes, and get his face and name on TV and elsewhere.

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Gotta love that idiot Faraone.

but in all my years as a reporter I have never felt so damn defeated

Oh,he's a reporter now? Sorry, I thought he was always an internet commenter with delusions of grandeur. Especially the part where he peed on himself, that's some Pulitzer winning shit there, uh, dude.

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A number of the maps I've seen published in the Globe show a temporary velodrome at Assembly Square.

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Somerville probably sees this as their golden opportunity to make so much money just off of parking tickets and towing fees that they'll be able to pave their streets with gold bricks.

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Park illegally, or don't pay the meter, or stay over time ... that's what you get.

Nobody owes you free parking.

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there's also a fight brewing between Worcester and Lowell for rowing events...

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That course is already barely long enough to way'nuff and not run off the end in a college eight. They would have to do some work on it to make it work for Olympic speed rowers. It might not be deep enough, either (wakes aren't just two dimensional).

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Of course they wouldn't mind it out in Somerville, they are in the suburbs.

Everything is so laddddeeedah in the burbs

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Somerville has a much higher population density than Boston.

You have a bizarre definition of "suburb", too. Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Quincy, etc. are cities, are very urban and "urbs" in their own right. They just didn't get mixed in like they would have in Philly or LA or any other US city for that matter.

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You can walk from Union Square in Somerville to the State House in less than an hour. Try doing this from East Boston.

Most parts of Boston are further from downtown than that.

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It might be labeled the Boston Olympics but that's just the host city. The games are not limited to Boston city limits, nor are they intended to be. It's not even limited to just Massachusetts. Of course we will need help from neighboring cities and states.

Just look at the 1996 "Atlanta" Olympics. Stone Mountain hosted tennis and cycling. The rowing center was located far outside the city in Lake Lanier. Softball was a bit further away in Columbus, Georgia. Soccer was held several venues outside Atlanta, including Birmingham Alabama.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/02/atlanta-games-venues-from-le...

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I wonder how Partners Healthcare will think about this. I can see it now..

"hi, we're going to put an olympic event right next door to your new all inclusive corporate headquarters. Yeah it's going to be security nightmare, you'll lose all you private parking, and access to the MBTA station. You might as well close your business"

Yeah I don't think they'll like that too much.

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