Boston 2024

A while back I took the opportunity to attend one of Boston 2024's community meetings.  It was held at a great facility on Harvard's Business School campus.  The committee did a great job of explaining their goals and their visions for the 2024 games.  My thoughts are below!

It concerns me that so many people are against Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics.  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the city of Boston, surrounding communities, and United States athletes.  I think those opposing the Olympics need to spend serious time analyzing the issue before simply jumping to conclusions that the Boston Olympics would be just another Beijing or Sochi disaster.  I know many residents are scarred from the Big Dig debacle but it’s time to open our collective minds to the opportunities a Boston bid can provide.

Concerns with construction, traffic, and general infrastructure problems are often cited as reasons not to host the games.  Many of the upgrades to public transportation are going to happen whether or not we end up hosting the Olympics.  Boston 2024 has clearly aligned their needs with the long term planning goals of the city and state.  Many of these “construction nightmares” are going to happen, regardless of Boston 2024.  

Boston is at a crossroads.  More and more people are moving into the city and Boston’s public transportation will need to meet these demands.  On the other hand, there’s a whole generation of people who are being forced out of the city due to rising rents and home prices.  The city needs more affordable housing.  These problems can’t be ignored and coincidentally align nicely with the needs of the Olympic bid.

Boston’s bid allows local, city, and state officials to work together to improve public transportation, zoning laws, green spaces, and affordable housing with a very real deadline in place.  New York, a bid city for the 2012 games, reaped many rewards even though they eventually lost the bid to London.  In a January 14th Boston Globe article it was stated, “The rezoning done for the Olympics has done more to transform New York than any other land development during the past half-century,” said Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban planning and policy at New York University, who released a 2011 report on how the city “won” with its rejected bid.”  Boston 2024 could be a catalyst for some real progress with some of the city’s most pressing problems.

Many people use the “not in my backyard” reason for why Boston should not host the Olympics.  This is the Olympics!  The world’s biggest sporting event that unites the world for two short weeks every two years. For two weeks the focus shifts from what is wrong in the world to what is right in the world.  Some city has to host the Olympics.  That’s how it works and Boston has what it takes to do it in a sustainable, innovative way.  

Boston’s Olympics could be the most sustainable, walkable Olympics in the history of the event.  The organizers have capitalized on two of the city’s biggest assets, the fact that it is a walkable city and is home to so many colleges and universities.  By partnering with the colleges and universities organizers will not need to build nearly as many stadiums, fields, and arenas as previous hosts.  By keeping venues in a compact area, and with improvements to public transportation, traffic issues could be manageable.  

Boston has what it takes to host an event on the level of the Olympics.  Sure, it would be easy to say that some other city should step up instead, but Boston doesn’t take the easy way out of anything.  This city has proved that it doesn’t back down from a challenge, so why back down now?  I urge concerned community members to engage in productive dialogue with the Boston 2024 organizing committee, attend an information meeting, ask questions, and get informed.  You might just find out that an Olympic bid has a lot to offer.

The First Patio Night

After this crazy winter I think any temps higher than 40 qualify as a patio night.  The week after my Huskies won their 10th National Championship we felt like celebrating.  This also coincided with a rise in temps, I think it might have been in the 60s during the day.  As a result, everyone was out in the Square.  We tried four or five places before we were able to get a reservation at Legal's in the Charles Hotel.

After dinner, we started walking home, but realized that the patios had opened.  We couldn't resist enjoying the first patio night (even if I was still wearing my winter coat).  We were lucky to get a table at the Red House.  In my opinion, the Red House has the best patio in all of Harvard Square.  It has beautiful white lights everywhere and a real beachy feel.  We savored being able to be outside for any length of time, let alone, being able to enjoy a cocktail outside.  It was a perfect way to ring in April and say goodbye to this horrible winter we experienced!

Meat Fest 2015

One sure sign of spring is the hosting of our annual Meat Fest party.  It's surely spring when JO brings home python or yak and asks me to cook it.  This year's Meat Fest was happening on Final Four weekend and it was a great way to pass the time until the big games.

I love this tradition because it's no stress.  The house doesn't have to be perfectly clean, I don't have to worry about how many people need to fit around one table.  I just have to worry about the amount of bacon being fried up and if that will set of the smoke alarms.

Well, the fireman did show up but they were just picking up their pizza next door!

City Night in the North End

I have a lot of catching up to do.  Ever since March Madness started I feel like I've been behind.  May and June were epically busy but it's finally summer vacation so I plan on getting all caught up on my blog.

I'll start where I left off, March Madness had just gotten underway.  We were spending a lot of time at Parlor Sports, watching my Huskies, and patiently waiting for all the snow to melt.  We finally had a break in the action one Thursday night early in April.  It was before the Final Four weekend and we both were looking forward to a city night!

We decided to try a new place in the North End, Nico.  It was even slightly above freezing so we were able to walk from the train station no problem.  Walking around the North End is great fun, and we don't do it nearly enough.  Even if you're not going to eat in the North End, the people watching is fabulous.

Nico is a small (surprise, surprise) two floor restaurant.  The main floor is split between the bar and dining space; heavy velvet curtains are used to separate the two spaces.  Downstairs has more dining room seating, although not as inviting as the main floor.  I did not like that there were tvs on both floors.   That seemed strange for the North End.  The food was delicious and the service was good but the place lacked a little bit of the charm of other North End restaurants.

We ended up walking all the way back to the Park Street stop just because we could.  There was still snow but the sidewalks were cleared and the weather was arctic.  We reminisced about how a few short weeks ago everything was covered in the biggest snow banks we had ever seen.  Parking our car was now no longer a cause for tears and panic.  We had survived the worst winter ever and we had so many fun things to look forward to!