Panel Forges Ahead With Boston Olympic Plans
Leading a commission to explore the feasibility of hosting the 2024 summer Olympics in Greater Boston, Suffolk Construction Chairman and CEO John Fish on Wednesday said planners should be creative in thinking about how to address housing and transportation needs.
“What about a gondola? Maybe we go up instead of down and build something temporary,” Fish said after meeting with the commission, using the idea as an example of outside-the-box thinking he says is necessary in planning for the Olympics.
Fish also told commissioners that building a 16,000-person Olympic Village and a dining hall to accommodate 5,000 athletes may not require major new construction of permanent housing. “Density would be overwhelming long term, which is why I want to talk about prefabrication and modular,” he said.
The special commission created by the Legislature to explore the prospects for hosting the 2024 Summer games met at the State House on Wednesday morning, outlining steps it will take to meet its March 1 deadline for a final report. The commission also heard presentations on economic development and transportation as it considers whether the state’s long-term plans align with the requirements of being an Olympic host city.
Fish said regardless of whether Boston ultimately hosts the games, the process of thinking about the needs of the city and beyond over the next 10 years will be a valuable exercise for the commission, including exploring the “legacy” that policy leaders would want the Olympics to leave behind after the games are over.
At its next meeting on Jan. 6, the commission will hear from Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Executive Director James Rooney, Massport CEO Thomas Glynn, and a representative from the Boston Redevelopment Authority on the capacity of the city and its facilities. Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis and Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins, a member of the commission, will discuss security.
MassDOT Highway Administrator Frank DePaola gave a presentation on the major infrastructure projects in the works for the next 10 years, including extensions of the Green Line and South Coast rail, the expansion of South Station, and highway work to improve bottlenecks at the I-93 and I-95 interchanges in Woburn and Canton, as well at the Allston-Brighton toll plaza.
“The South Station expansion would be critical to accommodating an Olympic crowd,” said Dan O’Connell, president of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and a former member of Gov. Deval Patrick's cabinet.
DePaola said siting a new U.S. Postal Service general mail facility in Greater Boston will be the key to moving forward on the South Station project to add seven rail landings that will accommodate more trains and more frequent service. He said the “current thinking” on the project involves leveraging private investment in exchange for air rights and adjacent development rights around the station.
“It has to be expanded within 10 years,” DePaola said.
Describing himself as “an eternal optimist,” Fish said he sees Boston already stacking up well against the specific criteria required of a host city by the International Olympic Committee, including more than enough hotel rooms within 50 miles of Boston, a high concentration of medical facilities, expert security personnel experienced in handling large events and disasters, energy capacity and telecommunications.
Fish said it was “premature” to think about surveying public opinion on bringing the Olympics to Boston, suggesting the commission’s goal should be to provide the public with as much information as possible about what it would take to be a host city. “Time is on our side,” Fish said.
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