Giorgio: Worcester & the 2024 Olympics
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
No sooner had Mayor Joe Petty suggested that Worcester may want to try to get a piece of the Olympic action, if Boston is chosen, then the proverbial nay sayers in Worcester started squawking like so many Harpies.
What is it about the local folk? Why are they so negative about the place they live? The outside world sees Worcester as a good place, why don’t some of our fellow citizens do the same. Sure we are the second city of New England, but we are not the tenth. Worcester is a great place.
People outside of Worcester are touting the city and Lake Quinsigamond as the perfect venue for the rowing events. The Charles River is to narrow and is subject to tides just like the Merrimack River in Lowell, which the Boston Committee recommended in their proposal.
Lake Quinsigamond 4th best rowing venue in the world.
Lake Quinsigamond makes perfect sense. First of all it is the 4th best body of water in the world for rowing. It is also wider than the Charles.
City Lab.com, the Atlantics website dealing with urban issues, actually said that Worcester was the big winner in Boston’s bid and we didn’t have to do a thing.
Sure there will be problems; sure the Olympics don’t make money. In fact they may cost money. But let’s face it, if Boston is chosen by the IOC then any costs will be borne by the taxpayers of Massachusetts not just Boston. That’s how things go. So if we are going to pay-let’s play.
The benefits of being an Olympic Venue.
What will Worcester get from hosting the Olympics on Lake Quinsigamond? We will get traffic and congestion and a disruption to our quiet little life styles. Yah, they will be an inconvenience. But there are benefits.
- Benefit number 1- We get bragging rights that the Olympics were held in our city.
- Benefit number 2- We may get economic spinoff. People will be staying in hotels out here because they are cheaper and Boston doesn’t have enough rooms. They will also stay in Providence and in Framingham and everywhere in between. If they stay here maybe they will eat here.
- Benefit number 3- We will get millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements to Lake Quinsigamond. Worcester has a plan to create a promenade along Lake Avenue and Lake Quinsig, roughly a mile and a half long park. Let’s have the State pay for it instead of the taxpayers of Worcester. The improvements will benefit generations to come.
- Benefit number 4- Those improvements can be used to attract other rowing events on the Lake. Events such as the US Nationals, The Masters and maybe even the Olympic trials.
- Benefit number 5- Improved train service to Boston. The state has been struggling to upgrade train service to Boston from Worcester. When the Games were held in Atlanta, the Feds gave Atlanta about $5 Billion to improve the MART, Atlanta’s Train system. Improved infrastructure means better service, more people living here that work in Boston.
- Benefit number 6- People will discover the city. WE have been working hard to change the image of the city. We are no longer and old mill city. Those jobs are long gone. Today Worcester is a College town, a Medical Mecca and a Bio-tech hot spot. The Olympics will help us get that message out.
As I said there are downsides to all of this and it is a long shot. But I was taught that the long shots payoff better. Let’s go for it and maybe we will get a piece of Olympic Glory.
Related Slideshow: Central MA Olympic Activities
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