Boston 2024 proposes Olympic velodrome and BMX track at Assembly Square

[ron_newman]

The Boston 2024 Olympic organizing committee is proposing to build a velodrome (bicycle racing track and stadium) on the east side of the Assembly Orange Line station, in what is now Draw Seven Park. They also want to build a BMX bicycle racing course next to the velodrome, on land that is now part of an MBTA bus maintenance facility. See pages 74-77 of this document for details.

Mayor Joe is not happy with this proposal.

Comments, anyone?

Comments

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I think sacrificing transit infrastructure for a rarely used sports facility is bullshit, of course. A fine example of why the Olympics are toxic and damaging.

I note:
"The Olympics presents an opportunity to leap forward on some of the most pressing issues such as transportation, infrastructure, and housing"

Really? What's the opportunity? Are they providing money Somerville otherwise doesn't have to invest?

[gingicat]

This is much more useful than my first thought, which was "oh HELL no."

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

Ha. agreed on all counts.

[dmaze]

...and did I read the map wrong, or is the proposal to build the Giant Stadium in a Decrepit Industrial Wasteland actually plowing under big maintenance facilities for Amtrak, the Red Line, and the commuter rail? My reaction when I looked at it was that those things, and the BPW facilities, had to go *somewhere*, and the ones that had to be located on the relevant rail lines couldn't really move.

[gruene.livejournal.com]

Draw 7 park is highly underutilized and difficult to access. As much as the city could use more green space, this won't be a huge loss.

The plans say it will be redeveloped as "a multi-use commercial venture" after the games, so we won't be stuck with an abandoned stadium forever.

(I'm highly skeptical of the 2024 bid, just wanted to put the other point of view out there.)

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

Sacrificing transit to build the Olympics: definitely bad.

Using the Olympics as an excuse to upgrade transit? .... let's just say everyone has a price, and that's mine.

[ron_newman]

The Assembly station doesn't currently have an entrance or exit on the Draw 7 side of the tracks. That would have to be added to make this proposal at all feasible.

[ron_newman]

I'm all for improving transit, but I don't think sacrificing the T's maintenance facilities is a good way to do that.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

That would be tempting, but I'm not aware of plans to make it happen. And where's the money coming from? More debt for the MBTA?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

What tigerbright said. Erk.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

More busing while they rebuild the supposedly finished station some more! YAY!

[totient]

I'm definitely against bringing the Olympics to Boston because of the vast environmental and social impact and the dubious return.

If it's going to come here anyway, as many of the sites as possible should be as near to public transit as possible.

So I think it's important to frame this as part of why we don't want the Olympics at all, and not in a way that makes it hard to advocate for sensible siting of the event venues if the bid does win.

I was in favor of the Trolley Square development because each of those expensive condos meant that 2 acres of forest in Billerica didn't get cut down, and because its social impact was very low. T operations might not be able to scale up as far now that the yard has shrunk but they weren't going to scale up anyway; we've lost a pretty far-fetched hypothetical. I'd be in favor of a similar development on part of the Sullivan Square bus maintenance facility, a big chunk of which is mostly-empty surface parking lots and ground level, non-stacked container storage. Putting a BMX track on it in the meantime seems pretty harmless -- if we're going to put it anywhere in Boston, which I'd rather we didn't, as part of not wanting the bid.

[ron_newman]

I agree, but the bid document as written doesn't seem to even acknowledge that it proposes to displace part of a currently active MBTA facility. Consolidating that facility onto less land may be a good thing, but it's a good thing that someone needs to pay for.

Similarly, adding an east entrance to Assembly station is a public good, but the Olympic bid document is written and drawn as if that entrance already existed, rather that calling it out as a needed infrastructure improvement.

The drawing in the bid also appears to use tiny little Sherman Street in Charlestown as an access road to the BMX track -- not for spectators, but for athletes, employees, and volunteers. If you've ever been to that street (and you have), you know that isn't going to work well.

[totient]

If they gloss over this cost, I bet they gloss over a lot of other costs. Certainly the experience of other Olympic cities has been that costs were much higher than the bid suggested. This kind of thing, as part of a pattern, is good ammo against the bid.

[keithn.livejournal.com]

There is no reason for Mayor Joe to be happy with the proposal. These venues will have little use after the Olympics are over and building the venues would bring no major infrastructure improvements to Somerville. IMO we have nothing to gain from this, and at least during construction it will be an eyesore next to Mayor Joe's major accomplishment.

To nitpick here...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I was in favor of the Trolley Square development because each of those expensive condos...

AFAIK, there are no expensive condos in Trolley Square. Trolley Square is an affordable housing development with 8 ownership units and 32 rentals.

[totient]

Even better! Social *and* environmental justice served. But one or the other will suffice for the Sullivan site in my book.