As Foley spent St. Patrick's Day afternoon at Croke Park on West Broadway, he said visitors would take advantage of the area's offerings.
"There's already all kinds of traffic downtown. Over by the water, that would be much better," said Mary Brooks, 48, a chief inspector for the MBTA and South Boston resident. "You've got better scenery. People can come off the train, the bus. It's an excellent idea."Additionally, an online survey shows area residents prefer moving the convention from the FleetCenter by a 70-30 margin.
Of course, the Democrats are refusing. The stadium seating and luxury boxes offered by the FleetCenter are more important to them than easing the crushing impact of their convention on its host city. Additionally, the Democrats argue that the FleetCenter will be a better location for the national news to cover:
The FleetCenter's stadium seating provides clear sight lines, the luxury suites can be set up as sky box studios to showcase big name anchors, and a tight, packed arena generates the look and sound of excitement — something that will be sorely needed once the Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, starts speaking.For the Democrats, the needs of their conventioneers trump the massive interruption in the lives of Boston residents. Perhaps they feel any animosity caused by convention congestion won't affect their reliable liberal base in Massachusetts, and they may be right. Even so, this controversy makes it crystal clear where the priorities of the DNC lie.In short, network executives want the FleetCenter venue and Democratic Party officials want whatever they want. "We are good at solving their problems. We want them here. That's how you showcase a candidate," explains O'Connor, who also makes it clear that other problems already associated with the convention belong to someone else, specifically Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
this whole thing is very misleading...because what you're leaving out is the fact that it was the MBTA's idea to shut down north station, not the dnc's. the secret service is involved as well.
oh yea, those evil dems...in addition to eating their babies and practicing witchcraft, they now want to stomp on the working class.
sure thing.
2 - bhw
This is why Boston shall forever remain rinky dink: it's full of whiners. Boston gets a convention and the suburban drones bitch about being inconvenienced for a few days, rather than show pride that their city was chosen over the other competitors.
I'm sure the DNC and RNC will both remember all the complaining the next time around, too.
3 - Shark
Shed a tear for Boston and vote for Bush.
Scott, I love you, man!
I'm just glad to know there's someone as whacked out, obsessive, and single-minded as I am.
We might even cancel each other out.
~ Uh-oh. That means Flanagan is still on the loose.
(shark handing stun-gun to Hal P.)
4 - Scott Pepper
Single-minded?!?!? I spend more time on my American Idol reviews than all other posting combined, including the political garbage...
Also, I'm still on the fence as to who gets my vote in November.
5 - JR
Aha! So you admit your political posts are garbage.
6 - Scott Pepper
99% of writing on politics is garbage.
7 - Mark Saleski
since 99% of politics is garbage, that about makes sense.
8 - JR
I wonder what percent of garbage is politics...
9 - Eric Olsen
no, politics goes in the recycle bin
10 - Shark
...because it's plastic!
~bada-bing!
11 - Shark
re: American Idol
Yeah, Scott, I was just SHOCKED that there would be racist reviews on a Fox TV web site. Even more shocked that anyone with a brain stem would pay any attention to 'em.
~zzzzzzzzz