An aging transportation system. Unstable bridges. Slim housing options.
These are all thorns in the side of the Boston, but Mayor Marty Walsh insists the projects could be fast-tracked if the city is getting ready for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
"The things that we have to do for the Olympics are things that we have to do for the future of our city and the growth of our city," he said Friday morning at a press conference following the announcement that Boston had been picked over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington by the United States Olympic Committee.
Walsh was joined by Governor Charlie Baker, U.S. Olympic Committee members and John Fish, a construction mogul who has spearheaded the pro-Olympics group Boston 2024.
Fish pledged that Boston would not be left with buildings it didn't need post-Olympics.
"No white elephants" were his exact words.
Many have asked why the Olympic Committee would pick a cramped, cow-pathed city such as Boston. Fish pointed out to built-in venues, including the more than 100 colleges and universities in the Greater Boston area and institutions with arenas and fields. Some schools have even offered to build new facilities.
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"Nothing more impressive from a recruiting point of view for somewhere like Harvard or MIT or Tufts University to have an Olympic venue at their campus," Fish said.
Boston must still beat out the international competition, which could include Rome, Paris, Berlin and Melbourne, but if it did, organizers estimate costs would ring in to about $10 billion, nearly half paid for by private funds, while the rest, including infrastructure improvements, would be footed by the city and state.
Walsh promised accountability and transparency Friday morning.
"I am not going to use public money, city money, to build an aquatic center. I'm not going to use public money to build an archery gallery," he said.
However, it's not stadiums or traffic or parking that Liam Kerr, co-chair of No Boston Olympics, says he's concerned about.
"The question is not 'Can we host the Olympics?' We could pull off the Olympic Games, absolutely, this is Boston, we can do anything," he said. "The question is, should we?"
Kerr says he's afraid leaders will be so focused on the Summer Olympics that they'll drop the ball on more pressing issues, including education, health care and affordable housing.
"The most vulnerable people in our Commonwealth, in our city are struggling with those issues every single day," he said.
