Sunday, August 01, 2004
One last leisurely weekend DNC stroll ....: Marty Nolan meandered around town, thinking and asking the right questions about future conventions, past conventions, security, Boston, the Globe, the Herald. Nice pace. Great column. ...
From Reader No. 1: “All griping aside, your 5-point summary of DNC week (see post below) is excellent. My only quibble is what columnists and pols are making of the ‘Visitors liked the city.’ We aren't going to know for a couple of years or so whether they liked it enough to make a difference in tourism (and at that, I'd rather see numbers from the non-partisan numbers-driven folks like Sam Tyler than the official tourism industry). Let's not start counting those dollars until they are in the bank...”
Ah, the old ‘Visitors liked the City’ issue. It’s an interesting issue, beyond the economic considerations: How much should one care about guests liking a party? The best parties are usually the ones in which both the guests and the host have a good time. ... I enjoyed last week. So did the visitors. So great. ....
But read this column/story -- and never forget it. It’s now Exhibit A in the growing body of evidence that it’s really a small minority within the media and entertainment sectors who are obsessed with how Boston is perceived. One can’t even get a ‘genteel’ compliment without having an image-conscious nervous breakdown about an older sister’s shoes. Talk about worrying what others think. ...
... Ah, the local media. Mike Barnicle let it rip the other day concerning the pre-DNC We’re All Going to Die coverage. He’s right. The media had a grand old time hyping the mayhem hype, then rehyping the hyped mayhem hype, and then acted shocked that the exact opposite problem logically occurred. There’s a bumbling F Troop analogy here somewhere. ... There’s also a media backlash out there. Ask around. It’s there all right. ...
But ah ha! Don’t let Mayor Menino off the hook. Nor the absurd security. Bottom line: Security, the mayor, the media all overreacted pre-DNC. Result: Ghost town. ... A pleasant ghost town, I might add, though I’m not a shop owner. ... What a week.
From Reader No. 1: “All griping aside, your 5-point summary of DNC week (see post below) is excellent. My only quibble is what columnists and pols are making of the ‘Visitors liked the city.’ We aren't going to know for a couple of years or so whether they liked it enough to make a difference in tourism (and at that, I'd rather see numbers from the non-partisan numbers-driven folks like Sam Tyler than the official tourism industry). Let's not start counting those dollars until they are in the bank...”
Ah, the old ‘Visitors liked the City’ issue. It’s an interesting issue, beyond the economic considerations: How much should one care about guests liking a party? The best parties are usually the ones in which both the guests and the host have a good time. ... I enjoyed last week. So did the visitors. So great. ....
But read this column/story -- and never forget it. It’s now Exhibit A in the growing body of evidence that it’s really a small minority within the media and entertainment sectors who are obsessed with how Boston is perceived. One can’t even get a ‘genteel’ compliment without having an image-conscious nervous breakdown about an older sister’s shoes. Talk about worrying what others think. ...
... Ah, the local media. Mike Barnicle let it rip the other day concerning the pre-DNC We’re All Going to Die coverage. He’s right. The media had a grand old time hyping the mayhem hype, then rehyping the hyped mayhem hype, and then acted shocked that the exact opposite problem logically occurred. There’s a bumbling F Troop analogy here somewhere. ... There’s also a media backlash out there. Ask around. It’s there all right. ...
But ah ha! Don’t let Mayor Menino off the hook. Nor the absurd security. Bottom line: Security, the mayor, the media all overreacted pre-DNC. Result: Ghost town. ... A pleasant ghost town, I might add, though I’m not a shop owner. ... What a week.
