Keller @ Large: Fake Lessons From Boston's Olympics Bid

BOSTON (CBS) - I thought I was done talking about the ill-fated Boston Summer Olympics bid.

But the Boston Globe has taken one last stab at legitimizing the money, time and energy that were wasted on it by naming businessman John Fish, the chief mover behind the bid, and Chris Dempsey, a leader of the opposition to it, as Bostonians of the Year.

No doubt these are two fine gentlemen who sincerely did what they thought was best for the city. But their interview recycles some tired spin that requires debunking, a tiresome job, but someone has to do it.

Mr. Fish claims that "when history is written…there will be a powerful bid legacy."

What might that be?

He is paraphrased claiming that the debate over bringing the Games here "identified priorities we can all agree on - the need for a stronger regional transportation system, more middle-class housing, and investment in parts of Boston that have been left behind."

No.

Those needs were apparent before this costly scheme emerged, and the bid debacle did nothing to promote serious solutions, unless putting billions in public funds at risk to meet an agenda imposed by outsiders with no long-term stake in the community is your idea of progress.

Fish is on more solid ground when he claims the bid "created a tremendous amount of energy that we otherwise wouldn't have had," but it was the organizational energy of the forces that brought it down, not what I think he means.

Listen, people make mistakes. The Boston Olympics was one, nothing more.

Let's make sure we learn the right lessons from that mistake, not fake ones.

Listen to Jon's commentary: