Yvonne Abraham’s Nov. 16 column cites an October interview with Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish, in which he said, of opponents of a Boston Olympiad: “Who are they and what currency do they have? What have they done to help Boston, and help make . . . Massachusetts a better place?”
I’ve been a resident of the Boston area for 33 years. I grew up here, went to school here, live here, and raise my family here. I use public transit and hospitals, patronize stores and restaurants, and enjoy our cultural institutions. I work every day in an industry that helps people with disease improve their lives, and does it with innovation and cutting-edge technology. Is that sufficient to have my opinion heard on an issue that affects millions of people in Greater Boston?
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Fish’s company helped to turn the Seaport into a desert of generic, soulless buildings and businesses that serve conventioneers and tourists, and that many actual residents avoid. The Olympics could make Suffolk millions of dollars on construction contracts, and turn the rest of Boston into as soulless and boring a place as the Seaport.
If that’s what gives Fish currency, then no, thanks.
James Lambropoulos
Brookline