City’s convention plans falling behind

In less than a year, the national spotlight will shine on Boston as it plays host to the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

But despite years of preparation vying for the host position, city officials are desperately scrambling to have Boston ready by July 26, 2004.

Financial problems and delays to major transportation projects are the latest problems plaguing state party officials, who made various promises to the convention selection committee in order secure Boston’s selection as the host city.

City officials and Democratic Party leaders have said their foremost concern is Boston’s ability to meet its $50 million convention budget. The city missed the June deadline to secure its financial commitments and is still attempting to raise $12 million in private funding and $13 million in public funding to patch up the budget cost.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a press release he remains confident Boston will come out of the convention as winners.

‘I can tell you I had one conversation with Governor [Mitt] Romney and he said, ‘I will do whatever it takes to make our city and state look good,” McAuliffe said. ‘So I will hold the governor to his word.’

Another concern is the timely completion of the ‘Big Dig’ project, which has suffocated Boston traffic for more than 10 years and will ultimately create an underground highway artery system through Boston’s downtown area. Though city officials originally promised the project’s completion by June 2004, the ‘Big Dig’ may not be finished until well after the convention.

The Boston Globe reported that ‘Big Dig’ officials have admitted that, at maximum, six lanes will be open to traffic underneath the city streets. This statement is a far cry from the initial guarantee in the introduction of Boston’s bid for the convention, placed in 2001, which assured eight to 10 lanes would be open for travel.

Other proposed transportation changes are continuing, including the completion of the ‘T’ Orange and Green Line super station, which would serve as an underground link with the FleetCenter, the site of the convention.

But the completion date of the T super station is still unknown, and convention organizers believe the station will not be open in time for the event, which ends on July 30, 2004.

‘We think we’ll probably have to stop the [commuter] trains short [of North Station] and build temporary platforms and walkways to re-route folks,’ Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Michael Mulhern said in a statement earlier this summer.

But despite the timing problems that Boston officials may have to face, many arrangements and preparations for the convention have been met.

According to a press release, all of the delegates attending the convention will be given free seven-day T passes. The 35,000-plus delegates, guests and media personalities will be staying in hotels mainly within the city and not in the suburbs, in order to gain easier access to the FleetCenter during the week.

The DNC is asking for volunteers for the week of the convention. Over 8,000 volunteers are needed to arrange seating, staging and other tasks at the FleetCenter. Potential local vendors will be solicited before the convention in order to contain the amount of outside revenue.

Boston won hosting privileges for the convention over Detroit, Miami and New York. New York will host the 2004 Republican National Convention, which will take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.