The demise of the Boston 2024 Olympic bid was met with a mix of relief —and some regret— from Dorchester residents and visitors interviewed by the Reporter in Uphams Corner, Neponset and Adams Corner on Tuesday.

“I’m very glad it was [pulled],” said Pat Moran of Delmont Street. “I just don’t trust that it wouldn’t end up costing a fortune for the state and the city.”

It was exactly this concern that led Mayor Marty Walsh, who had been adamant about the idea of bringing the games to the city since it was first proposed, to conduct an unexpected press conference Monday. He explained that he was not ready to move forward with the process until it was guaranteed that Boston’s taxpayers would not be negatively affected by the games.

Moran believes Boston has bigger priorities to address before it considers hosting an event of such magnitude.

“I’m a public transportation user, I don’t have a car, and it’s brutal now trying to get around with the T and public service,” she said. “I think we should be concentrating on fixing our problems.”

Tom Kelly, a former MBTA red line worker and now a resident of Quincy, agreed that terminating the Olympic bid was the right decision, especially because of the impact it would have had on transportation.

“I think it’s the best thing that could have happened here,” said Kelly. “I think it was going to foul up everything---foul up the traffic, and mess it up.”

Flavio Valdes, a registered nurse at Uphams Corner Health Center, said the financial aspect of the plan was what put him on the opposing end.
“I’m definitely happy, because it would have created more debt for the city instead of bringing benefits,” said Valdes.

Public support for the 2024 proposal has been consistently low in polls conducted over the last six months. However, not all Bostonians were opposed to the idea. Many citizens told the Reporter they liked the idea of a Boston Olympics, but were not comfortable with it happening so soon in the city’s future.

“I have mixed feelings on it,” said Maryanne Morrissey of St. Brendan’s Parish. “I think it would have been really awesome to have it in Boston, but I think the cost overruns would have affected the people too much.”

Ilda Plasari of Locust Street also believes that a Boston Olympics would have had a great impact on the city culturally and historically, but was just not plausible in terms of space and costs.

“We really support sports as a city, I know we’re a big sports city,” said Plasari. “But it’s just not realistic for us to accommodate the crowds and the amount of people that come when hosting the Olympics.”
Plasari believes that the city could potentially host the Olympics in the future, but it would require a great deal of work.

“I think for us to do that in the future we’d have to make changes for our city, like on our transportation system,” she said.

Bernie Smith of Adams Village thinks Dorchester would have benefitted from the Olympics while they were happening.

“I think for the time it would have been here it would probably have been good because we’re so close to downtown,” Smith said. “It could be good for people renting and stuff.”

However, Smith could not envision how the city would benefit long-term after the Games left town.

“I know all these people would have come and everything, but I think these buildings would have gone up and then be left sitting there,” she said. “Like in London, there were buildings built that were just left there.”

While disappointment with the decision to drop the bid is hard to find in the city, many residents in neighboring towns are sad to see Boston’s Olympic plans dashed.

“I thought it was going to be here, so it’s kind of disappointing,” said Annie Martin of Braintree. “After holding such a big event here, people would probably know about [Dorchester] more.”