Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday that organizers of World Cup watch parties around the state that have been left in licensing limbo “should receive their approvals this week,” according to Alison Kuznitz of MASSLIVE.com. The Healey administration in March doled out $10M in grants for fan celebrations and community watch parties throughout the state. FIFA so far has “only given public viewing licenses to four out of 17 state grant recipients,” and organizers are “considering canceling plans.” While the licenses have not come through yet, Healey said, “We’ve received assurances that they are going to come through.” She added that she “expects that to happen ‘in the next day or so.’” Asked who should be blamed for the licensing issues, Healey said, “It’s FIFA’s process” (MASSLIVE.com, 5/26).
PROBLEM AFTER PROBLEM: In Boston, Adrian Walker writes though the World Cup was “touted as a giant international celebration,” everything about the one coming up in Foxborough feels “like such a slog.” Some of the problems are “beyond the control of local or even international organizers.” Followers of FIFA “don’t seem surprised by the level of dysfunction on display here.” The “laundry list of missteps began with the failure to pay the town of Foxborough for the necessary security measures.” But that was “just the beginning of the event’s problems.” Local organizers have scheduled “watch parties” across the region. But those parties have to be licensed by FIFA. That “hasn’t happened yet.” Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority GM and interim Secretary of Transportation Phil Eng’s plan to transport 20,000 people per game from South Station to Foxborough “has caused a totally unnecessary controversy.” Eng has decided that the state will take the “rare step” of temporarily seizing parts of Summer Street under eminent domain for the “purpose of closing them off to traffic.” This is a move that will “inevitably lead to a traffic nightmare for people who actually use one on the busiest streets in Boston to get around.” The city is “pushing back” on the plan (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/27).
