ith apologies to singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell and a heads-up for George W. Bush, they've paved something nice to put up a parking lot at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. If Bush snubs the Oct. 3 presidential debate planned there, a small fortune and the work of hundreds of individuals will be wasted.
The debate, the first of three scheduled back in January by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, is only 31 days away. Publicly, Bush's campaign says the Republican is weighing all debate options before committing to any. But privately, Bush aides are whispering doubts about the neutrality of the Boston site.
The John F. Kennedy Library, which abuts the UMass campus, is cosponsoring the debate. Perhaps Dubyah's worried that folks will notice that he's ''no Jack Kennedy.''
Sure, Boston is a Democratic stronghold, but the notion that Bush will be at a disadvantage or uncomfortable here is hogwash. Bush's father, the former president, was born 4 miles away in Milton. The Texas governor still has close family in the Boston area. Governor Paul Cellucci is among his biggest boosters, though his chief political aide, Rob Gray, said yesterday that Cellucci won't try to influence the Bush campaign's debate decisions.
And if Bush is so worried about Kennedy spin, why was JFK featured in his pre-acceptance speech video at the GOP convention in Philadelphia last month?
As Dubyah dithers, debate planners fret but carry on, per orders of the commission, which is confident that Bush will eventually agree to meet Democrat Al Gore in all three debate venues: Boston, Winston-Salem, N.C., and St. Louis.
Meanwhile, heavy equipment is already chewing up part of the Dorchester school's athletic field because the soil must be reinforced and paved to accommodate six 40-ton TV network rigs. Otherwise, they might sink into the filled land.
Contracts have been executed or are going out to bid for theatrical lighting, telecommunications lines, air conditioning, elaborate staging, an enormous media center, and three double-wide trailers for candidates and staff.
A huge debate preparation team has been mobilized for months. They can't wait for white smoke from Bush's HQ in Austin. That wouldn't leave enough time to work out the daunting logistics. And it's too late to consider an alternative site. Historic Faneuil Hall sounds great but has no facilities for the media horde of up to 1,200, with all its gadgetry.
Organizers are already burning through the $1.6 million contributed by the state and corporations for the Boston event.
''We've already laid out some serious cash,'' about $250,000, said UMass spokeswoman Annemarie Lewis-Kerwin.
More is being spent by the hour. For instance, about half of the $100,000 marketing budget is gone, some spent on banners heralding the debate. They'll go up next week on light poles in Copley Square, at Government Center, and along Morrissey Boulevard.
Meanwhile, construction continues at the Columbia Point campus, where the field house at Clark Athletic Center will be transformed into the debate auditorium, the area behind it into a vast ''candidates' village,'' and the hockey rink into a media center.
Fortunately for UMass's public image, the parking garage will be closed for security reasons on debate day. The dank, leaky facility has so many potholes and patches, it looks like it's been strafed regularly. A $25 million renovation is years away.
This is a big deal for the school, which is making sacrifices as the first public university chosen to host a presidential debate. No fancy university with a fat endowment, UMass-Boston is a blue-collar school for nearly 13,000 commuters, many with full-time jobs and families.
Sadly, like many of the state's public colleges and university campuses, it reflects the impoverishment of years of neglect. Let's hope the hoopla around this event attracts attention and resources to fix the problem.
A final word. Before Bush blows off Boston or any other debate, thereby limiting his exposure to the electorate, he should consider the admonition of a famous American.
''The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.'' Who said that? John F. Kennedy did.
Of course, if he kisses off the Hub, Bush would earn the enmity of many with long memories, including a pair of Kennedys in Congress. They would undoubtedly recall the words of their clan's patriarch, Joseph P. Kennedy, who once uttered this piece of perfect Boston advice: ''Don't get mad, get even.''
