BOSTON— Boston has been chosen as the site for the 2004 Democratic Convention, to take place during the week of July 26, 2004. As reported in The Boston Globe,the convention will take place at the Fleet Center in South Boston, a new 19,000-seat, 1.6-million-square-foot facility currently under construction. The convention is expected to help boost Boston’s flagging tourist and hospitality industries, with approximately 35,000 visitors pumping as much as $150 million into the city’s economy. Boston’s Big Dig project will not be completed before the convention, although six lanes are expected to be open underground for traffic. It had been previously reported that there will be 18,000 hotel rooms available in Boston for the convention, and a total of 25,000 rooms available within a 45-minute drive of the Fleet Center, according to information from the Boston Redevelopment Authority. Local universities have also offered the use of dormitory space for convention visitors. SOURCE: —The Boston Globe
