The group No Boston Olympics is mulling a ballot initiative that would let the state’s voters weigh in on whether Boston should host the Olympics in 2024. And if and when they start collecting signatures, they can have my John Hancock.
“It is absolutely a tool in our toolbox and something we have to consider,” Chris Dempsey of No Boston Olympics told the Herald. “Boston 2024 has conducted its process entirely behind closed doors and did not give us a voice before submitting the bid. We think the citizens of Massachusetts should have a say as to how their money is being spent.”
In advance of any kind of public hearing process, the Committee for Boston 2024 just submitted its bid to the United States Olympic Committee to bring the games to the Bay State, in competition with San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington D.C.
The bid that was submitted won’t be made public for months. So Boston residents don’t know what the organizers have promised the USOC.
The committee claims that, like every other city that is in the running, it can’t make the Boston bid document public right now because that could jeopardize its chances of winning, and the committee can’t reveal its plan to the competing cities.
The games are estimated to cost around $4.5 billion, and the proponents say none of that money will come from taxpayers.
City Councilor Michael Flaherty told Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” that public dollars will be used to host the games — a notion he isn’t objecting to.
“There will be public funds as well. Those dollars are well-spent, that will help Boston into the future.”
OK, but how do we know that when we don’t know anything about the plan?
If our tax dollars are going to foot any of the bill, we should have a say. Boston 2024’s website even states: “We will only bid if we have support from our city, state, and federal government; our business community; and our venue communities.”
Then let us vote on it, or at least have a real public dialogue. Organizers have benefited from a general lack of interest in the topic because it is simply too far in the future. It’s worth noting that Oslo has joined a long list of cities withdrawing bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics — they’re worried about the potential for costs to spiral out of control.
While the USOC and the International Olympic Committee, based on the pitch made by local business and political interests, will have the final say on whether Boston will host the games, the people who live here should have their informed say first.
Copyright © 2024 Jaclyn Cashman.
