Residents of Boston are getting their first chance to hear -- in the flesh -- about the city's bid for the 2024 Olympics.
Hundreds of people crowded into a meeting at Suffolk Law School on a frigid Thursday night for a chance to attend the meeting. Many were sent to an overflow room upstairs.
The event is the first of nine scheduled by the mayor. It was rescheduled twice because of snowstorms.
Boston was selected as the American bid city last month by the U.S. Olympic Committee. It now goes to the international competition, where it will go against potential bids from Italy, France, Germany, South Africa, Qatar and Azerbaijan.
Opponents handed out signs calling for money to be spent instead on public transportation and better housing.
The meeting opened with a pitch from the private group Boston 2024, but the audience was less concerned about the details of their plan than it was in transparency. One resident posed this question to the mayor.
“Audience member: Will you sign the host city document without the public seeing it first?
Mayor: I am the mayor of the City of Boston. When the host city document is in front of me, if it’s a document that I feel is right for the city of Boston and right and all the processes have gone through I will be signing that agreement.”
But there’s still confusion over those processes. A binding referendum could stop the Olympics, but requires tens of thousands of signatures.
A man named Mark, from Roslindale, received some of the loudest applause last night when he essentially demanded a referendum.
“I want to be able to walk into a voting booth and vote yes or no on whether or not I want these Olympics to be held in Boston.”
But it isn’t clear whether he’ll have that chance, or whether it’ll matter. Right now there are two efforts underway. City Councilor Josh Zakim has proposed a nonbinding referendum on the November ballot, but as it stands, City Hall could simply ignore it. Mayor Walsh echoed that last night.
“If it’s a binding referendum and the voters say no, it’s binding and it’s done. If it’s not binding, it’s a different conversation.”
The only binding referendum that’s come forth is from Independent Party leader Evan Falchuk, who has filed paperwork to draft a referendum to stop the state from putting taxpayer money toward the Games. If that were to pass in a statewide vote, it would essentially end Olympic plans. A similar movement stopped the 1976 Winter Games from taking place in Denver, Colorado.
The crowd was vocal, but not entirely negative.
Concerns about the process of deciding whether to host the Olympics aside, residents want to talk numbers.
“Audience member: How do you expect us to get on board a plan that has no budget, no line item budget?
Mayor: It’s again, it’s very early in the process. As we move on at next month’s meeting, the plans will be further along, they’ll be more concrete. There’s gonna be a series of announcements on what they’re doing. They’re still, 2024 is still building a staff.”
The mayor repeatedly said taxpayers would not have to cover the cost of venues, but there are still various figures flying around about transportation and infrastructure cost.
