Widett Circle in South Boston is bustling on any weekday — trucks constantly coming and going from this complex of warehouses processing meat and smelly seafood. And Widett Circle is also where Boston 2024 organizers want to build an Olympic Stadium.
Just hours after the Boston 2024 Olympic bid organizers met with the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland, they were dealing with an embarrassing revelation: They had misled the public on whether taxpayer money would be used to host the Olympics.
“What Boston 2024 is saying behind closed doors is different than what they’re saying to the public and when they talk to the media here in Boston,” said Chris Dempsey, co-chair of the opposition group No Boston Olympics. He calls the latest documents on the 2024 Summer Olympics bid a "smoking gun," partly because organizers want $345 million in bonds to buy land and build infrastructure for a new Olympic stadium here. Up until now, Boston 2024 has said it would use private funds to build Olympic venues.
“The Olympics will benefit from increased land values and use what could be tax revenue for the city and instead use it to build some of the infrastructure around the stadium," Dempsey said. "We would object to that. We think those funds could be better spent in other areas. And if the Olympics are going to be truly privately financed there should be private sources for that.”
Boston Magazine and the Boston Business Journal obtained the bid book through Freedom of Information Act requests. In response, Mayor Marty Walsh says he will not let the city borrow money to build a stadium, but he’s open to spending tax money on infrastructure improvements that would last after the games.
“I’ve made it perfectly clear from the beginning that we will not be using public money to build venues," Walsh said. "This bid book, a lot of what they had in there was a concept."
A concept that does rely on Tax Increment Financing or TIF Bonds, that would be secured based on future tax revenues and leases to private developers after the Olympics.
"That’s on the table, just as is public money going into transportation infrastructure," Walsh said. "It would have to go into what would be the long term use of that area."
Rather than say they’ve been caught in a contradiction, Boston 2024 issued a statement saying "The preliminary bid book filed in December was a proof of concept." The organizers say they stand by the commitment to operate the games and build venues with private donations. Another draft of their overall plan is expected by June 30.
