Olympic backers support statewide referendum on games
The chief backer of a Boston bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics is now supporting the idea of a 2016 referendum on the bid and that's a "good thing," according to Gov. Charlie Baker.
Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish, who is spearheading an effort to bring the Summer Olympics to Boston, told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that he backs a statewide referendum on the effort.
"I've said all along that I'm a big fan of the referendum process," Baker told reporters after Fish's speech. "I've participated in it many times and I think having the 2024 people say they would support a statewide referendum, I think, is a good thing. And I think it's a signal and a message that they get the fact that the people of Massachusetts should have an opportunity to sign-on on this."
The next statewide election will be in November 2016. Olympics supporters have watched their poll numbers plummet over the last three months.
Using the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles as precedent, House Transportation Committee Chairman William Straus believes a voter referendum supporting cost controls on Boston's bid for the games would improve the city's bargaining position.
"What I’m hearing is not so much do you want the Olympics or not, but a real skepticism that these events will end up costing them money," the Mattapoisett Democrat said.
In 1978, nearly three quarters of Los Angeles voters approved a ballot measure prohibiting the spending of city money on the Olympics without guaranteed reimbursement, according to the LA84 Foundation, which was established with the surplus funds from the games.
Straus said the vote encouraged the private sponsors of the games to control spending, and he said a similar referendum could allay some concerns of those skeptical about bringing the Olympics to Boston in 2024. He suggested Olympics backers should support such a cost-control referendum.
"The whole tenor of the discussions would change if they were to be the ones passing that kind of ironclad guarantee for the people of Massachusetts," said Straus, who said there is still enough time for a similar move.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments