Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says he won't sign Olympics host city contract, cites taxpayer guarantee

[SecularMotion]

Source: Masslive.com

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says if bringing the 2024 Summer Olympics to Boston is contingent on him immediately signing a taxpayer-funding guarantee, the city won't pursue hosting the Games.

Walsh, still seeking the financial information behind the proposal, said on Monday that Olympics officials are asking him to sign a host-city agreement "as soon as possible."

"I refuse to mortgage the future of the city away, I refuse to put Boston on the hook for overruns, and I refuse to commit to signing a guarantee that uses taxpayer dollars to pay for the Olympics," Walsh said at a press conference.

Walsh held the press conference at City Hall after speaking with Scott Blackmun, a top official at the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Read more: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/07/boston_mayor_walsh_says_he_won.html#incart_river

[jtuck004]

1. Good for you. This shouldn't be on the backs of such a small group of people. n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Now if taxpayers can just stop

funding professional sports monopolies

[A Simple Game]

5. I couldn't agree more. All cities should refuse to build what amount to

money making machines for the teams and a tax burden for the public, most of which can't afford to go to the games anyway.

The public needs to start supporting T-ball, Peewee, Pop Warner, high school, and college (not division I) athletic teams. And don't forget the men's and women's softball teams. There is much more action, you may know some of the players or their parents, and the price is much much better, free in many cases. And in the case of baseball the farm teams can also be entertaining and a bargain.

Many if not most of division I college teams are not much better than the Pros and probably worse, they not only take advantage of the public, they also take advantage of their players too.

[AngryAmish]

3. What did Boston ever do to be punished with the Olympics?

[valerief]

9. Elect a Republican governor? (I'm still burning over that.) nt

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Boston went overwhelmingly for Coakley

The rest of the state...not so much.

[valerief]

23. Oh, okay. I'm still stewing over it. Patrick got in before the gerrymandering in 2010, so

it could have been the 2010 gerrymandering that created the GOP horrorshow governor.

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Bostonians should say: F the IOC and USOC

and tell them to put the Summer Olympics elsewhere (preferably NOT in the US)

We (and they) don't need the corruption and high-handedness displayed by these so-called lords of sport.

[Gregorian]

6. Can we even afford the huge carbon footprint of the Olympics?

How dare I even ask. Another cultural downer from Gregorian.

Fuck, where do we start drawing the line? Are we really going to build, build, build until we're treading water?

[Dawson Leery]

7. The IOC and the USOC as well

as all the other National Olympic committees can go to hell. Taxpayers do not need to be on the hook for this corrupt vanity project.

[valerief]

8. Yay! We don't need that Olympic bullshit in Boston. It should be held in

an open area, not a metropolitan city.

[blackspade]

10. Good for him.

About time the someone dictated to the IOC rather than the other way around.

[GreatGazoo]

11. Finally! "in the future only non-democratic countries will pay up to host the events.."

Re: 2022 and beyond:

After Oslo dropped out last October, only two cities—Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan—are now candidates to host the 2022 winter Olympics, providing further support for a prediction in a 2012 report commissioned by the Dutch government that in the future only non-democratic countries will pay up to host the events. If the IOC, which markets the games as a force for peace and harmony, wants to avoid being turned into a propaganda tool for autocratic regimes, it may need to rethink.

http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21645114-hosting-olympics-and-world-cup-bad-citys-health-just-say-no

There should be an automatic ethics and finance investigation for any elected official who hooks up with the IOC.

[Paper Roses]

12. Bravo Mr Mayor, stick to you guns.

We don't want this boondoggle. Send it to LA or better yet, back to Greece. The games belong in a permanent location. Started in Greece, should still be there.
We of Massachusetts are not in favor of this event.

Now, as to the Governor....a no vote should be demanded of him too!

[msongs]

13. hold them in greece again, lots of abandoned facilities and greece needs the money nt

[pansypoo53219]

14. yes. just reuse the old sites. all this over building is obscene. vanity. RECYCLE!!

[AngryAmish]

21. Who tried to organize this biid? Publicly humiliate those grifters and losers.

On edit : We really needs to blame the stupid who watch this shit on tv. They are the poison well that attracts this scum.

[Blue_Adept]

26. Christ on a cracker

The stupid who watch this shit on TV?

You mean like the thousands of kids that get inspired and begin doing more athletics themselves?

Fuckin' a, might as well just blame the stupid that COMPETE in this shit on TV.

That's your real fucking poison!

[AngryAmish]

27. One thing that is missing from television is sports.

Kids have no opportunities to learn about sports but for a every four year parade brought to you by corporate criminals, grifters, dictators and royals.

Yes, only the facile and stupid watch the olympics.

[allinthegame]

16. Many Stories in LATimes

About how Los Angeles is ready to jump in if Boston goes out.
I hope this common sense statement from the mayor makes an impression on ours.

[olddad56]

17. Bring the Olympics to Sacramento. Mayor Kevin Johnson would be more than happy to sign a guarantee..

if all it involves was spending taxpayer money. He did it with the new NBA Arena.

[Marrah_G]

18. Boston is a terrible place for the olympics

The logistics are pretty much impossible.

[Paper Roses]

19. Bravo, no Olympics in MA. Someone listened to the people! n/t

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. Doesn't he know there's money to be made by corporate america?

The sales in bottled water alone!!!

[olddots]

22. The Olympics should be held in Trump's mouth

Its big and ugly .

[vinny9698]

24. The Olympics should find a permanent home in Greece

They started in Greece and should end in Greece. This way you could improve the facilities over time and come up with top notch stadiums.

[randome]

25. Damn. That's a good idea because it helps Greece out at the same time.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]