In an interview with BostInno this week, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said if it looks like city tax dollars will be required to build facilities for the 2024 summer Olympics games in Boston, he's out.
BostInno interviewed Walsh and Chief of Staff Dan Koh on Wednesday as part of a short documentary on the 2024 Olympic bid, set to screen at the upcoming State of Innovation event, June 16. On the same day, new documents had emerged detailing what appeared to be an initial proposal from the Boston 2024 bid committee to use public funds to buy land for the Olympic stadium proposed in Widett Circle. (Full disclosure: Boston 2024 is one of BostInno's sponsors at the State of Innovation event.)
Walsh has since reiterated his opposition to using public funds for anything other than infrastructure projects surrounding the Olympics--projects that would be, in his words to WEEI Thursday morning, "beneficial short term and long term for residents."
In the clip above, Walsh says he'd back out of the proposal to host the 2024 summer Olympics in Boston, if it looks like taxpayer dollars will be required for venues.
“The biggest challenge that we have to keep an eye on is the cost overruns, that the city of Boston is not responsible for (them),” Walsh said. “That would cause me to say we’re not moving forward.”
Asked about "bid 2.0," a more detailed version of the bid documents that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has asked the Boston 2024 committee to deliver by mid-June, Walsh said he will be looking for details on who is paying for what, and how much the city is expected to undertake in infrastructure costs.
In our documentary on the Olympic bid, BostInno and production company Long Haul Films are asking roughly one dozen Boston-area tech entrepreneurs the same kinds of questions: If the 2024 Olympic bid were a startup, how would they evaluate it and what could cause it to fail. We asked Walsh and Koh the same questions.
Here's information on the rest of the Boston State of Innovation lineup.
