Boston 2024 Olympics Bid
FOX 25 News coverage of Boston's 2024 Olympic bid.
BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- The group behind Boston's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics says it wants the residents of Massachusetts to decide whether to bring the games to the city. And that question could end up on the ballot in 2016.
Many people like the idea of the Olympics coming to Boston, but when you start asking them about how much they're willing to pay as taxpayers, some of the enthusiasm goes away. The group backing the Olympics wants to see how far people are willing to go to get the games.
The head of Boston 2024 spoke at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast and says he has talked to the governor and mayor of Boston. They support a statewide referendum to get a better sense of who wants the games to come to Boston.
"It's an important time it's an important place because what that's saying is let the voters vote," John Fish said.
The group against the games, No Boston Olympics, supports the question on the ballot, saying "The ballot language itself now becomes incredibly important. We hope to work constructively with Boston 2024 to craft language that accurately and fully reflects the difficult choice facing our Commonwealth. We need to ask voters if tax payers should be on the hook if things don't go according to Boston 2024's plan."
The governor told FOX25 Tuesday that if the question to support the Olympics makes it on to the ballot they will have plenty of information by then to make a sound decision.
"The most important thing we need to do is understand the product. Understand what it looks like. Which events are going to be where, which schools are going to be involved, how is the public piece going to work as far as infrastructure, how is that stuff that is going to be used after the fact," he said.
The Secretary of the State's office told us Tuesday that getting a referendum on the ballot is a lengthy process. Just to get the idea going requires more than 64,000 signatures. It will also require legislative approval.
