A spokesperson for Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said that it is "too early to discuss" using eminent domain to take the 20-acre New Boston Food Market site on the edge of South Boston to build a 60,000-seat stadium for the '24 Olympic Games, as there are "so many hurdles for Boston to clear to be named the Olympic host," according to Callum Borchers of the BOSTON GLOBE. The site "has caught the eye" of the Boston '24 organizing committee as a possible stadium site, leading Food Market stakeholders to become "gripped by a sense that powerful interests have seized control of their fate -- again." The food market -- a cooperative of some two dozen meat and seafood wholesalers -- "was evicted from Quincy Market" in '69, when Boston turned the old meatpackers row "into the shopping strip it is today" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/2). Meanwhile, Massachusetts Gov.-elect Charlie Baker on Thursday night acknowledged criticism regarding how "little public input" there has been on hosting the Games, but added that the process "is just beginning and could be a way to promote the state abroad." Baker: "What’s actually going to happen here is, we may get permission to compete to be the host of the Olympic games. It’s like getting a hunting license to be able to go promote Massachusetts and Boston as a great place. ... Could we win? I don’t know" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/5).
PUBLIC OUTCRY: In Boston, Mark Arsenault writes the city has "seen the most intense public debate" of the four municipalities vying to host the '24 Games, which also include L.A., S.F. and DC. An opposition group "has formed and the city’s Olympic future has been the topic of ongoing commentary and argument on social media and the opinion pages of local newspapers." Elsewhere, S.F. State Univ. political science professor Jason McDaniel said that opposition in his city "has been light ... though that could change as more details emerge" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/5).
