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Renegotiated Boston-USOC Deal Recognizes Potential Of Voter Referendum

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh "has renegotiated an agreement" he signed in December with the USOC, "removing language that seemed to bar city employees from speaking ill of Boston’s Olympic proposal and adding a clause to recognize the potential for a voter referendum on the Olympic bid," according to a front-page piece by Mark Arsenault of the BOSTON GLOBE. Walsh yesterday said, “Now it is clear that this new agreement doesn’t place any type of so-called gag order. I think the issue of clarifying the language is very important for the transparency of what we want to do here in Boston in pursuing the Olympics.” Walsh said that his counsel’s office "spent about a month working on new language with the USOC and the local Olympic organizing committee, Boston 2024." In a "significant addition to the agreement, Walsh said he insisted on modifying a section that outlines the mayor’s authority to sign the deal with the USOC on behalf of the City of Boston." The new language, "written in dense legalese, recognizes that the voters could weigh in on the city’s Olympic bid at the ballot box" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/25).

PREP WORK: IOC President Thomas Bach yesterday said he is "very satisfied" with Rio's preparations to host the '16 Games. REUTERS' Andrew Downie noted Bach's "upbeat comments" came just 10 months after IOC VP John Coates "described Brazil's organization as the 'worst ever.'" Although local officials are "concerned that the planned new metro line is behind schedule -- as well as the fetid state of the water where the sailing events will take place -- the Rio state governor brushed off those worries" (REUTERS, 2/24).

LOOK TO THE FUTURE: In London, Richard Parry notes sporting events at the '20 Tokyo Games "are to be held in the Japanese region of Fukushima, where the world’s second worst nuclear accident occurred four years ago." Spectators and athletes in the Olympic village "will be served with food from the region as part of an effort to restore the reputation of Fukushima, formerly one of Japan’s richest agricultural regions" (LONDON TIMES, 2/25). 

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