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Boston 2024 Donors Weigh In On Where Failed Bid May Have Gone Astray

Several of the major donors who "put their money where their mouth is and bankrolled the privately funded bid to bring the Olympics to Massachusetts" are speaking out about the failed Boston 2024 bid, according to Shirley Leung of the BOSTON GLOBE. Developer Ron Druker, who donated $50,000, said, "I’m sad. I think it was a great opportunity. I understand reality. The timing wasn’t great." Real-estate magnate Peter Palandjian "contributed more than $100,000 to Boston 2024 last year." He said, "I found the snarkiness on the other side -- while I get it, it didn’t feel right to me." He said hosting the Olympics "was bold and visionary, and that’s not always populist." Palandjian: "It’s hard to balance those things." Putnam Investments CEO Bob Reynolds "was an early donor and sat on the board of Boston 2024." The turning point in Reynolds’ mind "was the bad winter and the havoc it wreaked" on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The winter "got people thinking: If a bad snowstorm can bring the region to its knees, how can we ever host an Olympics?" Reynolds: "We had a tremendous amount of momentum. We get the announcement, then all hell broke loose, weather-wise." Leung notes Boston 2024, which raised more than $14M in cash and in-kind contributions from the private sector, "is now winding down its operations" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/31).

FISH OUT OF WATER: In Boston, Jon Chesto writes under the header, "After Olympics Bid, John Fish Is Down But Hardly Out." The USOC’s decision on Monday to ditch Boston "is a setback that could prompt" the former Boston 2024 Chair to "stay out of the public eye for a while as the Olympics bid fades into memory." But local business leaders "expect him to bounce back." Fish became a "piñata for local Olympics critics amid Boston 2024’s languishing poll numbers." But No Boston Olympics co-Chair Chris Dempsey "saw a different side of Fish this week: Fish called Dempsey on Tuesday, a day after learning his plan had been dashed." Dempsey: "He said he understood where we were coming from. He appreciated the voice that we brought to the debate. I thought that was very gracious of him to do that. ... I said, ‘It’s a small town; I hope on the next issue we’re on the same side.’ He said, ‘I hope so, too’” (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/31).

HALF-BAKER JOKE: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday made a "joke about a velodrome" while at the opening of the Boston Public Market. He asked, "So what do you think? A market like this, or a velodrome?" Baker then "turned and looked directly" at Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. Walsh said, "You have to laugh it off. It was good timing by the governor. I like it. Nothing is too soon" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/31).

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