The Boston Olympic bid committee said that it will move forward with a proposal to bring the '24 Summer Games to the city "only if a majority of the public shows support for the effort -- and the panel would be open to a statewide referendum to accomplish that," according to a front-page piece by Mark Arsenault of the BOSTON GLOBE. Boston '24 CEO Richard Davey said, "It’s clear we have to find a measure to show that support. How we measure, we’re open to that." Arsenault notes other parties have "already begun the process of placing a question on the city or state ballot." Davey "stopped short of directly calling for a referendum, saying the committee is open to how the support would be measured" for submitting a bid. The decision to "move forward only with majority backing is one of 10 promises the committee outlined" today in newspaper ads. The ads "are an attempt to reverse a damaging perception" surrounding the Olympic bid and also are an effort to "refocus the public conversation about hosting the Olympics after several tough weeks" for Boston '24. The ads include a promise that the bid "would advance only if the federal government picks up security costs," expected to be $1B or more. The ads also state that to move ahead, the bid "must also create jobs and affordable housing and 'serve as a catalyst for improvements in public transportation.'" Boston '24 also "will not move forward without a 'clear and measurable plan' to include women- and minority-owned businesses." The bid committee in its ads acknowledged it must "have a majority within the City of Boston or it would not be possible to go up against an international field that could include Hamburg, Rome, Paris, and Istanbul" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/23).
