Without promise, Marty Walsh won’t sign Olympic contract

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http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/07/without_promise_marty_walsh_won_t_sign_olympic_contract



DEAL BREAKER: Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he will not sign a contract to host the 2024 Olympics without assurances that taxpayers won’t foot the bill for any cost overruns for development.

Without promise, Marty Walsh won’t sign Olympic contract
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Matt Stout, Owen Boss

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh — fresh off a meeting with the U.S. Olympic Committee — says he won’t sign a bid to host the 2024 Summer Games if a contractually obligated “guarantee” to cover cost overruns would fall on Hub taxpayers.

“I was asked if I would sign the document. I said I’m not signing anything unless we assure that the guarantee doesn’t fall back on the taxpayers,” Walsh told reporters outside City Hall yesterday, adding that he met with nine to 10 USOC board members Monday during a dinner meeting in California, where they met the following day for a quarterly board meeting.

Walsh flew into San Francisco from Aspen, Colo., where he was attending a conference, before flying back hours later to Colorado.

“I said we’ll work something out to make sure we have the proper insurance and the proper protections to ensure — whether it’s the construction of venues or building of whatever it might be — that there’s going to be a guarantee just in case something happens,” Walsh said. “But I said the city of Boston is not going to take that responsibility.”