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Remember when Boston 2024 said no public money would be needed for the Olympics?
By adamg on Wed, 05/27/2015 - 11:07pm
Initially, a public authority (e.g., City of Boston affiliated Industrial Development Authority) will fund land acquisition and infrastructure costs while the OCOG budget will assume the costs associated with the construction and restoration of the temporary stadium structure, Olympics back-of-house and warm-up areas. A private sector development group will be selected for the proposed development of the project that will provide funds to pay for the debt service on the initial financing utilized for land acquisition and infrastructure costs.
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Comments
On the surface, that quoted section comes close...
The committee does not have the authority to simply take land from people. A public authority (with the appropriate powers) to assist would be required. They really do not have a long list of very willing sellers!
The final sentence quoted suggests that the authority would get funding through private sources. This should result in no "direct" public funding. However, this does not immediately account for additional administrative costs associated to the authority. Maybe they will find a way to offload that to the private sector somehow as well...
Olympics or No Olympics, this one quoted paragraph sounds pretty neutral to me.
Ill of course have to check out the link when I have more time... :)
Boston 2024 Exposed: Taxpayers funds to be spent, Land 2b taken
masslive 12/10/14:
boston 1/30/15:
necn 5/27/2014:
OK, I'll be the rube
Can someone explain what this means? Where, exactly, is this money coming from? Which taxes, exactly?Paid by whom?
Sports.
Sports, sports, sports, sports, sports, sports. Also, patriotism!
The future of Widett Circle
bostonmagazine:
$$$$
Those $ figures are so high it doesn't even seem like real money. If we get the Olympics we'll have a corresponding Monopoly board, right?
Not a rube
Some of this stuff is very arcane. Add in the fact that apparently they wanted this hidden from the public and that it's written in developerese and it's hard to understand even for the well versed.
Couple things:
1) infrastructure improvements - they are trying to get things like roads and sidewalks, plumbing, internet, electric etc. hooked up on the public dime. This is the least offensive because even without the Olympics - should we decide to develop the area - the city will need to do some of that.
2) the tax increment financing or TIF is a way for developers to make sure they get more than their fair share - say a new development will generate $5 million a year in new taxes. Normally that money gets put into the general fund mostly for schools, police, fire and fixed costs. The TIF carves out a portion of those new taxes and helps pay for number 1 above and more. Can be objectionable especially if the developer gets some of that money to get things other neighborhoods don't - although not an uncommon way to fund new areas for development in many parts of the country even outside of Boston - although I think it's becoming less common and these functions are increasingly put back to the developer. Part of the problem here is that you can almost guarantee that some of this will be completely wasted - it will be necessary for the Olympics but not beyond and will be built and torn back out.
3) The big kahuna is what they seem to be referring to as "the project". Looks like this is the MASSIVE multi-tens of billions of dollars of mixed use development to follow the Olympics - although the reference is a little vague. If the city acquired the land under current zoning - according to the docs - it would cost relatively little - even after finding new locations for various public services that need to be moved - maybe a few hundred million dollars. If there were no Olympics, they could then rezone the land and sell it off probably for at least $1 billion - maybe several billion dollars for an enormous profit. However, what it looks like they are trying to pull is designate a large local construction company (there are only a handful big enough), or maybe a consortium-where everyone gets a piece - and they get it for the cost of developing the Olympic project. In the end - the city nets nothing instead of a massive windfall and the developers get a large piece of land almost fully prepped for a huge development for a fraction of its actual value. Patriotism + sports + altruism = $$$$
A small portion - the TIF - is where the taxes come from - or are diverted to. Small potatoes. The real offense is selling valuable public assets on the cheap for private profit. At least that's my read.
More info
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2015/05/28/bond-experts-boston-20...
'bond experts' think this is essentially public financing dressed up in cloaking language.
How, exactly will this be profitable?
Let's face it: unless there are substantial and immediate upgrades to our public transit infrastructure, this is going to be either a slow sell or a massive failure.
Real estate speculators
...are trying to be like Goldman Sachs with strange financial instruments heavily swaddled in biz jargon and lawyerese.
Et tu, Shirley?
Would love to hear how this gets explained away...
Shirley's woefully ignorant
On a recent TV interview (widely circulated on social media) she argued that cost concerns are exaggerated because except for the stadium and the Olympic village, other Olympic facilities are already built. When called on it on twitter, she backtracked and said she didn't consider facilities like the velodrome, media center, etc. "big ticket items" and thus worthy of concern.
This is the person who lectures us...
That's great
The media center per the Boston 2024 documents is a million sq ft. No, I'm sure that's not expensive to build at all.
And of course maybe we'd rather have a million sq ft ft of housing in Ft point instead of something used for two weeks?
fort point
I agree.
Fort Point has a neighborhood land-use plan and its nice. It's the result of years community engagement.
The Boston2024 plan doesn't come close.
How the Globe can redeem itself
The Globe has to throw their best investigative people at this, and kill the Olympics bid.
By the time the Globe is done with a barrage of reports, I want to see FBI windbreakers hauling boxes of documents out of offices, and shitty people being led away in handcuffs.
Otherwise, this city is a hopelessly corrupt joke, and so is the newspaper.
Perhaps if we can convince people
tha the Archdiocese of Boston is a silent partner in all this, then the Glob(e) might actually take a very critical look at the bid.
I'm sorry. What does it take
I'm sorry. What does it take to make these dopes aware of the fact that Boston does not want this bullshit?
Unless you're in it for the long-haul, and have your AirBnB bookings lined up, this is going to be a financial disaster. How do we stop these nudniks from creating a "plan" to fuck up our city? It appears that public opinion doesn't matter when you're aboard the pay-train.
Reading about this whole thing is like talking to one of our local scam artists.
If I'm not mistaken, no local
If I'm not mistaken, no local politicians have voiced opposition to this Olympic boondoggle, likely because most of them, directly or indirectly, have links to the construction and consulting gravy train. I agree, someone needs to shout "BOSTON DOESN'T NEED THIS!!!" I think singular events like the IndyCar race are great, but years of headaches for one lousy fortnight of sports few people in this country follow regularly?
Local politicians are timid.
They are damning it with faint praise as they are afraid to piss off the hard hat vote.
It would be more useful to see how many of these venal weather vanes are praising it as effusively as Walsh.
But it might be argued that the hard hat vote is already up to its eyeballs in work for the foreseeable future as every conceivable real estate speculator and their brother is in gold rush fever mode. Luxury condo projects sprawl out to the end of time.
Senator Warren is dismayed by the 2024
From the Herald.. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn9_gps3Y_g55XxUqV4oLpctS-YqFqY0v
And they didn't call her Fauxcahontas once!
Over at the other end of media, WGBH comes up with "aggressively noncommital" to describe the congressional caucus.
http://wgbhnews.org/post/bay-states-dc-team-aggressively-noncommittal-bo...
They wouldn't all be on the fence if they had any conviction that it is a win/win runaway box office smash. It's a crap sandwich but the hard hats must be handled.
The game plan seems to be to just let the 2024 idiots sink themselves. Ignore it and it'll go away and hard hats will be busy with all the other work in the pipeline.
The fact that the 2024 idiots are doing such an exemplary job of sinking themselves speaks volumes about the decline of leadership brought about by inflated faith in credentials.
The 2024 line up is a bunch of leeches who got where they are by leveraging credentials and jamming their snoots into the public trough more adeptly than the competition in a time of easy money.
That is not leadership and it should surprise no one that they are flailing this badly in a situation that demands the real thing. They were all born on 3rd and convinced they hit home runs.
The actual herald link.
I'm getting senile.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/herald_bulldog/2...
Reading about this whole
I can almost see Spare Change Guy now.
"I need you to support Boston 2024's bid so I can get to Worcester in time for my court appearance."
Where There's Smoke And Mirrors ...
just smoke...
How many people were indicted over the bribery to bring the Olympics to Salt Lake City?
The answer is none. The guy they brought in to smooth it over even became Governor of the Commonwealth, and ran for President of the US.
If FIFA had selected the US for 2022, would anyone have gotten arrested? It's hypothetical, but I know what I believe.
Perhaps, But The ✽OCs Certainly Have An Acrid Odor
Salt lake, good example of
Salt lake, good example of public risk for private gain.
How much federal money did Mitt use to 'balance' the books on that one?
No public funds? Preposterous.
No to Boston 2024 Olympics
Just two letters:
N O
Sigh....
Boston 2024 Vice President Erin Murphy provided the following statement via email: “As stated previously, there is a limited amount of proprietary information that the USOC has asked Boston 2024 not to release because they believe it will put Boston and the United States at a competitive disadvantage"
I'm sorry, is there a new way to run an Olympics that someone else doesn't know about?
Optics of the Cost of the Games: Given recent media reports about large scale sporting events and the financial impacts on their host communities, people in Massachusetts and Boston are in need of a realistic education about the costs of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As part of our public relations strategy, we will work from a realistic budget number to manage expectations, clearly divide the costs between public and private expenditures and actively communicate the benefits of bidding for and hosting the Games.
Doesn't the second statement contradict the first ?
The spirit of the games?
"Fuck them, we've figured out how to make more money at the Olympics, and we're willing to share that money with the IOC! Don't show them our cards!"
Even worse...
I'm actually in agreement with Howie Carr on something. The exception being this little nugget from today's "column":
Of course, Howie never mentions once that it's the Globe that prints the rag that is the Herald.
FBI and Swiss authorities made major raids
on FIFA regarding the world cup and corruption; maybe the IOC needs a good looking into, too.
I'm so glad
I'm so glad Boston Magazine got a full copy of this and published this. We needed to see this. We need to know what these people are really about.. and now we know, and because we know, we definitely don't want this here. Why can't they figure this out yet?
I can't wait to see what the USOC Globe.. erm Boston Globe has to say about this. Will Shirley call us cry babies again?
This is such a scam now... very clear, if it wasn't before, that this is a huge scam on the tax payers.
Erin Murphy says don't worry
The new better plan comes out in a month. I'm sure all this will be resolved then.
Or not.
Where do they find a few billion $$$?
That will be interesting. This is pretty much the smoking gun I've been waiting for. Sounds like this whole thing is funded by getting the Widett Circle property on the cheap, rezoning it after the Olympics and letting some developer build out the project. Effectively the cost of developing the stadium becomes their land acquisition cost.
Assuming we all have half a brain and realize this expense to the city/state is entirely unnecessary to develop that area - should we decide to do that - it will effectively cost the city $1 billion plus in direct and opportunity costs if I am understanding this right. Any new plan that DOESN'T include that means that they need a new source of a billion dollars plus.
This info looks like a stake in the heart for this thing.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Why do you think they keep referring to it as "Midtown?" Because they need a branded neighborhood name already in place for the luxury condos they'll be selling at a profit, while the city picks up all costs and liabilities.
This was obvious (to me) months ago, and we were even coming up with sarcastic slogans for the new developments (e.g. "You May Have Paid For This, But You Probably Can't Afford To Live Here: Midtown Arms") on Twitter.
Boston2024 isn't about the Olympics, folks. It's about the largest transfer of land for development in the city in a generation, at public cost and expense, under the guise of "Power of Sport (tm)". John Fish and his friends have the long game in mind, and 2024 is just the sugar pill to get the unwashed masses to agree to fund their personal profits.
I can see it now
First 'midtown' gets developed, then the developers can gin up enough political support to get rid of the industrial parts of Southie and the jail because who needs good paying blue collar jobs other than construction, right?
I'm going to subscribe to their magazine
I like the cut of their jib. Well, no, actually, I just really appreciate that they managed to get this information and write a piece on it.
The Globe vs Boston.com
The Globe has front page opinion pieces for the games and the coverage of this new info get relegated to the sidebar on Boston.com
But sure, it's all neutral over there.
I looked all over BostonGlobe
I looked all over BostonGlobe.com and couldn't find anything about this bombshell. The only thing they have on the Olympics is how the 2024 committee are "heartened" by their totally awesome meeting with the people who are in no way complete crooks at the IOC.
If anyone else needed proof that the Globe is dirty, well, here it is.
Globe buries the story
The Globe finally posted a brief story to their website this morning, burying it at the bottom of the Metro section with no headline/link on their home page. They're clearly hoping no one notices it.
You won't be surprised at their spin. The headline and opening sentence:
Questions raised about new 2024 documents
Opponents of a Boston Olympics seized on published reports Wednesday to suggest that Boston 2024, the local bid committee, has been disingenuous in its longstanding promise of a privately funded Olympics.
Once again, we're just whiners.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/05/27/questions-raised-about-new-d...
EDIT at noon: the Globe has changed the headline and put a link on their home page.
The story
Is on page 2 of the Metro section in the printed paper. Headline: Olympics panel disingenuous, foes say., written by Mark Arsenault. It's right under the story about Pagliuca et al meeting with the IOC.
Globe Article
The Globe Metro section article cites documents "obtained by the Boston Business Journal" rather than Boston Magazine. BBJ apparently filed FOIA request to get the bid book.
Hmm ...
I think they both got the bid book at the same time.
Still odd, right?
It wasn't in the online version this morning at all and only now have they added it.
olympics
one term mayor
Well of course
Why do you think Marty is working so hard to get this event in 2024? He'll need a nice retirement gig.
(No subject)
Groucho would have approved
"Why aren't you keeping an open mind?"
"Because you're obviously lying"
"Sure, but hear me out!"
Where's the barrel-chained woman when we need her?
The lobby of the Boston Globe is lovely this time of year, or John Fish's Milton manse.
It's only land acqusition costs, people!
We should be happy that the land in and around Boston is cheap or we'd really be in for it!
[sarcasm off].
you're
You're just a big whiney baby who's unpatriotic.
-- Shirley Leung
here's all I really want
is someone to calculate what the tax payers of Milton are going to be looking at it if this goes through.
is there a triple inverse etf for massachusetts bonds?
we all have to make money off the scam of the century, one way or another.
the lies, they make my brain hurt
I'll have to go back and look at exactly what Fish et al promised, but does anyone else feel like the the goalposts keep being moved on how "Olympic project" and "public project" are defined with the Boston2024 plans?
Here's why I bring up Fish-- he promised at every meeting I attended (he had a stump speech) and repeated in his op-eds that he would not bid on any construction for Olympic purposes. This pledge was echoed by some other Boston2024 players. But every time I turn around, it seems like some specific Olympic facility or development is redefined as, well, not Olympic, or something.
SO what exactly can he bid on, or not bid on?
Can he bid on a stadium that has "legacy" use as something else?
He's probably a genius
Step 1- start Olympic movement, get the bid
Step 2- step away from the bid so you aren't face of the games for 9 years
Step 3- quietly get tons of money developing 'midtown' through 3rd party partnerships
I love how they talk about
I love how they talk about "financing" and "debt service".
So, we'll be paying out of one pocket to cover the interest on this debt until it's time to pay out of the pocket to repay the debt.
About the only thing missing from this sleazy little picture is a lender (controlled by pro-IOC, pro-Boston2024 parties) who will come on the scene to offer us financing.
Isn't Visa traditionally
a sponsor of the Olympic games? I think you've got your answer then.