Opposition to Boston 2024 Growing in Brookline, Mass.

Brookline would potentially be hosting a couple of the Olympic events

All five of Brookline's Board of Selectman, including Chair Neil Wishinsky, plan to vote in favor of a Resolution at Town Meeting Thursday night that opposes the Boston 2024 bid and urges the town's elected officials to do so as well.

They say they were never consulted by Boston 2024, even though Brookline would potentially be hosting a couple of the Olympic events.

"They should be bouncing concepts off of us - even at an early stage. If they expect us to be part of the story, part of the conversation, we should be part of the planning," Wishinsky said.

Boston 2024 has proposed that Olympic Golf be played here at The Country Club in Brookline, the oldest Country Club in the United States. It hosted the Ryder Cup in 1999. But Brookline officials say no one ever asked them if the town was on board.

They say the proposal has the Olympic Marathon going through town. Wishinsky worries taxpayers could be saddled with the cost and wonders how they would handle traffic and public transit.

He says invitations to Boston 2024 to speak to the Selectmen have been ignored.

Now Boston Olympics co-chair Chris Dempsey is also on the Brookline Town committee.

"It sends a message to Boston 2024 that they've really mishandled this process, deciding to really keep it all behind closed doors rather than making it open and democratic," Dempsey said.

Boston 2024 says CEO Richard Davey did speak to a Brookline subcommittee on April 22nd and that they are conducting an extensive round of public meetings across the state to gauge interest in hosting venues.

Mary Mazzio, a 1992 Olympic rower, thinks the concerns of town leaders are legitimate but she is waiting to see Boston 2024's new plan set to be released at the end of June.

"Everything is so preliminary that for Brookline to do this seems like they're really jumping the gun. The plans that will be released will either fly or die on its own merits and I think that's really the point where we ought to have debate," Mazzio said. 

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