"I mean, time's a-wasting, and there's still many, many unanswered questions associated with this...there are some very big fundamentals here and I really think the focus ought to be on that."
- Governor Charlie Baker, 3/9/2015
"I’m really concerned about it. I want to see much better information — you won’t be surprised about this — about how they’re going to pay for it. And exactly what changes it’s going to make in our infrastructure, you know, how you prioritize. It’s both halves for me: how you’re going to pay for it and then what it is that gets done first and who that’s going to help in the long run. That’s what I need to see still.”
- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, 3/30/2015
"Part of what is concerning to people, there is so much money tied up with this. If you look at the salaries and the consultant salaries to date, it's amazing. It's amazing what people are being paid. It just underscores to me that this is such a significant issue."
- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, 3/23/2015
"It’s hard to have much trust in what increasingly looks like a money-grab by a shadow government of connected players."
- Professor Joe Giglio, Northeastern University, 3/21/2015
"Whoever made the decision to make all of those payments, raises questions as to whether they would be good stewards of any public money should it come their way … Do they really need hundreds of thousands a month … to convince my constituents it’s good?"
- Congressman Michael Capuano, 3/10/2015
"First, you build grass-roots support. Then, you go for the gold. Boston 2024 did the opposite and as of now, it’s backfiring."
- Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe, 3/20/2015
"No matter how many host cities exceed their budgets by billions of dollars, no matter how often tax payers are stuck with the cost of maintaining derelict venues, no matter the corruption in which the aforementioned [Olympic] Lords have engaged, meaningful reform would seem unlikely, at least as long as everybody regards them and their spectacle as too big to fail."
- Bill Littlefield, NPR's Only a Game, 2/7/2015
"Taxpayers in this state should take a close look at who’s really profiting off this Olympic bid — and it’s not them. In an effort to be considered world class, Boston is proving it’s just as small as anywhere else."
- Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 3/10/2015
"Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. Let’s not run the risk of repeating Big Dig mitigation’s devastating impact on the MBTA by allowing Olympic dreams to dictate the next generation of area transit policy."
- Charlie Chieppo, Boston Globe, 3/10/2015
"The push for a Boston Olympics had become a train wreck that could not be hidden behind gauzy appeals to civic greatness."
- Yvonne Abraham, Boston Globe, 3/26/2015
"This city has embraced many enormous events: the marathon, the Democratic National Convention, July 4 on the Esplanade, the NCAA’s Final Four. This is not a hostile venue for visitors. It’s just that we’ve learned to be wary of snake oil salesmen."
- Joe Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, 3/25/2015
"Given the billions in public funding required, and the limited public process to date, communities all across Massachusetts are at risk of losing funding for important regional economic development and transportation projects for decades to come unless the Olympics discussion takes a more equitable and transparent turn."
- Tim Murray, Fmr. Lieutenant Governor and CEO of Worcester Chamber of Commerce, 2/10/2015
"No City Council vote, no vote in the state Legislature, and certainly no referendum. That’s the way the Olympics organizers want it."
- Rick Holmes, MetroWest Daily News, 3/8/2015
"Should Boston be designated for 2024, those area infrastructure projects will be funded and western Mass transportation needs will be put on the back burner for years...There will simply be no way to say no to the needs of Boston 2024."
- Michael Albano, Fmr. Mayor of Springfield, 3/13/2015
"Until the Olympic boosters deal with the suspicion that this is Big Dig, Part Two, they’re going nowhere, fast."
- Jon Keller, WBZ Channel 4, 3/18/2015
"All the members of the Insider Party promise that no taxpayer money will be spent on the Boston 2024 Olympics. If history is any guide, these insiders will one day come hat in hand to the Legislature seeking a taxpayer bailout, like other connected political insiders have done in the past, especially under Patrick. No, Joe Taxpayer is going to need more than a promise. Joe Taxpayer is going to need an ironclad assurance that no state funds will be used for this extravaganza."
- Peter Lucas, Lowell Sun, 3/17/2015
"[Boston2024] is a terrible idea. Where are you going to put it? I would say this: If we can’t find a place for snow, where are we going to find a place for the Olympics?"
- Fmr. Congressman Barney Frank, 3/16/2015
