Earlier this week it was reported that Mayor Marty Walsh signed an agreement with the United States Olympic Committee that prohibits city employees from badmouthing the potential Olympic bid. Though the mayor followed up by encouraging his staffers to speak freely on the subject, and saying he only signed the agreement because it was standard boilerplate language, Cambridge is hoping to avoid those same follies.
On Monday, Jan. 26, the Cambridge City Council will file a policy order resolution that the City Manager report any and all documents, proposals and agreements between the City of Cambridge, Boston 2024 and the USOC to them. Further, any measures between the organizations that are currently in the pipeline (or are brought up subsequently) must be reported to the council for discussion and debate prior to signing.
The order is sponsored by Councillors Leland Cheung, Tim Tommey, Dennis Carlone and Craig Kelley.
The text of the order explicitly sites the agreement between the City of Boston and the USOC:
Public documents have revealed that Boston Mayor Marty Walsh signed a non-disparagement agreement with the US Olympic Committee, prohibiting the City and its officers and employees from making statements that ‘reflect unfavorably upon, denigrate, or disparage, or are detrimental to the reputation or statue of the IOC, the IPC, the IOC Bid, the Bid Committee or the Olympic or Paralympic movement’
It argues that private organizations restricting this kind of freedom of speech is “anti-democratic” and that Cambridge is in full support of city staffers offering up “their unbiased, professional opinions and judgments about the Olympics, both positive and negative, as the case may be.”
City of Cambridge spokesperson Lee Gianetti told BostInno that the administration has not signed any agreement related to the efforts to bring the 2024 Olympics to the City of Boston and that Cambridge City Manager Richard Rossi has met with representatives of the Boston 2024 organization to learn about their proposal.
What’s been dubbed the “University Cluster” pertains mostly to Boston University and Harvard on the Boston side of the Charles River with MIT also possibly hosting archery.
Should the order pass, there’s a good chance we’ll find out more details about how Cambridge has participated in the bidding process thus far and, moving forward, there’ll likely be more transparency.
But it’s also important to note that the Cambridge City Council isn’t taking a stance for or against a Boston Olympics either way.
“The City Council go on record in support of democratic processes for evaluating the question of the Olympic Games, including popular ballot initiatives and referenda,” reads the order in closing.
BostInno reached out to both Councillor Cheung and Councillor Kelley but neither were immediately available to comment. We’ll be sure to update this article upon receiving a response.
