#nobosolympics

Still, a lot of downtown types I know and trust and whose opinions I value — businesspeople, lawyers, those who are loath to be associated with discredited projects — genuinely believe the pledge that tax money will not be used to build venues or pay for the operation of the games; that private money from ticket, licensing, and sponsorship fees and broadcast rights will pay for it. The infrastructure improvements paid for by taxpayers are needed anyway, the argument goes.

If the Olympics come to Boston – and the US Olympic Committee, having chosen it as their contender to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, hopes they will – the government will likely treat it as a National Security Special Event. That means the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police would fall under the authority of the US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, which would be in charge of security operations. All people within the NSSE “security” zone – possibly the entire Boston metro area and beyond – could lose a host of constitutional rights, including the right to protest on public land, and the right to not be searched or questioned absent any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.