Obviously, last week's events seem to have cast a pall upon Houston's olympic bid. In the upcoming November election, is there any type of referendum needed to pass before Houston can continue their persuit? If so, I would think a lot of folks will think twice before voting for it.
Actually, there are probably going to be two ballot initiatives pivotal to getting the olympics... 1. There will be a $750 million bond election that is overwhelmingly supported by both Republicans and Democrats that will be for fixing roads, updating sewers, re-doing all the libraries and adding 25% more greenspace both to existing parks and in other areas. The measure would also create a fund for beautifying the airports and roadways around town. 2. There will likely be a bond referendum that will have little effect on light rail but will be there never the less. A small group has tried to force an election that, if passed, would alter the city charter and could halt the construction of the downtown rail line and force Metro to re-pave all the roads. They haven't decided what they would do about the sewer work that has already been done. That initiative probably won't make it to the ballot. However, an alternate probably will. The mayor has proposed an initiative that would allow the current rail line to continue but create a vote on whether or not the city and county would need the approval of the general public for future rail lines. That referendum wouldn't mean much because the city and county have already agreed that they would indeed hold a referendum for any future rail lines. It is very likely to pass and would avert the downtown rail line removal. I actually have read a lot about these issues and the olympics thing. Both of these are key to the olympic bid because the only two issues standing in our way are pollution and mass transit. If a more comprehensive rail plan is in place and the pollution cleared by the state mandated plan requiring the city to be in compliance with federal regulations by 2007, we will actually be in good shape.
I thought I just heard something about the recent events strengthening a possible New York bid for the Olympics as it could be used to help rebuild the city. Anybody else hear this.
I would imagine that is possible, however, I read recently that NYC was close to being off the list mainly because the USOC wanted to go a different direction. San Francisco is supposedly still the frontrunner.
