Somerville Mayor Residents Against Boston Olympics 2024 Velodrome

Though the Boston 2024 Olympics are still just a dream, officials have already begun battling over where olympic venues should, or shouldn’t, be built.

Boston won a bid to host the 2024 Olympics on Jan. 8, but the city hasn’t guaranteed its spot yet. The International Olympic Committee won’t choose a host city for the 2024 Olympics until 2017. Until then, Boston 2024 - the city’s olympic planning committee - has to put together a plan of action that will impress the IOC and convince them Boston is the best place for the games.

But the committee’s preliminary plan has already met some resistance, and on the list of public officials not happy with Boston 2024’s proposal is Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone.

The committee released its preliminary plan for the Olympics on Jan. 21. Included in the plan was a proposal to build a biking facility in Somerville. But Curtatone said the plan for a velodrome, the type of biking facility proposed, “won’t cut it” for Somerville.

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The mayor is supportive of Boston 2024’s efforts to host the olympics, but said that any plans involving Somerville will have to contribute to the overall well being of the city, according to Boston Magazine. A velodrome that will only be used for a three-week sporting event and then sit vacant does nothing positive for Somerville, he said.

And Curtatone isn’t the only one set against the velodrome.

Somerville residents took to reddit to discuss the possibility of a velodrome in Somerville. While some would like to see a bicycling facility in the area, most were unhappy with the idea.

One reddit user questioned whether the state or federal government would pay for the construction.

“I’m sure it would cost piles of money to build and I’m not sure where that would come from,” the user wrote. “The current proposal has no money for the conversion and there’s no way Somerville could afford it (especially with all of the lost tax property tax revenues it would mean for them).”

Even if they would continue to use the biking facility after the olympics, some Somerville residents said the city simply doesn’t have the space for unnecessary buildings.

“I start out opposed because Somerville is already the most densely populated city in New England with the least amount of open space per capita than any city in the country,” Somerville resident and U.S. Representative Mike Capuano said to the Boston Herald.

Curtatone said any decisions involving Somerville in olympic planning should be made not only with Somerville residents in mind, but with their input as well.

A “diligent, community-based process must be undertaken regionally if we want the Olympics to bring us long-term community benefits, instead of a three-week party and a legacy of abandoned structures,” Curtatone said to Boston Magazine.