Virginia Raggi, Mayor of Rome, she would decide on the city’s bid for the 2024 Olympics in October. Raggi told a local publication “October is a good month for drawing conclusions. We have never precluded dialogue…but for now our position remains unchanged – first we will attend to potholes, waste, transport, then we will evaluate the extraordinary”. She also said she “wouldn’t hesitate” to call a referendum on the issue if Romans asked for one.
The Italian Radical Party has organized a referendum campaign and are in the process of collecting the required 30,000 signatures needed for a vote to move forward. Raggi would still need to reverse municipal decisions made earlier in the year that ruled out any possible referendum before it can be finalized. Rome faces an October 7 deadline to submit phase 2 documents to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that will cover “Governance, Legal and Venue Funding.” Those documents are to include details on government support and any public opinion polls that have been carried out. Rome is bidding for the 2024 Games along with Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest. The IOC is to select a host city in September 2017.