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Chicago vs. the Games
While the president takes a detour to Denmark to support Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, Chicagoans themselves are divided on whether they want the games in their backyard:
A new Web site -- Chicagoansforrio.com -- is the talk of the town and features the game "Match the Olympic host with its estimated budget overrun." About 170 protesters marched outside City Hall on Tuesday night, many insisting that no matter what organizers say, the games will push people from their homes, lead to more corruption and raise taxes.
"I don't believe anything the city and the 2016 committee says," said Larry Rivkin, who grew up in Chicago....
A poll released this month by the Chicago Tribune showed residents almost evenly split, with 47 percent in favor of the bid and 45 percent against; that's a drop from the 2-1 support the newspaper found in a February poll.
The 2016 bid committee said its own poll last week shows support from 72 percent of Chicagoans. But even that segment has concerns.
Elsewhere in Reason: When Paris failed to attract the 2012 Olympics, I argued that the city was lucky.
|9.30.09 @ 2:10PM|#
As a Chicagoan myself, the only people I know who support the Olympic bid are politicians, business folks who have the inside track on work bids flowing from the Olympics, and union folk (who I guess sort of fall into the previous category).
24AheadDotCom|9.30.09 @ 2:21PM|#
The title of this
still gives me a chuckle a week later.
Meanwhile, BHO's trip is a perfect opportunity to show just how
close he is to the Machine. While one or two GOP leaders appear to
have tried to point that out, obviously they didn't do it
forcefully enough. Yes, I'm going to link to
this person who, while normally an idiot, does seem to have
some of the right things BHO opponents should stress.
|9.30.09 @ 2:21PM|#
Only an idiot or a politician* would want the Olympics/Super
Bowl/World's Fair/World Cup Finals held in their town.
* I know, redindant.
|9.30.09 @ 2:22PM|#
Ask the Yugoslavs (or whatever they are calling themselves, these days) how much they gained from hosting the Olympics.
|9.30.09 @ 2:28PM|#
LoneWacko still smarts from when the Olympics were held in LA.
So many IllegalAliens needed for the construction...
Vancouver is getting set to waste mountains of money next. They
probably think they need to ante up with all their Hollywood
money.
Jesse Walker|9.30.09 @ 2:35PM|#
That couldn't be the real Lonewacko. Neither of his links went to his own site.
|9.30.09 @ 2:43PM|#
That couldn't be the real Lonewacko. Neither of his links
went to his own site.
And his post actually made sense.
Xeones|9.30.09 @ 2:45PM|#
That would be the ultimate LoneWacko spoof, though, wouldn't it? Use his name to post something relevant, thoughtful, and very nearly interesting? I'm not even going to meme him this time.
|9.30.09 @ 2:47PM|#
That couldn't be the real Lonewacko. Neither of his links went to his own site.
His name did, however. He has a idiosyncratic set of beliefs most
of which I strongly disagree with and some of which I think are
actually immoral (and he thinks the same of the rest of us), and he
is obsessed with those issues, but his posts are generally
lucid.
highnumber|9.30.09 @ 2:47PM|#
For a number of reasons I would never back the bid, but I do
have a son who will be 10 and a daughter who will be 7 in 2016.
They will be the perfect ages to appreciate the Olympics. If we get
it, I will be happy for them.
And sad for them since we'll never actually be able to get tickets
to any interesting events.
|9.30.09 @ 2:48PM|#
When Paris failed to attract the 2012 Olympics, I argued that the city was lucky.
I did pretty much the same when Tampa/Orlando was knocked out of
the same race.
Technically the host city was Tampa but the boosters tried to
broaden public support by placing venues all up and down the I-4
corridor.
Eventually NYC won the North American spot only to be beaten by
London in the final.
I think I could easily have been talked int joining a protest
movement. In fact I was already to get my own protest bumper
sticker.
"Just say NOOOOO!!" [imagine the olympic rings, get it].
It still amazes me that cities that are already providing shitty
services can persuade voters that by spending zillions more they
can get all this free shit that everyone will love. And besides,
gosh darnit, won't everyone be so proud?
In other news, the Orlando Tragic still managed to get the city
fathers of O-town to spring for a new O-rena. I believe I will go
down to watch when they blow up the still perfectly adequate twenty
year old one they already have.
|9.30.09 @ 2:50PM|#
Chicago would be a great place for a bunch of unarmed wealthy tourists to wander around. Hardly any crime at all...
|9.30.09 @ 3:01PM|#
Isaac,
The Palace of Auburn Hills, (home of the NBA champs three times,
WNBA champs twice) is 21, was privately funded (dunno if ED was
used, but I suspect not) and is still a premier sporting and
concert venue.
Bill Davidson can RIP. He deserves it.
creech|9.30.09 @ 3:04PM|#
I wonder how many of the pro-Olympic officials in Chicago are willing to personally guarantee their assets if the Olympics loses money? Put up or shut up.
Atanarjuat|9.30.09 @ 3:10PM|#
Chicago would be a great place for a bunch of unarmed wealthy tourists to wander around. Hardly any crime at all...
Well, I imagine the same could be said for Rio.
|9.30.09 @ 3:11PM|#
Before we all forget - anybody who rails against the Olympics being held in Obama's favorite political enclave is a racist.
|9.30.09 @ 3:23PM|#
Isaac,
I was thrilled when we lost the bid. Worst thing that could happen
to Tampa other than a hurricane would be the damned Olympic circus
and spendfest.
D.R.M.|9.30.09 @ 3:24PM|#
Well, the 1984 LA games did turn a profit for the host city. Of course, that's mostly because nobody wanted to hold them, so when LA volunteered, they were able to dictate terms.
JB|9.30.09 @ 3:39PM|#
I like this sentiment:
"Members of No Games Chicago, the group that organized the rally,
are headed to Copenhagen to tell the IOC that Chicago is in such
financial straits it cannot afford the games and is such a hotbed
of political corruption it doesn't deserve them."
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/daley.plaza.arrest.2.1216850.html
Blago, Daley, Obama. Corrupt Chicago pols all.
JB|9.30.09 @ 3:42PM|#
And his post actually made sense.
True. No surprise Obama went out on a limb to support his corrupt
buddies.
|9.30.09 @ 3:56PM|#
I'm just so torn between the attractions of inflicting the Olympics on Chicago, and the attractions of humiliating the Chicago machine by having it go to Rio.
|10.3.09 @ 12:07AM|#
A remark as ignorant as it is casually cruel. Why would you inflict anything undesirable on a city so rich with friendly, warm people who are only guilty -- in your myopic eyes -- by association?
|9.30.09 @ 3:59PM|#
Of the parade of silver pick-up trunks in Atlanta, I'm not sure why the Olympics would want to come back to the US.
Janeane Garofalo|9.30.09 @ 4:41PM|#
[After] the parade of silver pick-up trunks in Atlanta, I'm
not sure why the Olympics would want to come back to the
US.
That's racism, straight up!
|9.30.09 @ 4:42PM|#
J sub D,
I'd agree on all but World Cup Finals. Those are held on a
country-wide (or two country-wide) basis, and it's for a single
sport. In the US, we're uniquely positioned in that we would have
to build ZERO new stadiums and renovation would also be kept to a
minimum. Our stadium infrastructure is even better than it was in
1994, which is still easily the best-attended tournament (and this
is with 8 fewer teams than post-94 events) ever. The USSF is STILL
swimming in the cash from that tournament.
South Africa, by contrast, has had a nightmare because their
stadium, hotel, transport, etc. infrastructures were so poor to
begin with.
A number of European countries could also do it with a minimum of
extra spending and headache (Germany didn't have massive problems
by any stretch), but I think for sheer capacity and ability to hold
a huge event just about anywhere, we're best positioned to make a
killing from it.
It's not nearly the same as having to build an Athlete's Village
and a bunch of venues for sports that don't get played outside of
the Olympics.
|9.30.09 @ 5:09PM|#
Although certainly not on the scale of the Olympics, the
America's Cup was held in Newport, RI from its inception through
1983 when the Aussies prevailed 4-3 after having been behind 3-1.
Since then, the Cup has not been held in Newport.
The vast majority of the locals were actually happy to see the
Aussies win. Many of them complained about the "traffic" and other
"hassles" which they attributed to the Cup.
I just could not understand why so many of my hometown comrades
were happy to see the thing go. It wasn't like the America's Cup,
itself, brought the City by the Sea to a standstill. Most relevant
was that there was no public money earmarked to "bring" the Cup to
Newport as the sport's rules dictated that the winner got to choose
where the event would take place.
|10.1.09 @ 11:56AM|#
Does anyone know how to access the members of the IOC by email? They need to read a devastating article in "The New Yorker" called "Gangs of Rio: Neglected by government, ruled by drug lords, and devastated by violence, Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns are becoming free-fire zones in a war between cops and criminals". After reading this, no one in his or her right mind would choose Rio as the site of the 2016 Olympics.
|10.3.09 @ 12:12AM|#
That article must be very much like all the articles written in the U.S. that demonstrate the corruption and perversion of federal government, articles that have so successfully inspired revelation among U.S. citizens that the system they live in is "fine, but with a few problems."
|10.3.09 @ 12:27AM|#
By the way, I'm sure the IOC is waiting with baited breath for your "email" information. Honestly, email? The web as democratization of ideas, indeed. Why don't you try smoke signals or a megaphone. At least they're stylish.
|10.1.09 @ 1:22PM|#
The Olympic situation has become pathetic. Pres. Obama is proving his loyalty to the corrupt in Chicago. This is just another smack in the head the American Public has taken from our new Rockstar.
Tim|10.1.09 @ 3:02PM|#
This is already a done deal. Obama and Big Michelle wouldn't be going to Copenhagen if this wasn't already in the bag.
|10.3.09 @ 12:14AM|#
Once again, the rule of elbows and assholes prevails. Nice prediction, can we have another?
Tom Tresser|10.12.09 @ 8:59AM|#
Hi - I was one of the No Games Chicago volunteers who went to Copenhagen. So it wasn't a "done deal" or "a lock" as the media was slavishly reporting. We are now asking people to go to an online survey and tell us their thoughts about "WHAT NOW?: for Chicago.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s......nRGw_3d_3d
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