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.