Ramsin Canon of GapersBlock on why Olympics 2016, if Chicago is unlucky enough to win it, will be a Mongolian clusterfuck1 of the worst kind.
We’re going to get the watered down [Olympic Oversight] ordinance2, because our Aldermen are afraid of their own shadows. We’re going to get the Olympics. Mayor Daley will get re-elected. There will be massive cost-overruns; historic displacement of working class black families from the South and West side*; abuse of the homeless and indigent**; brutal police crackdowns; privatized security armies on the streets of Chicago; an unceasing stream of conflict-of-interest and contracting scandals; there will be gigantic budget shortfalls that will force more layoffs, more shutting down of social services like the mental health centers, more labor disputes.
We know why the Mayor and his people are pursuing this: it’s a distraction from the problems in the city, it wipes clean what is now approaching a decade of scandals and bad news for the Mayor, and pumps enormous sums of money into the pinstripe and identity politics patronage that has protected the status quo for a generation. Or, have we become so credulous, and ungenerous, that we believe that the Mayor honestly believes the Olympics are the only way to invest in our neighborhoods, and that he sincerely understands “being a world class city” as “getting on television”?
[Click to continue reading Gapers Block : Mechanics : Chicago Politics – No Cap on Public Money + No Oversight = Unmitigated Disaster]
I read somewhere today that one of the other four finalists, Tokyo, only has 56 percent of its population supporting their bid, while Chicago’s populace allegedly is 67 percent gung-ho. Ha, if only 33 percent of us oppose 2016, we sure are vocal. In fact, in my own informal surveys, I have yet to meet a single person who thinks the Olympics won’t be a disaster for Chicago. My sample size is under 100, but 73-03 is pretty compelling evidence, if not exactly statistically valid.
Click here for some other posts discussing the 2016 games
Footnotes:
Why wouldn’t you want the olympics to come here? Youre article is just a bunch of whiny ranting with out any evidence to support youre argument.
Whining about a cities problems is ok but you just come across as a 66.71.233.250.
Their are many cities in this country that are in much worse shape than chicago. They all have their problem’s. The olympic games havent much too do with your pussywillow griping. Youre article has nothing but whining, no facts or evidence to back anything up. What a waste. Fuck You.
[did someone not pay for your meds?]
Maybe when Chicago get’s their crime under control and their city taxes under control can we then think of something like “The Olympics”!
I mean, come on people…have you read the articles regarding the Mayor? He hasn’t even gotten all together! He doesn’t even know where all the money is going to come from yet!
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/06/contract-no-modifications-chicago-2016-olympic-games-lausanne-switzerland-international-committee.html
President Obama isn’t even coming out to his own hometown for the meeting! Hmmm?
(Maybe he doesn’t think we should have an Olympics???)
From what I have heard, people around my town don’t feel it would be wise for Chicago to host The Olympics.
Hey, my husband in in Construction and he sits here unemployed for six months now. He was told from his former boss not to call him back until October to see if we got The Olympics. Damn! Everyone is sitting around waiting for The Olympics because that is what they think is going to be their ticket to a JOB! Well that really SUCKS! (and by the way my husband doesn’t think Chicago should get The Olympics either. He’s worked in Chicago many years!) The Olympics will not make things better for Chicago. I tend to agree with some of what the writer had to say about the Mayor ignoring a lot of Chicago’s problems by adding The Olympics.
Clean up Chicago’s problems first. There sure are a lot of them. People are dying everyday. Crime is so horrible! Taxes are crazy! Healthcare…I don’t know if I even want to go there. Look up statistics on Chicago people and then let us know how you would like to see The Olympics reside there.
It is a beautiful town with some nice places to see. But, it needs a strong leader to keep it that
way. A leader who cares for it’s people first and foremost and what happens to them in their city and streets! Thank you for hearing my rant of Chicago!
We can’t even take care of our own people let alone people with such great honors such as The Olympics.
Don’t the Games last about 2 weeks? Is 2 weeks of sports really worth all that cash and hassle? I say no, let Rio have their first ever Olympics