RALLY / PROTEST / MARCH
TODAY – Thursday, April 2, 2009
SHUT DOWN
THE OLYMPIC BID
Say ‘NO’ to the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid
5pm, Federal Plaza (50 W. Adams)
The International Olympic Committee will be in town from April 2-8th to evaluate
Chicago’s potential as a Host City for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Let them know
that Chicago 2016 does not speak for the people of Chicago. Let them know that
Chicagoans have other priorities. Let them hear your voice.
RALLY. SPEAK OUT. PROTEST. SHUT DOWN THE OLYMPIC BID!
We need Better Hospitals, Housing, Schools, and Trains — Not Olympic Games.
They Play and We Pay. NO GAMES!
For more information email nogameschicago@gmail.com or call 312.235.2873
On the web: nogameschicago.com
NO GAMES: Chicago on Facebook
Chicago Tribune documents rush improvements to Washington Park as city crumbles.
No Games Chicago 
Why wouldn’t you want the games in Chicago, especially in this economy? Think about all the construction jobs and business revenue that would be generated by all the tourists in town for the games. Think about how many jobs that would save/create. Are you going to personally tell someone who’s been laid off why you are against bringing the games to Chicago, when those games could mean potential employment?
Olympic Games bring so much to a community. Yes, millions of dollars will need to be invested, but many more millions will be returned to the community because of global media attention and huge tourism figures. Please don’t spoil getting the Olympics, because the vast majority of Chicagoans support the effort. The mayor and state government DOES speak for the majority of the people. Don’t claim that you do, because you absolutely don’t.
How much is the Chicago Olympic committee paying you to populate sites like this with your drivel about the city being for the games.
Show us a true study that shows overwhelming support, and you won’t because it does not exist, neither does the support.
Potential employment, potential investment?
Lies.
the truth is that the Olympics rarely make money. Chicago leaders prove they cannot run the city already, how could they attempt to run the Olympics. The games are not economic boons. More lies by the IOC and Chicago Olympic committee (all run by Daley appointees and former city employees)
The IOC is one of the most corrupt non-government bodies in the world. Proven corrupt. Chicago’s Mayor and the HDO cronies are right there with the IOC in terms of Corruption.
Stop the games now. Stop the next SCAM of MAyor Daley.
No more corruption Chicago.
Hang banners on highways and anywhere you can get them.
STOP the IOC crooks. STOP DALEY from selling off the city of Chicago. He is a crook.
pro-games, Mike & those who support the sh*t Olympics in lousy ass weather Chicago, screw you. Chicago don’t deserve it. In this tough economic times, I hope Tokyo wins the bid.
What if everyone who travels through the south side changed their commutes when the IOC is in town to go through Washington Park, creating a traffic jam as the IOC’s visual?
To the first commenter: yes, I will personally tell someone who’s been laid off, I can’t afford to hire you. If developers want to spend money to build, they can hire you. If businesses want to spend money to get more business, they can advertise or hire you to promote their businesses. But I don’t want them spending my money I don’t have, and like many others, I don’t believe the city will refrain from, or is even capable of refraining from, using taxpayer dollars wastefully (e.g. corruption, cronyism, etc., etc.)
They did this to one lane of Jackson Blvd in the Loop for Obama’s transition too……go see for yourself….one lane of new pavement!!
Pig in Lipstick!!!!
That “Mike” guy is a shrill…..how much you get paid to do that?
This mayor has his head up his ass. He is no less than a pathological liar. He thinks because he says it it is true. Has he laid off 1 friggin person yet? How does he propose to pay all the do-nothins? I myself am moving to Indiana…..I’ll leave you idiots holding the bag. Our mayor’s ignorance and ineptness have killed off this city! Screw you ioc!!
The “city that doesn’t work” host an Olympics? We can’t even keep elevators and people-movers at O’Hare running. Then, how many “workers present” signs do you see with no workmen present. And, finally – all those people that are going to be put to work? Patronage…and that money goes right back to Daley.
You guys are completely ignorant. I agree, Daley needs to be kept in check, but some of your ideas to “protest” the Olympics coming to Chicago are ridiculous.
Name ONE U.S. Summer Olympics that was not successful…
It’s easy saying that other host cities are dysfunctional, but what you fail to realize is that the U.S. model is different than London, Vancouver and Athens.
LA bid in the midst of the Montreal fiasco, and they posted a half a billion profit! It did wonders for the city. Why do you feel Chicago will botch it?
All the things you spit off that the city needs is true, but you won’t see funding appear for them by protesting the Olympics!
The city can not afford to hold the Olympics this time around. The economy is in bad shape. There are too many people out of work. The city government is not hiring anyone. Mayor Daley is holding too much of the tax payers money back for the olympics instead of paying employees salaries. The mayor even took money away from the police and denied any raises because of the olympics. Mayor Daley is single handedly causing this city to spiral into a financial downfall by syphoning money away from it employees and future employees. We don’t need the olympics nor do we want it. This city is not ready to handle the population that comes during that time. This city isnot ready to handle potential acts of terrorism. This city bearly eeked by during the Taste of Chicago last year. That only resulted in a couple of people being shot. Please take a look at the other cities that hosted the olympics and look at their financial woes. You can find the information on the web. Yes, millions of dollars would be invested in the olympics just as millions of dollars are being invested in the vie for the olympics. That’s money out of window already. If the IOC wanted the olympics in Chicago they wouldn’t have asked Chicago to spend all of the money begging for it. The IOC would just state that the olympics would be in Chicago. Millions of dollars are already gone. IE. tv advertising, stupid boxes with “vote yes for Olympics” bottons at trade shows and Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier, Newspaper advertising, Daley’s flight to other countries trying to promote the Chicago bid and so on. Money that’s gone if and when the IOC decides Chicago is not the place. Can you hear the giant sucking sound? Your tax dollars and my tax dollars are disappearing into the Daley machine. VOTE NO for the Olympics in Chicago.
I cannot believe the stupidity that I am witnessing right in front of my very eyes. The amount and scope of the misinformation stated here is staggering. Does anyone really know how many skilled labor are out of work right now? We can’t afford not to have the Olympics here. Did anyone hear the Atlanta spokesperson say there are no I repeat no drawbacks to hosting. 50% of the Iron workers are out of work, 40% of the Chicago plumbers are out of work. When are people going to wake up and see this crisis for what it is? This is the single greatest down turn in construction Chicago has ever seen and we’ve got people here saying they’re worried about Mayor Daley giving work to his cronies. Who cares? Those same individuals, the Walsh’s, the Kenny’s, the K-Five’s, the Pepper’s all will employ a ton of people if we host. I’d rather Chicago get the bid and give all the the work to those firms so they can employ the skilled labor force and award contracts to the local subcontractors than it go somewhere else. I seriously think that some of you live in an alternate universe.
Sean: I don’t live in an alternate universe. I live in Chicago, and my tax dollars are the fallback if this doesn’t work. You probably live in the suburbs and won’t have to pony up.
The Walsh’s and company do not need my money. If they’re hurting for cash, they can sell their ski chalets and beach front second and third homes.
They’re not going to hire me, and I can’t afford to hire the “skilled labor force” that gets paid twice my salary to stand around and watch others work.
I care that my tax dollars are wasted on cronyism when they could be efficiently used in fair bidding and hiring.
This is lame and I don’t even live in the USA.
The Olympic Games/the bid is just being used as a media platform to highlight issues that exist and will exist pre and post 2016.
Those campaigners for “education” and “jobs” would otherwise not have made a big fuss if it was not for the media platform. Add in some “environmentalists” and suddenly you have the same sort of opposition groups that we’ve seen before. The type highly concerned with critical issues like “education” and “health” but nowhere to be found after the bid to continue fighting for these cause with or without making headlines.
If there was a time to bid and to make major investments, now is the time. Myopia is a serious disease.
I enjoy how Montreal is included in the cost overruns from 2002 to 2012.
No mention of the major changes in Beijing to crtical infrastructure. No mention of the transformation of Barcelona, the type of things to which a monetary value cannot be attached.
No mention of the boost to infrastructure in Athens and Sydney, and the transformation of an abandoned area in London being transformed into Europe’s largest urban park.
If you are going to reduce everything to money, don’t expect people to take you seriously.
If there was a time to be spending money, its in these tough times, when the US government is ready to release funds into infrastructure projects that may cost $1 billion in Chicago but will benefit the city for decades to come.
ctguy, you say you don’t live in this country, so get off! I live in Chicago and do not want to see one penny of my tax dollars go to this mess! Sean, I’m sorry things are bad for skilled tradesmen, but things are tough all over. I hope it gets better for you, but not on my dime! The Olympics do not make money for a city. One doesn’t have to look far on the internet to find stories of huge cost overruns in Vancouver and London. Can you imagine what will happen in Chicago with a criminal like Daley running the show! Daley is never going to allow the working class Black families from Washington Park to be the face of Chicago for an international event like the Olympics. This guy is as racist as his old man, just more subtle. I don’t want my tax dollars to go towards pushing people out of their neighborhoods. We have had enough of that in Chicago already!
YEAH…… jobs.
People, PLEASE. This is Chicago. If we get the games, all of these “good things” and possibilities – will NOT BE DONE RIGHT. This city, this state… doesn’t know how to do ANYTHING.
This is going to cost us big time, ruin neighborhoods, disrupt daily life. For what? What a waste. This city doesn’t deserve A THING. We can’t handle the basics, let alone this kind of massive undertaking. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN HERE.
I’m taken aback by the reasoning used by so many posters here. Saying that the Olympics “lose money” is like saying that any public works project “loses money.” This includes roads, parks, transit projects, etc. All of these things cost money to build, and all of them also directly create jobs to build them, as well as vital infrastructure which helps sustain the economy in the long run. If you’re opposed to the Olympics because they mean we’re going to spend money, then you should be opposed to building any new roads, transit systems, parks, or public buildings in Chicago.
The city which wins the Olympic games will GET a bunch of money that they otherwise would not. Why not us?
I agree with all of you, that Chicago needs the Olympics. Sure, if we have have the honor to host, the development will not be perfect, but this city needs a monumental event to keep it as a top tier international city.
Chicago would be a very different city today if we did host the Worlds Fairs in 1896 and 1933 (at the height of the depression).
Just think what good an Olympics can do. I know that if we get the Olympics, many construction projects have a better chance to start up – like the Spire and Waterview.
They don’t need the Olympics in Chicago. What Chicago needs is a political overhaul as in term limits for politicians like New York City & Los Angeles. Mayor Daley needs to step down so the little people can have a chance in running the city. Wipe out corruption & that this city needs to give opportunities to minorities. In this tough economic times, I hope that Tokyo 1 & Rio 2 is the outcome of the IOC elections. To the pro-Olympic supporters, go to the hell & s**w you. Hooray to the anti-Olympic supporters.
Anyone who believes that hosting the Games in 2016 is going to improve the local economy is kidding themselves. Daley and his cronies will make sure that all construction contracts go to their friends, that paybacks to get them will happen, and then they’ll do it as cheaply as possible. Just like all the other projects this city does. It will be done shoddily and won’t last, so saying that it will improve our infrastructure is a moot point. We’ll end up paying and paying and paying for this for years. In the meantime, our parks and lakefront will be destroyed for temporary structures.
The worst thing is, people are afraid to say something. Polls on the Trib show an overwhelming number DO NOT support the Games here. Everyone you talk to is against it. But they all know that if they protest while IOC is here, their neighborhoods will be targeted.
We need to find some way to show the IOC that we don’t want the Games here.
I’m with you guys.
Another Daley boondoggle that needs to be shut down.
The fact of the matter is that the Olympics would generate revenue for local businesses, create thousands of jobs for the next 7 years, increase tourism and global exposure for the city, and improve infrastructure and reduce blight in some pretty poor neighborhoods.
These are all good things, and none of them will happen without winning this Olympic bid.
In the era of Blago, George Ryan, Rezko, etc….Chicago and Illinois need an economic stimulus. WE NEED THE OLYMPICS!
What part of “The entire cost of the Olympics will be paid for by private investors” don’t you nutjobs understand?? The same rich people you guys want to tax the heck out of are going to finance one of the greatest construction booms in the history of Chicago!! Why would anyone complain?
More construction equals more jobs which equals more income tax which equals more schools, hospitals, etc….
I HATE Labor Unions and what they stand for, but currently there are a ridiculus amount of labors out of work and leeching off of the government via unemployment. If we can create new construction jobs a large portion of Illinois unemployment costs will be cut.
Attention: Bob Quellos…Did you get high before going on WGN? Athens is not Chicago!! Better transit is a by product of the Olympics.
Nathan: What part of a $500 million city (taxpayer) guarantee don’t YOU understand? What part of a $250 million state (taxpayer) guarantee don’t YOU understand? What part of TIF money (diverted from government services that then have to be paid by other taxpayer money) don’t YOU understand?
Your example, “paid by private investors,” is just talk. My examples are now laws. Which do YOU think we should count on?
If it truly was to be paid by private investors, those private investors should have put up the financial guarantees. But guess what? they want to feed at the trough.
The CTA is going to shambles and is totally unrealiable. It costs an arm and a leg to park in the city. The city sales tax is the highest in the country. Neighborhoods are increasingly getting gentrified by Daley’s cronies. There’s hardly any garbage pickups or snow removal on the streets. Millenium park cost more and took longer to build. There are empty parking meters near the intersections of Ashland and Roosevelt. Block 37 never seems to ever finish. Do we really need the olympics when Daley and his gang of crooks keep on funding wasteful projects while milking out every single cent from every Chicagoan? Enough is enough with his shenanigans. Obviously, he is the most callous politician ever besides Bush and Nixon in US history.
Sam, a $200+ Olympics tax on every Chicagoan would be more honest; then refund it with interest if the games don’t go over budget and in fact make a profit. But guess what? the city doesn’t have the confidence to do that and doesn’t want to risk the political backlash. Go ahead, propose a $200+ tax on every Chicagoan for the Olympics and see how much support the games really have.