Reader Columnist: “Dear IOC…”

By Ben Joravsky, from today’s Chicago Reader, “One last argument for why Chicago doesn’t need, want, or deserve the games.”

It’s been almost six months since I last wrote to encourage you not to award Chicago the 2016 games. Back then, as you recall, I was welcoming some of you to town for your official visit. Now, of course, you’re in Copenhagen, preparing to announce on October 2 which city they’ll be held in—Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo, or Rio.

I don’t want Chicago to “win” for the reasons I mentioned last time: we can’t afford the games, and they’ll tear up our parks. But let’s talk about your needs. I urge you, for your own sake: spare yourself the cost overruns, backroom deals, political wrangling, embarrassing scandals, and ugly headlines a Chicago Olympics would almost certainly bring you.

Let me explain.

Let him explain…

Open Letter to Barack Obama

An Open Letter to Barack Obama: For the good of Chicago, don’t go to Copenhagen.

Dear President Obama:

This summer has not been easy for many people who reside in Chicago. As the city entered into the final leg of competition for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Chicago citizens witnessed cuts in services, and city employees were forced to take furlough days to balance the budget. At the same time, many state programs and jobs were slashed.

While funds were nowhere to be found for basic services, the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid committee, the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois lined up nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds for the 2016 Olympics.

A recent WGN/Chicago Tribune poll found that less than half of Chicagoans support the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid, and that 84 percent were opposed to using tax revenue to cover any losses incurred. Only recently did the Chicago 2016 bid committee make any effort to engage the community in citywide meetings where it was evident that many in Chicago had deep concerns about hosting the Olympics, including the potential for cost overruns and resident displacement.

As a longtime resident of Chicago, you are well aware that in this city, cost overruns and delays of large civic construction projects go hand in hand.

Millennium Park came in four years behind schedule and three times over budget. The recent construction on the Dan Ryan Expressway came in at twice its original budget. And last summer, construction was halted on a “super-station” for express trains between Chicago-area airports and the Loop business district–$213 million has been spent on the project, and today, there isn’t much more than a concrete hole in the ground to show for it.

Costs overruns and the Olympics also go hand in hand. The city of Vancouver, which will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, is $6 billion in debt, a tab that will be picked up by taxpayers. And the 2012 Summer Olympics in London are four times more expensive than the initial budgeted figure–with a total cost running currently at $20 billion, nearly three years ahead of the opening ceremonies.

2016 Orders Anti-Bid News Report Cancelled

From the Drudge Report:

FOX-TV CHICAGO ORDERED NOT TO RUN ANTI-OLYMPICS STORY
Sun Sep 27 2009 21:56:11 ET

A local TV station that reported on Chicagoans NOT wanting the Olympics has been told NOT to run the report again, insiders tell the DRUDGE REPORT!

The Chicago Olympic Committee told FOX Chicago that its broadcast "would harm Chicago's chances" to be awarded the games. The station's news director ordered staff to hold fire after the report aired once last Thursday morning, claims a source.

Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio are mounting strong bids for the honor to host in 2016. The International Olympic Committee makes its decision on Friday. President Obama will lead the in-person push.

Watch the offending news report from Fox Chicago News.

Sportswriter for Nation Lays It Out – “No Games For Chicago!”

Watch this video where Nation magazine sports editor and columnist, Dave Zirin, lays out the history of the modern Olympics and explains why bringing the 2016 games to Chicago would be a disaster.

Let’s Spend $5 Billion To Generate $4.4 Billion!

Crain’s Chicago reports that anew independent study of the 2016 Olympic plan debunks their inflated claims of economic benefits. The new study, by Anderson Economic Group of Michigan, estimates the games would generate $4.4 billion in total economic impact. Download the report.

Since the 2016 folks say the games will cost about $5 billion (No Games Chicago believes the true cost will be MUCH higher), the entire project will generate less impact then ot costs to produce and stage the games. We might as well just raise that money and give it directly to needy Chicagoans to pay their bills and purchase homes.

Crain’s further reports:

The firm also raises warnings about potential costs to taxpayers, estimating that the public could be on the hook for up to half the cost of the Olympic Village. Chicago 2016 plans for private developers to shoulder all of the $1-billion project cost. “There has, however, been some doubt that sufficient private funds will become available,” the report states.

Anderson predicts taxpayers could be exposed to cover $500 million in costs related to the village, or purchasing insurance for the games that is expected to total about $68 million in premiums. Those factors reduce the economic benefit of spending from the Olympic Village project and the overall economic benefit to taxpayers from hosting the games.

Chicago – please JOIN us to protest this scam! We are rallying in front of City Hall on Tuesday, September 29 at 5:30pm.

Atlanta Community Leader Sets The 96 Games Record Straight

Anita Beaty directs the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless and she was in Atlanta for the run up the 1996 Olympics and has lived through the delivery and aftermath. She warns us not to believe the hype. Will you listen to her?

You can also listen to and embed an audio player for her remarks (6 minutes) at Evoca.com!

Download a Word transcript of her remarks.

Did You Just Feel The Earth Move?

In the Sun-Times, Mayor Daley says it would take an earthquake or a tornado to make us foot the bill for the 2016 games.

“They have been very, very fiscally responsible in regards to their presentation. I really believe that. Unless … ,” Daley said without completing the sentence.

Unless what? What would it take to put taxpayers on the hook?

“An earthquake or something or a tornado,” he said. “I really believe that, because we don’t have to build all of these facilities. That’s the difference.

————————–

Well, did you just feel something? The city has already spent or committed over $200 million for the purchase, demolition, clean-up and enhancement of the Olympic Village site.

Nation Sports Writer: Olympics in Chicago Would Be “Obama’s Folly”

David Zirin is The Nation’s sports editor. He writes about Chicago’s bid in his September 22 column:

Recently Barack Obama criticized planned protests at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh because, as he knew from his Chicago days, “focusing on concrete, local, immediate issues that have an impact on people’s lives is what really makes a difference and…having protests about abstractions [such] as global capitalism or something, generally, is not really going to make much of a difference.”

Well, on September 29 at Chicago’s City Hall a protest will take place that will focus on a “concrete, local, immediate issue,” putting the protesters across the barricades from Barack and Michelle Obama as well as the all-powerful Democratic political machine of the city. The issue is the 2016 Olympic bid and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s political pact with the Obamas to see the Games come to the Windy City. Mayor Daley, rocking a 35 percent approval rating, says that the Games would be “a huge boost to our economy, raising it to a new level. The Games will help us recover sooner from the recession that still grips our nation and enable us to better compete in the global economy.”

There is only one problem with this argument: the history of the Olympic Games almost without exception brands it as a lie.

League of Women Voters Says “No Games”!

From the Chicago League of Women Voters (published in the Chicago Tribune, September 20):

The League of Women Voters of Chicago opposes the selection of Chicago as the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics. We do so in reliance on the principle of our organization that democratic government depends upon the informed and active participation of its citizens and requires that governmental bodies protect the people’s right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed actions, holding open meetings and making public records accessible.

Preparation of the Chicago bid to host the 2016 Olympics did not provide us with adequate notice of the proposal as it developed, and we had no opportunity to comment or question aspects of the proposal.

Many questions exist; the bid proposal, ostensibly a privately developed plan, relies on substantial public funding and facilities. With declining revenue to fund existing city and Park District costs, what sources exist to fund construction of the Olympics facilities? Will TIF funds be used? And from which TIF districts? On what basis does the Olympics planning committee believe that the federal government will provide the funds for transit repair and extension or the security costs?

Our organization believes that the parks should be used for public recreation only, consistent with and enhancing their aesthetic quality. Buildings should be kept to a minimum. Funds should be distributed equitably for maintenance and development of parks throughout the city. Construction of the venues in the parks will eliminate open space for residents’ use. This is space in which an individual can walk, children can play games and families can gather.

2016 Insurance Useless Says Crain’s

As reported in today’s Crain’s Chicago Business:

Mayor Richard M. Daley and Patrick Ryan assure Chicago taxpayers that a safety net of insurance would insulate them from the financial risks of hosting the 2016 Olympics.

But the insurance policies Mr. Ryan says he’ll secure would cover only about $1.1 billion of the $3.8-billion operating budget that the mayor’s Olympic point man has drawn up for the games. In many key areas, no insurer stands between taxpayers and the risk of revenue shortfalls or cost overruns.

For example, there’s no insurance against the risk that private lenders won’t shell out $1 billion to finance construction of the Olympic Village, as Messrs. Daley and Ryan predict they will. And there’s no coverage against shortfalls in corporate sponsorship sales, which they predict will rake in $1.8 billion, two-thirds more than London expects to collect for the 2012 games.

So, it’s official. Chicago’s premiere business publication has looked at the “insurance” and found huge holes. Guess who gets to fill those holes? JOIN US ON SEPTEMBER 29 AT CITY HALL, 5:30PM TO PROTEST THIS MESS!