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.

It’s Official – President Staying Home

As reported on Chicago Tribune’s Breaking News site:

Sixteen days from the deciding vote, President Barack Obama made a rousing pitch Wednesday for Chicago to win the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. He later joined in some Olympic-style fun and games on the South Lawn of the White House…

Obama said the healthcare fight would keep him home, adding: “But the good news is I’m sending a more compelling superstar to represent the city and the country we love, and that is our first lady, Michelle Obama.”

Mrs. Obama Will Pitch Chicago in Copenhagen

As reported in Crain’s Chicago Business online:

The odds on Chicago’s Olympic bid just got longer.

Michelle Obama, not the president, will help sell Chicago’s bid to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen next month, the White House announced Friday. President Barack Obama has decided not to make the trip because of the healthcare reform, which is bogged down in Congress.

Mr. Obama’s absence could be a major blow to Chicago’s bid with weeks to go before the vote. Heads of state have become an expected part of the bidding process since 2005 when British Prime Minister Tony Blair convinced the IOC to send the 2012 Games to London.

The race for the 2016 games between Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo is expected to be a very tight and will be decided by just a handful of votes, IOC President Jacques Rogge said Thursday, though he downplayed the impact if Mr. Obama were a no-show. Mr. Obama told Mr. Rogge earlier Friday that he wouldn’t be able to attend the IOC meeting in Copenhagen.

“She’s not the president,” said Rob Livingstone, who runs the Toronto-based Web site GamesBids.com, which tracks the race to host the Olypmics. “The IOC members are hoping for the president.”

Bid watchers, however, smell a smoke screen that Mr. Obama might ultimately show up on Oct. 2 in Denmark.

“This is a way to lower expectations,” said Chicago-based sports consultant Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp Ltd. “My prediction is he shows up at the last minute and makes a grand entrance. That will make his being there more impactful.

“But if he doesn’t go at all, and there’s no world crisis, it will be viewed as a negative. This thing is going to come down to just a few votes. Michelle is good. She’s stronger than (presidential adviser) Valerie Jarrett. As strong as (Ms. Obama), she’s not the president. When the president, who is a rock star around the world, looks you in the eye and says I want your vote to bring the Olympics to Chicago, that’s the clincher.”

The Chicago bid committee downplayed the news.

“As a lifelong Chicagoan, the First Lady is uniquely qualified to share with members of the IOC the passion and enthusiasm of our city for sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Movement,” Patrick Ryan, CEO of Chicago 2016, said in a statement.

Read coverage of this issue in the New York Times.