very well crafted counterpoint to scott’s article that was posted yesterday entitled, ” fuck the 2016 olympics”. take that ceo scott!
“Most Chicagoans are up in arms about Mayor Daley signing the required agreement that the City will cover any over budget costs, but we knew that going into the bid process. Chicagoans simply chose to ignore it until it happened. Chicago will also getting money from the federal government. If Chicago gets this Olympic bid on Friday they will be able to put to work a lot of people in the urban planning, construction, transportation and engineering fields almost immediately. In an economy where people are struggling to pay bills, drink as much as they used to and put food in their bellies more jobs now is a good thing.
In addition, the Olympic plan includes upgrades to infrastructure that are much needed and would happen anyhow in the future. If you look at cost/benefit analysis for past Olympic cities, the results are typically the same — cities don’t “make money,” but come out ahead in other ways. They gain a lot of public goods in the process of building the Olympic villages and stadiums/arenas. Most importantly, Chicago has one of the best Olympic breakdown plans of any other city that has hosted the Olympics in the past. Many of the large scale stadiums/arenas will be built so that upon completion of the Games they can be broken down and used by the communities they are built in, eg the currently run-down/struggling Washington Park community area. The Olympic Villages where the competing athletes stay have been planned to be converted into affordable housing as well as market rate condos and apartments. This allows the city to replace much of the torn down CHA units that Chicago’s Department of Community Development was already in the process of replacing.
Yes, there will be traffic, congestion, etc…But the benefits of the Games to the City and many of its residents far outweigh the month of small “annoyances” that some of us might experience. I’m all for it!!”
posted in the comments by user: Jordan
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You’re discounting the fact that Chicago is probably the most corrupt city in the world, so the people who will benefit the most will be the people who are already juiced into the city in one way or another (ie building contractors with ties to people in local government and wealthy landowners who have already bought up the land where most of the structurals will be build so they can sell it back to the city at a higher price). Also, when people find temporary work it means they won’t be looking for permanant work. They will spend their money on shit they can’t afford and eventually won’t be able to pay for it (remember the mortgage crisis? Oh, wait, it’s still going on). Also, check out the crime statistics for Atlanta before and after 1996 and LA before and after 1984. And once again, this city is corrupt and full of fuck ups and we will be footing the bill for a long time after this is over.
scott, you are forgetting that we can just use the bountiful surplus of money the federal government has right now to fund it. duh.
I haven’t overlooked the corruption that has/does occur in the City. However, the Chicago 2016 process has been extremely transparent; especially in comparison to other City programs or recent decisions (eg selling the parking meters). Each of 50 wards offered a public meeting so that Chicago 2016 committee members and Alderman of each respective ward could talk to residents about the Olympic Plan. Residents were given a chance to speak up and voice their reservations regarding the Olympics. I have sat in on public meetings and those voices do not go unheard.
As far as benefits to the City go, temporary jobs are plentiful and useful, especially if they last 4-6 years. Take a look at some of the other benefits involved in getting the Games. For example, the Sept 16-22 edition of the Chicago Defender, page 6, there is an interview with Chicago 2016 Chief of Staff Kurt Summers. He says, “Chicago 2016 commissioned a study in December that identified the potential gains Chicago stands to receive if we win the Games. For starters, the study found that from 2011 through 2021 the Olympics would stimulate $22.5 billion of incremental economic activity in Illinois and $13.7 billion in Chicago. And the study also found that 315,000 new jobs would be created in Illinois and 172,000 in Chicago.”
After reading that you may still want to make an argument that “temporary” jobs don’t matter, but they do. 315,000 jobs that stimulate an additional $22.5 billion in economic activity over 10 years is worth the potential threat of having someone get a $100K kickback in construction costs due to the City’s corruption.
And finally, as far as crime goes: Have you looked at the comparative statistics to the number of people living in the areas that were previously home to the Olympics before and after the Games? With increases in population come increases in crime — it is what happens when population density increases (typically). Also, like I said in my original comment, the post Olympic plan for the City is by far the best I’ve seen. It plans for what happens after. In Atlanta the plans for after the Olympics were barely existent. No one really thought they were necessary. The market was supposed to take care of what was left. We now know that this isn’t the case, and Chicago has planned for it.
I obviously support Chicago getting selected on Friday. I will probably be watching the coverage all day. You probably will read this (or maybe not) and still not agree with me. But if we get them and it is a success for the City, you will probably regret that you didn’t have faith in our City’s staff (most of which we elected to office) to create something wonderful for Chicago.
You don’t ride the bus, do you?
I take the train to work every day. Sometimes I take the bus if I work in the field and other times I walk or drive!