Chicago loses Olympic bid–but wins second chance to fix what’s wrong
Without the Olympic smokescreen, Mayor Daley wil have to turn his attention to his mayoral miscues, and Olympian problems at home.
Now that it’s official–Chicago will not host the 2016 Summer Olympics–Chicagoans like me can finally heave a sigh of relief. And believe me, that’s not especially a high-five gimme. If we got the Olympics, I was gonna try to rent my house out to some desperate news crew for $20,000.
Maybe that’s not the Olympic spirit. Maybe that’s not what Michelle Obama tried to invoke in her speech about her dad teaching her sports. Maybe that makes me sound a little like Judas groveling about wasting the Disciples’ money when they could be spending it on more practical matters.
But hey, if Chicago had landed the bid, let’s face it: It would be the worst thing for those of us who want the spotlight turned to the corruption, arrogance, wastefulness and hack heaven that is Chicago city politics, and Cook County politics as well. Many of us feel that Mayor Daley has to go, and an Olympic coup would’ve turned all the attention away from his arrogance and misguided moves of late.
As I’ve stated in a previous column, we have a Mayor in Chicago who rules much more like a king. When he wants to close an airport, he simply bulldozes “Xs” into the runway. When he wants to quadruple parking rates, he simply asks his obediently trained cocker spaniels in City Council to rubber stamp it. His patronage chief is currently serving time in prison.
Of course, Mayor Daley is in Copenhagen right now, having accompanied Oprah and President Obama and a whole bunch of people who tried to lobby the world that Chicago was the best spot for the Olympics. I’m sure everyone is feeling let down.
But now it’s time for an Olympian effort of a different sort.
Let’s make Chicago Public Schools safe for students. Let’s find a way to repeal the ill-advised parking meter lease, if at all possible. Let’s take all that money we were going to raise for the Olympics and take it the least of these. Our homeless need help; the homeless shelter below the church where my wife serves as a pastor never suffers from a surplus of beds.
Underserved neighborhoods need more police presence. Kids need a future and a hope far from the gangs that rule some neighborhoods the way Daley does the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park. Tackling these problems first embodies the true Olympic spirit better than anything I can think of.
Who’s got game? I know I do.
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Here here Lou! While I sympathize with all those locals crushed by the end of the Olympic dream, now comes an opportunity to focus on making our city a better place. Improving the schools and dealing with budget woes may not be as sexy as constructing an Olympic Village, but Chicago, while a great city, of course can be greater in so many ways that don’t involve Olympic glory.
And thanks for the shout out on by blog. Thrilled to be on board!
Howzabout making every company that gets a city contract liable for every cost overrun?
How about mandating that only people who live in the city can get city contracts?
How about forcing contractors to hire only city residents for jobs?
How about mandating that developers contribute money to the neighborhoods they’re strip-mining and getting rich off of?
What did a failed Olympics get you? For all of the talk about not getting the Olympics because it will be costly to the citizens, what have we gained. Did you all think that just because we lost the Olympics public transportation would improve, streets would become safer, the city cleaner? At least had the Olympics been awarded to Chicago we would have gained something. The city would have been FORCED to upgrade transportation facilities for the Olympics. Chicago would have been FORCED to improve crime due to world perception of a dangerous games. Chicago would have been FORCED to initiate environmental plans. Which they had planned. Months after the games were taken away and things are worse. The eyes of the world would have been on our city to make sure we were doing the right thing. All the talk from NO Games Chicago about the “disaster” of Vancouver. But.. Vancouver finished those games with a profit, with new infrastructure, increased tourism, and the envy of the world. Chicagoans like you have lost your way. We were built upon as a city of big ideas, bold visions, progress. Not fears, not worry, not being able to take the risk so that future generations would one day say we did something great. Years and years from now, Chicago may never fix all of its problems and they may be even worse than now.But for one summer Chicago would have awed the world, filled a city with passion and stirred the soul of the next generation.