The Chicagoist asks: Is Chicago Ready to Host the Olympics? That’s the persistent question as the date for selecting the city that will host the 2016 Summer Games draws near. Bid backers in Chicago contend that the Games will bring jobs, an economic boost and international prestige to the city, all at little or no …
As reported by Reuters: 2010 Games seeks to borrow workers to ease budget Organizers of next year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver, facing a budget crunch, said on Thursday they want employers to lend them up to 1,500 short-term workers. Similar worker-loan programs have been used in past Olympics, but organizers of the 2010 Games acknowledged …
As reported in the online CBC News: Vancouver city council voted Thursday to pass new bylaws that make sweeping changes to how the city will work during the 2010 Winter Olympics. After four hours of debate, city council voted in favour of temporary changes that will be in place from January to March of 2010. …
Ben Joravsky covers the issues surrounding the demolition of the Michael Reese Hospital site in the current Reader. A group of preservationists has been making the rounds of the neighborhood Olympic forums I wrote about last week, passing out flyers and pestering officials with questions. They’re not officially opposed to the Olympics, but anyone wondering …
Fox News Chicago asked Perry Myers of MSI Detective Services to review footage of 2016 Committee chair Pat Ryan and Mayor Daley claiming that taxpayers would not have to pay for the 2016 Olympics. After analyzing tells of deception, evasion and untruthfulness, Perry concludes “I would be highly skeptical and would look into this much …
The Chicago Department of Community Development has released the 2008 reports for its 162 Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. Thanks to TIF researcher, Hugh Devlin, No Games can report the total balance of funds in the TIF accounts at the end of 2008 was $1,404,518,702 – let’s call it $1.4 billion. This summary was prepared …
Even the New York Times has reported on the angry reception the 2016 Committee is getting from community residents: “You all are projecting we’re going to make a lot of money,” a resident, Robin Kaufman, told Olympics planners at a neighborhood meeting, one in a series intended to shore up support. “But the bankers were …
It was a blistering day in the sun at the annual Newberry Library Bughouse Square debates on Saturday as speakers took to their soap box sized podiums to debate topics from abortion to separation of church and state to toxic artificial turf soccer fields in our parks to political prisoners. Over 100 onlookers cheered No …
Check out Steve Rhode’s online column at NBC Chicago: Now that the city is just a few months away from finding out if it will be awarded the 2016 Olympics, an actual real debate has erupt among taxpayers about whether they actually, really want it. Isn’t this backwards?Yes, but if City Hall and local Olympic …
As reported in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago has awarded contracts totaling $11.17 million to two politically connected firms for the demolition work on the Michael Resse Hospital site. Let’s see, $86 million to purchase, $11 million for demo work plus $1.3 million for site control plus tens of millions for clean-up. Can we now all …