Civic Federation Report, Not Headlines, Worth Reading

The Civic Federation’s report looking at the finances of the 2016 Committee is out. No Games is going over it page by page and from what we’ve seen so far – despite being full of conflicts of interest and unchallenged assumptions, it raises new alarms for the people of Chicago. It seems that local news headline writers feel the report gives the 2016 a clean bill of health. Far from it.

As reported in the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago’s 2016 Olympics bid: Deeper look shows potential financial pitfalls

David Greising – August 28, 2009

The Chicago 2016 Olympics committee is determined for Chicago to host the Games, come hell or high water.

But Chicagoans, who are being asked to guarantee the Games, need to worry about what will happen if we get both hell and high water.

The Civic Federation gave a remarkably robust go-ahead to the Olympics bid on Wednesday. The financial watchdog group’s president, Laurence Msall, stepped before microphones in City Hall and declared that the Chicago 2016 projection of a $451 million financial surplus is “fair and reasonable.”

Everyone expects Chicago 2016 to puff up the potential of their Summer Games. By the same token, there are people with every bit as strong a motivation to take a careful look at how much it would cost if things go terribly, financially wrong.

For such worrywarts, a close read of the Civic Federation report reinforces their skepticism of all this Olympics hoopla.

Take a careful look at Msall’s report, and one can only wonder: Did he read the darn thing?