– Watch a collection of news clips on the No Games campaign on YouTube
– New online resource: Data & demographics on the neighborhoods that would be affected by the 2016 games
– Download new fact sheet – Why Chicago Should NOT host the games = why_chicago_should_not_host
WATCH AND SHARE THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO!
Download and print out and circulate these handy one-page summaries of important Olympic facts. It’s what they DON”T WANT YOU TO KNOW.
DOWNLOAD AND PRINT OUT OUR ONE-PAGE PRESS RELEASE – “5_Big_Lies.”
Down load cost_overruns – PDF file
Download mythsrealities – PDF file
Op ed pieces by Professor Allen Sanderson, Economics Professor at the University of Chicago:
– “Chicago 2016 – The Tail is Already Wagging the Dog”- tail_wagging_dog -pdf file
– “Consider the Options – Chicago could make a better investment than the Olympics 2016” – consider_the_options -pdf file
Actually, your group’s reasoning is pretty specious and flawed. The last 3 Olympics held in the US — LA 1984, Atlanta 96 and Salt Lake City 02 — ALL MADE money and were NOT added burdens tothe taxpayers. Atlanta 96 had a $10 million surplus; Salt Lake made $56 mil; and Los Angeles made the whopping $223 million!! They were all conducted as PRIVATE enterprises — no gov’t help except for security. It’s the TOTALLY gov’t-run Olympics like Vancouver, London, Beijing and the grand-daddy of them all, MONTREAL, that ran/run into budget deficits PRECISELY because they are gov’t run. Duh!!
Stop being so NIMBY.
Uh Myles Garcia:
That is EXACTLY the problem: Chicago 2016 is GOVERNMENT RUN!!
You are an idiot. Now please, go up to Da Mare’s office, pull down your pants and bend over. You can take it for the rest of us, becuz I ain’t taking this bullshit.
Here’s a little math:
1. Beijing 2008 Olympics had 6.8 million tickets available for sale (assume that’s for every seat in every venue for every event; see here: http://en.beijing2008.cn/tickets/news/n214482741.shtml)
2. if Chicago somehow manages to sell the same number of tickets as Beijing, to generate $3.78 billion, each and every person at each and every sold out event must spend $555 on tickets, concessions, parking, merch. You and the kids going to 2 or more events per day, that’s $555 per event per person.
Ask yourself: for every sporting event you’ve ever been to, have you ever spent $555 for yourself, and the same amount on every one you went with?
Oh Myles … King Daley has duped you.
we must stand up
I live near and work in Rio. We have more problems than Chicago. People need train, housing, hospitals and security . Last Pan games
had a budget of a billion dollars. The final costs
hit 5 billions and still been analysed by the counts authorities.
I think Chicago will be supported by all the citizens around the hole world.
Rio de Janeiro, April,5 of 2,009.
We have the similary problems with the Rio 2016 Olimpic Candidature.On 2007 Pan American Games, the Brazilian Olimpic Comitee said ” Is the frist step for the Olimpic Candidature and we are gioing to have the modern struture for training and copetition of the students of public schools of arround the instalations and elit athlets.After the Pan, major part is closed or used for another things.
Sincerely yours.
Ricardo Novaes
P.S:Please, sorry my English.
why do people have to come on here just to comment about how they disagree with us? even if it doesnt put us in debt (which it will) there are other factors. the FACTS are that we need money for better clinics, schools, transit, housing, and other infrastructure & social programs but Dailey says there’s not enough money; so schools/clinics/housing are closing, our roads and trains are a disgrace, etc… but he has enough to entice the OIC and enough to prepare for and invest in a game that’s 7 years away? and i thought he wanted chicago to be a green city? we could use the money for more police training, better salaries for those who teach our children, more green innovation in our own city, scholarships for kids, food for homeless, and so many other things! plus the social and environmental impact the olympics leave in every city traveled is undeniable! not to mention forcing many people out of their homes and away from their jobs, raising the property values and prices in the proposed areas-furthering gentrification and excluding many!
Magie you’re an idiot, people come on this site to disagree with you because you have a discussion board. If everyone agreed with you then you would have no need for this group. Much of what you want is achieved by hosting the Olympics. A beter police force, and a greener city especially. Considering the fact the one of the major draws to the bid is its use of green building and materials. That would put Chicago at the forfront of the green building movement in the country. The games in the long run will make Chicago much more money then they will spend to put them on. Other countries struggle because they fail to see the Olympics for what they are, a bussiness. The US has this figured out and the American cities that host make money because of it. It is a great oppurtunity of sport no doubt, but there is a lot of money to be had from it, if Chicago is smart, they have a big hand to dip into that pocket, espcially with mayor Dalye leading the way.
RJ, are you sure that the event will turn a profit? I heavily doubt it. Also, Daley is nuts. If I were an insurance CEO and he came to me about getting a cost overrun policy, I’d tell him I would sooner insure a 3 time convicted drunk driver with a Lamborghini than write that cost overrun policy.
And to build a temporary stadium to be thrown in a landfill later is not “green” nor will it be cheap. After all, it’ll still have to be built to code. That’s why I suggest using the Chicagoland Speedway for the track and field stupidity. Also, it’ll serve a perfect velodrome. It can accomodate bicycles just as good as NASCAR cars.
Gee, just look at Milleneium Park. How much did they cost over run that little project? 2 or 3 x ? Just imagine what they would do for an olympic project, and they still won’t say where they are going to get the money from. What makes you think they’ll manage this any better than what’s going on now with the countless scandals and tax hikes because of their incompetence and corruption?
The only reason why support for the Olympics is because of misinformed websites such as this. All this does is speculate that the Olympics are going to lose money and the taxpayers are going to pay for it. Why is it that people with higher educations all support the Olympics here in Chicago? It’s because we understand the potential positive economic conditions that will result from this. While there were problems with Olympics in locations such as Athens and Beijing, people continue to ignore the FACT that all recent US Olympic locations were profitable: Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Atlanta. Has anyone been to Atlanta over the past 10 years? Since the Olympics, the population has exploded as both businesses and people flocked to the city.
It would be nice if we could raise money to help improve our schools, neighborhoods, and public transportation systems without having to rely on the Olympics. Unfortunately, as long as we (YES, WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE, EVEN THOUGH IT IS INDIRECTLY) continue to vote for corrupt politicians, the machine will continue. However, with the support of gaining international attention, we have the potential of drawing businesses, people, and tourism which will all help increase the city’s revenue.
Do you people even know why our systems are failing? Corruption probably takes up a few percentage points of overall taxes that we pay. The major reason why the city continues to have problems is that the population of Chicago’s city limits dropped significantly in both the 80’s and 90’s and currently remains stagnant. In addition, business have also fled city limits (i.e. Sears, etc.) How can we repair infrastructures if we have less people and businesses paying taxes? Also, there is a higher amount of lower income families than higher income families in the city limits. Economically, there is a certain point where a family/household pays the right amount in actual tax dollars in order for the city to function properly and pay for schools, mass transportation, etc. When there are more people that cannot pay that actual amount than there are that pay in surplus, you will never have enough to budget. Take a look at suburbs, such as the North Shore. Higher income households live there and there are (hardly) issues in regards to being short on budget. As much as many people regret it, the city also needs to entice higher income households to move back within the city limits to collect their taxes. If you do research on NYC, only 40,000 people out of 8 million pay for 99% of all taxes.
I could go on, but why bother. Anyone who doesn’t support the games is too dumb to understand it anyway.
You must be nicely sheltered from the reality of all the problems Chicago faces, Joe. Declining schools, reoccurring crime problems, leasing city asset after city asset beyond just parking meters, and a public transit system that has yet to reinstitute transit cuts from the late 1990s that cut off many neighborhoods from receiving proper bus and train service. Trust me, I still remember too well the pain of reduced bus and ‘L service, as someone who was in high school in Chicago at the time of those cuts.
I really, really hope Rio de Janeiro gets the games, plus the continent of South America absolutely deserves an overdue first chance to host the Olympics. I’m not opposed to Chicago doing a future bid for the games, but why can’t we wait until 2020 or 2024, and for my hometown city to fix its problems first?
I wonder…why not attack the aldermen? Or the Cook County Commissioners? Why is the focus one man, Daley with NO Games Chicago. Next mayoral race, people might run against him & win. And I can promise you all that the problems are not going to disappear. This website is more like NO Daley Chicago. Every aldermen gets money for their ward & it magically disappears.
Though I don’t support the Games coming to Chicago, at least not now. I don’t see the idea of suddenly funding schools, hospitals & clinics (cook county is responsible for that btw), housing and public trans (not only trains) because we didn’t win the games, happening. I would also like to add parks & security, which this website rarely mention. (I wonder why…)
We are in a budget crisis and the only way we are going to get either one is with an increase of taxes. We are eventually going to lease the air and have no more assets to lease.
What the city needs are fiscal conservatives, none of the same liberal government spending which Chicagoans (even the ones running this site) are accustomed to.
Not withstanding assurances by Governor Quinn and others, hosting the Olympics will require the use of tax dollars. Who will pay for the infrastructure improvements? Tax payers throughout Illinois will. The State of Illinois is broke. The governor demands tax increases to support the day-to-day operation of the state. I strongly oppose to the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago.
I noticed that you guys are in need of donations? What do you do with the donations? I bet you spent it on tickets to go to Copenhagen and run this damn website. Get a real job like the rest of us Chicagoans.
Congrats for all of your hard work. It’s refreshing to see somebody doing something in this city that is centered around truthfulness and common sense. Perhaps the city can now get potholes fixed before next May.
Up your ass Major Daley…3 little words will always stop you: Pay-to-Park
F#CK NO GAMES CHICAGO