No Games opposes the bid for the 2016 Olympics for three major reasons. The first two are financial and environmental. The third set of reasons are moral and civil. We see the games causing displacement and gentrification. But there are also serious civil liberties abuses that accompany the coming of the games. Here is a …
The heavy hand of the 2016 Olympic Committee was present at a community meeting last night in Lincoln Park. A Planning Task Force of the Lincoln Park Advisory Council was to make a recommendation to the Council to oppose the placement of the 30,000 seat Olmpic tennis venue in the park on the site of …
Crain’s Real Estate News reports the results of a meeting at The Chicago School of Real Estate at Roosevelt University that covered the proposed 2016 Olympic Village. This project is estimated to cost $1 billion (we think that is a grossly UNDER estimated number) and will be placed on the site of Michael Reese Hospital, …
Ken Vogels writes in the online newsmagazine, Politico, that the Obama White house is poised to lobby heavily for the 2016 Olympic Games. The Obama White House is playing an unprecedented role in the bid to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to Chicago, with top adviser Valerie Jarrett spearheading an effort that draws on the …
In an interview for The Irish Times, Pat Hickey, the head of the Olympic Council of Ireland and the chair of the European Olympic Committee, predicted that if President Obama personally pitches the IOC in October that Chicago will be awarded the 2016 summer games. As the world sinks into the Great Depression II, the …
A press release from the 2016 Committee dated May 1 boasts that an “Unprecedented Chicago-Area Participation Expected for Olympic Week in America.” The press release goes on: More than 230,000 Chicago-area students and 15,000 teachers are gearing up for Olympic Week in America, which will take place next week, May 4–May 8. The 700 percent …
Jake Tapper is ABC News senior White House correspondent. He broke this story on his blog: On Friday night, the White House posted on its website a special ethics waiver allowing senior adviser Valerie Jarrett to lead the White House’s efforts to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Jarrett had previously served as Vice Chair …
The Chicago Tribune reported today that Michael Scott, the President of the Chicago Public School’s Board of Education, sent an email to ALL of the city’s public schools urging them all to plan events at their schools to promote the 2016 bid. Scott is also a member of the 2016 Committee and the co-chair of …
A member of the No Games Chicago Coalition visited a public high school history class on Thursday, April 30. The students were studying the Olympic bid process. They had one large, over-arching question: “What will be the impact of the Olympic Games on the poor, working class and people of color?” Here is the complete …
Lynn Becker writes in the April 23rd Chicago Reader that the bulldozers are coming to the Michael Reese Hospital campus. On June 4, Mayor Daley will be recognized by the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., as one of their “Visionaries in Sustainability” for his “long dedication to a sustainable urban environment.” Yet within a …