Alderman Manny Flores officially became a cheerleader for the 2016 bid today when he backed off his own legislation to protect Chicago taxpayers from unlimited exposure from the 2016 bid and introduced an Olympics_Oversight_Ordinance. He has apparently forgotten his earlier bill, introduced to the City Council at its June meeting. That bill, which had 11 …
No Games Chicago today issued its own review of the Civic Federation’s review of the 2016 Committee’s finances. “What we’ve got here is the sheep paying the foxes to audit the wolves” said No Games organizer Tom Tresser. “There are so many conflicts of interest in the inception, staffing and execution of this report as …
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| September 1 | 10:00 A.M. | City Council Finance Committee Hearing on Civic Federation and LEK Report on Chicago 2016 | City Council Chamber |
If you’ve been to the 2016 community meetings as No Games Chicago has – you’ll recall hearing the claim that no taxpayer money has been or will be spent on the games. No Games has challenged that claim repeatedly – wondering how they keep failing to include the almost $200 million for the purchase, demo, …
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 …
Chicago, are you ready to be ruled by the IOC from Switzerland for seven years? No kidding. The Host City Contract includes language on making local laws subservient to the IOC Charter and Swiss law.
As reported in the Vancouver Sun:
Contract binds Vancouver to play by IOC rules or not play at
Elites of the Olympic movement and former mayor sealed deal to bypass Canada’s constitutionally protected rights and freedoms
By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun – August 7, 2009
It’s easy to understand why the International Olympic Committee would want any disputes with host cities decided by its own “court,” so that it is beyond the grasp of courts in countries whose judicial systems are dodgy.
But why on earth did Vancouver’s former mayor Larry Campbell sign the host city contract governed by Swiss law and agree that “any dispute concerning [the contract’s] validity, interpretation or performance shall be determined conclusively by arbitration, to the exclusion of the ordinary courts of Switzerland or of the host country?”
The sports court — the IOC’s arbitration process — deals with issues of athletes’ disqualifications due to doping or other infractions. It has rarely, if ever, dealt with the myriad other issues from sponsorship agreements to taxes to financial disbursements that are covered in the Vancouver agreement.
Signing off Vancouver’s right to access Canadian courts in the event of a dispute with the IOC is just one of the troubling pieces of the 61-page contract signed in 2003 and obtained by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association under B.C.’s Access to Information Act.
The contract’s preamble declares that the IOC is “the supreme authority of and leads the Olympic movement.”
And the Olympic ayatollahs required that the city stage the Games in full compliance with the Olympic Charter and that it agrees to “conduct all activities in a manner which promotes and enhances the integrity, ideals and long-term interests of the IOC and the Olympic Movement.”
(more…)
The mayor had another rough night meeting the public Tuesday at the South Shore Cultural Center. Here’s a gem from WBEZ’s coverage of the hearing. “The mayor didn’t answer that – or most – questions directly, instead asking his staff to meet people individually. A handful of speakers brought up the city’s 2016 Olympic bid …
Rio de Janeiro’s bid to become the first South American city to host the Olympics is gathering momentum, a source close to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told AFP on Thursday.
By contrast the long-time favourites and frontrunners for 2016, Chicago, are losing ground equally fast and alienating many IOC members previously favourable to them, largely due to gaffes by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
The other two cities – Tokyo and Madrid – are still in with a chance but have much ground to make up before the vote of IOC members in Copenhagen on October 2.
Rio have made huge advances ever since their charismatic IOC member Carlos Nuzman made a passionate and effective presentation to the European Olympic Committee (EOC) in Istanbul last November.
Aided to a large part by Brazilian president Luis Ignacio ‘Lula’ da Silva, they have built on that steadily and with apparently a vibrant economy and the funds in place they are ready to meet all the requirements of the IOC.
As reported in Progress Illinois and WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight”: This month, Tribune business columnist David Greising has written two pieces urging more disclosure on the part of Chicago’s Olympic bid committee and, in doing so, spurred a lengthy editorial from his paper on the topic. On Friday, he appeared on Chicago Tonight’s “Week in Review” …
As reported in today’s Crain’s Chicago Business: Chicago’s business weekly dumps cold water on the over-inflated and unsupported claims of Olympic economic benefits. As noted local economist Allen Sanderson says, “It’s a party, not an economic investment.” Watch the Crain’s Chicago video news report. Mayor Richard M. Daley’s prediction that the 2016 Olympics would give …