/ Civil rights abuse

Vancouver Games Shreds Civil Liberties – We Can’t Wait

From the Council of the Canadians’ web site:

David Eby, the executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, recently wrote in the Vancouver Sun that, “While the International Olympic Committee earns a gold medal in the race to protect its sponsors and the Olympic brand, the same cannot be said of its performance in the competition for free speech and democratic rights.”

“For example, Rule 51 of the IOC Olympic Charter prohibits any ‘demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.’ Not exactly the stuff of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but then again, nobody elected the IOC to protect democracy.In countries such as Canada, protecting our sometimes messy but always cherished freedoms is the task, in large part, of our elected representatives.”

“Unfortunately for Vancouverites, our city council hasn’t turned in a medal performance in the free-speech competition either. They’ve just rushed

through a package of bylaws that skate over the free-speech rights of, in no particular order: small and independent businesses, artists, rock bands, protesters and Vancouver residents as a whole.”

“Coun. Geoff Meggs defends the new bylaws, suggesting the B.C. Civil Liberties Association is ‘going too far’ in criticizing the initiatives. Apparently without appreciating the irony involved, he advises that council values free expression rights because, among other initiatives: ‘Security planners . . . are creating certain high-profile areas, close to the heart of the action, where protesters are sure to be heard and seen by IOC and world leaders.’”

“Beyond the alarming possibility that the majority of council believes that limiting free speech to particular areas, high profile or otherwise, somehow demonstrates a commitment to free speech, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association points out that council’s new bylaws and motions:

(more…)

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/ Chicago 2016

Civil Liberties Nightmare and Worse – Learn From Vancouver

As reported in The North Coast online journal:

Vancouver professor and Olympics Resistance Network organizer Chris Shaw came to Chicago early this year at the request of No Games Chicago, and spoke of the immense public debt, destruction to public parks, and “frontal assault on civil liberties” that have been the results of Vancouver having won the 2010 Games. Chris had the following to say regarding Vancouver’s experience with the Games so far:

“Chicago Should Avoid Following in Vancouver’s Olympic Missteps”

I look back to 2003 and what is happening with Chicago’s Olympic bid is eerily reminiscent of Vancouver’s successful bid six years ago. Then, as now, bid boosters were promising local citizens the world: fame, wealth, and the host of goodies that would flow from a nod from the IOC. Vancouver’s then mayor promised that the 2010 Games wouldn’t cost the citizens ‘one penny”, that provincial and federal funds would be leveraged for local needs, and that the entire process would be completely transparent and accountable. Bid organizers promised a host of goodies including “the greenest Games ever”, an arts legacy, and “social inclusivity” (short hand for social housing). It was a lovely dream and many Vancouverites bought into it. In a non-binding Vancouver plebiscite, some 64% of Vancouverites voted for the bid to go forward. The same question was not put to the rest of the province of British Columbia because the sitting Premier knew it would fail miserably.

(more…)

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/ Chicago 2016

Tough Questions in the 49th Ward

As reported in Lake Effect News: If pointing out the holes within a salesman’s pitch were an Olympic sport, Rogers Park would have a gold medal. Last night more than 150 people packed the Rogers Park Public Library with an overwhelming message for the Chicago 2016 Olympic committee: the emperor is not, in fact, wearing …

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/ Chicago 2016

Here’s How “Community Benefits” Really Work in Chicago!

Scott, Michael J. 18620 Cedar Ave Country Club Hills, IL 60478 Occupation: Project Executive Employer: Louis Jones Enterprises Inc. $1,500.00 2/19/2007 Individual Contribution Richard M Daley Campaign Comm Louis Jones Company Profile click link below: http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=726322 Mayor Daley’s Contributions Mayor Richard M. Daley has become a fundraising juggernaut. In the eight weeks leading up to …

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/ Chicago 2016

Let the Corruption Begin – Here’s a REAL Community Benefit!

To all those organizations who signed the so-called Community Benefits Agreement (see a copy here) – what were you thinking? HERE is the real beneficiary of the Olympics – Michael Scott and his cronies. Oh, wait – he was the one who negotiated the benefits agreement with you. We at No Games hope all those long-established community organizations who were deceived, coerced or persuaded into signing the CBA will email us at nogameschicago@gmail.com and meet as soon as possible. Together we can stop this scam!

Tribune_cover-smallAs reported in the Chicago Tribune:

TRIBUNE WATCHDOG

Chicago 2016 Olympics: Member of city’s bid team has deal to develop land near park earmarked for the Games

Michael Scott, the city school board president, says he has done nothing improper

By Todd Lighty, David Heinzmann and Kathy Bergen – Tribune reporters – August 7, 2009

A member of Mayor Richard Daley’s team working to bring the Olympics to Chicago has quietly arranged to develop city-owned land near a park that would be transformed for the 2016 Summer Games, potentially positioning himself to cash in if the Games come here, a Tribune investigation has found.

Developer Michael Scott Sr., an early member of the mayor’s Olympic committee, leads a group planning a residential and commercial project on lots kitty-corner from the proposed Douglas Park sporting venues, a location where land values could jump if the city gets the Olympics.

The plan — which would include a Nike store — already has gotten crucial support from the local alderman, who has set aside the lots for Scott and his group.

The city generally sells taxpayer-owned lots for $1 apiece for affordable housing projects, and in other cases negotiates land prices.

Scott owns Michael Scott & Associates, a real estate development and investment firm. He also serves as president of the Chicago Board of Education, and was in the news earlier this week when he said he was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury looking into admissions to the city’s elite public schools.

Scott’s designs on the public land are sure to reinforce concerns of residents that it’s the mayor’s friends who would benefit from Daley bringing the 2016 Olympics to the city. The story is a familiar one in Daley’s administration, where City Hall insiders have personally profited from even the most civic-minded of projects, from recycling garbage to building Millennium Park.

(more…)

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/ Chicago 2016

Mayor Daley + Olympics = Gasoline + Fire

From the Provocateur’s column online at the Chicago Sun-Times: If the old adage is true that absolute power corrupts absolutely, then the last thing the all powerful mayor of Chicago needs is the Olympics to preside over. The ability to control every aspect of the Olympics is nothing more than sending a devious kid into …

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/ Chicago 2016

2016 Committee Continues Enron Accounting re: Athlete’s Village

As reported in the Chicago Tribune, the 2016 Committee reluctantly confirms the real proce for the Olympic Village is not the $1 billion originally announced, but REALLY $1.18 billion. …the city intends to create a tax increment financing district for the site to pay for infrastructure costs, including streets and sewer. On Tuesday, Chicago 2016 …

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/ Chicago 2016

City and 2016 Destroy Parks – It’s Just the Start, Folks

As reported on the Save Michael Reese Hospital web site: In an act of cultural and environmental violence that has shocked the South Side, the City of Chicago and the Chicago 2016 Bid Committee have destroyed the beloved central park lands at Michael Reese Hospital. Sparing only a few trees, the community parks have been …

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/ Chicago 2016

Can Chicago Overtake Rio for the Games?

Frank Deford in a recent Sports Illustrated column wonders…

Our underdog soccer team’s success last week in South Africa was a sweet surprise till Brazil caught us — but, in the meantime, in the year’s other major international sports competition, we’re the heavy favorite. But can we hang on down the stretch this next time against Brazil? Can Chicago beat out Rio for the right to hold the 2016 Olympics?

All along, Chicago’s been the choice, with the British books still holding that toddlin’ town at slightly better than even money, Rio around 5-2, with Tokyo and Madrid as longshots.

There is, after all, a popular theory that the International Olympic Committee feels that it better butter its bread and periodically award the Games to the U.S. because we ante up so much television money. In truth, though, that’s might be wishful thinking, because the reality is that the IOC deigns to award the Summer Olympics to the U.S. only as a last resort.

Read the rest of the column…