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 …
As reported in Catalyst, which covers Chicago’s education scene…
With a looming $475 million deficit, central office is abuzz with rumors of impending layoffs this month. Today, a CPS spokeswoman confirms that layoffs are “anticipated,” but declined to say when they would occur.
Such steps are in line with what is happening at City Hall, where Mayor Richard Daley announced drastic cost-cutting measures, including 14-day furloughs for non-union employees, were in the works to offset its $300 million deficit.
How in the name of chalk dust, wax milk cartons and fish sticks (fond memories of this blogger’s childhood in the public schools) can Chicago front $500 million for the 2016 Olympics and the state come up with an additional $250 million when our schools are in such a dire situation?
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 increase in participation over last year reflects the high level of enthusiasm for the Olympic Movement in the final months of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Games.
We think it is more accurate to say that the so-called “700 percent increase in participation” is due to the 2016 Committee ORDERING it via CPS Board President’s instructions to all public school teachers as documented in the Chicago Tribune and Washington Post.
We demand that our public schools focus on facts not propaganda and that the 2016 Committee keeps its hands OFF our school children. We ask that the press boycott any stories manufactured by the 2016 Committee that uses school children as props for support for the 2016 Olympics.
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 …
Simon Jenkins writes in the London Guardian, ” Any fool can raise a tax. But it takes a gutless one to splurge it on this stuff. Austerity vanishes when it comes to the prestige projects saddled on Britain. Ministers fear the IOC more than the IMF.” He writes at the witless and seemingly endless river …