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Public Affairs coverage from our award-winning staff |
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Hundreds Turn Out to Support, Question Olympic Bid
Produced by Lynette Kalsnes on Thursday, July 09, 2009
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Chicago's Olympic committee is facing some tough questions about hiring and finances. The latest round came last night in the first of a series of public meetings meant to build support for the Games.
About 400 people packed the McKinley Park Field House on the Southwest Side. Many them wore "Back the Bid" T-shirts.
Chicago 2016 gave a glossy presentation with videos of Olympians. Then the committee took questions.
Carpenter Jeffrey Nolan says he was in the middle of cooking dinner when he heard about the meeting. He turned off the oven and rushed over because he wanted to ask whether connections and favoritism will determine who gets jobs.
NOLAN: Do you guys have anything in writing, could you look me in the eye right now and say that anybody like myself or anybody like myself has a fair shake at getting one of these jobs? (Applause).
2016 President Lori Healey told him businesses will do much of the hiring, and referred him to an agreement they've signed with community groups.
After the meeting, several people claimed that 2016 took mainly softball questions and didn't answer the questions they'd submitted.
A bid spokesman says the committee stuck around after to answer more questions, but none of those people came forward.
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Chris, Chicago // Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 3:28 AM
I was there. When there are that many people in the front of the room, how can you try and get your question in without seeming like you're impatient with the person who is ahead of you? And the point of the meeting was not really to answer questions. It was to repeat the phrases that will ease the minds of the public about what the taxpayer will be liable for. And the fact that the bid committee wished to tell only half the truth and state that everything is peaches and cream gives the bid committee what they wished: to claim that there will be NO taxpayer money spent, and only $500 million, if that. They state this, while the Michael Reese Hospital sale cost taxpayers $86 million, and I imagine that the demolition will cost taxpayers something.
Your reporter was present and she saw the process that 2016 implemented. The meeting was not about a "debate" or a dialogue, and your reporter saw that. One question from Jesus Alanis, of the Chicago 2016's Next Generation Leadership Advisory Council. And it was very tough for Chicago 2016, too. Alanis asked, "What will happen to the venues after the Games?" I think that Chicago 2016 were sweating when they heard that question. The point is that Chicago 2016 chose the safest questions, saying that they wished a debate during the meeting. Their spokesperson, Mr. Sandusky, chose the questions that helped it appear that there was minimal controversy and maximum support.
I want to ask your reporter whether the fact that the bid committee gave away t-shirt that said "I Back the Bid" means that everyone who wore the t-shirts understood all the information they could get about the possibility of hosting the Olympic Games? Did everyone who wore the t-shirt support the Chicago 2016 bid? I've seen people stuck with t-shirts that say "Kiss Me I'm Irish" and they are not even from the Emerald Isle. So is your reporter saying that everyone who was given free t-shirts from the bid committee supports the bid? Did your reporter take a survey of those wearing the t-shirts to make a conclusion that indeed the people wearing a free t-shirt indeed backed the bid?
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Andy, Logan Square // Thursday, July 09, 2009 @ 2:40 PM
I'm a proud Chicagoan, but it's definitely a sad irony that bringing the Olympics here would have quite a negative impact on local amateur athletics; Washington Park, currently home to soccer, softball, cricket, ultimate frisbee, and a number of other sports, is slated to be stripped of most, if not all, of its green space in order to build Olympic structures...
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