Experts say everything Chicago has in place already – including a public transportation system, existing sports venues, plenty of hotels, and two major airports make the city a strong contender.
Mayor Richard M. Daley has talked about preparing for such a large-scale event.
He said it would require “improving the CTA, improving mass transit; of course, infrastructure is the key dealing with economic development, and that is very important when you get another generation; young people looking at the Olympics in 2016.”
The plan would be to go to business and private donors to underwrite the games. Big building projects would include an athlete’s village, which could later become affordable housing, and an 80,000-seat stadium, which could be made smaller later.
Published reports suggest a host city’s budget could run as high as more than $4 billion.
I don’t want the Olympics in Chicago.
I don’t want massive stadiums that will sit idle after the games are done.
I don’t want “beautification” projects that will build or rebuild structures that make people “ooh” and “aah” at government’s ability to build useless things.
I don’t want millions of people to flood into the area for several weeks screwing up everything.
But most of all I don’t want government to spend billions of dollars for no practical purpose. Even with the special math that governments use to measure the success of projects (you know the kind that only counts the benefits, but none of the opportunity loss) Olympics rarely make any money. When you factor in the nepotism that is prevalent in Illinois, the odds become even longer.
If anyone can think of anyway I can get Chicago eliminated early in the process, I’d love to hear suggestions.
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