Chicago Daily Observer

“Gulp.”

That must have been Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s reaction as he sat in the stands of Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium watching the $100-million, triumphantly staged Olympic opening ceremonies.

Daley’s vision of a 2016 Olympics in Chicago pales in comparison to China’s mind-bending pyrotechnics and its cast of ten thousands, the stupefying grandiosity of the stadium, clean-as-a-whistle new subway lines, the glittering infrastructure, the ebullient but always respective Chinese masses, the permanent new competitive venues and a list of other superlatives as long as the Great Wall.

If Daley wasn’t thinking to himself, “My God, what I have gotten us into?” he’s delusional, or worse. He’s got to be wondering, for example, how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is going to accept the idea of a temporary Olympic stadium squeezed into a South Side neighborhood, more than a mile from a crumbling L line, after seeing the accessible, centrally ... Read More...

“The Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby.”

Mayor Jean Drapeau of Montreal, Quebec Province, Canada (1970)

Barack Obama modestly announced that he was looking forward to Chicago’s
hosting the 2016 Olympics which would coincide with the final year of his second
presidential term. Obama also waxed melodically about how the new stadium
near Washington Park would be only a short distance from his palatial home
(alternatively known as “The House that Rezko Bought” to discerning sports
fans). Senator Obama was merely paying homage to his patron, Mayor Richard M.
Daley, by touting the Olympics.

Apparently, none of the besotted followers of Obama have stopped to
contemplate the oxymoronic character of seeking to nominate and elect a reform
politician who was nonetheless a product of the Chicago ... Read More...

I’m going to have to start charging Mayor Daley for all the advice I’ve been giving him for free.

Last year, I wrote a story saying if Daley “really wants to bring the Olympics to Chicago, I suggest he move the site of the proposed equestrian center out of Lake County.”

My point was that he was stirring up more local opposition than he could handle with his plans to stick stables, riding paths, a 15,000-seat stadium, and a barn in the middle of the Lakewood Forest Preserve.

Wow, when was the last time the people of San Francisco—“the gentle people with flowers in their hair”—turned out to protest in such numbers the actions of a commie country?

I don’t keep track, but there they were last week, thousands fussing over how Red (as it used to be called) China is oppressing Tibet and adding to the miseries of Darfur. Even in Chicago there were protests.

The last time a Park District advisory council weighed in on the Olympics, it didn’t come down on the side Mayor Daley wanted. That was back in July, when the Jackson Park Advisory Council passed a resolution against the city’s proposal to build a temporary 20,000-seat field hockey arena in the south lakefront park, part of its bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Well, this oughta teach ’em a lesson: In February Park District superintendent Tim Mitchell introduced a draft of revised guidelines that would impose stiff new conditions for membership in local park advisory councils, including criminal background checks. They’ve been sent to several advisory councils for review, but the Park District itself has the final decision.

The first thing you need to know about Mayor Daley’s budget, released on October 10, is that it’s nothing more than a projection. The mayor’s bean counters calculate how much money the city can expect to take in through fees, fines, and taxes over the next year and balance that against the amount they plan to spend. If, one year later, the city brings in more or spends less than anticipated, there’s a surplus and taxpayers would theoretically get a refund (ha ha ha). If it brings in less or spends more, there’s a deficit, requiring new fees and taxes to make up the difference.

Could a 20,000-seat Olympic field hockey arena really leave Jackson Park unspoiled?

A couple weeks ago Mayor Daley took his Olympics dog-and-pony show to the Walt Disney Magnet School on the north side, far from the south-side neighborhood parks that will be overtaken if his plans for the 2016 games go through.

As PR spectacles go, it was pretty impressive. The stage was filled with Olympic stars. The auditorium was packed with kids hopped-up to be out of class and eager to cheer on cue for the TV cameras.