Chicago Olympics Activists Take Protest To IOC In Switzerland

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — A group opposing Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Games took its case to International Olympic Committee headquarters Tuesday.

Three activists from the No Games Chicago organization sought a meeting with IOC president Jacques Rogge and a chance to address more than 90 IOC members at a key meeting Wednesday for Chicago's bid campaign.

"Our major request was to have 10 minutes for the full IOC body to hear us," group spokesman Tom Tresser said. "I know it is unprecedented but we wanted to ask."

IOC spokesman Mark Adams met with Tresser and said Rogge would be told of the protesters' proposal.

However, Adams rejected their further demand to sit in on a 90-minute session at the Olympic Museum on Wednesday when Chicago bid leaders will present their case to IOC members and answer questions.

The meeting is a crucial test of Chicago's campaign and its first formal gathering with the majority of 107 IOC members whose votes will decide the 2016 host in October.

Chicago is followed into the sessions by bid teams from Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid _ and will be met outside by hometown opponents.

The protesters have brought copies of a document detailing their arguments for each IOC member. They claim Chicago's bid lacks the finance, competence, infrastructure and public support to sustain it.

"It is not about the Olympics. We love the Olympics but Chicago can't handle it," said activist Rhoda Whitehorse, a retired public school teacher.

No Games Chicago also staged protests when the IOC's evaluation team visited in April to grade the city's ability to stage the games. Protesters rallied at Federal Plaza and marched to the Aon Building, where bid leaders were meeting.

IOC members will choose the 2016 host on Oct. 2 in Copenhagen.

Comments

[spark19me]

I am undecided..LA and Atlanta hosted the games before and they had histories of crime, corruption and dissenters..I know the politicians will line their pockets, and grease their friends and family., but what will it do for the city and its residence. Will people in the community be able get jobs when contruct the field takes place. What impact will it leave the city once the games are over..just alot of questions and I have been interested enough to get the answers I have a feeling Rio will get it anyway.

[Cogs]

People are against the Olympics coming to Chicago because Daley cannot be trusted. The corruption that plagues the city flows from his office. It's not stretch to imagine his family and friends securing huge contracts relating to the construction and presentation of the games. I suppose an independent counsel could be hired to oversee the bidding process but Daley would have to agree and that seems unlikely. The Gay Games were a success when held in Chicago but the 2016 Olympics involve a much larger expenditure and the Daleys would want a taste for themselves and their friends. It's hard to ignore his track record and simply hope for the best. Give the games to Rio.

[peanut2005]

There are way too many problems with this city without the Olympis. The city needs to get their sh*t together before ever taking on somehting this big. As another blogger stated This is more about lining pockets of politicians and their cronies. So of course Daly is going to fight tooth and nail for this. Greed!!!

[jeff deff]

Please look at projects like Millennium Park and the Art Institute's Modern Wing. Both of these seemed impossible and too costly to achieve. Both have proven to be huge successes that have gained us world renown. Visit Crown Fountain and see how many kids enjoy this park every single day. I wish it was around when I was a kid.

Please look at the 1893 Columbian Exposition which gave us the Museum of Science and Industry and the original Art Institute building that are still in use to this day. It spawned the City Beautiful Movement which produced the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum. It was a windfall to Chicago workers providing jobs during a recession. And it made a profit for it's investors!

Chicago is defined by it's crime and corruption only because people like yourself sit by idly and complain. Many work hard everyday to define this city through our hard work doing things that people thought were not possible.

How you could bad mouth a project that would bring so many jobs, so many visitors, so much money to this city is astonishing. You sound like Rush Limbaugh hoping our country fails. Please, take a page from the Obama playbook, "Yes we can"!

[Tinsdale]

The Millennium Park only exists because of the generosity of the Pritzker family and other philanthropists as well as the businesses that bailed out the project and pulled Daley’s feet out of the fire. Even a perfunctory review of that project and the issues currently facing the O'Hare Modernization Program reveal the stunning amount of corruption and incompetence involved in the endeavors spawned under the Daley Regime.

Chicagoans would universally hail the Olympics and the opportunity to host the event if it were not for the involvement of Daley and Associates. Maybe if we lose the Olympic bid we can take some of the money and hire more staff for Patrick Fitzgerald. Now that would be money well spent.

[sickofgov]

Yes, lets look at Millennium park. It was supposed to cost $150 million and the costs skyrocketed to $475 million. That is how the current administration in Chicago works and the same will happen with the Olympics.

[Rosy]

Chicago is quite simply too broke to afford this. The IOC needs to pick someplace that can actually afford it and support it.

[jeff deff]

We are not broke and helpless. Rosy, where are you from? Madrid, Tokyo or Rio??

[47th]

The city is running a three hundred million dollar deficit for the year 2009, and the year isn't halfway over yet! Where are you from, Disneyland?

[Tinsdale]

The more pertinent question is "Where do you live, Jeff."

[jeff deff]

All the detractors of hosting the Olympics in Chicago need to study history. In particular, please study the 1893 Columbian Exposition. Detractors made all the same arguments then. Many of Chicago's greatest landmarks were created for this event and we would never be the city we are today without it. We'd be another Cleveland or Detroit. "Make no little plans"!

It's small minded people who keep Chicago down. I admit that I was intimidated watching the Beijing Olympics. The first thing I thought was, we could never do something that big and fantastic in Chicago. Too many people would nay-say and whine. Too many alderman would try and cheat us. Instead of contributing to the cause, people would do ridiculous things like fly to Europe to try and break into the Olympic committee office and insist that we are not worthy. Meanwhile our citizens are being laid of by the thousands and there is no work for them.

If the people became interested in helping the Olympics succeed here, it could be a spectacular event that defines Chicago for the next generation. We could make it our own and it would be a celebration of all of Chicago. Chicago stands to gain so much from this. It could be the fifth star on our city's flag. Why fight for the status quo?

[Rosy]

"it would be a celebration of all of Chicago."
what's there to celebrate in chicago? The city is broke, corrupt, and crime is rampant.

[jeff deff]

I recommend you move out of town right away. I suggest St Louis where you can complain about the giant arch that blocks your view or move to San Fran and complain about the trolleys. People like you are non-contributors and dead weight.

I fear I am wasting my breath here but to say there is nothing in Chicago to celebrate is asinine. Chicago has so many wonderful things, people, music, food, art, architecture, etc. etc. etc. Step away from the internet and go outside, there is so much to take advantage of here. There are so many people who work their butts off everyday to make this city great. Please don't sell us short, it only shows how lazy you are.

[47th]

Including a few thousand by Da Mare himself! Rosy is right, Chicago is flat broke, but it has also been mismanaged by the Daley administration. The potential for corruption with this Olympic scam must have Daley and his stooges salivating!

[Roelof]

Please. The only thing the Olympics will do for Chicago is line the pockets of our corrupt politicians and their cronies. Make this nonsense stop now. We have far too many pressing problems to waste taxpayers' money on a throwaway, temporary Olympic stadium and build yet MORE condos in the South Loop. Give it to Rio.

[ins0mn1ac]

Maybe I hang around with a more optimistic crowd, but I don't know anyone who doesn't want the city to host the Olympics.

Aren't you proud of your home?

You can sit and guard your lawn with the hose for two weeks if you're feeling craggy, we'll be at the soccer finals.

[Chicagofan1]

And after you are done watching, be prepared to pay for all the empty facilities heating bills, staff and securities and so much more to maintain it all. I do not give a sh... about "Aren't you proud of your home?" but I do care about the consequences with higher taxes on everybody, businesses leaving the city and more empty stores even on Michigan Ave. Come on, get real. Not only poor will be pushed out but middle class as well.

[ins0mn1ac]

Have you even been to Chicago before?

No one's getting pushed out of the city. There aren't tons of vacant stores on Michigan ave (and even if there were, they wouldn't remain vacant with an influx of an extra million people). No one's going to raise your taxes for it, except maybe Todd Stroger, but that's another battle.

Why would businesses leave the city because of the olympics? In the most recent boom Chicago has attracted even more businesses to the city including United, Boeing and MillerCoors. Businesses come here for the depth of services offered in close proximity, world class work force and easy access to anywhere in the world through our transit.

As for housing, there are plenty of affordable neighborhoods. Chicago isn't just Chicago, its a living city of neighborhoods. As things change, people move. If you're worried about affordable housing, why not address that instead of trolling HP?

[crookedcountyillinois]

Increase rents? Great for property owners and landlords. Push out the poor? Only those who can't afford it. Problem? Plenty of places for poor people to live in this country. Not all of 'em bad like the South Side.

Of course, I'm opposed to the Olympics - so is everyone I know - because the City and County cannot afford them.

[Ravyn]

I've been very pro-Olympics but don't know anyone in Chicago -- and all my friends have been her a lot longer than I have, one is elderly and here since the 1950s, another since the 1980s -- who wants the games or thinks the city will have the money to do it without a lot of disruption, tax hikes, etc., for residents. For example, Monroe Harbor will be closed to boaters for nearly 3 years according to a Chicago Tribune report Tuesday a week ago, a bird sanctuary is likely to be disrupted by construction for tennis courts. Biking trails along the lake will be closed during construction. Yes, it should improve the south side -- although Washington Park users seem uncertain about it and where their activities would be relocated during construction -- and the areas just south of McCormick Center going all the way down to Hyde Park. But judging from cost overruns on other Chicago projects, it seems unlikely there would not be massive cost overruns and, in the world spotlight, Chicagoans would not have to ultimately pay a lot of it themselves to prevent a debacle.

Now as with most other foreign countries hosting the games if the US government would be involved in the funding and it wouldn't fall on the shoulders of private enterprise and the city alone -- not really fair considering the whole country will be under the spotlight -- then that would be a different thing.

[berryessence]

I guess they don't understand that this will bring over $600 million dollars and can clean up the Southside of Chicago of wretched burnout buildings

[discourse jockey]

And increase the rents and push out the poor.

[Rosy]

Bingo.
but come on, don't you know, the poor will just go away if they are pushed out.
(sarcasm).

[ToucanSpam]

The poor get pushed out of every developing area of any city regardless of the olympics.