"Dear Members of The International Olympic Committee" by Thomas Tresser is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.tresser.com. 2011.

The bulk of this work consists of reprints from Chicago area newspapers and other source sites.

This work is dedicated to citizens around the world who speak truth to power, who defy authority to wrest control of their government from special interests, the insiders, the arrogant and unresponsive.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead

“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”

- Frederick Douglass

2 CONTENTS

I. Introduction

II. Contributors

III. Essays - “No Games Rallies April 2” - “What Happened When We Went to Switzerland (and met the IOC) - “Why We’re in Copenhagen (meeting the IOC - again) - “What Happened When We Went to Copenhagen (to influence the IOC again) - “Lessons Learned From the Olympic Fiasco” - “Why I Fought the Bid” – Joan Levin - “Why I Fought the Bid” – John Viramontes

IV. The Emails

3 I. INTRODUCTION

I’m putting this book together because there is no record of the opposition to Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics. The Chicago media supported the bid with its endorsement and its money and failed to do its due diligence before lending its collective voice and authority to the bid. A few citizen efforts to oppose the bid; No Games Chicago was the most organized, persistent and effective. Our story has not been told.

2009 was the centennial year for Daniel Burnham’s Plan for Chicago. It was a perfect time to re-visit the questions “What is a city for?” and “How do we build a city where everyone can prosper – not just a select portion of the population?” The bid for the Olympics represented just one approach to making Chicago a “world class city.” What, exactly, does that mean?

Unfortunately, despite dozens of community organizations dedicated to grass roots economic development – despite a handful of major downtown so-called civic “watchdogs” groups – despite a number of major groups dedicated to protecting parks and open lands – despite the presence of major university urban planning departments and community-connection programs – despite all that civic architecture – the questions were NOT asked. The conversation never took place. Only a few alternative press journalists criticized the bid and the point of view it represented.

In fact, the third time a local TV news reporter came to the front of my house in Lincoln Park to get me on camera reacting to a 2016-related news item I asked the reporter, “Isn’t there anyone else you can go to for the anti-games point of view?” She thought for a second, “No.” “Why is that, do you think?” “Because the Mayor has intimidated everyone.” “Isn’t THAT a story you should cover?” She looked at me as if I were insane, “I want to keep my job” she said

4 As long as a year after the decision to award the 2016 games to Rio de Janeiro, the local media repeated the bromides propagated by the City and the 2016 organizers. The discussion was still couched in terms of “jobs lost” and “a great opportunity” and a 30 minute documentary created by the former marketing director for the 2016 effort and aired on the local NBC affiliate omitted any mention of opposition to the bid and closed with calls for a bid for the 2020 games.

The loss of the bid was quickly followed by Mayor Daley’s momentous decision not to seek re-election and Chicago enjoyed a brief period of “anything can happen” in its civic imagination for the first time in decades.

The run up to the 2011 Aldermanic and Mayoral elections would have been a perfect time to ask the questions about what vision for the City will dominate the political landscape for the next few decades.

Unfortunately, that did not happen either.

So, I’m putting this book together to tell some of the story of the No Games Chicago effort to stop the 2016 Olympics from coming to Chicago because no one is questioning privatization deals or the Big Concrete, Big Contracts, Loop-based mega-projects that suck public tax dollars up by the billions but which are not going to give all citizens of Chicago anything like a fair return on their investment. If we can interrogate and stop one such bad project, maybe concerned citizens can stop the next one.

I say “some of the story” because this really is the bare bones. I’m including my own op-ed pieces that originally appeared in The Huffington Post Chicago as well as a few essays by No Games organizers on why they opposed the bid. The bulk of this text is comprised of the email messages No Games transmitted to the members of the International Olympic Committee as part of our campaign to convince them to award the games to some other city. 5 By way of context, the No Games effort was launched on January 31, 2009 with a public forum at The University of Illinois Chicago student center. I had met the founders of No Games, Bob Quellos and Ramsin Canon in November of 2008 and I was there as a volunteer to help with publicity and logistics. I quickly became involved as an organizer and built out the web site and edited it going forward. I also became a key spokesperson for the effort.

On April 2, 2009 The International Olympic Committee’s Evaluation Commission arrived in Chicago for its first review of the four finalist cities (Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio). We organized a protest rally at Federal Plaza and a march from there to the AON Building where the 2016 Committee was headquartered.

The Evaluation Commission was ushered around the city to visit the proposed venues – most of which were to be in public parks. Members of our coalition followed the official party as they toured Washington Park and Lincoln Park. We also booked a room in the Fairmont Hotel where they were staying and held a press conference outside the hotel asking to be received by the Commission.

Amazingly, we were invited to meet with some of the members of the Commission on April 7th. Two of our team met with six of the Commission, including its chair, Ms. Nawal El Moutawakel, a Moroccan hurdler who won the inaugural women's 400 m hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics. This was the first time, to our knowledge, that an opposition group had been officially received by an Evaluation Commission.

Bob Quellos, speaking for the team, laid out the essential reasons why Chicago did not deserve to get the games:

a. Chicago is broke and can’t afford to shoulder the costs for the games, b. Chicago is corrupt and incompetent and will botch the construction and other aspects of the operation, c. Our infrastructure is crumbling – especially our mass transit, which can barely meet the needs of today’s users, let alone hundreds of thousands of visitors over a three week period, and most importantly d. The people of Chicago do not want this party; we have many other pressing priorities that should command our attention and our dollars. 6 Lori Healy, the President of the 2016 Committee, sat silently off to the side as we gave this presentation, which lasted about 15 minutes.

It would take a book of its own to describe and distill the hundreds of hours of research our team members did on the games of the recent past and the debt they left the host city and to break down the many meetings we held across the city to explain our position, seek allies and listen to other community group’s concerns.

But let me boil down our strategy to this simple imperative: we had to convince the Olympic delegates who would be voting in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 2, 2009 NOT to vote for Chicago as the host for 2016 games. The decision to award an Olympic games is decided by a simple majority of members who are present. According to the 2009 membership directory there were 111 IOC members. We had to convince 56 members that picking Chicago would be a mistake.

At that time the IOC membership included one king, one queen, one sheik, one grand duke, five princes, two princesses, one count and an assortment of generals. There were also super star athletes and wealthy business people.

This was the electorate that held Chicago’s future in their hands.

We had to reach and persuade these super-elites that Chicago was NOT the place to host the 2016 Olympics.

The 2016 Committee raised over $90 million in cash and in-kind services. Not only was Chicago’s business community solidly behind the bid but 20 local foundations diverted millions of dollars from needy nonprofits to support the bid. In addition 13 local media outlets gave cash or in-kind donations to the bid committee. Two mega-millionaires who owned local media outlets, Fred Eychaner (Progressive Talk Radio station WCPT-FM) and Sam Zell (The Chicago Tribune) were both listed in the “Cash Contributions - $100,000 and above” section of the 2016 Committee’s donors.

The 2016 Committee had unlimited resources, the Mayor’s best people working for it, the support of the business, foundation and nonprofit community and a local media that served as an echo chamber for whatever PR they put out.

No Games Chicago had virtually no assets and few allies. We had no money. No office. No staff. Not one downtown organization, civic group, academic center or good government organization stood with us in opposition to the bid. So we had to use our wits and new technology to reach our target – the members of the IOC.

We started our first contact with the IOC on April 7th. Shortly thereafter we got a copy of the membership directory of the IOC that listed the member’s contact information. About 2/3 had email addresses, which we entered them into Constant Contact, the email program we used for our own membership newsletters and for sending press releases.

We learned that all four finalist cities would be making their final pitches to the IOC on June 17th at the Muse Olympic, the IOC’s museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Each city would get 90 minutes to add to the details of their already published bids and to answer any questions 7 from the members. Chicago was to present at 9:15 am. The world’s press would be there in force.

Our leadership team discussed this amazing opportunity at a meeting on May 30th. We decided to send a delegation to Lausanne to present our case directly to the IOC. We didn’t know how we would pay for the expedition (for the interim we put all expenses on my credit card). By the end of the day we had the travel donated and the hotel booked. We were going to Switzerland!

To deliver our message we decided to create a “Book of Evidence” to document the four main arguments we had initially laid out to the Evaluation Commission: Chicago is broke, Chicago is corrupt, Chicago’s infrastructure is crumbling, and the people of Chicago don’t want this party.

I had been collecting articles on local corruption and related scandals for the past few years and other members of the team had their own stock of articles and exposes. Over the course of an evening we sifted through several hundred articles and sorted them into four piles. I wrote the cover page for each section and we used Ben Joravsky’s column from the April 2, 2009 issue of The Chicago Reader, “An Open Letter to the IOC – Why You Don’t Want to Give Chicago the Olympics” as the lead off piece.

Chicago, being what it is, we added to this document right up to the hour of departure as several new scandals were brewing.

Our delegation departed for Switzerland on June 14th and arrived in Geneva on the morning of June 15th. We took a train from Geneva to Lausanne, renting cell phones with local numbers along the way. We were able to then type in these numbers to the press release master we brought along with templates for business cards we had prepared.

We printed up 150 copies of the “Book of Evidence” in Lausanne and brought 100 copies directly to the IOC for distribution to their members (we later learned from a Time Magazine reporter that the books had been delivered as promised.) We distributed the other 50 to members of the press and members of the other three city delegations, including the Governor of Tokyo.

We printed up the press releases and business cards so that all our materials had local phone numbers as well as our Chicago contact info.

It’s another long and (I think) exciting story to detail the logistics of how our Lausanne team coordinated with the Chicago press team via Skype to manage the seven hour time difference and how our press releases were timed to match our exact arrival in Lausanne. We tried to keep the whole action a secret and called it “Operation Cheese” in all communications and emails up to then. No one, outside of the No Games leadership team, knew we were going to the IOC’s International Headquarters to deliver our books.

8 For now, let’s just say that when the No Games team arrived at the IOC’s headquarters in their private park on Monday, June 16 at about 5 pm local time, we found ourselves in a media feeding frenzy that lasted for the next three days. We timed our arrival to coincide with the end of IOC President’s Jacques Rogge’s press conference. Ben Bradley, of ABC News Chicago, pulled his camera team out of that event and set up outside the one story office building. His news report on the proceedings captured us getting out of the taxi and unloading our cargo.

The team then spent the next seven hours responding to the request for interviews. We updated the web site, updated our Facebook page and used a Twitter management tool to transmit updates.

On Wednesday, June 18th we set up shop on a plaza outside the IOC Museum and created a makeshift newsstand where we interacted with the press, the public, other city delegates and even a few IOC members – handing out copies of “The Book of Evidence.” It was hot – over 90 degrees and after five hours we headed back to the hotel. We grabbed some sandwiches and spent the next six hours online, responding to more requests for interviews and updates.

We were interviewed by reporters from around the world but the only local news interview we did was one on Chicago Public Radio. All Chicago media outlets, including the local dailies, usually came to us for a reaction or quote when there was a significant 2016-related story. But in Switzerland it seemed that we disappeared from most of Chicago’s news coverage. The citizens of Tokyo, Madrid and Rio were better informed on who we were and what we were doing there and why then the people of Chicago.

9 The emails in this book were designed to re-enforce the essential message of No Games and the material in “The Book of Evidence.” The emails started on July 23rd – 70 days before the October 2nd decision – and continued right up to the morning of the vote.

The same team that went to Lausanne also went to Copenhagen to distribute more information to the delegates. We assembled several additional articles and op-ed pieces, included a cover letter, and made 100 copies. Our time in Copenhagen was quite different that our time in Lausanne. Switzerland was sunny and welcoming. We were allowed to set up shop in front of the IOC Museum and received courtesy and recognition from the IOC staff. Copenhagen was an armed camp with the Danish army, the Copenhagen police, the American Secret Service and a private security firm brought from Chicago all ringing venues and guarding every place we needed to go.

It was very scary.

What we did there and who we met is stuff for yet another chapter. A PhD student from England researching Olympic resistance followed us everywhere. We met a delegation from No Games Tokyo who were in awe of our work. We crashed the media lounge reserved for the press and ate their food and drank their booze. But the main accomplishment was that we penetrated the security and delivered our paperwork to the IOC communications staff personally.

Besides the personal visits and the emails sent to the IOC members, we also mailed hard copies of materials to all members.

At the end of the day, you might ask “Did you make a difference?” I can say, without reservation, that we know we did. We know from several highly placed Olympic officials that the IOC knew who we were and respected us. We know who opened our emails. But the most telling insight came from one senior Olympic strategist who told me “Once the public support for a bid falls below 50%, you’re toast.”

In February of 2009 the Chicago Tribune conducted a poll that claimed 64% of Chicago’s public supported the bid. In late August that number was down to 47% When asked if people would support using tax revenue to cover losses from the games, 84% said “No.” No Games Chicago was the only source of information critical of the bid. We went to dozens of community meetings across the city – including every one of the “50 Wards in 50 Nights” presentations made by the 2016 Committee. Our web site was visited by tens of thousands of viewers. Hundreds of people had participated in two protests. Thousands signed our online petitions, joined us on Facebook and followed us on Twitter.

More importantly, we were the only ones to communicate to the IOC the deteriorating public support for the bid. One of the most effective ways we did this was via the emails contained in this book.

10 We wanted to place this material in the public domain so that other activists might take what they can from it and, hopefully, be better armed to fight poorly conceived Mega Projects that are being force upon their cities.

Tom Tresser Editor June 2011

11 II. Contributors

Joan Levin Joan’s major projects these days are working to prevent water privatization as a volunteer with Citizens Act to Protect Our Water (CAPOW - http://www.protectourpublicwater.net) and with Corporate Accountability International (http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org). On the national scene, Joan is very involved with the anti-genetically modified food (GMO) movement with The Institute for Responsible Technology (http://www.responsibletechnology.org). On the cultural front, Joan leads a local Yiddish group and serves on the Chicago board of The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Sam Rhee (Illustrator) Sam Rhee is a multimedia designer and user experience architect, and he has worked with some of the largest corporations, government entities, and non profit organizations in the world. You can view his work at: http://samrhee.com. (Note – the No Games Chicago logo and skyline banners were designed by No Games co-founder, Bob Quellos)

Tom Tresser Tom Tresser is a consultant, producer, educator and trainer works with individuals, companies and communities to leverage and amplify their creative assets in order to solve problems, create economic value and trigger civic engagement. He was director of cultural development at Peoples Housing, in north Rogers Park, Chicago, where he created a community arts program that blended the arts, education and micro- enterprise. Tom has acted in some 40 shows and produced over 100 plays, special events, festivals and community programs. He was an arts activist, having 12 organized support for pro-arts candidates and developed a cultural policy think tank at Roosevelt University in the early 1990’s, where he taught “Arts & Public Policy.” Tom was elected to the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School’s Local School Council and served from 2004 to 2006. In 2008 he was a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, a successful effort to stop the privatization of public space in Chicago. He was a lead organizer for No Games Chicago, an all-volunteer grassroots effort that opposed Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid. He has taught workshops on “The Politics of Creativity – A Call To Service” for arts service organizations in six states. He has taught a number of classes on art, creativity and civic engagement for Loyola University, School of the Art Institute, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and DePaul University. Tom also consults with arts organizations on strategic planning, audience development and peer-to-peer marketing. Tom has published a web- based project, “America Needs You!” – about the need for artists to get involved in politics. Tom was the Green Party candidate for the position of President of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County in November 2010 election. Tom recently taught “Got Creativity? Strategies & Tools for the Next Economy” for the IIT Stuart School of Business. Tom is currently working on establishing a new nonprofit enterprise, The CivicLab, to build and distribute new tools and experiences for government accountability, civic engagement and community improvement. Their first project is a citizen-powered investigation of the Tax Increment Finance program, The TIF Report. His web site is http://www.tresser.com.

John Viramontes John Viramontes received training in community organizing at the nonprofit Northwest Neighborhood Federation, a Chicago-based organization which empowers local residents to address neighborhood issues affecting large groups of people.

13 III. ESSAYS

NO GAMES RALLIES APRIL 2

By Tom Tresser – March 25, 2009

Located at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-tresser/no-games-chicago- rallies_b_178372.html

No Games Chicago is a coalition of social justice activists from across the city who believe that seeking and hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games is a terrible waste of precious civic resources and treasure.

This group includes people who have been working for years on building affordable housing, fighting for environmental justice, working on human rights issues, litigating against police torture, pressing for good government reform and organizing independent politics. I count myself in this last category.

They have called for a protest rally and march to shut down the Olympic bid on Thursday, April 2 at Federal Plaza at 5pm. Speakers will include activists from Chicago and Vancouver, the site of the 2010 Winter games. The rally coincides with the arrival of the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Team, who will be touring the city and the proposed venues.

The 2016 committee has raised almost $50 million - including $5 million from the MacArthur Foundation - plus contributions from just about every major private contractor that does business with the city. They have flooded the city with misinformation and a host of feel good events.

The games are being sold to the people of Chicago with a massive, hype machine-fueled litany of promises and claims. The No Games folks' own research shows that the 2016 committee is lying. The games are disasters for host cities. The IOC makes millions, the TV networks make millions and the corporate sponsors hope to sell products and make millions. But it's the tax

14 payers that pick up the bills for security and constructions projects that spiral out of budget, all while the so-called benefits are wildly over stated.

The games organizers often talk about "economic impact" and "lasting legacy" for the games.

The likely impact and legacy will be debt, displacement and diminished public parks.

Consider a few points:

- The city of Vancouver, host of the 2010 Winter games, is facing bankruptcy as their total costs approach $6 billion (security alone is $900 million Canadian).

- The original bid budget for the London 2012 Summer games was 4 billion pounds ($5.9 billion) and is now at 9.3 billion pounds ($13.7 billion) and this "does not include all of the activities on which delivery of the Games and its legacy depends. The acquisition of land for the Olympic Park, the costs of government departments working on Games preparations and legacy planning, as well as costs of improving wider transport links are all outside the budget," according to a April 2008 report from the House of Commons.

- The city of Montreal took 30 years to pay off their debt from hosting the 1976 Summer games, which locals have been calling it "The Big Owe" for decades.

- The Chicago 2016 bid calls for just over $4 billion in construction - this from the administration that brought you the Block 37, Soldier Field, Monroe Street Garage and Millennium Park overruns in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Heck, the 2004 Athens summer games were $5.26 billion over budget - and that was 5 years ago. Who can even begin to guess the Olympian cost overruns 5 and 6 years from now? That's worth repeating - the overrun for the Athens summer games was more that the total estimated cost of Chicago's games.

- Most of the Chicago venues are to be built in our public parks - including spending $31 million for a 20,000 seat tennis venue adjacent to the Jarvis Bird Sanctuary at Montrose - a facility that 15 will result in the destruction of about 100 trees and seriously threaten the nature area that volunteers have worked for decades to create - all at a time when basic services inside the Park District have eroded and fees have gone up.

- Historic Washington Park will pretty much be obliterated and unavailable to neighborhood users for years as an 80,000 seat stadium plus swimming facilities are built.

- You'll have to shell out between $520 to $1,645 for the Opening Ceremony and pay $28 to $486 for "prime events" at the games, making these events way out reach for most Chicagoans.

- Don't forget the federal government is broke, the state has at least a $9 billion deficit, Cook County is run by buffoons and the city is about $290 million in the hole. The city has closed public schools, health clinics and can't pave our streets (unless you live next to Washington Park, which, the Tribune reported recently, is getting an emergency paving in advance of the IOC Evaluation Team coming here in on April 2). But our horrible financial situation has not prevented our spineless legislators from guaranteeing the 2016 committee $500 million in city money and $250 million in state funds. And the city has committed to picking up the security bill, which for the smaller Vancouver games is over $900 million. And the city has already spent $85 million to acquire the Michael Reese Hospital site. Where is all this money coming from? If it's at hand, then why aren't we using it now to improve and expand essential services?

- No new el lines or extensions of el lines are contemplated for the 2016 games, at least none have been disclosed in the bid documents.

- There's the issue of displacement and the pressure to move poor and working people out of their neighborhoods on the near West and South Sides. Could it be that greedy developers are using the games as a way to seize land and get their projects underwritten with our dollars? That hasn't happened before, right?

16 -The Games will prove to be the worst disaster to hit our city since the Great Fire. A report by Holy Cross economics professor Victor Matheson, "Mega Events: The effect of the world's biggest sporting events on local, regional and national economies," exposes the lies told to us by the 2016 Olympic committee. They claim the 2016 games will bring in billions. In his report, published in 2006 by the Department of Economics at the College of Holy Cross, Matheson says "Not so." This report is available for download from the Box.com widget on the lower right of our web site. His report concludes with this quote:

"The most important piece of advice that a local government can take regarding mega-events, however, is simply to view with caution any economic impact estimates provided by entities with an incentive to provide inflated benefit figures. While most sports boosters claim that mega- events provide cities with large economic returns, these same boosters present these figures as justification for receiving substantial subsidies for hosting the games. The vast majority of independent academic studies of mega-events show that the benefits to be a fraction of those claimed by event organizers."

Matheson writes elsewhere:

"Expensive infrastructure projects undertaken for the Olympics also generally contribute little to long-run economic growth. While the construction of modern airports, highways, and transit systems are vital for economic development, the specialized sports infrastructure required to host an Olympic Games cannot easily be converted to other uses. The so-called Water Cube, the site of Michael Phelps's golden achievements, is an architectural and technological wonder. But after the closing ceremony, Beijing will have little use for a state-of-the-art swimming facility that seats 17,000. Beijing will join good company in wondering what to do with its beautiful but empty venues. Most of the 10 gleaming new stadiums built in South Korea for the 2002 World Cup sit unused today, and Australian economists at Monash University suggest that the "redirection of public money into relatively unproductive infrastructure such as equestrian centers and man-made rapids" has since reduced public consumption by $1.8 billion (in US currency)."

The No Games Chicago organizers have parked a number of studies and links at their web site at http://www.nogameschicago.com so you can read reports and articles on the mess the Olympics have left in other host cities. You can also check out the extensive information compiled by the anti-Olympics organizers in Vancouver and London.

The No Games Chicago crew is calling on all citizens who are fed up with back room deals, using public assets for private gain, the closing of public schools and health clinics and the ongoing neglect of the working class of Chicago to join them on Thursday, April 2 at 5pm in Federal Plaza. They invite you to send a message that the people of Chicago don't want to spend billions on a three week party.

17 WHAT HAPPENED IN SWITZERLAND (WHEN ME MET THE IOC)

By Tom Tresser – August 30, 2009

Located at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-tresser/what-happened-in- switzerl_b_266190.html

(Note - This was written on the plan coming home from Geneva, June 19, 2009. It starts in the present and works backward to the decision to go to Switzerland)

Friday, June 19, 1:20 p.m. local time, Geneva

Our plane has just taken off. The No Games Chicago delegation is safely aboard and we’re on our way home. After nine hours in the air and crossing seven time zones to the west, we’ll return to Chicago after a lay-over in Washington, D.C. We are in the economy class of the wide body B767-300 three cabin jet. Two classes in front of us are the senior staff of the 2016 Chicago Committee, including CEO Lori Healey. They are ensconced in pod-like capsules with reclining seats and private televisions.

It’s been a busy, eventful, and some might say, historic journey. I’ve gotten about eight hours of sleep since we arrived in Switzerland five days ago. Martin Macias, Jr.; Rhoda Whitehorse and myself came to Lausanne, Switzerland on Monday, June 15. We came to inform the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about the reasons why No Games Chicago believes our city should NOT be awarded the 2016 Olympics.

No Games Chicago is a coalition of individuals who oppose Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics. The groups includes people who have worked for decades on a wide range of social justice and good government issues. The group also includes people who have never worked on social change or civic engagement efforts before. We are all volunteers and no one is paid to do 18 this work. No organization or political entity or established group is backing us. In fact, the members of this delegation have gone into debt to make this trip. We expect to produce a fundraiser to cover these expenses some time after we return.

No Games Chicago was launched on January 31 at a public forum at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Student Union. Over 250 people attended. The speakers were Deborah Taylor of Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), J. R. Flemming of the Coalition to Protect Public Housing and Karen Lewis of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE). The keynote speaker was Dr. Christopher Shaw of the University of British Columbia. Dr. Shaw has been an anti-Olympics organizer in Vancouver since 2002 where he founded 2010 Watch and is the author of “Five Ring Circus, Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games.” Vancouver is the site of the 2010 winter games and he came to Chicago to warn us about the disasters that have befallen his city since their Olympic bid was won. He spoke about massive cost overruns, destruction of old growth forests for venues, displacement of people from their neighborhoods and systematic civil rights abuses. He told us that the promises made o the people of Vancouver sounded exactly like the promises being made to the people of Chicago. The mayor of Vancouver lied to the people in order to get the 2010 games. He didn’t tell the truth about the true costs and the disruptions that come with the games. When the mayor was asked about taxpayers being at risk for the games he repeatedly said “It won’t go over budget” (watch him deny budget liability three times in a row). Dr, Shaw concluded by saying that he hoped we could learn from the misfortunes of Vancouver and not repeat them.

But would we? Two days ago, on Wednesday, Mayor Daley held a press conference he would sign the Host City Contract (see a copy of the Host City Contracts London and Vancouver signed). This announcement ignited a storm of controversy in Chicago because it amounts to signing a blank check on behalf of the 2016 Olympic Committee. The taxpayers would be responsible for all costs not met by the Committee. This is exactly what No Games has been warning Chicago about since that January 31 forum. We’ve built our web site, www.nogameschicago.com, and placed there documentation from other host cities as well as links to academic reports and other groups who have been fighting the games in their cities.

So that’s who we are. A group of very concerned citizens who care deeply about their city and her people and who have devoted hundreds of hours of volunteer service over the past five months in order to prevent the economic, environmental and civil liberties disasters that will come with the 2016 Olympics.

The three members of the delegation seeking to meet with the International Olympic Committee are Tom Tresser, Rhoda Whitehorse and Martin Macias, Jr. Here’s how we were described in the press release from June 16. Tom Tresser is an educator and activist and former actor and producer. He is a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, which fights the privatization of public space and an member of the Executive Committee of the 43rd Ward Independent Democratic Ward organization in Chicago Rhoda Whitehorse has lived in Chicago for 40 years and is a former public school teacher. She is a mother and grandmother who cares deeply about the world they will inherit. Martin Macias Jr. is a youth organizer for the Chicago Environmental Justice Coalition, and Comite 10 de Marzo, an Immigrant Rights organization. He is also a media reform activist with the community radio station Radio Arte where he serves as the the host/producer of First Voice, a radio news zine. He currently chairs the Peace Committee at the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Thursday, June 18, 1pm, Lausanne 19 This afternoon is a quiet day. We are packed and our luggage is stored at the Hotel Alpha- Palmiers. Earlier this morning Rhoda and Martin went down to the shore of Lake Geneva to film a video update from Martin. Rhoda used a Flip video recorder and I placed it on YouTube and then posted it to our web site. They showed us the video at breakfast. It was a beautiful and elegant statement of why we are here. Watch his video at YouTube.

Our mission today is to hang out at the Palace Hotel. Today the members of the IOC are having private meetings with various members of the four city delegations. We sat around for hours chatting up members of the press, members of the other city delegations and the occasional IOC delegate. The Palace Hotel is located at the top of a very steep hill from where we are staying. The Palace is quite grand, like the Palmer House or Drake, only posher.

We got to the Palace by a back door route from the rear of our hotel. We took an elevator up six stories and exited to an outside path that skirts a series of six-story light wells that are at the core of our hotel. We climbed up a flight of stairs to emerge in an ally behind and just below the Palace.

We split up. We want to quietly interact with the Olympic players that are assembled here. Rhoda has the idea to go online and print out an article from the Chicago press from the last two days reporting on the widespread anger that resulted from Mayor Daley’s “blank check” announcement. She said it would be best to approach IOC members with fresh, current and relevant evidence to back up our concerns. She went to the business center to do this. I originally wanted to wear my No Games button and display the No Games logo on my tote bag. But after listening to Rhoda I realize that it would be wiser to nit show the insignia and be non- confrontational and more conversational.

Martin circulated and started chatting with members of the Rio and Madrid delegations. It seem that some members of the Madrid delegation find us “unelegant” but are, nevertheless, impressed with the impact we have made here.

I headed to the press room where I asked Ben Bradley of ABC News Chicago to explain how the proposed insurance policy to protect Chicago taxpayers from Olympic debt would work. I asked “Isn’t it like going to Vegas with $1,000 and wanting to win $100,000 and asking for an insurance policy to pay off if you lost – would the policy cost $99,000 or more?” No, he said, because the games are more of a sure thing because of the certain revenues that always come from the production. He may understand how the financing scheme announced by 2016 Chair Pat Ryan works, but I didn’t get it. If the games were such a sure thing, would Mr. Ryan put up his own fortune or home as a surety against any chance of risk to the taxpayer, I wondered. Anyway, how much would such a policy cost? Ben didn’t know.

I talked to ten other members of the press – including reporters from England, Japan, Australia and Spain. I gave them all a No Games Chicago card and told them to contact us for any information or follow-up. One of the reporters was born in Vietnam and fondly recalled his first winter in Chicago in 1975 and the wonder of seeing snow for the first time and discovering Polish sausage, which he still relishes.

Next I met several senior officials from one of the other finalist cities. “We’re not supposed to talk to you,” said one, “But out of curiosity, briefly, why don’t you want Chicago to get the games?” “Well,” I said, “It would bankrupt the city, cause massive displacement and lead to a gross abuse of civil liberties. How’s that for brief.” “I’m impressed.” “I’m not constrained by 20 your rules,” I continued.” I’m a volunteer citizen here to voice my beliefs so here’s my card, call us if you like.” “Well,” the official said, “I suppose your goals and ours are quite the same.”

I went into the posh Habana Bar and said hello to a group of people and gave them all No Games Chicago cards. One of them was a consultant to the Chicago 2016 Committee. This apparently amused the group as they laughed uproariously as I left the bar.

The sunlight was streaming through the large lobby windows, I picked up pieces of Olympic literature and promotional materials from the other finalist cities. One couldn’t be absolutely sure who IOC members were. Members of the press wore yellow ID badges. I approached everyone in the lobby to introduce myself. “Hi, I’m Tom from No Games Chicago, here’s my card. Please call us if you have any questions or concerns.” I was later told that a prominent member of the Chicago press was fuming about my presence to the IOC Communications Director and asked if I could be removed. The apparently this reporter was offended by a citizen from their home town daring to come to the heart of the Olympic industry to speak out, ask questions and stir things up.

There was a cocktail party scheduled for all the finalist cities and the IOC members. A large luxury bus pulled up in front of the hotel and staffers started ushering IOC members on board. I followed and stationed myself next to the rear door of the bus and greeted people as they boarded. I gave each person a No Games Chicago card and told them to please call us if they had any questions. One man stopped and turned and asked “You truly believe Chicago should not get the games?” “Yes sir.” “Please say why.” “Because they will bankrupt the city and we will bungle it and do a disservice to your program.” “Really?” “Yes, sir, most definitely.”

At about 3:00pm we re-grouped to compare notes. There was a lot to discuss and sort out. We claimed our bagged at our hotel. I had a shock as my wife called from Chicago to tell me that our American Express account had been charged $2,800 for printing the “Book of Evidence” and other work. This was $800 more than I had agreed to. I pulled the documentation and the notes from talking to the print shop manager. The notes confirmed that I had agreed to pay US $1,850 for 150 copies of a 160-page document bound with a vinyl cover. I noticed that the receipt was in Euros. I called the international customer service rep for Amex and explained the overcharge. The difference was due to a higher conversion rate from Euros to dollars. He took the difference off the bill for now pending an inquiry.

We now lugged our luggage down the steep hill to the railway station to return to Geneva where we would be staying overnight. We had to do this because our hotel was already sold out for tonight and there was nothing available in the entire city.

We got to our temporary digs at the Holiday Inn 20 miles outside of Geneva at about 7pm. We grabbed some dinner and collapsed. They guys shared one room and Rhoda had a room to herself. Because someone snored so loud I had to pick up a pillow and crash in the walk-in closet.

Wednesday, June 17

What a day! After two hours sleep we’re up answering emails, updating the web site, composing and broadcasting Twitter alerts and doing interviews over the phone and using Skype to talk to the team in Chicago. Our room looks a college dorm after an all-nighter with plates and empty soda cans and water bottles strewn about. Clothes and bed linens are on the floor. One of my suitcases has supplies and equipment and one corner of the room looks like a cross between an 21 office and repair shop – gaffer’s tape, screwdriver, staple gun, pieces of wood frame and No Games signs are stacked up for use In addition, cameras, electronics, cables, batteries, No Games emblazoned tote bags and piles of background research materials gives an impression of a staging area for some sort of special event – which, in fact, it is.

Downstairs the copy shop had delivered six boxes of our “Book of Evidence,” bringing our production to a total of 150 copies. I had them also print up letter-sized color copies of the No Games logo and they applied them to the outside of the boxes. We wheeled the boxes up the room and grabbed a quick breakfast and reviewed our plans for the day.

Today is the day that each finalist city would be making their presentation to the IOC. There would 97 of the 107 members present. The presentations are the IOC’s Olympic Museum.

Download the complete agenda

We wanted to do a press conference in front of the museum entrance at about 12pm following the photo opportunity that was scheduled following the Chicago presentation. This is where I did’nt do my homework. I assumed that the Chicago press event would be on the museum grounds But it turns out that the Chicago Committee had plans to bus the press corps to another site about 15 minutes away. We reported that the 2016 Committee shifted their event in reaction to our presence to keep the press away from us. That was incorrect.

We got to the museum at about 11am. The museum is on a hill facing Lake Geneva and to enter from the front of the property you go up two exposed escalators! You can see the Alps across the lake when you reach the level of the museum’s entrance. The sky was bright blue and the view was spectacular. It was also blazing hot and I had my best suit on.

We loaded our boxes and a tote bag of supplies into a cab at our hotel and we were dropped off at the rear entrance of the museum. I took a hand cart parked by the service entrance and loaded the heavy boxes. Martin and I pushed the cart into the museum, onto an elevator and got off on the plaza level. We pushed the cart out the front door onto the plaza. As soon as we showed up we were surrounded by the press, photographers and a video crew. We unloaded the boxes and constructed a sort of news shrine, laying out about 20 copies of the “Book of Evidence” at the base. The assembled members of the press took dozens if not hundreds of pictures of the newsstand. We distributed books to the press and I gave away about 40 No Games buttons [images] to the press, as well. Members of the other city delegations who were on site to prepare for their presentations eagerly took books and buttons.

We were asked for interviews straight away and we gave out our customized business cards with our local cell phone numbers (I had used Publisher to create the templates for us before hand and added the cell phone numbers when we got to our hotel, then used perforated card stock that I brought along to print the cards out). We also distributed the press release we had prepared and 22 copied, The release explained who were and why we were in Lausanne and commented on the activities of the previous day.

After we were set up we took 50 copies of the “Book of Evidence” into the museum and presented them to Mark Adams, the IOC’s Director of Communications, who I had met the day before. He took them as well as a copy of a book about the work of Frederick Law Olmstead, with a page bookmarked that shows the original plan for the South Park, including the contemporary Washington Park and a hand written note, ”Please do not destroy this historic park.”

Martin and I took turns standing in the open plaza under the scorching 90 degree sun. We talked to tourists coming to see the museum (it was open for business while the IOC conducted the presentations). We continued to hand out copies of the book and engage all in conversation. We talked to a couple who were there with two kids all the way from Chicago. They were surprised to see us. The dad was for the games. But after his 10-year old son whispered in his ear he asked for a button and I gave it to the lad with instructions to “wear it with pride.”

It was very hot and whoever wasn’t “on station” was off in the shade. There is athletic themed sculpture all around the grounds, including a very bizarre rendition of a huge muscled torso that is rendered in multiple sections which revolve. Nearby stood a giant sand sculpture of Michael Phelps showing his upper body and head straining up out of the water. Rhoda was engaging dignitaries and other official looking people in conversations off to the side of the plaza.

Martin talked to kids as they entered the museum. A group of Italian teen boys were thrilled to get No Games buttons which they wore as they toured the museum. I talked at length with a female IOC member who was curious about us but skittish to be seen speaking with us.

After the Tokyo delegation finished their presentation a swarm of Japanese media and officials came out of the museum, all focused on an elderly dignified man. He was the Governor of Tokyo. As he passed by I bowed and presented my card to him. “From the people of Chicago,” I said. He took the card with a puzzled look and moved on.

At about 1pm we realized that there was no crowd of media to work or to summon to a press conference. So we decided to take the remaining 20 or so evidence books up to the restaurant level where the press tent had been erected. Several IOC security guards were hovering over us 23 at this point. They were conferring on their radios so we packed up our remaining books and loaded them on to the hand truck. We went back into the museum followed by a female security guard. Would she allow us to get off at the restaurant level or would she shepherd us up one more level to the loading dock area? She got a call and then said “I’ll be right back.” The elevator came and Martin and I pushed the cart on and went up to the terrace level.

Coming out on the terrace we saw dinners arranged around the space with a sunken court in the middle and the press tent on the opposite side. The terrace was ringed with tables so we had to carry the cart with the boxes down the steps into the sunken level in the center of the terrace and up the other side to get to the entrance of the tent. Once in the press tent we said hello to Ben Bradley, “Good work” he said. We then worked the room giving out the rest of the books to the reporters and chatting with them. We recognized some of the reporters from earlier that day and the day before. One Chicago reporter asked me to comment on Pat Ryan’s assertion that the 2016 Committee had requested to meet with us and we turned them down. “That’s a lie,” I said, “I get all the email and I’ve never seen a request. They said the same thing in April.” This reporter had no other questions and his attitude was openly hostile. I wondered at the time and many times since why the major Chicago dailies have never interviewed us about who we are, what we are doing and why. (The Chicago Tribune wrote nothing of our trip to Switzerland and the Sun-Times carried one picture taken that afternoon with a caption but no article or reference to us in n article).

After about 15 minutes were done distributing the books. I took an empty box and placed it on the table with the food and water. The blue and red “No Games” logo proudly visible. We now surveyed the terrace restaurant and could see the IOC officials and the VIPS, including the Mayor and Pat Ryan in a room fronted by two plain clothes security guards. We sat down at an empty table in the public area. No one would serve us so after about ten minutes in the sweltering heat (the table was in the open), we decided to return to the hotel.

We were exhausted, exhilarated and a bit punchy from lack of sleep. Rhoda had not slept at all and I had gotten about two hours.

Back in our command center there were hundreds of emails to sort through and answer. We had purchased a second Internet access for Martin’s computer so two people could be online at the same time. Martin did a live interview with WBEZ’s 848 news magazine show at 3:30pm (listen using Evoca.com). I did a live interview with BBC Radio. The reporter had been with WBEZ for a number of years and he said he missed the Windy City.

I used Skype to call my wife who I was missing very much She reported that we were getting great coverage in the local non-print media. We were in touch with the Chicago team (most of whom prefer to remain anonymous). They were peppering us with links to news stories about our visit and PDFs of articles about Chicago 2016 and reactions to the Mayor’s announcement. I was posting material to a special page on our web site, "Live From Switzerland" - later renamed "Switzerland Diary."

I lost count after 50. One of my favorite media hits was a screen shot from the Japanese MSN news page showing me delivering the evidence books at the IOC headquarters.

Watch the ABC News segment aired later that night in Chicago at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOPWoJcHC2g.

24 I set up the No Games boxes on a rock and took out some evidence books to show off. Bradley interviewed me and we gave an impromptu press conference as other reporters asked questions. Our message was simple and has been consistent. Chicago will not be a fit host for the 2016 Olympics because (1) We are broke, (2) Our city leadership is incompetent and corrupt, bungling major projects and causing them to go way over budget and delayed by years (and incidentally, so many present and former city officials are under federal investigation that the IOC can’t be sure who among the officials they are currently dealing with will be in jail before the games begin), (3) Our city’s infrastructure is dire need of repair and our mass transit is barely able to handle the needs of current residents, let alone the million or so expected Olympic guests, (4) The people of Chicago did not, and do not support the bid. When asked if they would support the games if they have to pay for them, 77% of Chicagoans say “NO!”

We started to carry the boxes into the lobby of the IOC headquarters. Apparently members of the Rio and Madrid carried boxes in with us. I didn’t notice this at the time but it was noted by reporters and actually became a small news item!

We placed the boxes on the IOC reception counter. “We are citizens from Chicago here to present the members of the International Olympic Committee documents outlining our objections to the 2016 bid. Will you receive them?” A flustered greeter called for help. Shortly a tall dapper Englishman, Mark Adams, came to the lobby. He introduced himself as of Director of Communications for the IOC and he announced that he would accept the documents on behalf of the IOC and then ushered me to his office. Martin and Rhoda remained in the plaza answering questions from the remaining press corps.

25 Mark told me he had been on the job just two weeks and that he had formerly been with the BBC. “We’re not surprised you’re here. We rather expected you after you sent the request to meet with the IOC President.” I believe we quite surprised him and everyone else. He said that he recommended that President Rogge meet with us but that he was overruled. I wondered if that was true. “Why are you here?” I explained that we are citizens who believe that hosting the Olympics would be a disaster for Chicago and I went through the four reasons and gave him a copy of the “Book of Evidence” and showed him the four sections. Each section has 40 to 50 articles from the Chicago press from the past four years documenting our assertions. I told him we just delivered 50 and another 50 would be delivered to the IOC Museum on Wednesday morning. Mark assured me that the books would be delivered to the IOC members.

I repeated our request to meet with President Rogge or his senior deputy. “That is highly unlikely although I will pass on your request.” I then asked if we could sit and watch the Chicago 2016 presentation, as they had two staffers sit in when we met with the IOC Evaluation Commission on April 7 in Chicago. “Those presentations are closed meetings.” I then asked if we could address the IOC for ten minutes after all the presentations were concluded on Wednesday. “That is also highly unlikely, but I’ll pass on the request.” I then said we planned on holding a press conference on the plaza in front of the IOC Museum on Wednesday. He assured me that we would be welcome to do so as the plaza is in a public park. I would bet my last dollar that if this high-powered IOC meeting had been held in Chicago we wouldn’t have gotten within shouting range of the location.

After 15 minutes we shook hands and he walked me back to the lobby. We shook hands again for the benefit of the remaining press. I joined up with Martin and Rhoda and we got into a cab that was waiting. At the entrance to the grounds we got out of the cab and posed in front of a monumental Olympic sculpture.

It had gone amazingly well. How well, we would soon find out. We spent the next eight hours answering calls, responding to emails, exchanging updates with the Chicago team and doing interviews. One reporter from Japan told me “Perhaps your actions will inspire our own protesters.”We updated the No Games web site, recorded and posted a video update [embed] and transmitted Twitter updates [link]. We managed to grab some dinner at a pub up the hill from the hotel.

26 I got two hours sleep that night. It was an amazing start. We agreed that if we had to return home now that our mission would’ve been a great success!

Monday, June 15

We arrived in Geneva at 8am after almost a full day in transit. We rented cell phones at the Geneva Airport and I’ll add these numbers to the templates for No Games business cards that I’ve brought on my computer. I’ve brought along perforated card stock for printing once we get to the hotel.

The Swiss rail has a station in the Geneva Airport and we boarded the train and arrived in Lausanne some 45 minutes later.

The city is very hilly. Although our hotel is only a few blocks away, it is up the hill at a 45 degree angle. We lugged our bags up the hill and checked into the Alpha-Palmiers Hotel [link] where the guys got one large room and Rhoda got her own small room. We learned that the hotel has no business center so all printing must be done at a copy shop which is some ten minutes away by cab. If you continue on up this VERY steep hill you will come to the Palace Hotel where the IOC conducts meetings and where part of this week’s business is to be conducted on Thursday.

We unpacked our gear and the room looks like a staging area for some Mission Impossible scenario. I brought along a pre-fabricated podium made out of the wooden slats we used to hold our protest signs from the April rally. I re-assembled it and velcroed four No Games signs to the front. The assemblage proved to rickety so I rebuilt it as a wall of signs that could be held by one person on either side. I asked the others what they thought and they all agreed it looked lame and that, anyway, the protest signs were off message for what we wanted to convay to the IOC. I would think of some other way to frame our press appearances.

Our main mission was to print up 150 copies of what we were calling “The Book of Evidence – Reasons Why Chicago Should NOT Be Awarded the 2016 Olympic Games.” The book has a cover page introducing us to the IOC and a great piece from the Chicago Reader’s Ben Joravsky, “An Open Letter to the IOC” which we said summed up our point of view. The book is divided into four sections with each section containing 40 to 50 articles from the local press documenting our points. Download your very own copy from the No Games Chicago web site and you can pretend you’re a member of the IOC!

27 Our main task for Monday was to get this book copied. I travelled with the originals in my carry on luggage and didn’t let it out of my site for the entire trip. I had looked into making 150 copies in Chicago (110 for all the 107 IOC members plus senior staff, remainder for the press) but I was too nervous about shipping the printed books overseas. We were directed to the Copy Shop and met Dominque, the manager. I gave her one pre-copied book I had made as a sample to show how the book was to be formatted. We discussed the price for 150 copies of 162 pages single sided bound with black cloth tape and fronted with a clear vinyl cover. She agreed to work late to get us 50 copies for Tuesday afternoon and the remaining 100 by Wednesday morning. We would be able to deliver the first 50 copies to the IOC before the Chicago 2016 team made their presentation Wednesday at 9:30am.

Once the printing job was taken care of, I calmed down. To say I was agitated, anxious, jumpy and cranky would be an understatement. I had taken a huge risk in not pre-copying the books and shipping them and now I was assured of getting our main documentation produced but at a premium. These books were the reason for our trip. The books have an impressive heft when you flip through the pages the mass of documentation is quite startling. 160 pages documenting financial crisis, graft, incompetence, nepotism, cronyism, public works project overruns and delays, service lapses, infrastructure failure and public disapproval of the current administration and the 2016 bid. We imagined IOC members flipping through the book late into the night, like being hooked on a new thriller.

We then visited the IOC Museum on the shore of Lake Geneva to scope the space where we wanted to hold a press conference on Wednesday. The museum sits atop a hill and is reached by a winding access road that accesses the service entrance, which is at the top. The plaza level where patrons enter is actually two levels down from the service entrance. There is an open air escalator that takes you up from the main entrance at ground level. The grounds of the museum are decked out with a number of large sculptures with an athletic theme. A lot of male torsos.

We were satisfied with the location and decided to place our Wednesday press event right in front of the Museum on a spacious plaza. We left the museum and walked along the shore of Lake Geneva to find a cab to return to the hotel.

Our arrangements were in place. We were in place. How would the next few days turn out? I was up most of the night fretting, wondering and reviewing the events that brought us so far from home.

Saturday, May 30

Today we had a meeting of the No Games Chicago Executive Committee at my house. I’ve asked the people who were there if they’d like to acknowledged and they all said no. We’ve been asked a few times to list our members or give the biographies of our leadership and most of the team are reluctant fearing reprisals and retaliation from the Daley administration. This is not surprising since one of the founders of No Games had to drop out of the group just before our April 2 rally because this person’s employer threatened to fire this person if they continued to 28 work on our behalf. Many of us have also heard stories of the Mayor’s long memory for punishing his political rivals. The 2016 bid effort has so many stories of fear and intimidation that I hope someday a reporter will chronicle this tale of shame and abdication by so many of Chicago’s civic organizations. To name just one instance, the boating community was told in no uncertain terms that if any yacht club or group of boaters were to protest the bid or its impact on the harbor system, that those boaters would never be able to berth their boats in the city again. Bob Quellos, of the co-founders of No Games, and myself have become the main spokespeople for No Games.

The No Games team was meeting to assess our progress toward defeating the bid. We were reviewing the timeline to October 2 when the IOC would meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to award the games to one of the finalist cities: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janero, or Tokyo. What should be our strategy going forward? How should we deploy our limited resources in the remaining run to October 2?

One of our members reminded us of the upcoming meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the IOC. All four finalist cities will be making presentations before the full IOC, one at a time, on Wednesday, June 17. The Evaluation Commission had visited each city and the bids of all finalists were now public and these presentations were an unprecedented opportunity to “re-sell” the IOC with added details of the cities Olympic plans. The international press would be present as well as the media from each of the finalist cities. It would be a perfect storm of IOC members, delegates and civic leaders from the finalist cities and the media.

“We’ve got to go to Switzerland!” I blurted out. What possessed me to make that startling suggestion, I don’t know. Perhaps it was a sense of urgency and need to make a dramatic impact. After all, the ultimate audience for No Games Chicago’s activism is the International Olympic Committee since they are the people who hold the fate of our city in their hands. On October 2 they will vote to award the 2016 games to a city and we want to persuade them not to choose Chicago. How could a small group of social justice activists with no support from any civic organization hope to move such a large and powerful organization? How could we best make our case unless it was in person? Wouldn’t going to the home, the heart of the Olympic industry, be the best way to accomplish our goal?

But how? Who would go? We got very excited by this idea and discussed the pros and cons. We quickly agreed that this was something No Games Chicago HAD to do despite the fact that we had virtually no funds. I said that I would front what was needed and that others could chip in as needed. We agreed to hold a fundraiser as soon as possible upon our return. One of our members said she would donate her frequent flyer miles to allow two people to go. Later that day I called someone who had given us a donation back in March and this person donated enough miles to allow the entire team to travel to Geneva. We then decided who would go. All the travelers had passports but two had some issues with passport processing and would have to a special expedition process in order to travel abroad so quickly. By 5pm our team had air travel locked in and rooms reserved in Lausanne.

Switzerland is seven time zones ahead of Chicago. This would be a bear of a project to coordinate but we picked a team to stay on top of the local media and to work with the Swiss team. We also decided to keep the trip a secret even from most our own members as we felt surprise would be key to our impact. We labeled the enterprise “Operation Cheese” and would use this label in all emails. No one outside of this group who were at my house on May 30 would know our plans unless the leadership team approved it. 29 Now there is a thousand details to arrange. Press releases to write. communications plans to pull together, equipment to assemble, plans to make. No Games Chicago is going to Switzerland in two weeks!

30 WHY WE’RE IN COPENHAGEN (MEETING THE IOC, AGAIN)

By Tom Tresser – September 29, 2009

Located at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-tresser/why-were-in-copenhagen- me_b_302958.html

No Games Chicago has sent the same team who went to Switzerland In June to meet with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Copenhagen to do it again. I was one of the delegates who went to Lausanne and I'm part of the team again.

Our purpose then and now is to take a simple message to the members of the IOC -- the people of Chicago do not want the 2016 Olympics. 84% don't want them, according to a recent poll conducted by the Chicago Tribune. 45% don't want the games under any circumstances and 84% don't want public funds used for the party. Since the city has already spent or committed over $240 million for the games (see our tally at the end of this piece), that threshold has already been crossed. Hence 84% of the people of Chicago oppose the bringing of the 2016 Olympics to Chicago, That's a big number, too big, we think, to be ignored.

We ddn't come on a chartered jet and we're not wearing clothes designed by the First Lady's dress maker. No TV crews saw us off and none will welcome us back. We did grassroots fund raising up the last moment to pay for the trip.

When we went to Switzerland in June we took 100 copies of our "Book of Evidence" (download your very own copy -- 12MB PDF file) that laid out our arguments as to why Chicago would not be an ideal host for the 2016 Olympics. Each of these arguments has been strengthened by developments since then. We're bringing updates to the "Book of Evidence."

Will the members of the IOC listen?

Will the arrival of President Obama blind them to the defects in Chicago's bid and the angry mood of the people who feel abandoned by their government?

Will the press continue to fawn over the bid team and repeat their spin as gospel?

Stand by for further details.

$243 million and counting ...

$86 million for purchase of Michael Reese Hospital site. Lori Healey, president of the Chicago 2016 committee, has said the purchase of the site has nothing to do with the bid, but at the 2016 community meeting at the Palmer House on August XX Pat Ryan was quizzed by a No Games member and he revealed that they approached the city when their plans for siting the athlete's village over rail tracks proved too expensive.

$11 million for demolition of the site.

$1 million for securing the site.

Unknown millions for cleaning up the site (medical waste) 31 $110 million for improving the site.

$35 million from the Chicago Park District for the construction of the velodrome and kayaking course.

But wait, there's more ...

$12 million in lost revenues from 1,600 boat slips taken off line for three seasons.

$1 billion (probably much more) for security.

Unknown cost for destroying acres of priceless park land and making them unavailable to Chicagoans for years.

And if there are significant shortfalls or cost overruns, $500 million from the city and $250 million from the state (plus another $250 million for downstate pork projects to mollify the non- Chicago legislators.

32 WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WE WENT TO COPENHAGEN (TO INFLUENCE THE IOC, AGAIN)

By Tom Tresser – October 12, 2009

Located at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-tresser/what-happened-in- copenhag_b_316371.html

[ Note -- I was one of the three No Games Chicago delegates who traveled to Copenhagen last week to deliver materials and messages to the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)]

We left Chicago late Monday night, Sept. 28. All that day the news was all about how President Obama was going to Copenhagen Friday morning to address the IOC as part of the Chicago 2016 presentation. We were surprised and disappointed. Just a few days earlier, the President had announced that he was not going and was sending his wife instead. We were determined to do our best to carry the message of “no games” to the IOC despite the overwhelming odds against us.

At the airport we ran into reporters from the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. We spoke on the record about what we were hoping to accomplish. This was carried in the next morning’s editions. That was, I believe, the only print coverage of No Games Chicago’s trips to Switzerland and Denmark in our two major dailies. No one from either paper interviewed us in Lausanne or Copenhagen to ask us why we were doing what we were doing, who we were, how hard it was for us to do what we were doing -- or anything of depth. After the decision was announced later that week we were asked for comments. [I’m writing this on Oct. 9 and the only in-depth interview in either daily appeared in the Sun-Times on Oct. 7 -- after we had returned -- and was by sports columnist Rick Telander].

We arrived in Copenhagen on Sept. 29. The three delegates were Martin Macias Jr., Rhoda Whitehorse and Tom Tresser. This was the same team that had traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland, in June.

33 Our goal for this trip, nicknamed “Operation Mermaid” by the circumspect No Games Chicago leadership, was the same as our June “Operation Cheese” to Lausanne -- to directly influence the members of the IOC and convince them that Chicago was not the appropriate site for the 2016 Olympics.

We stayed at the Hotel 27 in the old part of town and near the plaza where the host city announcement celebration would take place Friday evening. The guys filled up one room and Rhoda took another. Our room quickly became a clutter of papers, press releases, supplies, signs, computers, gear and clothes. We were able to set up shop in the hotel’s lounge area because of free wireless service. The routine for the next five days became established -- talking to the media, answering emails, Skyping to the Chicago team, visiting IOC-related sites and staying up till 4 a.m. or later updating the web site, answering more emails and coordinating with Chicago (seven hours behind local time).

At about 4 p.m., I sent out a press release announcing our presence.

I also sent an email just to the IOC members announcing our presence and saying that we were available and eager to meet with them. We had secured two local phone numbers and included these numbers in our media materials and business cards.

In Chicago at the same time, No Games was launching a protest rally in front of City Hall. Our delegation would be announced at the rally. That afternoon a blizzard of media requests hit the Chicago team of No Games Chicago co-founder Bob Quellos and organizers Francesca Rodriguez, Rachel Goodstein and Lawndale colleague Valerie Leonard. Several stations wanted a prolonged No Games presence in their studios on Decision Day, Oct. 2. The Chicago team fielded over 30 media requests and appearances in 48 hours.

In Denmark during the first day, I spoke to WBEZ, WVON, WTTW, WLS, NBC Chicago, the AP, the Washington Post, a Swedish news magazine and French television. Dizzying. But this has become No Games Chicago’s main tactic of influencing the game -- by getting our position out to the public (and to the IOC). No Games Chicago had become the go-to source for creditable and organized opposition to the bid.

This is one of the most sobering aspects of the entire 2016 project. A few weeks before this I was being interviewed by a reporter for a local Chicago news program, I asked the reporter if there was anyone else to go to for criticisms or refutations of 2016 spin, or reactions to the total lack of oversight for taxpayer’s interests. “Is it just us?” I asked. The reporter thought for a moment and said “Yep, just you.” “Isn’t that sad?” I said. “I mean, No Games has become a reliable source but why aren’t there any other groups willing to speak on the record on this?” “Because they’ve all been intimidated.” “So why don’t you do a story on that?” I asked. The reporter made a face - - as if just stepping in something unpleasant -- “Oh, well, I guess you want to keep your job.” I joked (no, really).

This seems to me to be the most under-reported and most corrosive aspect of the 2016 saga. Namely, the complete emasculation of Chicago’s entire civic and academic infrastructure around compliance with 2016 dogma. No arms-length critical studies were done by any good government group. No cautions from groups who are supposed to be protecting the common good, protecting our parks, protecting the taxpayers. No calls to action from grassroots groups who usually can be counted on to defend neighborhoods against exploitation or neglectful politicians. Aside from one report from DePaul’s Egan Center, which raised a number of 34 important questions, there was no arms-length review or study of the project or scan of the vast Olympic research done by the groups who have staff and who should’ve been critical of the bid from the get go.

Our goal in coming to Copenhagen was to influence the outcome of an election. The election would take place under tight security at the Bella Center on Friday early afternoon on Oct. 2. The voters would be assembling from the far reaches of the globe. The composition of this tiny electorate is highly unusual.

VOTING MEMBER HONORARY MEMBER Kings 0 1 Princes & Princesses 12 2 Titled persons 2 1 Generals 3 1

There were 97 votes up for grabs in the first round, but seven members were excluded from voting because they represent candidate cities and the president, Jacques Rogge, would not be voting. So 18% of the voters who will be deciding the fate of our city were nobility or generals. Great!

No Games Chicago had already been to the IOC’s world headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June. At that time we delivered 100 copies of the No Games Chicago “Book of Evidence” (which you can download from our web site as a PDF) -- 160 pages of reprints from local papers over the past four years documenting our claims that Chicago is broke, corrupt, incompetent, crumbling, has an out-dated mass transit system and citizens who oppose the bid. This time we were bringing a cover letter plus article from the papers which added to and reinforced our message. We brought along the results of the Chicago Tribune poll published on September 3 showing that 84% of the people don’t want to pay for the games. We also gave IOC members a copy of a Chicago Tribune article from Feb. 15 -- "State of Corruption - A history of insatiable greed.” You can download these materials from our web site.

When we got up on Wednesday we heard that the rally in Chicago had gone extremely well with over 250 attending. The coverage was fair and showed a diverse crowd moving in a circle in front of City Hall. The CBS coverage actually included a profile of No Games and interviews with Francesca and Bob -- the first time any local reporter had actually spent time describing the organization and its organizers.

On Wednesday we visited some of the hotels where IOC members, staff, Chicago media and other city delegations were staying. Chicago media, IOC staff and the 2016 delegation were at the Island Hotel. We went there and were stopped by hotel security along with a private guard from Monterrey Security. This firm was hired by 2016 for security when the IOC Evaluation Commission visited Chicago in April and their agents were flown to Copenhagen. This is the same firm that has been accused of harassing and intimidating Latino fans at Chicago Fire soccer matches. We told the manager that we have information for the press. The manager said that the information was not approved by one of their guests and was not in that guest’s best interests and so we had to leave. We were escorted out the door and to cab stand (the hotel was about 15 minutes ride from our hotel) and the Monterrey guard stood a few feet away from us to make sure we got in the cab and left.

35 We then went to the Marriott Hotel where the IOC had staff and communications crew and where Michelle Obama was staying. This place was surrounded by Danish army and you could not drive up to the front door. A special enclosed walkway had been constructed from the side and it contained scanning and x-ray equipment. No one without a credential was going to get into the lobby, let alone deliver materials to IOC staff.

Martin and I then dropped Rhoda off at our hotel and we went on to the Admiral Hotel where Mayor Daley, Oprah and Michelle Obama were throwing a lavish dinner. There the security for the dining area was airtight but the bar was open and we walked in and distributed press materials to reporters who had covered the arrival of the stars earlier. We ran into Kathy Bergen from the Chicago Tribune, did a video interview with Jeff Goldblatt of FOX News Chicago and found Ben Bradley of ABC News Chicago having a burger. We sat and chatted with Ben for a while. He wasn’t too interested, frankly, in us or our message but told us to contact him if we did anything in the next day or two.

On the way out we had one of the most jarring conversations of the whole trip. A man and a woman were heading out the door and, as they both had press credentials, we offered them our press release plus the color post card. The man took it and said “If they see me talking to you. I’m dead.” The woman had a British accent and refused to take any of our materials. “I think what you’re doing is wholly inappropriate,” she said. “There’s a time and place for protest. The time for you to make your statement was before Chicago became a finalist. This is disruptive. This is inappropriate.” But, I asked, isn’t London’s 2012 games $9 billion over budget? Yes, she replied, but our being in Copenhagen was still not proper and she tugged on the man’s sleeve to move toward the exit. But the man -- we think he works for NBC -- was curious and asked a few questions. She said “I’m leaving” and succeeded in urging the man out of the hotel. Wow! Talk about the local media being cheerleaders, apologists and shills for the mayor and the 2016 bid -- this was a reporter from another country who didn’t want to talk to us or pass on our story to her readers.

On Thursday we were visited at our hotel by the four person delegation from No Games Tokyo. All in their early 50’s, two men and two women, the delegation brought along a copy of their own “anti-bid” book. One woman is a member of the Tokyo Assembly (like our City Council) and is alone among local politicians opposing the games. One was a man who owns a small business and he gave us a gift of a bag of his confectionary product, wasabi-covered pistachios! The other man is a father and activist who worked against the Nagano Winter Olympics of 1998.

We shared stories and tactics and decided to do our own work separately. They had brought along fliers and a banner and were heading for the public plaza where live music is playing and where the winning city would be announced on Friday evening. Follow this link to watch a short video of our meeting.

The news over the past two days has been full of reports of Michelle Obama having lunch with the Queen, with Oprah coming and going and with the details of the impending visit of the president. We weren’t the only delegation with celebrities in town. Brazil sent along soccer (or, should I say, football) superstar Pele who created a festival-like sensation wherever he went.

I emailed Mark Adams, the Director of Communications for the IOC, and requested a time to meet him. We wanted to give him our materials for the IOC and avoid the legions of security. We also wanted to request a meeting with the IOC President, Jacques Rogge and time to address

36 the full IOC after the four cities made their final presentations. He replied on Wednesday that no meeting would be possible.

I the emailed a number of IOC members who had consistently opened our daily IOC email newsletters over the past two months and asked them to intercede on our behalf. No replies. We would have to find another way to deliver our materials.

On Thursday afternoon we went over to the Marriott Hotel in a taxi. I had all the No Games materials for the IOC members in banker’s boxes with the No Games logo on the sides. This visual had proved amazingly effective in Switzerland. But as we got near the hotel we saw that the security had increased. Rhoda urged me to shed all No Games buttons and logos and just walk in with the papers.

So Martin and I left the No Games branded boxes in the cab, took off our buttons and approached the bright red suited doorman in front of the hotel -- flanked by two flak-jacketed members of the Danish army. “We’ve got materials for some of your guests. Will you walk us to the front desk?” He obliged and took us in past all the security to the front desk. I explained to the manager that we were from Chicago and had important documents for the IOC. The manager summoned a woman from the IOC. Martin was standing next to me with a camera to document the hand off of the letters and support materials. The woman told us that nothing could be left for any guest at the hotel unless it was cleared by the IOC Ethics Commission.

“These are not gold watches.” I said, “but important information for the IOC members and they are to be given to Mark Adams, the Director of Communication for the IOC. It’s his job and responsibility to receive these documents and deliver them to IOC members before they vote.” Another woman approached us and told us that she would take the materials for Mark. “What’s your name?” I asked. She would not reply. “Take her picture, Martin.” She turned away and made a call on her cell. Then the IOC person who wouldn’t tell us her name returned. “I’ve just spoken to Mark Adams and I’m instructed to take your materials to him.” I looked at her credential to make sure she worked for the IOC. Anna Zampieri is the Director of Events for the IOC and formally worked for the Turin Olympic Organizing Committee. She refused to let Martin take her picture, “I’m not your friend. You may not take my picture.” Martin got a shot of her back, though. With the hand off of the documents from No Games Chicago to Zampieri to Adams to the IOC, our mission to Copenhagen was accomplished.

We had penetrated the multiple rings of security, bypassed the private Monterrey rent-a-cops, outfaced the bureaucracy of the International Olympic Committee and stood our ground to deliver information that the mayor, Pat Ryan, the 2016 Committee, the entire business elite of Chicago and most of the media in Chicago didn’t want to see and didn’t want to acknowledge.

From there we took the waiting cab back to the city plaza. Across the street a media lounge had been established for members of the press. We went there and befriended the guard who told us that the press would be returning after covering the gala at the opera house. Buses full of media folk would be pulling up in front of the lounge space at about 7:30 p.m. We returned at about 7:15 p.m and the friendly guard had no new information. Martin and Rhoda went across the street where live music was playing in the plaza. I sat at a table at an outdoor café next to the media lounge. A few minutes later the young guard came out onto to the street to tell me that the buses would be here in five minutes. I frantically called our team members and hoped that they would hear the cell ring over the noise of the music.

37 I had brought with me press releases, the color post cards and a large sign that said “Chicago: 85% say NO!” Just before the first bus pulled up, the team members came back and we positioned ourselves on either side of the door to the lounge space. Two buses unloaded journalists and we gave out dozens of press releases. We even did an impromptu TV interview with a Brazilian crew. After we were done we asked the manager of the lounge if we could go in and have something to eat. “OK, but please don’t bother the journalists.” We agreed and left our materials at the security desk. Inside there were complimentary beer, cocktails, Danish hotdogs, sandwiches, fruit and chocolate. A large monitor was showing the performances on stage at the opera house. We sat and relaxed and caught our breath.

What a day!

I stayed up till about 6 a.m. answering emails, doing radio interviews using Skype and checking in with the Chicago team. Bob and Francesca had been going nonstop for more than a day since the rally and were doing media appearances non-stop. Their media schedule for Friday was booked solid for both, starting at 5 a.m. and going all day. Several other team members were called in to speak to the media. Friday would be Decision Day. All we had worked for the past year would now come to a conclusion.

Friday was cold, dreary and light rain was falling on the old city of Copenhagen. The early news showed Air Force One landing and disgorging dozens of military personnel, staff and media. A 20 car caravan then snaked slowly through the old streets taking the President to the Bella Center.

I was going to get up at 7:00 a.m. and go the U.S. embassy with a letter to the president. But I was feeling depressed, depleted and unhealthy after days of little sleep and high anxiety. What’s the point of taxiing out to the embassy and giving some functionary a letter that would never be 38 delivered to the president while he was about to make his pitch to the IOC? So I had some breakfast and chatted with the team members. They decided to scope out the plaza and the media lounge. After all, it was a pre-ordained fact that the contest was between Rio and Chicago, and the winner would not be announced until about 6:00 p.m. local time. We wanted to position ourselves in the plaza with signs so as to be visible to media for comments, whichever way the decision would turn out.

I watched the Chicago presentation on the television in my room. Just as President Obama started to speak I got a call from Australian radio for a live interview and held the phone up to the set so the interviewer and her listeners could catch some of the president’s remarks. Martin filmed the speech using a hand-held video camera. After the interview was over I took notes on the president’s remarks and when the president was done Martin kept the camera running and I did a live response. This was put online but never promoted.

At the time, I was angered and surprised by both the first lady’s and the president’s remarks. As brilliant as they are, as charismatic and persuasive as they have been, both speeches struck me as pat and delivered without authenticity, as if they were stump speeches delivered in a primary state for the 50th time that week.

I watched the presentation of Rio but missed Tokyo’s and actually dozed off during Madrid’s presentation. It had been a very long week. After all the presentations were concluded the IOC took a break.

When they returned to commence the actual voting at around 5:00 p.m. local time I was wide awake. The team was on their way back to the hotel. No hurry, right -- Chicago was a lock for the finalist spot -- at least that was what Chicago’s media was trumpeting back home.

The electronic voting procedure was explained in dry detail by Director General Lacotte. The names of the IOC members who could not vote in the first round were announced. The voting was declared open. After a few tense minutes the voting was declared closed. The fixed position camera showed the panel of “scrutineers” tabulating the results in silence. The chairman of the ballot counters took a paper and walked it to President Rogge who announced in a somber voice, “…Valid ballots 94. The city of Chicago having obtained the least number of votes will not participate in the next round.” Listen to this clip.

What the #@$%?! That’s it? It’s over? No second round or final round of voting for Chicago? The phone had rung a few minutes before and Martin said they were in the elevator on the way up. I rushed out of the room, ran down the hall and got to the elevator just as it opened and our team members emerged. “It’s over! It’s over! We’re out!” There were gasps. There were shouts. There were hugs and there were tears.

Was it possible that No Games Chicago had helped derail the 2016 Olympic bid of the city of Chicago, even in the slightest way? Had we just coasted on the already building resentment from the parking meter debacle and the mayor's flip-flop on signing the blank check? There were certainly many, many peole opposed to the bid but had we given them a place to park their energies and focus the city's collective attention? Had we taken on the most powerful people in our city, state and nation -- and won? Questions for historians and political scientists - for now, the reality was setting in. There would be, indeed, no games in Chicago.

39 Watch all the finalist city presentations, the announcement of the vote and the announcement of the host city

We were excited, overcome with emotion, jubilant that our cause was justified, and at the same time sad that our city had spent so much time and treasure and invested so much emotion on a wrong-headed project. The team decided to head over to the plaza to hear the announcement of the winning city.

But first I had to update our web site. I had to turn on one of two posts that were in “draft’ mode in the administrative control for the site. One was headlined “Chicago Awarded the 2016 Olympics -- What Now?” and asked people to take a brief survey to tell us what should be done to stop the games from coming to Chicago. The second draft was headlined “Chicago NOT Awarded the 2016 Olympics – What Now?” and asked people to take a brief survey to tell us what, if anything, No Games Chicago should do now and what ideas they have for moving the city forward. You can take this poll now.

I clicked the “Publish” button and the second draft went live.

As we stood the plaza with thousands of people waiting for the announcement our phones starting ringing with requests for comments from newspapers and other media outlets. I don’t recall being contacted by the Chicago Tribune or the Chicago Sun-Times.

On the stage were dozens of children and dancers in national garb from the four candidate cities. Two giant video screens flanked the stage and broadcast the final ceremony from the Bella Center. The IOC anthem was played and all who were seated stood (yes, there is a “national” anthem for a private organization). Then at about 6:50 p.m. local time, President Rogge opened the over-size envelope with the Olympic rings and pulled out the card with the name of the winning city. “Rio de Janeiro” he announced. The crowd went wild.

We went over to the media lounge where we met the four delegates from No Games Tokyo. They were also pleased with the results of the voting. We went into the lounge where a jazz band started to play. Almost immediately the news reports started spinning Chicago’s stunning defeat. What happened? What went so terribly wrong?

The Chicago No Games crew and the Tokyo No Games team were joined by an scholar who had flown in from England to be with us. He specializes in the Olympics, international sports and political movements. We watched local and international coverage of the stunning events of the day on large monitors in the lounge as the jazz band played. We will be discussing and analyzing what happened in Copenhagen for years to come.

After dinner I went back to the hotel, set up my portable office in the lounge and made calls and answered emails until 7:00 a.m. Almost at once the messages poured into our general email address and on our web site. The first one came in at 10:33AM Chicago time:

“YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!! NO CHICAGO OLYMPICS!!! Seriously, man, much love to you guys and all your hard work from us here in South Chicago. We know you guys had an influence and we applaud you for having the courage to stand up!”

What part did No Games Chicago ultimately play in the 2016 Olympic pageant?

40 One highly placed source in the proceedings -- someone who had worked for the IOC for 20 years in a very senior position -- told me two things. “When the public support for a bid drops below 50% you’re cooked,” he told me. “Your finances were not believable. They didn’t make sense to the members.”

We can’t take any credit for the lack of credibility of the patchwork of private funding assurances and financial guarantees and insurance policies the 2016 folks cobbled together. But we can take some credit for the lack of public support.

No Games Chicago was the only source of information to counter the public relations spin from the mayor, the 2016 Committee and the fawning Chicago media. We published and updated a Web site loaded with information on the bid and the impact on host cities. We went to over 50 community meetings and public forums. We staged two public protests that drew hundreds of people. We maintained communications networks using blogs, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. We became the only source for the media to go to for comments and rebuttal to the avalanche of publicity, mayoral pronouncements, scandals, conflicts of interest and aldermanic dereliction of duty. No one would speak on the record to oppose the bid. And we found the more people learned about the bud, the less they supported it. The mayor helped us here with his 180 degree reversal in June with his intention to sign the “blank check.” His credibility is at an all-time low; and as his declined, ours rose.

And the only way the IOC knew of the declining state of the 2016 bid in Chicago is because No Games told them. We took that message to Lausanne, Switzerland and hit it home in our daily email newsletters. You can view the entire library of 79 emails we sent to the IOC by clicking here. We included this key fact in two hard copy mailings to IOC members. We highlighted it again in the materials we brought to Copenhagen. We stressed the lack of support for the bid by the citizens of Chicago in every media appearance or interview. So, if low public support cooked the bid, it is fair to day that No Games Chicago was one of the chefs.

41 So one frenzied chapter of Chicago politics closes. What happens now? In the days after we returned to Chicago the feckless city council awarded $35.4 million to United Airlines to move to the Sears Tower (I refuse to use its new name, as the city awarded almost $4 million in taxpayer funds to the billion dollar insurance conglomerate after they bought the building) and this is on top of $15.4 million already given to United for this purpose.

And then the mayor appointed a former alderman’s driver to replace him in City Council.

What new concrete and contract laden project waits in the wings for the City Council to rubber stamp?

What new scandal will erupt embarrassing the city far more than an ill-conceived Olympic pipe dream?

What new public official will be caught breaking the law, lining his (or her) pockets and selling out the public interest?

What new hare-brained, insider-driven project of the mayor will the media cheer-lead for and refuse to cover critically?

What new issue will emerge demanding a grass roots effort like No Games Chicago to tackle because no one else will dare to speak out?

I fear we won’t have to wait very long to find out.

42 LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE OLYMPIC FIASCO

By Tom Tresser – October 19, 2009

Located at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-tresser/lessons-learned-from-the_b_324475.html

As readers of the Huffington Post know, I was one of the lead organizers for No Games Chicago.

It’s been two weeks since the decision in Copenhagen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to deny Chicago the 2016 Olympic games.

I was one member of the No Games Chicago delegation that was in Copenhagen and we were able to deliver our message and materials to the IOC.

It’s been an arduous and often lonely 10 months of organizing around stopping the 2016 games from ruining our finances, our parks and our neighborhoods.

I’ve had time to sort out the avalanche of experiences of the campaign and would like to share a few lessons from the battle of the bid.

(1) Accountability

Who is watching out for the taxpayers here? I would like to know how much money the city has spent to pursue the bid. I want to know what services were rendered and what properties were used by the bid effort. How much was spent on travel for city officials to promote the bid? Shouldn’t all work on the hospital site be frozen and shouldn’t we get a complete accounting of expenses and liabilities involved in the acquisition of the property? How much was spent on Chicago patrol officers to attend and "protect" all the 2016 summer meetings? How much did 2016 pay for the use of public spaces to hold those meetings? How much time and money was spent on 2016 related events in our public schools and on whose authority were those events conducted? How much money was given to the CTA for the 2016 audio ads and who authorized them? How much was spent on 2016 display advertising around the city and at our airports?

How are we going to prevent the mayor from ramming another hare-brained scheme down the taxpayers' throats while the aldermen rubber stamp the project and the media cheer him on?

(2) Recovery

Don’t we want any public funds spent by the city on behalf of or to advance the 2016 bid to be paid back to the city treasury by the 2016 leadership? The citizens are owed a full accounting of all such expenses and a binding agreement on the bid leadership to repay all such expenses would seem appropriate -- as 84% of the people of Chicago did not want or authorize such expenses. The work on the Michael Reese Hospital site must cease and the site must be returned to the private market. I should think that all contracts relating to that site are to be voided and any expenses incurred reimbursed to the city treasury by the 2016 Committee. Can we get a list of all obligations outstanding that the 2016 Committee has with any entity -- public or private -- in order to assure the taxpayers that no further public monies are in danger of being spent on this project? If any elected official has profited from work done for or on behalf of the 2016 Committee, that money should be reimbursed to the city treasury.

43 I feel like I’ve been ripped off and the thieves are in plain sight. And as if all this isn’t aggravating enough, in the past weeks the city council is handing United Airlines a total of $36 million in taxpayer dollars to move to the Sears Tower (I refuse to call it anything else), whose new owners also got about $4 million in our monies. And then the aldermen showered the Chicago Mercantile Exchange with 15 million of our dollars to help pay for building renovations. Don’t you have to be a millionaire to have a seat on the Exchange?

We need to stop the wholesale transfer of public assets to greedy, deep and private pockets.

(3) Prevention

I propose the following remedies to ensure that the city is not able to embark on new citizen rip- offs and unsanctioned mega-projects that benefit the few at the expense of the many:

 The mayor of Chicago shall no longer be able to appoint replacements for aldermen who leave office before the end of their term. If an alderman leaves office before the expiration of their term, a special election shall be held 90 days from the date of the vacancy.  All Tax Increment Financing districts shall be frozen and collect no further funds from citizen's property taxes and no TIF district shall make any expenditure until the entire program is reviewed for effectiveness and efficiency by an independent citizens' commission (we suggest such a council be composed of equal number of leaders from local business schools and community economic development practitioners). Until such a commission renders its report all funds in all TIF accounts shall be returned to the city's treasury.  No public property shall be transferred, sold, leased or loaned to a private entity or corporation without the express permission of the people of Chicago via binding referendum.  All alderman shall cease working for companies that do business with the city, county or state. This means law work, consulting or rendering any fee for service. Alderman should have one job and one job alone, and that is to represent the people who elected them and who pay their salaries.  The mayor shall appoint representatives of community groups to all commissions, boards and entities that control or disburse public assets (Plan Commission, Community Development Commission, Park District Board, Board of Education, Cable Commission, etc). The number of community representatives shall equal the number of members who are from the business community.  All city meetings where public assets might be disbursed or diminished must be held at 6:00 p.m. and the agenda published online at least one month in advance. If these conditions are not met the relevant agenda item may not be discussed or voted upon.

(4) Citizen Action

Because our alderman and county commissioners are almost to a person in the pocket of the mayor and because the media more less was an echo chamber for the public relations fluff from the 2016 Committee and because the academic institutions forgot to ask critical questions and because most of our nonprofit so called “watchdog” organizations were silent and petrified we have no defense against bad policy and taxpayer rip-offs in our city or county.

44 It seems to me that if the citizens want to be protected from bad government and further rip-offs, we are going to have to rise to a new level of citizen involvement. We are going to have to start monitoring how these entities use and abuse our money and we’re going to have be smart enough to understand how they do it. And we’re going to have to work to fire them when we catch them doing it.

I know I don’t want to go through another No Games fight. I feel that the people of the region do not want to go through this again, and by “this,” I mean the betrayals, the astounding lack of due diligence by our elected officials, the blatant conflict of interest from project insiders and the arrogance of the mayor and his team in withholding vital information from the taxpayers of the city.

But I have little hope that our elected representatives will, truly, represent us.

It is for this reason that I have decided to seek the office of the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. If elected I will undertake a top-to-bottom financial review of all aspects of the county’s business and stop insider deals, ghost employee-ism and other longstanding taxpayer rip-offs. [Note – I raised about $10,000 for this campaign and came in third, polling 53,000 votes]

45 WHY I FOUGHT THE BID – JOAN LEVIN

Over forty years ago I was a tree-hugger in Jackson Park on Chicago’s south side, standing in the path of heavy equipment sent to cut down trees to make way for public works projects that we knew would fill the coffers of the local Democratic Machine as winning contractors “contributed” their share of the federal monies received.

In 2009 it was “déjà vu all over again” as an arrogant city administration met behind closed doors to commandeer not only the city parks but whole neighborhoods and a faltering city treasury in order to make way for the 2016 Olympic Games – a project that I believed would profit a few but leave most taxpayers holding the bag for crushing debt.

I was privileged to work with a small group of Chicagoans representing widely divergent backgrounds and interests, as well as ages spanning over fifty years, who left their differences at the door to bring their many talents to No Games Chicago.

Our community organizers, media experts, speakers, writers and researchers put in many volunteer hours each week for nearly a year with only minimal funds to play what I believe was a critical role in educating the Chicago public about the problems the 2016 games could bring this city, and demonstrating to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) the unsuitability of Chicago as an Olympic venue.

Although our group was small we worked hard and we worked smart. Early on we realized that there was no point in addressing our concerns to a Mayor who was totally invested in these games, and who had already demonstrated (with his earth moving equipment at Meigs Field some years earlier) that democratic process took a back seat to pushing through his agenda.

Therefore we concentrated on demonstrating to the IOC that Chicago was unsuitable as an Olympic venue because:

1. The city could not afford it;

2. The city, as evidenced by other mishandled projects, would most likely not execute this one properly;

3. Corruption at every level could slow down processes that needed to run like clockwork;

4. The people of the Chicago did not want it.

The first three items we could readily document from public sources. The fourth item – lack of public support, grew steadily over the course of the months preceding the IOC’s decision. When it became public knowledge that Chicago would have to sign IOC’s “Host City Contract” binding the city to obligations that in all likelihood would be passed along to taxpayers, public support quickly tumbled to well under 20% according to major polls.

We presented supporting information for all of these points to the IOC in a weighty volume called “The Book of Evidence” plus occasional updates. This information mostly comprised articles from major newspapers, articles which we believed would balance the information the IOC was undoubtedly receiving from the city and from Chicago’s “sales team” for the games, Chicago 2016. 46 With practically nothing in our bank account, we managed to cobble together funds and airline miles to send a small team first to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the bids were presented in June 2009, and then to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the election was held.

When public support fell precipitously following the Mayor’s public admission that Chicago would be bound by the “Host City Contract,” the city responded by having Chicago 2016 host public meetings for all fifty wards of the City. No Games Chicago fielded teams at each of these meetings to hand out literature, chat with people, and ask questions during the Q& A sessions. We were polite and non-disruptive, but we made sure that people attending these meetings had a chance to hear both sides of the issue.

Why was Chicago eliminated on the first round? There were many possibilities. We heard rumors that the IOC found the Chicago bid to be deficient, and that the presentations of Mayor Daley and President Obama were not as persuasive as the more heartfelt ones of Rio de Janeiro. We also heard rumors that some IOC members had pledged their first round vote to Madrid in honor of Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain who was retiring after over twenty years as IOC President. We also heard that many Asian delegates had pledged their first round votes to Tokyo, and Latin American delegates to Rio de Janeiro.

Any or all of these might be true. However, I cannot help but think that by presenting both to the people of Chicago AND to the IOC the facts that the Mayor and Chicago 2016 tried to downplay or conceal, No Games Chicago made a difference that contributed to the result of this election.

What might Chicago have learned from this? First and foremost, to make the public part of the bid development process from the start. While some of the early meetings may have been at least nominally open to the public, they were not well publicized and the public was not urged to become part of the process. But in time it became clear that many Chicago parks and beaches would be removed from public use not only during the games, but also during long periods of construction. It was also clear that whole neighborhoods – ones that had never been consulted during the initial planning stages – would suffer as a result. And finally, it was clear that Chicago would in all probability become yet another bedraggled marcher in the growing parade of cities that had endured severe financial hardship as a result of hosting the games.

Some of those in areas that would be most adversely affected tried to negotiate agreements with the city to protect some of their interests, but, as finally executed, these agreements lacked language that would bind the City to anything substantial.

Indeed, some of the destructive actions of the city seemed pointless and unsupportable. An example of this was the tearing down the entire Michael Reese Hospital complex as a potential Olympic Village site even before the bid was awarded. This was done over the objections of architectural historians who decried the loss of the only Walter Gropius buildings in Chicago, as well as those of community leaders who believed these buildings could be repurposed in some worthwhile manner. This vacant land now sits useless and while it may eventually go to some profitable use, it is not clear that any profits derived would wind up in that neighborhood.

Would some have benefited from games in Chicago? To be sure there would have been some jobs – temporary and not well paid. But the real profits would in all likelihood have been distributed among many of the same parties who have already dipped deep into the public

47 trough. As with so many other ill-considered projects, the outcomes would mostly capitalize the profits and socialize the losses.

Would the outcome have been different had the process been more open and transparent from the first? Would it have made a difference in public acceptance had those meetings in 50 Wards been held in the initial stages of this process? Or was holding the games in this cash-strapped city simply a poor idea no matter how attractive it might have seemed to some.

At times the task seemed impossible. While leaders from some civic and environmental groups confided that they supported our efforts, their public stance and that of their organizations was at best silence and at worst full-throated support of the Chicago games.

We kept working, taking heart both from Gandhi’s famous words: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then you win. And this is exactly what happened.

48 WHY I FOUGHT THE BID – JOHN VIRAMONTES

As far back as the 1950s Chicago taxpayers had been shielded from an Olympics bidding process. Chicago has never hosted an Olympics. Even as late as 2004 the word on the street was that Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley considered a Chicago bid to host an Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games "too expensive." Pivotal to Daley's vision for Chicago to get the 2016 Olympics was the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) 2005 elimination of New York City to host the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in favor of London. The Big Apple's defeat paved the way for U.S. cities to submit their applications to the USOC. After abstaining for a half century, Chicago rolled the dice and cobbled up a bid. The goal was to eventually get, at the 121st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session held in Copenhagen, Denmark on October 2, 2009, the all-important nod to host the 2016 Summer Games. By 2006 the USOC had narrowed the field to three U.S. candidate cities with San Francisco withdrawing its application in autumn of the same year, leaving semifinalists Los Angeles and Chicago to duel.

In April of 2007 the USOC ousted Los Angeles, causing Chicago bid backers around the world to celebrate. Surprisingly, within 30 days a report surfaced that Chicago bid bosses, in their battle with L.A., had violated an IOC edict. Chicago Sun Times city hall beat reporter Fran Spielman broke the news in her May 17, 2007 article, "Chicago's Olympic logo smoked out; Cities can't use torch, so bid team has to start over " It was revealed that Chicago bid organizers had designed and aggressively marketed to the USOC a flawed bid logo. The IOC, upon reviewing Chicago's application, spotted the bad design and banished the logo as unacceptable. The rejected logo, a flaming torch, was too much like the IOC's official torch design, which is their intellectual property and which is vigorously protected.

How could Chicago bid organizers have dangled its outlaw image in public, only to have L.A. bid supporters, the USOC, the IOC and the world press not notice the illegal design? And why did the IOC wait to arrive at its "wrongful use" conclusion only until after L.A. had been eliminated? Five days after the Fran Spielman article ran, my letter to the editor, "Logo gave city bad image," appeared in the Sun Times. The letter raised the issue whether the IOC was guilty of negligence for not red-flagging the bogus logo prior to the USOC torpedoing the L.A. bid.

To say the least, Chicago's violation of an IOC rule made for another embarrassing headline; it was one more disgrace dumped on the city. It primed taxpayers to believe that desperate Chicago bid managers would stoop to whatever strategy and tactics necessary to snag the 2016 Olympic Summer Games. The incident brought to mind recent events which revealed the raw power of a City of Chicago, by leveraging its sister agency the Chicago Park District hell bent on using muscle to get its way.

For example, in 2003 many people awoke one morning and were outraged to learn of an action that was reported by the news media far beyond Illinois, the midnight closing of Chicago's downtown lakefront airport, Meigs Field, when bulldozers tore up runways, without giving the Federal Aviation Administration the mandatory 30-day notice. As reported by the Chicago Sun Times on September 19, 2006, the Daley administration agreed "...to pay a $33,000 fine and repay $1 million in federal airport development grants, to settle claims stemming from Mayor Daley's infamous midnight destruction of Meigs Field in March 2003."

49 In early 2009 I learned, via a No Games Chicago Facebook page, that others shared the view that Chicago bid organizers were on the prowl. The No Games Facebook page quickly garnered an active readership and bubbled with activity. A new website at www.nogameschicagocom kept the taxpaying public well informed with compelling stories, video and photos. The site was filled with hard facts about past and present Olympic venues and the underreported negative aspects associated with them such as the incurring of up to billions of dollars in construction budget cost overruns, unnecessarily putting taxpayers on the hook. A public comments section logged supporters' kind words but also became, to no one's surprise, a lightning rod for No Games detractors.

But No Games Chicago didn't stop there; it articulated a viable alternative vision for Chicago minus the 2016 Summer Games. It suggested that any plan for what a future Chicago might be must first take an inventory of any number of issues. No Games rightfully pointed to Chicago's failure in important arenas such as public school children reading below grade level, the poor condition of neighborhood streets located away from the downtown area, the continuing red-ink city budget, the near absence of affordable housing, a poorly-negotiated long term parking meter lease, the instance of a retired police detective supervisor accused (later convicted for felonious lying about it) of torturing many suspects, the Hired-Truck corruption scandal, the rash of school age children being shot and killed in the street, the issuance of “sweetheart” purchasing contracts and the ongoing lack of a union labor contract for police, among other issues.

In light of real problems facing Chicago, the Chicago bid was a distraction whose slick marketing seduced many, such as President Obama and First Lady Michelle, talk show host Oprah Winfrey, professional basketball legend Michael Jordan, U.S Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and countless other luminaries. How could honest, hard-working Chicagoans not fight back?

In the end, the Rio de Janeiro bid came out on top. No Games members and its allies, literally countable on one hand, breathed a long sigh of relief. No Gamers took no delight in seeing the disappointment etched on the countless faces of those who backed the Chicago bid. At the pro- Olympics rally in Daley Plaza attended by thousands, bid backers wept openly under the Picasso sculpture after IOC President Jacques Rogge's message of defeat lit up two colossal Jumbotron screens.

Much has happened since that historic Friday, October 2, 2009. Most notable is that a gem was added to the No Games winner’s crown on April 30, 2011. The Chicago Audubon Society (Est. 1971) honored the organization at its biennial banquet with its "Protector of the Environment" award, part of a night honoring other individuals and organizations for their important work in fighting to safeguard habitats that sustain wildlife. A Chicago Olympics would have put public parkland in danger. As award recipients arrived at the banquet hall, each was given a name tag which bore a phrase attributed to Margaret Mead, anthropologist, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

I'm grateful for the vision of No Games Chicago founders and leaders; especially those energetic and tireless core members who volunteered to show up and protest, week in and week out, at the summer's public meetings held in each of Chicago's 50 wards. Without their bold civic activism it's doubtful that I would’ve had the stamina to oppose the bid to the very end.

50 IV. THE EMAILS

No Games Chicago acquired the email addresses of members of the International Olympic Committee and sent them a number of updates starting in May of 2009. We decided to transmit one update a day, every day, starting 70 days from the October 2 decision date.

These emails would contain one article or news item from that day’s press or sometimes, the day before. The articles and news items were picked to give weight and credibility to the arguments and materials presented in our “Book of Evidence.” There would be no editorializing other then a few sentences to introduce the item. The emails also contained verbatim comments from people who had signed the No Games anti-bid online petition and letters to the editor of the local newspapers objecting to the bid.

We used Constant Contact to send these emails so we know exactly who opened each email and how many times. On average, between ten and twenty IOC members opened every email. Some members opened every one of the 70 emails. A total of 36 members and two staff opened these emails. Of course, we have no way of knowing how many people were forwarded copies.

Tom Tresser composed and transmitted these emails.

51 Update from No Games Chicago - 70 Days - Citizens finally have their say...

No Games Chicago Update 70 Days To Decision Daily News

July 23, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

As we are 70 days away from your decision as to who will get the 2016 games, we'd like to keep you informed of Chicago news on a daily basis.

As a reminder, we'd love to hear your comments on the "Book of Evidence" we left for you in Lausanne. If you did not receive a copy please contact Mr. Adams and request he send you a copy. If you would prefer an electronic version you can download it from our website, www.nogameschicago.com.

Wanna Buy an Olympics? Why is the mayor's A team only now hitting the neighborhoods to pitch Chicagoans on the Olympic bid? Visit our web site and download the "Book of By Ben Joravsky- Chicago Reader - July 23, 2009 Evidence" that we Read this online. delivered to you in Lausanne! In a more perfect democracy, the campaign to host the 2016 Olympic Games would have been the subject of intense public scrutiny from the moment Open letter to the IOC: Mayor Daley proposed it three years ago. "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago" The financial projections would've been scrutinized by independent-minded aldermen and their whiz-kid staffers. There would've been public hearings where ordinary citizens would get to question Daley's Olympics planners. There might even have been a referendum, carefully worded to let people know exactly what they were getting into-something Olympic economics along the lines of "This could cost us all a ton of money. Do you still want it?"

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But what Chicago has is not an ideal democracy. So How can our politicians, here we are three years later, heatedly pursuing all under the same Mayor Daley's Olympics dream whether we want to breath, be talking about or not. the 2016 Chicago Recently, though, the Chicago 2016 planners have Olympics when words been holding forums across the city. The mayor had such as "layoffs," no choice: in June he promised International "furloughs," "tax hikes" Olympic Committee officials he'd sign the standard and "shortfall" are host city contract, which will make Chicago taxpayers the guarantors of any cost overruns-a coming out of their figure that could run into the billions of dollars. The mouths? fallout was immediate. Aldermen, already under siege after the parking meter lease debacle, Cristina Vargar, Chicago demanded an opportunity to examine and vote on the fine details of any funding package. Letter to the Editor So to pacify the aldermen and show the IOC that Chicagoans truly want the games-despite whatever Chicago Tribune IOC commissioners might be reading in the July 22, 2009 papers-Daley announced a series of community meetings in which the planners would bring the case for the games directly to the people.

I had to wonder: What assurance could they possibly offer that public dollars won't be spent that the public hasn't already heard for years?

The short answer: none.

That said, the two hearings I sat through were fairly impressive dog and pony shows. Cheery, well-dressed young volunteers were on hand to pass out flyers, maps, rubber wristbands, and other doodads. And to answer questions, Daley sent in the A team: Patrick Ryan, CEO of the Chicago 2016 Committee; Lori Healey, president of the committee; Doug Arnot, director of venues and games operations; and Kurt Summers, Healey's chief of staff.

They didn't merely show up and screen their promotional videos, featuring inspirational testimonials from local athletes and a pitch from President Obama. They tailored each presentation to its audience. For instance, there was a white moderator, Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky, at the July 13 meeting at North Park University on the northwest side. The meeting two days later at the South Shore Cultural Center on the south side was moderated by Chicago 2016's director of neighborhood legacy, Arnold Randall, who's black. Two Olympians-both white-showed up on the northwest side to wave at the crowd. Ryan introduced them, but they sat in the audience.

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On the south side, three black Olympians sat facing the audience alongside Ryan, Healey, and other officials. Sprinter Connie Moore-who grew up in South Shore and was a member of the 2004 American team-gave a brief speech. Randall encouraged the crowd to ask the Olympians questions about their Olympics experiences, as though their personal tales had some relevance to the pressing financial and planning matters at hand. On the north side, Ryan and Healey by and large addressed the issue of cost as if they were speaking to a group of concerned taxpayers. As Ryan explained it, the games would pay for themselves and more: they would cost $3.3 billion to stage and bring in $3.8 billion in revenues. That $500 million balance would fund "legacy" programs in needy neighborhoods for decades to come.

On the south side, Ryan and Healey repeated those projections, but they and others largely emphasized the jobs and opportunities the games would create. People who want jobs in these bleak economic times better jump on the Olympics bandwagon, they said, because it could be the only game in town. They urged the audience to visit the Chicago 2016 Web site to learn how to apply for jobs and contracts.

There were even different Obama videos for each crowd. The one on the north side showed him looking presidential, sitting before the flag in the White House and speaking directly to the IOC. On the south side, Obama was seen offering a rousing campaign speech last summer in Daley Plaza. "In 2016 I'll wrap up my second term as president," he said. "I can't think of a better way than to be walking into Washington Park alongside Mayor Daley and announcing to the world, 'Let the games begin.'"

But despite these heroic efforts, neither audience was buying what the Olympic planners were selling. "Let's have a referendum," a man in the North Park audience blurted out." "Please, let's be respectful," said Ryan. "Let's hold a referendum," the man persisted.

When Ryan assured the North Park audience that the Olympics venues could all be reached by bus so there'd be no need to create extra parking, another guy cracked, "There's not enough quarters in the country to pay the meters."

The session culminated with a question from a woman near the back: "What are your policies to guard against corruption?" Ryan responded that

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Chicago 2016 is governed by "a group of very responsible people." Opposition at the South Shore Cultural Center was even stronger. For every person in the crowd who spoke up in favor of the games, at least eight others spoke against them. They demanded jobs now-not in seven years. They correctly pointed out that the "community benefits" agreement is not legally binding but merely sets out a series of goals for the creation of affordable housing and jobs for minorities and women. They accused officials of condescending to them-"Barack Obama, Oprah, and Michael Jordan don't speak for me," one woman said. They scoffed at promises to use the games to improve recreational programs in the inner city ("Do it now," one man demanded), and they mocked the cheery financial projections.

"You're all projecting you're going to make a lot of money," declared one woman. "Bankers projected making a lot of money, Madoff projected he was going to make a lot of money. If your plan fails, where will the money come from? Will it come from hospitals, schools, parks-or are they going to issue a lot more of those red light tickets?"

So now what? Any way you look at it, supporting the games requires a leap of faith. You either believe the optimistic projections of Daley, Ryan, Healey, Randall, and all the other cheerleaders, or you tell yourself that the Olympics will be so good for Chicago you don't care how much they cost.

Once these community hearings end in mid-August, the public will pretty much have had its say. The sneers and jeers may embolden a handful of aldermen to oppose the mayor when the council eventually votes on the full-funding commitment, but the council will probably approve it anyway. And with that the action will shift to a new audience-the IOC. This eclectic group of 100-some Olympic insiders-many of them former Olympians-will meet in Copenhagen on October 2 to make a final decision."

At the moment Chicago's bid seems to be in trouble. The latest ranking from Gamesbid.com, which surveys the horse race, has Chicago dead last in the four-city competition, behind Tokyo, Rio, and Madrid. Chicago's planners are clearly hoping for a big boost from Obama. Four years ago, Paris was the favorite to win the 2012 games. But in the end, the IOC voted 54 to 50 for London, thanks to a last-minute pitch from Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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If Obama successfully pulls a Blair and uses his considerable charm and charisma to woo over the IOC, it won't matter whether the larger Chicago public is for, against, or ambivalent about the games. But then that's been true all along. ------Ben Joravsky discusses his column weekly with journalist Dave Glowacz at http://mrradio.org /theworks.

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No Games Chicago Update 69 Days To Decision Daily News

July 24, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Today's update comes from the Hyde Park Herald, Chicago's oldest community newspaper. This article reports on several 2016-related community meetings held on the south side of the city.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 69 Days - Citizens continue to have thei...

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 68 Days - Chicago's Backwards Bid

No Games Chicago Update 68 Days To Decision Daily News

July 25, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Today's update comes from NBC News Chicago's online service. We continue to share with you coverage of the community meetings being staged by the Chicago 2016 Committee.

Chicago's Backwards Olympic Bid Public invited in - sort of - at end

By STEVE RHODES - July 24, 2009

Now that the city is just a few months away from finding out if it will be awarded the 2016 Olympics, an actual real debate has erupt among taxpayers about whether they actually, really want it.

Isn't this backwards?

Yes, but if City Hall and local Olympic officials had their way, they would have made it all the way to October without having

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 68 Days - Chicago's Backwards Bid http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs040/1102402695779/archive/11026...

to include taxpayers who will foot the bill in their plans.

"In a more perfect democracy, the campaign to host the 2016 Olympic Games would have been the subject of intense public scrutiny from the moment Mayor Daley proposed it three years ago," Ben Joravsky writes in the Reader.

"The financial projections would've been scrutinized by independent-minded aldermen and their whiz-kid staffers. There would've been public hearings where ordinary citizens would get to question Daley's Olympic planners. There might even have been a referendum, carefully worded to let people know exactly what they were getting into - something along the lines of 'This could cost us all a ton of money. Do you still want it?'

"And if the answer were yes, we'd have moved on to try to win the International Olympic Committee's approval. "But what Chicago has is not an ideal democracy. So here we are three years later, heatedly pursuing Mayor Daley's Olympic dream whether we want to or not."

In fact, the only reason why the public is suddenly engaged in debate - and why at least some portions of the mainstream media have belatedly awoken to the fact that all is not what local Olympic officials make it seem - is that what the mayor told the International Olympic Committee behind closed doors somehow made its way back to Chicago and confirmed what critics have said all along: the city is handing the IOC a blank check.

Even Fran Spielman of the Sun-Times, which has been one of the main Daley water-carriers for the Games bid, was moved this week to note that "Newspaper editorials have been overwhelmingly supportive of the city's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Some of the television coverage has been so gung-ho, reporters sounded like cheerleaders."

The Tribune's John Kass, who unsurprisingly has been onto the mayor's game from the get-go, nearly alone among mainstream media figures, noted himself this week that "the mayor has accused the news media of not being onboard with his Olympic dreams. Who do you think he was referring to, exactly? The Tribune proudly flew Chicago 2016 flags from Tribune Tower."

The turning of the tide answers the question Joravsky poses this week: "Why is the mayor's A team only now hitting the neighborhoods to pitch Chicagoans on the Olympic bid?"

Because public support is eroding.

"The more people hear about this, the more they oppose it," anti-Olympics activist Tom Tresser said on Chicago Tonight this week.

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So the mayor's bid-masters have set out in a series of meetings across the city to change what taxpayers are hearing - these are not meetings being held for the benefit of residents who want to question aspects of the bid or venture their opinion. These meetings are intended to communicate in one direction only.

"These are not hearings," Chicago 2016 operations director Doug Arnot said on Chicago Tonight, "they are public forums where the public has the opportunity to get information."

Oh thank you for the opportunity!

Now shut up and listen!

"As promised, I had an open mind last night when I went to the Chicago Olympic committee's community meeting at North Park University," Joravsky wrote after attending one of these meetings.

"I listened to Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan, president Lori Healey, and venue director Doug Arnot make their case for committing untold billions to Mayor Daley's games.

"But sorry - they lost me when they claimed that providing recreational opportunities for underprivileged children in low-income neighborhoods was their primary motivation for staging the games."

The problem Olympic organizers face now is folks leaving these meetings laughing. ------Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.

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No Games Chicago Update 67 Days To Decision Daily News

July 26, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

On Monday, July 27, the Finance Committee of the Chicago City Council will consider an ordinance introduced by Alderman Manny Flores. This legislation would place a limit on the amount of Chicago tax-payer's money The People Speak could be spent on the 2016 Olympic games We do not have the to a limit of $500 million. money to put on a successful Olympics, and our city and state are both in shambles as it is. Bringing the Olympics here would be a disservice to the athletes involved, the nature of the activity, and the citizens of ORDINANCE Illinois. WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government by virtue of the provisions of the Ms. S.W. , Elmhurst Constitution of the State of Illinois of 1970 and, as such, may exercise any power and perform any Comment on No Games function pertaining to its government and affairs; online petition - July 21, and 2009 WHEREAS, The City has proposed hosting the summer Olympic Games, including the Paralympic Games constituting a part thereof (the "2016 Games") in 2016; and

WHEREAS, In pursuing the honor of hosting the 2016 Games, the City has worked cooperatively

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with Chicago 2016, an Illinois not-for-profit corporation (the "Bid Committee") formed for the purpose of assisting and representing the City in the Olympic Games bid application process in accordance with International Olympic Committee ("I.O.C.") protocols; and

WHEREAS, In early 2007, the Bid Committee submitted the City's bid application materials to the Visit our web site and United States Olympic Committee ("U.S.O.C.") in download the "Book of connection with the U.S.O.C.'s selection of the Evidence" that we United States' host city candidate in April 2007; and delivered to you in Lausanne! WHEREAS, In connection with such bid application, and by an ordinance adopted by the City of Chicago City Council (the "City Council") on March 14, 2007 and published in the Journal of the Proceedings of Open letter to the IOC: the City Council of the City of Chicago titled "Why you don't want to give "AUTHORIZATION FOR EXECUTION OF the Olympics to Chicago" AGREEMENTS WITH VARIOUS PRIVATE AND MUNICIPAL ENTITIES IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CITY OF CHICAGO'S BID APPLICATION TO HOST 2016 OLYMPICS", the City Council provided for the authorization of the City's execution of, among other things: (a) certain City of Chicago Olympic Commitments Agreement; (b) certain intergovernmental Agreements by and between the City and the Chicago Park District, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the Board of Education of the City of Chicago and certain other public bodies whose properties may serve as venues for Olympic Games; and (c) a Joinder Undertaking and Joinder Agreement (the "Joinder Agreement") pursuant to which the City has committed to provide certain guarantees and indemnities, subject to the limitations set forth therein; and

WHEREAS, Under the Joinder Agreement, the City's financial obligations (referred to as the "Maximum Liability") were capped at $500,000,000; and

WHEREAS, On April 14, 2007, the U.S.O.C. selected the City as the United States' Applicant City for the 2016 Games; and

WHEREAS, On June 4, 2008, the I.O.C. selected the City as one of the final four Candidate Cities for the 2016 Games; and

WHEREAS, After June 4, 2008, the I.O.C. then issued its "2016 Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire" (the "Candidature Procedure"); and

WHEREAS, The Candidature Procedure is the

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document provided by the I.O.C. to Candidate Cities that explains the candidature process, sets forth certain questions that the Candidate Cities must answer, and requests certain mandatory guarantees that the Candidate Cities must provide prior to February 12, 2009 as part of their bid application; and

WHEREAS, In July, 2008, the I.O.C. also issued the form of "Host City Contract for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in the Year 2016" (the "Host City Contract"); and

WHEREAS, The Host City Contract is the primary legal document that shall govern the organization and operation of the 2016 Games, and, if the City is selected to host the 2016 Games, must be executed by the City and the U.S.O.C. immediately following the I.O.C's selection of the host city on October 2, 2009; and

WHEREAS, Following the I.O.C.'s selection of the host city for the 2016 Games, the I.O.C. shall also execute the Host City Contract, which shall become binding upon such parties; and WHEREAS, the City Council is charged with protecting the short and long term economic viability of the City; now, therefore

Be It Ordained by the City Council of the City of Chicago:

SECTION 1. The foregoing recitals are hereby adopted as the findings of the City Council and are incorporated herein and made a part of this ordinance.

SECTION 2. As referenced in Section F of Part II (Covenants of the City) of (Sub)Exhibit "A" (Joinder Agreement) of Exhibit "F" (Joinder Undertaking) in the "AUTHORIZATION FOR EXECUTION OF AGREEMENTS WITH VARIOUS PRIVATE AND MUNICIPAL ENTITIES IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CITY OF CHICAGO'S BID APPLICATION TO HOST 2016 OLYMPICS" executed and approved by the City Council on March 14, 2007, the City's obligations under the City Liabilities and Net Financial Deficit shall not exceed Five Hundred Million Dollars ($500,000,000) in the aggregate (referred to as the "Maximum Liability").

SECTION 3. The City of Chicago, and any and all entities acting on behalf of the City of Chicago, in connection with any aspect of the City's bid for the

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2016 Games, is hereby prohibited from providing financial guarantees that could obligate the City to exceed the $500,000,000 Maximum Liability under the Joinder Agreement executed and approved through the prior ordinance adopted by the City of Chicago City Council on March 14, 2007 and reaffirmed through an ordinance adopted by the City Council on January 13, 2009 and published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago titled "EXECUTION OF AGREEMENTS CONCERNING CHICAGO'S CANDIDACY TO HOST 2016 OLYMPICS", unless otherwise authorized by the Chicago City Council.

SECTION 4. This ordinance supersedes any language within Section 2 of the March 14, 2007 and January 13, 2009 agreements that may be construed as limiting the authority of the City Council to affirm the $500,000,000 cap on the City's financial obligation to the Games.

SECTION 5. This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and approval.

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No Games Chicago Update 66 Days To Decision Daily News

July 27, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Today the New York Times ran this article further documenting the deterioration of public support for the 2016 bid in Chicago.

Recession Shadowing Chicago Bid for Games By MONICA DAVEY The People Speak CHICAGO - On a recent afternoon, Mayor Richard M. Not Taxpayer's Dream Daley delivered his annual speech on the condition of the city he has run for 20 years. Revenues may The press is not the only fall $250 million short. Some city workers must take one against the Olympic 15 unpaid days this year, including Mr. Daley. More Games, Mr. Mayor. than 400 workers were laid off that very afternoon, after talks with two unions collapsed.

So are thousands of In the same address, Mr. Daley pressed forward with Chicago taxpayers who the city's efforts to host the 2016 Summer have been burdened by Olympics, which carry an expected $3.3 billion price your inept tag. A decision by the International Olympics administration, parking Committee is due in October, and Chicago is meter fiasco, truck hiring considered a favorite among the four finalists. scandals and the continued corruption in Polls here suggest broad support for bringing the Olympic Games to the city. But increasingly, the City Hall. economic downturn is taking a central role in the local debate over the bid as more residents raise Chicago taxpayers are concerns that Chicago taxpayers, already struggling, tired of seeing their could be left paying the bills despite assertions from hard-earned tax money organizers that no city dollars will be needed. being spent on your cronies and family "How do we know?" a resident, Douglas Brown, members. demanded of leaders of the Olympics bid during a recent neighborhood meeting on the South Side. "We can't take your word for it," Mr. Brown said, adding, "When do we get our guarantees to make us

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 66Days - New York Times reports on b...

sleep at night?" Chicago taxpayers DO NOT need to be At the same time, Mr. Daley and other supporters of burdened any further the Games argue that the Olympics would be a force with untold billions of - perhaps the force - to lift Chicago from this dollars in taxes to financial gloom, with seven years of new support "your dream," construction, jobs and tourism. Mr. Mayor. Asked about the difficulties of lobbying for an Olympics bid during a recession, Lori Healey, the You want to see the president of Chicago 2016, the bid committee here, Olympics, fly to London said: "I think it makes it easy. People are hungry for for the next one. jobs and opportunities."

Charles Vazquez Earlier events that placed Chicago on an international stage, Ms. Healey said, also came Chicago Sun-Times during periods of financial gloom: a World's Fair in 1893 and again in 1933. Letter to the Editor July 27, 2009 To hear Ms. Healey and other bid leaders tell it, there is no downside. If the International Olympics Committee were to choose Chicago over Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo on Oct. 2, advocates predict the Games would not only break even but would also make money (as have, they say, earlier Olympics in the United States), generate more than $22 billion in indirect economic impact on the city and create $1 billion in new tax revenue. Many of the sites needed for the events would not require construction because they already exist. Organizers say private financial support is mounting, with $60 million raised so far for the bid, and no city dollars are expected to be needed for either the bid or the Games. On that last point, however, residents of Chicago seem skeptical. They have heard promises before. Visit our web site and download the "Book of This spring, a $1.15 billion deal to privatize the Evidence" that we city's parking meter system turned into a fiasco delivered to you in after City Hall's inspector general called it a dubious Lausanne! financial deal and after motorists said they poured money into fancy new meters that, in turn, spat out error messages. A few years ago, Millennium Park, a Open letter to the IOC: downtown centerpiece, opened behind schedule and "Why you don't want to give millions of dollars over budget. the Olympics to Chicago" "You all are projecting we're going to make a lot of money," a resident, Robin Kaufman, told Olympics planners at a neighborhood meeting, one in a series intended to shore up support. "But the bankers were projecting they were going to make a lot of money. Bernie Madoff was predicting he was going to make a lot of money." Ms. Kaufman lifted a sign that read, "No Blank Checks."

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 66Days - New York Times reports on b...

At a high school auditorium on the West Side, where the bid leaders showed glossy Olympics schematics and stood beside toned former Olympians, Stephanie Patton asked, "Why should we trust you?"

Even without a city having been picked for the 2016 event, Chicago agreed this summer to spend $86 million on land for an Olympics village. Bid leaders say private developers will ultimately foot the bill for a project that is to create permanent housing regardless of the Olympics. Bid leaders say the Games themselves are expected to make $450 million in profits. In case of a shortfall, though, a "safety net" package for the Games will include an expected $1 billion in private insurance, according to bid leaders, as well as pledges from the State of Illinois of $250 million and the City of Chicago of $500 million.

Then last month, Mr. Daley indicated that he would sign a host contract required by international Olympics officials, including a standard blanket provision offering the city's backing - one that Chicago leaders had earlier said they hoped to modify.

The notion that the city could then be responsible beyond $500 million "set off some alarm bells" for aldermen, one of them, Joe Moore, said. Mr. Moore added that the City Council was seeking more details before it signed off on it. And a group here opposed to the event, No Games Chicago, said the prospect seemed to have suddenly stirred an outpouring of interest from people who had been silent on the Olympics.

"The levee broke around that issue," said a founder of the group, Bob Quellos.

What strikes some residents as particularly puzzling is the bid committee's refrain that, as a private nonprofit entity, it is separate from city government and public money. Technically, that may be, but skeptics note the committee and City Hall share goals and often seem intricately intertwined; Ms. Healey, for instance, stepped down as the mayor's chief of staff to lead the committee.

Crucial to maintaining residents' support for the Games, polls suggest, is convincing them that their dollars will not be spent. In February, a poll by The Chicago Tribune found that 64 percent of residents of Chicago and its suburbs favored having an Olympics but that 75 percent were against the use

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 66Days - New York Times reports on b...

of tax money to cover shortfalls. At one of the community forums, a city official likened the efforts of those planning the Olympics Games to Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, who is believed to have been the first non-Indian settler of Chicago, and Daniel H. Burnham, whose 1909 Plan of Chicago largely designed the city with the long strip of lakefront parkland that defines it.

Then the bid leaders brought out their big guns for these crowds: a videotape of Barack Obama, then a candidate for president, in Chicago, his hometown, smiling and shaking hands with Mr. Daley during a rally last summer for the bid and declaring his wish that an Olympics reveal Chicago as "not just a city that works, but a city that inspires."

Patrick G. Ryan, the founder of the Aon Corporation and the chairman of the bid committee, told one crowd that the thought that private money being raised for the Games might otherwise pay for schools, garbage collection or city workers' salaries was wrong. "To say we could spend the money either hosting the Games or on something else is really a false choice," Mr. Ryan said. "This money only comes in if we win."

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4 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 65 Days - Illinois bond rating on watch list

No Games Chicago Update 65 Days To Decision Daily News

July 28, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

We regret to inform you that Illinois, Cook County and the City of Chicago continue to be gravely in debt and operating with extremely large deficits. Our state's finances are so poor that Moody's Investors Service has placed Illinois debt under review for a possible downgrade - the second in just The People Speak four months.

Not Taxpayer's Dream Moody's puts Illinois bond ratings on watch for downgrade The press is not the only one against the Olympic July 16, 2009 Games, Mr. Mayor. (Dow Jones) - Moody's Investors Service on Thursday put the state of Illinois's general- So are thousands of obligation bond ratings on review for possible Chicago taxpayers who downgrade, saying the state has long-term have been burdened by budgetary challenges. your inept administration, parking The firm said the state has a long history of meter fiasco, truck hiring general-fund operating deficits, and liquidity in the fund has been increasingly strained, which it said scandals and the was evidenced by growing use of short-term debt continued corruption in and delaying payments to Medicaid providers and City Hall. vendors.

Chicago taxpayers are It also said Illinois was one of five U.S. states that tired of seeing their started its new fiscal year July 1 with no budget in hard-earned tax money place. Gov. Pat Quinn signed a $26 billion budget being spent on your Wednesday night. Moody's said some of the cronies and family proposed measures would help in the short term but be at the expense of future budget years. members. The GO bonds' ratings were cut one notch to A1 in April, when Moody's cited similar reasons including

1 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 65 Days - Illinois bond rating on watch list

"narrow operating fund liquidity." Chicago taxpayers DO NOT need to be Other ratings that will be on watch for downgrade burdened any further include Build Illinois Bonds, dedicated state tax with untold billions of revenue bonds, and others. dollars in taxes to support "your dream," The ratings agency said its review will focus on the Mr. Mayor. state's prospects for restoring balanced financial operations while addressing "sizable funding requirements" for pensions and retiree health You want to see the benefits, as well as liquidity and its growing debt Olympics, fly to London burden. Moody's said increasing evidence of strained for the next one. liquidity, growing structural imbalance, further deterioration of fund balances and other factors Charles Vazquez could cause a downgrade on the ratings.

Chicago Sun-Times Letter to the Editor City of Chicago layoffs looming Deadline July 27, 2009 passes for 2 holdout unions

July 15, 2009 BY FRAN SPIELMAN Sun-Times City Hall Reporter

Despite a last-minute bargaining session early Wednesday, two hold-out unions refused to agree to Mayor Daley's demand for cost-cutting concessions, paving the way for 431 members of Teamsters 726 and AFSCME Council 31 to lose their jobs.

"I feel terrible for workers losing their jobs and their families. This is something they'll have to face tomorrow morning," Daley told a City Hall news conference. "I did not want to lay anyone off. It could have been all Visit our web site and avoided... .Until the deadline at midnight [Tuesday]. we download the "Book of held out hope that an agreement could be reached. That Evidence" that we did not happen. So, we're forced to take this very sad and delivered to you in unwelcome step." Lausanne! As recently as Wednesday morning, top mayoral aides talked with AFSCME and made it clear the city remained Open letter to the IOC: open to an agreement that matched the terms accepted "Why you don't want to give by 25 of the city's 27 unions. the Olympics to Chicago" The two-year deal calls for their members to take 24 unpaid furlough days through June 30, 2011, substitute comp time for cash overtime and convert all city holidays - nine-a-year for hourly employees and 12 for those with monthly salaries - to unpaid days.

"Everybody has to be in the boat together. You can't leave people out," the mayor said. Tom Clair, secretary- treasurer of Teamsters Local 726, said he it pains him to

2 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 65 Days - Illinois bond rating on watch list

know that Wednesday is the last day on the job for 141 of his members - most of them truck drivers in the Departments of Streets and Sanitation, Transportation, Water Management and Aviation.

But, Clair said snow plow drivers routinely called out in the middle of the night were simply not willing to trade cash overtime for comp time.

"During the winter program, our people work snow. They also work out on the runways at O'Hare [Airport]. They felt it was too big a hit on the comp time. That accounts for $15,000-to-$30,000 more a year. They weren't willing to give that up," Clair said.

Clair predicted that Chicagoans would feel the impact of the layoffs in basic housekeeping services like garbage pick-ups, tree-trimming and repairs of water main breaks.

"There's gonna be problems....There's already a shortage of drivers in different departments - particularly Streets and San," he said.

Deputy Budget Director Andrea Gibson countered that the 141 laid off Teamsters represent a "small component" of the union's 2,000-member workforce.

"We have specific plans in place with each department to make sure we don't have much of a service impact at all. We're gonna schedule and manage our shipments very carefully. We're going to change some crew configurations to minimize our reliance on the Teamsters," she said.

AFSCME issued a prepared statement, saying its members rejected the mayor's demand for "what amounts to a 10 percent" pay cut by a 4-to-1 margin. "We regret that Mayor Daley today will choose to lay off city workers and reduce city services rather than agree to our reasonable alternative," the union said. "The mayor's decision will cause great hardship for these workers and their families and will further reduce city services...especially in the Police Department, the libraries and the health clinics."

The 290 AFSCME layoffs are spread across 30 city departments. But, nearly half will come at Chicago Public Libraries at a time when library usage is up 30 percent because of the prolonged recession.

"You may not see your books back on the shelf as quickly as you're used to seeing them. If you place a book on hold, you may not get it as quickly because it's moving through the system more slowly. Everybody else will be working

3 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 65 Days - Illinois bond rating on watch list

that much harder," said Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey.

Daley initially threatened to lay off 1,504 employees across 28 departments if organized labor did not agree to cost-cutting concessions that would save the city $34 million by Dec. 31 and $76 million annually.

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 64 Days - Citizens take to the streets

No Games Chicago Update 64 Days To Decision Daily News

July 29, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

It's August in Chicago and it's getting hot.

Our citizens are hot and angry about the state of our city's finances and the lies that are being told to us by our Mayor and City Council.

Today over 100 people, including mothers with their toddlers in strollers, marched at City Hall to protest the privatization of our city's The People Speak parking meters and the waste of funds on the 2016 Olympics.

No one I know wants the Olympics in Chicago. The opportunities for abuse and corruption are endless and will only cost the taxpayers huge amounts of money which will be paid to Daley's cronies.

Peter Britt

Signer of No Games online petition

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 64 Days - Citizens take to the streets

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago"

As reported online at The Expired Meter:

Echoing throughout the canyon of buildings along either side of LaSalle St., where the chants of "No more meters!", and "Parking meters no, Chicago yes!" around lunch time today, when protesters marched in front of the entrance to City Hall.

Armed with signs and banners, and wearing hand decorated T-shirts with anti-meter messages, the 80-100 people protesting meter privatization and rates hikes, marched in front of the LaSalle entrance to City Hall for about an hour.

The protest was organized by three groups, including the People's Parking Meter Campaign an offshoot of ANSWER Chicago, South Chicago's Centro Communitario Juan Diego (CCJD) and anti-Olympics group, No Games Chicago.

"It's a great turnout," said Tom Tresser the head of No Games Chicago, who believes potential 2016 Olympic games in Chicago, is similar to the parking meter lease deal. "We're all in this together. It's all privatization. Chicago would be turning over tax dollars and property to a Swiss corporation," explained Tresser of the possibility of the Olympics coming here.

The signs and banners carried a myriad of messages, but all essentially focusing on the meter lease deal. The signs blared such

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 64 Days - Citizens take to the streets

things as "No More Parking Meters," " Better Schools-No Olympic Games", "Stop Parking Meter Rate Hikes," and "No Mas Parquimetros.

"It's a good turnout," said Robert Garcia from CCJD. "We could have had more people. We wanted to bring another bus load (of people)."

During the course of the protest, cars and taxis driving by, would periodically honk their horns excitedly showing support for the crowd, which in turn made the crowd of protesters cheer in reply.

"That's been happening the entire morning," said Garcia turning his head toward the honking drivers and gesturing at the curious pedestrians stopping to get information fliers. "People are realizing we can fight back. People think the parking meter contract is done and can't do anything about it. But by people speaking out we can make a difference."

Other bystanders didn't understand why all the fuss. "It's seems ridiculous to me," said a bystander watching the action. "I'm in total agreement, that the parking meter privatization is an outrage. It's an annoyance, but it (this issue) doesn't seem to deserve the focus of attention right now with everything else going on in the world."

Asked if he thought the City Council members, in full session today for the month of July, heard their chants, Garcia said, "I hope so. I know they knew we were out here. Whether they react is a different story."

Currently, according to Garcia, there are no hard dates for a future protest, but believes there will be more similar protests soon.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 63 Days - Our transit system is under f...

No Games Chicago Update 63 Days To Decision Daily News

July 30, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Today we'd like to let you know about our mass transit system, called the CTA, which stands for the Chicago Transit Authority. These are the trains and buses we ride here every day. Since no new rail line or new mode of service is being proposed for the 2016 games, this is what your athletes, officials and visitors will rely on to get around if the games come here. And, like everything The People Speak else here, this service is under funded, badly in need of repairs and constantly facing cuts in service. Chicago needs to focus on more important items; CTA finds budget trims to avoid service cuts such as better By Jon Hilkevitch - Chicago Tribune schools and streets! July 16, 2009 The Chicago Transit Authority came up with about $35 Vanessa Ruiz million in cost savings Wednesday to erase its latest Chicago budget deficit despite recent claims there was nothing left to cut except bus and train service. Signer of No Games online petition The newest round of belt-tightening, the result of reductions in non-union labor expenses and other cost-containment measures, bodes well for CTA customers trying to ride out the recession.

Possible service cuts threatened for as early as the fall are now off the table for the rest of the year unless the weak economy gets worse and transit ridership numbers and public-subsidy dollars tank too, officials indicated.

But service cuts and fare increases cannot be ruled out in 2010, CTA President Richard Rodriguez said.

Only last month, Rodriguez warned that the CTA had cut administrative and other expenses to the bone. Severe service cuts were unavoidable in the face of a $155

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 63 Days - Our transit system is under f...

"Countdown To Agony" million decrease in public subsidies from the Regional (CTA) refers to the Transportation Authority, he said. The latest budget cut regular announcements Wednesday was due to declining tax collections caused of drastic service cuts by the recession. throughout Chicago's mass transit system. The transit agency's board on Wednesday voted to reduce spending in this year's operating budget by $35.2 million. Some of the savings will be realized by reducing overtime pay and non-essential travel. Salary increases will be deferred for the CTA's approximately 1,000 non-union employees

Chairman of Chicago's CTA Admits $7 Billion in Unfunded Repairs

CTA Chairman Carole L. Brown gave a speech to the APTA Rail Conference in Chicago on June 15, 2009. Visit our web site and In it she revealed an alarming backlog of repair work for download the "Book of our mass transit system. Evidence" that we delivered to you in "We still have an almost $7 BILLION - yes, 7 BILLION Lausanne! DOLLAR 0 unfunded state of good repair need."

Read her full remarks here. Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Mass Transit Systems Have a Hard Time Paying the Chicago" Bills

The good news, ridership is up; the bad news, ridership is up

By Alex Kingsbury , Bret Schulte, U.S. News & World Report - March 27, 2008

Strong-arming recalcitrant aldermen, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley recently framed the debate this way: Either support a property tax increase to fund the city's cash-strapped transportation authority or "stand up and say, 'I want the CTA to bypass my ward.'" Minutes later, the 40 percent tax increase on city property buyers passed overwhelmingly, 41 to 6. If only it were that easy in every burg where the aging rail lines keep rotting, the fares keep rising, and the trains have to keep rolling.

Read the rest of the story.

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2 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 62 Days - Chicago budget bomb

No Games Chicago Update 62 Days To Decision Daily News

July 31, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Chicago's finances are not healthy.

We are broke and getting broker.

Today's update is from NBC Chicago's online service. The citizens here know all this and they are increasingly turning against the 2016 bid because they see the The People Speak connection between the city's inability to run itself properly and the amount of money required to Let's celebrate and successfully stage the games. publicize the superb theater town that Chicago already is and promises to be in the future. With "Billy Elliot" opening in March, 2010, what better hook do we have to challenge people to come see and hear City Budget Bomb: It's Gonna Get Worse - But the future acting there's a two-click solution stars like Deanna Dunnigan, Amy By STEVE RHODES - Fri, Jul 31, 2009 Morton, William The bad news is that next year's city budget is projecting Petersen and John to be even worse than it's been this year. Mahoney? Mayor Richard M. Daley 's administration Thursday Two small predicted a gaping hole in next year's budget that will Chicago-based eclipse the current financial problems - even after the transfers ("A Steady city exhausts its brand-new $320 million rainy day fund, Rain" and "Superior the Chicago Tribune reports.

The anticipated $6.2 billion budget for next year could

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 62 Days - Chicago budget bomb

be more than half a billion dollars in the red because of Donuts") are opening plummeting tax collections and rising wages that account on Broadway this for more than 80 percent of the city's day-to-day fall. Why wait? spending, said Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold. He Come to Chicago announced the gloomy prediction as Daley aides began now for great briefing aldermen in anticipation of public hearings next month. entertainment of all kinds. The good news is that a simple solution is at hand: $1 billion in unspent TIF funds. Cornelia Miller Chicago Whet Moser notes the potential TIF rescue plan in "How To Fix A Looming City Budget Apocalypse In Two Easy Signer of No Games Clicks." online petition Moser points to a Progress Illinois post that notes "It seems ridiculous to be redirecting so much money away from the general tax base at the same time that revenues are sharply declining." Progress Illinios has "indeed, with a little creative thinking and flexibility on the part of city officials, there are several adjustments to the TIF system that could provide some relief for cash-starved taxing bodies in Chicago."

The Daley administration is unlikely to want anything to do with that - now or in the future. It's planning to use TIF funds for the Olympic Village, for example. Maybe not getting the Olympics would be the best thing for the city budget.

And speaking of redirecting money, maybe all that private cash raised by Chicago 2016 could fit into the Visit our web site and equation if the bid doesn't come our way. download the "Book of Another revenue source: the money that could be saved Evidence" that we by cleaning up City Hall. delivered to you in Lausanne! "Hundreds of millions of dollars of waste," University of Chicago at Illinois professor Dick Simpson said in the spring when he issued a report on the state's "corruption Open letter to the IOC: tax." "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to So there you have it, budget solved. Chicago" It may take three steps instead of two, but it'll be worth it. ------Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 62 Days - Chicago budget bomb

Neighbors from Chicago's South Side gather at the University of Chicago President's mansion to protest the closing of a community health clinic. They see the connection between the city's deteriorating finances and the Olympic bid.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 61 Days - Chicago running on fumes

No Games Chicago Update 61 Days To Decision Daily News

August 1, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

We continue to update you on the state of Chicago's finances. Like most of America, we are running extremely large deficits and have no sensible solution in sight to balance our budget. As life on the ground for our citizens gets worse, people are demanding accountability and new priorities from our city government. The People Speak

I am vehemently opposed to the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. Previous Olympic events have demonstrated that, quite often, there are huge cost overruns that taxpayers have had Tax increases, spending cuts or layoffs possible to fill city's $520M budget gap to bear. I don't believe that the July 30, 2009 - FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter economic benefits (jobs, increased Even after wringing concessions from organized labor tourism), will offset and drying up a "rainy day" fund created by privatizing these cost overruns. parking meters, Chicago has a $519.7 million budget shortfall in 2010 that can only be filled with tax Chicagoans already increases and spending cuts. know we have a world-class city. We "There are no obvious sources of revenue that have not don't need an already been tapped," said Civic Federation President Olympics (which Laurence Msall. must people won't "You have to make very severe and structural cuts in the city's operating budget. City government is going to be

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 61 Days - Chicago running on fumes

forced to re-invent itself in the way it delivers services be able to afford to and eliminates services not critical. ... Police and fire attend), to prove we have to be part of it." are a world-class city. The shortfall in the city's $6.2 billion preliminary 2010 budget is the highest in recent memory -- even after Shane Bichl Mayor Daley ordered 431 layoffs from two recalcitrant unions and cut a two-year deal with organized labor that Chicago averted the need for nearly 1,100 other firings.

Signer of No Games The gaping budget gap caused by declining revenues online petition would have been bigger without the "rainy day fund" created with proceeds from the 75-year, $1.15 billion lease that privatized Chicago parking meters. The preliminary budget assumes that $268.7 million of that money will be used to wipe out this year's budget shortfall and that the remaining $51.3 million will be exhausted in 2010.

The outlook for taxpayers is bleak. They'll either face higher taxes, dramatically reduced services or both. Chief Financial Officer Gene Saffold said nothing is ruled out. But, the mayor has instructed his staff to avoid a property tax increase at all costs.

"We understand people are hurting out there. ... The last thing we want to do ... is to further burden the citizens of Chicago. That's why that is a last resort -- the last Visit our web site and thing that we'll turn to," he said. download the "Book of Evidence" that we The sky-high budget gap comes as the city has asked an delivered to you in independent arbitrator to dictate a new contract with Lausanne! Chicago Police officers after more than two years of nowhere bargaining.

Open letter to the IOC: Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue "Why you don't want to accused the city of crying poor-mouth with a purpose. give the Olympics to Chicago" "Traditionally, initial budget shortfalls are inflated. ... It wouldn't surprise me that these inflated numbers are being established to sway an arbitration decision," Donahue said.

Ald. Tom Allen (38th) added, "People are getting tired of hearing that the sky is falling. There are some signs already that the economy is leveling off." Saffold countered, "These are real numbers. ... There's no smoke and mirrors here."

If Daley's numbers turn out to be solid, it could jeopardize the city's ability to fill 509 police vacancies and to replace as many as 874 additional officers over the next four years who could be lured into retirement by the city's offer to extend health benefits at age 55 to officers and their dependents.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 61 Days - Chicago running on fumes

That's especially true now that Chicago has received only enough federal stimulus funds to hire 50 officers, down from the 400 officers the city had hoped to hire.

Donahue acknowledged that he is concerned about a continued slowdown in police hiring.

But, he said, "They recognize the savings between the salaries of potential retirees and new hires. And they assured us their intent was to fill those vacancies."

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3 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 60 Days - Alderman demands "No blan...

No Games Chicago Update 60 Days To Decision Daily News

August 2, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Alderman Manny Flores of Chicago's 1st Ward has Chicago needs to introduced a law in City Council tht would limit Chicago's focus on more taxpayers to a total exposure of $500 million for the important items; 2016 Olympics. Download a copy of the ordinance. such as better schools and streets! NO 2016 GAMES!!!

Mrs. Vanessa Ruiz Chicago

Signer of No Games online petition

Alderman Flores published this letter in today's Chicago Tribune:

No free check for the 2016 Summer Games

By Manny Flores - August 2, 2009

We will soon learn if Chicago receives the honor of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Winning the Games will be a testament to our city's vitality and global leadership, and will offer an unparalleled opportunity for economic stimulus and community development. But these benefits will only be realized if we host a Games that respects community needs, is fully transparent in its contracting and hiring and is accountable to the citizens who will live with the Games' infrastructure and financial legacy for coming decades.

1 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 60 Days - Alderman demands "No blan...

Unfortunately, we're not there yet.

At this late date, Chicago taxpayers have yet to receive information that is key to securing citywide support for the Games -- a full accounting of Chicago 2016's donors and expenditures, a plan that ensures an open and fair contracting process, detailed information about an insurance policy to protect Chicago taxpayers from cost overruns, and an independent third-party analysis of the proposed Olympics budget. Visit our web site and download the "Book of This information already exists. The technology to make Evidence" that we it easily accessible also exists. And with only two months delivered to you in remaining before the host city is announced, it is time Lausanne! for the 2016 Committee to provide a greater degree of transparency and accountability by adopting these five principles: Open letter to the IOC: 1. Authorize an independent oversight committee that "Why you don't want to will have regular access to financial statements and give the Olympics to contracts. This committee should be composed of Chicago" respected civic, business and law enforcement officials who have no financial ties to City Hall or the 2016 committee, and should be staffed by an independent compliance office that can regularly monitor the Games' finances and practices.

2. Implement a process for contract bidding that allows citizens to easily learn who is being awarded contracts, how much each is worth, and what work is being done. This should include a full listing of contractors and subcontractors, and should be completed before any contracts are awarded.

3. Publish financial disclosure and conflict of interest forms for Olympic committee members -- just as all elected officials do -- by Sept. 15.

4. Publish all committee and public expenditures related to the Games onto an open and searchable database on a quarterly basis.

5. Disclose funding commitments to cover the Games' expenses and outline protections that will be in place to limit the liability for Chicago taxpayers, including the proposed insurance policy to cover cost-overruns. This information should be made available immediately.

I have introduced legislation to cap the city's financial commitment for the Games at the $500 million that was authorized by the City Council in 2007. It has been said that if my legislation passes, we will not be able to sign the host city financial guarantee contract required by the International Olympic Committee -- effectively killing our chances at being named the host city.

2 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 60 Days - Alderman demands "No blan...

I don't want to that to happen, but the 2016 committee and City Hall have a responsibility to protect Chicago taxpayers. The five points I outlined would be a significant step forward in providing the protections we need to support a city guarantee.

Only with an open process can we be guaranteed that the needs of communities are met and that taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly. Now is the time for Chicago to set the highest standard for transparent and accountable leadership. Let's not squander the opportunity.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 59 Days - Labor unrest on horizon

No Games Chicago Update 59 Days To Decision Daily News

August 3, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Chicago is a very pro-labor city. Wal-Mart would like to I've read the expand in Chicago and many labor unions and their allies proposals, been to in the City Council oppose this. Despite heavy lobbying some ward meetings from Wal-Mart the matter was recently heard and tabled and as a lifelong at a City Council meeting. resident of Chicago Why is this relevant to the Olympic bid? Because showing and suburbs I have you that there is no labor unrest here is part of Chicago's little trust, faith attempt to win the 2016 games. and/or confidence in what the mayor But you should know that this issue is a very important or alderman say. I one to local unions - who DO NOT want Wal-Mart to build have even less than more stores here. You will see MAJOR labor unrest in that in Olympic Chicago over this issue. Committee. Chicago aldermen sidestep Wal-Mart decision Plan to allow a 2nd store in city sent to committee Mr. Larry Rivkin Wheeling By Dan Mihalopoulos - Chicago Tribune - July 30, 2009 Signer of No Games online petition

Caught in a high-pressure standoff between the world's biggest retailer and powerful labor unions, the Chicago

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 59 Days - Labor unrest on horizon

City Council blinked Wednesday and postponed a decision on whether to allow Wal-Mart to build only its second store in the city.

The delay amounted to another defeat for Wal-Mart and its supporters, who have waged a months-long public relations campaign aimed at winning enough council support to get a South Side store built this year.

Instead, aldermen voted to send the proposal to the Visit our web site and council's Finance Committee for a hearing. Ald. Howard download the "Book of Brookins, who has argued for years for a store at 83rd Evidence" that we Street and Stewart Avenue in his 21st Ward, said the delivered to you in parliamentary maneuvering meant construction could not Lausanne! begin this year.

Wal-Mart officials and labor leaders who oppose the non-union company's efforts to expand in the city both Open letter to the IOC: claimed they would have won if the issue had come up for "Why you don't want to a vote Wednesday. give the Olympics to Chicago" But many aldermen have been reluctant to take a stand, in part because Mayor Richard Daley, who has repeatedly voiced support for Wal-Mart's plans, has declined to settle the issue on his own.

The mayor, who has angered labor leaders recently by forcing city workers to accept contract concessions, has criticized the unions for their Wal-Mart stance but declined to exert his near-total control over City Hall. The Wal-Mart plan could go forward with approval from the mayor's top planning official, but Daley has declined to allow it.

Chicago Federation of Labor leader Dennis Gannon said he met with Daley aide John Dunn on Tuesday and was assured that "the mayor does not want to get involved" as Wal-Mart and the unions vie to sway aldermen.

The latest flare-up over Wal-Mart comes as Daley nears the Oct. 2 meeting when the International Olympic Committee will make a decision on whether Chicago hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. The city is one of four finalists for the Games.

Many aldermen are even more hesitant than Daley to do more than offer their opinions on the Wal-Mart controversy. In the last council election in 2007, unions heavily -- and often successfully -- funded challengers to aldermen who did not side with them against Wal-Mart.

On Wednesday, hundreds of Wal-Mart supporters flocked to City Hall on buses paid for by the company. Helping organize the demonstration was Rev. Leon Finney, a top Daley ally in the African-American community. Finney also rallied support last year for the Chicago Children's Museum

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 59 Days - Labor unrest on horizon

plan for Grant Park, which the mayor backed.

"Mayor Daley has made clear that Wal-Mart is a good corporate citizen," said company spokesman John Bisio. "People need jobs and the city needs tax revenue."

In 2004, when the controversy first surfaced, the Chicago City Council approved the first Wal-Mart store in the city on the West Side. At the same time, aldermen blocked the company's proposal for the South Side site.

Tribune reporters Dan P. Blake and Sandra M. Jones contributed to this report.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 58 Days - Federal invesitgation of Chi...

No Games Chicago Update 58 Days To Decision Daily News

August 4, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: One of the mail points in our case against Chicago What happens in all hosting the 2016 Olympics is that the city is terribly Olympic host cities: corrupt. Decisions about city policies and city projects Real estate are made not to ensure the highest quality but to ensure developers organize the highest profits and favors for the Mayor's friends and and drive the colleagues. Olympic bid; a litany It seems that everything in this city is for sale or subject of promises--all to influence peddling. Now we learn that our public later broken--are schools are being investigated by federal law made to garner enforcement officials for corruption. public support. When the bid is Federal investigation targets Chicago Public won, costs escalate Schools Subpoena comes on heels of internal investigation of admissions practices at magnet, wildly out of gifted and selective centers control. The cost of the London 2012 By Stephanie Banchero and Azam Ahmed Summer Games is Chicago Tribune Reporters - August 2, 2009 already $12 billion (4x the original Federal authorities have launched an investigation into the admissions practices at Chicago's selective estimate)! enrollment schools, the Chicago Tribune has learned. Chicagoans are tired of being ATMs to Federal officials recently served a grand jury subpoena fund the Mayor's on Chicago Public Schools seeking information about the special projects admissions process, sources said. Chicago Board of while basic Education President Michael Scott confirmed Saturday that the district recently received a federal subpoena, infrastructure and but declined to elaborate because of the investigation. education get the shaft. The federal investigation comes as Chicago school officials launched an internal probe of admissions Linda Dausch practices at highly competitive selective enrollment Chicago schools after finding irregularities at some schools.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 58 Days - Federal invesitgation of Chi...

The district's law department noticed problems with the high school admissions process two months ago, school Signer of No Games sources said. Last month, schools chief Ron Huberman online petition announced the start of an internal probe of all 52 application-based elementary and high schools, citing an unspecified problem at one high school.

The announcement came a week after the Tribune began making inquiries into the admissions process. After the Tribune wrote about the federal probe Saturday, Mayor Richard Daley spoke out against any use of unfair influence in the admissions process, but said he has no idea if clout actually factored into enrollment decisions.

Daley said he is confident that Huberman is effectively investigating any problems. "No one should use money or clout or influence to get their child into any school," the mayor said at a news conference on an unrelated event on the South Side.

The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.

The subpoena to the Chicago school system comes against a backdrop of a federal investigation into admission practices at Illinois universities.

Federal prosecutors subpoenaed three state universities, including the University of Illinois, seeking any evidence Visit our web site and that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his power brokers download the "Book of gave applicants an unfair edge. The federal probe came Evidence" that we after a Tribune investigation uncovered that U. of I. gave delivered to you in special treatment to applicants with powerful patrons Lausanne! such as lawmakers, donors and trustees.

Competition to get into the city's premier selective enrollment schools is fierce. Thousands of students apply Open letter to the IOC: for hundreds of openings at the schools considered the "Why you don't want to crown jewels of the city's public school system. give the Olympics to Chicago" Entry into the magnet schools is supposed to be through randomized lottery. Admission to selective enrollment high schools and gifted elementary centers is supposedly based on merit.

The district has long allowed magnet school principals to handpick up to 5 percent of their students. Last year, they extended that right to principals at the nine selective enrollment high schools, even though some principals acknowledged they were already doing it. The principals can consider only extenuating circumstances such as a special talent or family crisis, not the applicants' political ties.

But whispers have long swirled that some students get spots in these top-flight schools not by chance or merit,

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 58 Days - Federal invesitgation of Chi...

but by whom their parents know or how much money they make.

The principal selection practice has generated much of the controversy, as many parents argue that unqualified applicants are getting in.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 57 Days - 2016 community outreach lea...

No Games Chicago Update 57 Days To Decision Daily News

August 5, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: One of the mail points in our case against Chicago We do not want the hosting the 2016 Olympics is that the city is terribly 2016 Olympics in corrupt. Decisions about city policies and city projects Chicago or the are made not to ensure the highest quality but to ensure Chicago area. This is the highest profits and favors for the Mayor's friends and a corrupt city led by colleagues. a corrupt mayor who It seems that everything in this city is for sale or subject is getting all of us in to influence peddling. Now we learn that our public financial schools are being investigated by federal law difficulties. We enforcement officials for corruption. cannot handle our own financial or This is a new scandal and is making news daily here. parking or murder Michael Scott, the President of the Chicago Board of Education has been subpoenaed to appear before a problems now. The federal grant jury. Mr. Scott is the chairman of the Olymplics here will outreach committee for Chicago 2016. be a disaster for everybody.

Seymour Lazar Buffalo Grove

Signer of No Games online petition CPS president subpoenaed SCHOOL CLOUT PROBE Scott surprised, looks forward to testifying

August 5, 2009 BY FRAN SPELMAN City Hall Reporter

Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott disclosed Tuesday that he has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating how students are chosen for admission to some of the city's

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 57 Days - 2016 community outreach lea...

most elite public schools.

Scott said he was surprised by the subpoena and flatly denied that he has ever flexed his political muscle -- during two stints as board president -- to clout any student into a "selective enrollment" school.

"I followed all the procedures," Scott said. Asked whether he has ever made a call on behalf of someone else, Scott said, "Nope. Never." Scott said the Board of Education launched its internal investigation of the admissions process before the federal grand jury issued separate subpoenas for school records and Scott's testimony.

Asked whether he had ever heard of a call being placed to get a student clouted in, he said, "That's a different question. You asked me if I made a call. No comment. It's an ongoing investigation." Visit our web site and download the "Book of Pressed on why the federal government would target Evidence" that we him for grand jury testimony, Scott said, "I don't know. I delivered to you in keep telling you. I have no idea. But, I look forward to it. Lausanne! I can tell you that. "I'm telling you there's a process in place that I have absolute confidence in and I look forward to answering any questions about it. . . . People Open letter to the IOC: should have confidence in the system," he said. "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Scott made his comments after joining Mayor Daley at Chicago" Robeson High School, 6935 S. Normal, to launch the annual back-to-school campaign.

The Chicago Sun-Times began reporting on problems in admissions to elite CPS schools 18 months ago, disclosing that parents tried to clout their kids into one lottery magnet school, some with the help of a school clerk. The parents falsely claimed they had a child already enrolled in the elementary school.

And in February, the Sun-Times reported that the first year of allowing the principals of CPS' selective- enrollment college prep schools to handpick five percent of their students was a rocky one.

During the news conference, Schools CEO Ron Huberman refused to be pinned down on the timeline of the internal and federal investigations. He would only say that the internal inquiry dates back "several months."

"CPS detected an anomaly as part of the normal course of business at a particular school. . . . We then decided to launch an investigation. . . . We also wanted to bring in an independent auditing firm [to review] the process," Huberman said.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 57 Days - 2016 community outreach lea...

Daley said the investigation demonstrates the need for more magnet schools across the city. "More and more people want to stay in Chicago. More and more people want to get into better schools," the mayor said.

One key target of the Board of Education's internal probe is the sweeping power that allows principals to hand-pick five percent of all students at nine college prep high schools that admit students based on tests and grades and at the dozens of magnet schools that admit by lottery.

The Sun-Times reported in the February that 16 percent of the 129 students chosen by principals at seven of the prep schools did not pass initial law department scrutiny. Some principals picked kids who did not take the required admissions test or had not even filled out an application.

The federal and CPS investigations come against the backdrop of the clout admissions scandal at the University of Illinois.

Scott served as school board president from 2001 to 2006, only to return in February after his longtime friend Rufus Williams was forced out by City Hall. Scott is a trusted Daley lieutenant with a 30-year history with the mayor. He has served as cable administrator, a park board president, RTA and McPier board member and chairman of the outreach committee for Chicago 2016.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 56 Days - 2016 community hard sell

No Games Chicago Update 56 Days To Decision Daily News

August 6, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The 2016 Committee is under fire from all sides. It's sad that our city chooses to throw The local press which is now covering their away money on an mis-statements on the funding of the Olympic Village event that will just and from citizens who are demanding answers at the worsen our community meetings the 2016 Committee has staged around the city. economic dilemma rather than use it StreetWise is a weekly news magazine sold by Chicago's wisely and homeless. It covers community issues and stories of effectively on social justice in the city. The current issue covers improving the community reaction to the bid. situation and improving the city and its systems (Education system, health care, city workers, etc). Wake up, Daley.

Sean Chang Chicago FROM THE STREETS: CHICAGO 2016 HARD SELL

Signer of No Games Shea Gibbs, StreetWise Contributor online petition At a recent neighborhood meeting of South Shore residents, there was vocal opposition to the proposed 2016 Summer Olympics. It's not that residents don't want the games to come to Chicago-they just want to make sure the Olympics benefit their neighborhood.

"Where's our guarantee?" asked Douglas Brown, an area man who was among more than 100 individuals who

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 56 Days - 2016 community hard sell

attended the July 15 meeting at the South Shore Cultural Center. It offered residents of the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th wards a chance to come out and respond to a presentation given by Chicago 2016, a nonprofit launched to attract the Olympics to the Windy City. Chicago's currently in the running with Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Madrid to host the 2016 summer games; the host city will be voted on and decided by the International Olympic Committee on October 2.

According to Chicago 2016, hosting the games would be a boon to the infrastructure-not to mention the coffers-of Chicago, and residents have nothing to worry about, particularly when it comes to displacement of renters and home owners.

Chicago 2016 supporters point to the international spotlight - a worldwide viewing audience of four billion - that Chicago would gain from hosting the Games. "It's Visit our web site and my hope that 2009 will be the beginning of a new era for download the "Book of Chicago-one of renewed civic pride, expanded sport Evidence" that we programs for youth, an elevated international profile and delivered to you in a stronger economic foundation;' Pat Ryan. local Lausanne! insurance magnate and Chicago 2016 Chairman and CEO of the nonprofit says on the Chicago 2016 Web site. Supporters say also that the Olympic and Paralympic Open letter to the IOC: Games will create the equivalent of 315,000 full time "Why you don't want to jobs for one year, over half of which would be in give the Olympics to Chicago, at over $7 billion in wages. Economic Chicago" development over 11 years would amount to $22.5 billion. The proposed site of the Olympic athletes village would become mixed income housing and retail with up to 30 percent affordable housing.

"You should expect that Chicago 2016 will ... stage an outstanding Olympic Games that will make our city very proud ...[We will] manage the games efficiently and within our budget [and] ensure that the benefits from hosting the games will be shared by the entire city," Ryan said.

But some groups aren't about to take Chicago 2016 at its word. The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization offered a similar view to that of Brown and other attendees of the recent meeting: according to a group spokesperson, the organization would support the Olympics coming to Chicago only if it receives "a legally binding community benefits agreement."

Others at the meeting wondered if they could trust the city of Chicago to keep their best interests in mind given the municipal government's track record. The Chicago 2016 committee repeatedly stressed that it's not a government entity but rather a group of volunteers. However, the "guarantee" referenced by Brown refers to

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 56 Days - 2016 community hard sell .

a sum of money Chicago must commit to providing should private funding fall through, or if its hosting duties run significantly over budget.

Another opposition group, No Games, says the one thing that's guaranteed is that the city will be required at some point to pony up those funds. According to community coordinator and No Games spokesman Tom Tresser, no city has earned any profits from hosting the Olympics in the modern era, and the only real beneficiaries of hosting duties will be the games' corporate sponsors. Chicago already is in the red,"Tresser said. "Our city is falling apart."

No Games contends there will be at least three direct negative effects if Chicago hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics: the city will be forced to pay money it doesn't have, residents will be displaced from their homes, and parklands will be damaged. Tresser also said he believes the city will attempt to clear its streets of people it deems undesirable. "It's like a mini police state," he said. "Young men of color will be swept off the streets."

At any rate, the next significant date for the bid to host the 2016 summer games is something everyone can agree on. On October 2 the IOC will vote to determine which of the remaining contender cities gets to host the games; between now and then, Chicago 2016 will attempt to convince Chicago residents that the games will be profitable and that the exposure the city receives will be positive and attract tourists in the future.

"We believe we can truly change the city and become world-class," said Chicago 2016 president Lori Healey. "We need your support. We need the support of the people of Chicago in order to win."

No Games will carry the opposite message to the people of Chicago as well as the voting members of the IOC. The group shadowed the IOC in protest as it toured Chicago in April, and it distributed information to dissuade the committee from voting for Chicago at a recent meeting to discuss the four finalists in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, at the July 15 meeting, a woman who didn't identify herself as a member of No Games repeated a mantra that's become associated with the group: "No blank check." The phrase refers to the guarantee required of the city of Chicago in order for it to continue with its bid for the 2016 summer games. After rolling out a poster board emblazoned with the slogan, she attempted to rouse the crowd into chanting it along with her.

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 55 Days - Michael Scott in news again

No Games Chicago Update 55 Days To Decision Daily News

August 7, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Michael Scott, the President of the Chicago Board of Giving Chicago 2016 Education and the leader of the 2016 Committee's is the worst idea Community Outreach program is in the news again ever- this will ruin today. the Olympics and goes against The citizens of Chicago follow these news reports closely. Look to see protests and calls for Mr. Scott to resign his everything the official positions. Olympics are supposed to stand for! TRIBUNE WATCHDOG

Dan Pellant Chicago 2016 Olympics: Member of city's bid team Chicago has deal to develop land near park earmarked for the Games

Signer of No Games Michael Scott, the city school board president, says he online petition has done nothing improper

By Todd Lighty, David Heinzmann and Kathy Bergen - ChicagoTribune reporters - August 7, 2009

A member of Mayor Richard Daley's team working to bring the Olympics to Chicago has quietly arranged to develop city-owned land near a park that would be transformed for the 2016 Summer Games, potentially positioning himself to cash in if the Games come here, a Tribune investigation has found.

Developer Michael Scott Sr., an early member of the mayor's Olympic committee, leads a group planning a residential and commercial project on lots kitty-corner from the proposed Douglas Park sporting venues, a location where land values could jump if the city gets the Olympics.

1 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - 55 Days - Michael Scott in news again

The plan -- which would include a Nike store -- already has gotten crucial support from the local alderman, who has set aside the lots for Scott and his group.

The city generally sells taxpayer-owned lots for $1 apiece for affordable housing projects, and in other cases negotiates land prices.

Scott owns Michael Scott & Associates, a real estate development and investment firm. He also serves as Visit our web site and president of the Chicago Board of Education, and was in download the "Book of the news earlier this week when he said he was Evidence" that we subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury looking delivered to you in into admissions to the city's elite public schools. Lausanne! Scott's designs on the public land are sure to reinforce concerns of residents that it's the mayor's friends who would benefit from Daley bringing the 2016 Olympics to Open letter to the IOC: the city. The story is a familiar one in Daley's "Why you don't want to administration, where City Hall insiders have personally give the Olympics to profited from even the most civic-minded of projects, Chicago" from recycling garbage to building Millennium Park.

The development team includes six West Side ministers, some of whom are politically connected.

Scott, who acknowledged plans to develop the lots around Douglas Park, said he has done nothing improper and defended his roles as a member of Daley's Olympic committee, school board president and developer.

"I've had an interest in Douglas Park long before the Olympics came and will probably have an interest long after we get them or not," Scott said. "That's where I was raised, that's what I know, so if that's something that's punishable, I can't tell you that."

Scott got his start in politics as a housing activist in the West Side's Lawndale neighborhood, where he was born and raised. He has served under several mayors, including Harold Washington and Daley.

He was criticized in 1990 for his insider connections when he left his job as city government's chief cable administrator to go work for a cable company.

Earlier this year, Scott's roles as school board president and as a member of the city's Olympic committee stirred controversy.

In May, he asked all of the city's school principals to form plans to promote the Olympics. Teachers and union officials said Scott's tactics were heavy-handed and they feared retaliation if they did not support Daley's quest for the Games.

2 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - 55 Days - Michael Scott in news again

Daley first floated his vision of bringing the Olympics to Chicago in 2005 after previously dismissing the idea as too costly. He assembled an exploratory committee in mid-2006 that included Scott.

As Daley forged ahead with his plans, the exploratory team evolved into Chicago 2016, the committee spearheading the city's push for the Olympics.

When the committee unveiled its original ideas in summer 2006 for hosting the Olympics, Douglas Park did not figure in the plans, nor was the park part of revised plans unveiled months later.

By March 2007, however, Chicago 2016 announced it had again tweaked its plans. Among the changes, Douglas Park would play a role in the Olympics: The aquatics center would move from the University of Illinois at Chicago to the park.

Ald. Ed Smith (28th) said he had pressed the Olympic committee to put a venue on the city's West Side. He said he originally wanted an Olympic swimming pool to be built at Westinghouse High School in his ward. Smith said he had met with members of the Olympic committee, including bid chairman Patrick Ryan, but could not recall if Scott attended.

"I was adamant that we have Olympic activity on the West Side of Chicago. They came out and made the decision to use Douglas Park," Smith said. "I don't know who decided that."

Scott served as president of the Chicago Park District board in the 1990s, and his son is now an area parks manager.

The Chicago 2016 committee and Park District staff met several times to choose between Douglas and Garfield Parks as an Olympic site, a spokesman for the city's bid said. The spokesman said they decided on Douglas in part because it is closer to other downtown sporting venues.

A Park District spokeswoman said neither Scott nor his son had any role in the park's selection.

Organizers in December 2008 changed plans for Douglas Park, deciding to use it as the site for the indoor cycling facility or velodrome, and a temporary outdoor BMX cycling track.

After the Games, the velodrome would become a multiuse sports facility, the largest of its kind in the city.

3 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - 55 Days - Michael Scott in news again

In addition, one of the pools from the Olympic aquatics center -- now planned for Washington Park on the South Side -- may permanently be moved to Douglas Park.

Scott and the ministers in December 2006 formed their company, WMC-I, Westside Ministers for Change. State records show Scott is the manager.

They shared their vision with the local alderman, Sharon Denise Dixon (24th), a former flight attendant and social worker elected to City Council in 2007.

In Chicago, aldermen have near total control over what gets developed in their wards. A developer who wants a project to get necessary City Hall approval must first visit the local alderman or risk having the project stymied. Aldermen can control or "hold" lots to block development or to allow development to proceed.

Dixon enthusiastically backed Scott's plans and promised to hold nearly 20 lots for development.

In a September 2007 letter to Scott with the subject line "Douglas Park Development," Dixon told Scott that his plans for possible "market rate and affordable" new homes on the city-owned lots was exciting and would continue to revitalize the neighborhood.

"It will also showcase this area of Chicago for the proposed 2016 Summer Olympics," she wrote. "Please feel free to use my endorsement of this project in any way that will continue to benefit balanced growth and development in the 24th Ward."

In a follow-up letter to Scott in May 2008, Dixon included the list of the lots and their addresses.

Both of Dixon's letters of support were sent to the Department of Community Development to inform city staff of her backing for Scott's project.

Dixon initially declined to talk about her endorsement of Scott's plans, referring questions to him and to City Hall. She called back later, saying the project actually would be developed by a group of West Side ministers.

Asked why none of the ministers' names were included in her letters of support for the project, Dixon replied, "That's a very good question. I'm not quite sure. This is not a Michael Scott project per se. It's not about Michael Scott. It's about the development and enhancement of the 24th Ward."

Scott and his team have yet to file any formal plans with the city to develop the lots, which are located in the

4 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - 55 Days - Michael Scott in news again

3100 block of West Roosevelt Road, the 1100 block of South Albany Avenue and the 3100 block of West Arthington Street.

Rev. Charles Robinson, a politically connected pastor and member of the Chicago Transit Authority board, said he and the five other ministers and their churches were involved. He said Scott will serve as "adviser and developer" in the for-profit project.

Scott said he was acting on the behalf of the ministers. When asked whether he stood to make money on the development, Scott said it would be speculative to say the venture would be profitable.

The team is negotiating to bring a Nike store to Roosevelt Road, near the potential Olympic venues, Robinson said. He said their early plans include a mix of commercial and residential, with stores at street level on Roosevelt Road and housing on the second and third floors.

Scott has experience developing land around the park. Years ago, he teamed up with developer Cecil Butler to build a gated community nearby called Albany Park Townhouses at Albany and Ogden Avenues on the western edge of the park. He also owns other land for development adjacent to the park.

"We started working out in the Lawndale community before there was interest," Scott said. "I've put my money in this community, and most people would never ever consider doing that."

The International Olympic Committee votes for a host city Oct. 2, choosing among Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

Real estate experts said land close to Olympic sporting venues would become more valuable, with the economic impact on land values tapering off the farther a property is from the venues.

"It's clear it is going to have a positive effect on the surrounding property values, and geographically, it will be highest for the closest units," said James Shilling, a DePaul University real estate professor.

If Chicago is not chosen, the lots -- in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods -- may not become more attractive for developers any time soon.

In June, as part of a series of meetings, Chicago 2016 and Park District officials met with residents at the Douglas Park Field House to get community feedback on

5 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - 55 Days - Michael Scott in news again

what should be left behind in the park after the Olympics. In the audience were Dixon and Scott's son, Michael Scott Jr., who is the area manager for parks in the Austin and North Lawndale communities.

Michael Scott Jr. declined to comment for this story.

Scott Sr.'s role in potentially developing the city lots is especially sensitive given that he is a co-chair of a Chicago 2016 subcommittee that crafted an agreement ensuring jobs and contracts for minorities, as well as promising affordable housing to be a part of the Olympic Village agreement.

The agreement, approved by City Council in April, grew out of concerns from neighborhood groups that economic benefits from the Olympics would go mostly to politically connected insiders.

In addition to his Olympic committee role, Scott also is involved in the proposed Douglas Park sports venues through his position as president of the school board. Chicago 2016's velodrome plans call for tearing down the Collins High School campus' two gyms and indoor pool, a sensitive issue with many community residents who don't want the recently renovated facilities demolished.

Scott said that he was not on the school board when he become involved in the real estate project, and that his role with the Olympics at the time was minimal.

But Valerie Leonard, a member of the Lawndale Alliance neighborhood group, said she was concerned about Scott's various roles.

"I believe that everybody should have the opportunity to make money. I do believe in the American way," she said. "But I think it's problematic when you have insiders continuously getting access to information that most people don't have access to."

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6 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - 54 Days - Residents continue to demand...

No Games Chicago Update 54 Days To Decision Daily News

August 8, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Residents continue to flock to the 2016 Committee's Chicago isn't community meetings demanding answers to tough prepared, financially questions. We think it's fair to say - these questions are or socially, to host NOT being answered. an Olympics. Daley is too corrupt of an 49th Ward 2016 meeting official to be honest Let The Games Begin and open about the bids, grants, and tax By Dimitrios Kalantzis - Lake Effect News dollars. Too many people are seeing If pointing out the holes within a salesman's pitch were the short-term an Olympic sport, Rogers Park would have a gold medal. tourism effects Last night more than 150 people packed the Rogers Park Public Library with an overwhelming message for the rather than the Chicago 2016 Olympic committee: the emperor is not, in long-term, negative fact, wearing any clothes. socio-economic effects. Residents and activists of the 49th Ward listened to the committee's 35-minute presentation, the 27th so far of Kimberly Richardson the mayoral ordered community meetings, which included sound bites from pro-sports athletes and Chicago President Barack Obama.

Signer of No Games As reported last month by LEN, the golden goose eggs online petition offered up by Chicago 2016, include 31,000 jobs over the next 10 years, $10 million for work force development, $1 billion in federal money for repairing Chicago's mass transit system, new sports and recreational facilities to be turned over to city parks, and a lasting legacy for the children.

But when the floor was opened for questions, the crowd went hunting for the magic beans. "In the history of Chicago and minorities," said one resident, "when it comes to the goodies, it's not good."

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 54 Days - Residents continue to demand...

"Is there anything projected in the future that can address that?" the man asked before turning to Ald. Joe Moore, saying, "we bungled the parking meters."

Arnold Randall, director of Neighborhood Legacies at Chicago 2016, tried to deflect talk of the City Council's infamous 75-year parking meter deal to no avail.

"It's interconnected," the man said in response. The onslaught continued.

"I think it's disingenuous to say there's zero risk, because quite frankly there's no such thing as zero risk," said Seth Mayer, a 5-year resident of Rogers Park, quoting Chicago 2016 president Lori Healey. "I'd much rather have an honest assessment of what the risks are than be told just: 'trust us, trust us,'" Mayer said. Visit our web site and download the "Book of Chicago 2016 will take out insurance policies to protect Evidence" that we it against the "unforeseen kinds of acts," said Healey: delivered to you in sponsor's bankruptcies, cancelled games and acts of Lausanne! terrorism; premiums will cost at least $41 million.

Another resident questioned the committee's plan to Open letter to the IOC: offer 30 percent affordable housing in the Olympic "Why you don't want to Village following the games, citing the recent University give the Olympics to Village scandal, in which many units were purchased by Chicago" non-qualifying buyers for profit. When residents asked about the oft-penny-pinched Chicago Transit Authority, Healey dropped a bombshell for many residents who mistakenly think CTA improvements are guaranteed:

"Our budget does not contain funding for CTA improvements," Healey said.

"However history has shown that when U.S. cities get the games that they get infrastructure funding from the federal government to help support that," she said.

Residents continued to evoke Chicago's current budget woes, much to the support of the audience and chagrin of the panel.

"My question is concerning the budget and the fact that I don't really believe in your budget," said one resident. "The city's broke and we can't pay our daily expenses without selling off our parking meters," he said, garnering applause from the crowd. Citing a No Games Chicago report that China spent $40 billion and that London spent $16 billion, stark contrasts to Chicago's estimated $3.8 billion in expected costs, Chicago 2016 blamed those added expenses on

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 54 Days - Residents continue to demand...

misguided infrastructure development, mistakes Chicago will not replicate, Healey said. "Once we do get the bids and actual work starts, who's going to provide oversight?" asked another resident.

"I personally don't trust the way the city does things," she said.

If the city wins its bid, a new Olympic board will be appointed by the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. National Olympic Committee, said Healey. President Obama, the Illinois Governor and even the Mayor and "business community" can make appointments to the board, Healey said. The "transparency" of expenditures, she said, will be "web-based and reviewable by the public." Residents continued voicing their apprehensions, articulating the desperation many of us feel through this recession. "Chicagoans love their city," said one woman, "but we also feel as though our quality of life is eroding."

Ultimately and despite the tough, pointed questions, Chicago 2016 was not on trial last night; the city of Chicago was.

Following the meeting, Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) said, "I think the questions that were asked were intelligent, for the most part, very thoughtful and, uh, I feel it was a good meeting."

The City Council is now waiting on an independent review board's report on Chicago 2016's proposed budget. It is expected to be released in late August or early September. When asked if that would give the City Council enough time to review the report before the October 2 IOC announcement, Moore said, "Hopefully, we'll have enough time."

As one man said, using a simple analogy: "I think the Olympics will do a great benefit to the city, but as it seems, most people have said: Clout Chicago

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 53 Days - It's getting ugly in Chicago

No Games Chicago Update 53 Days To Decision Daily News

August 9, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: It's getting ugly in Chicago. The Olympic leadership is My wife and I are under fire and when the press actually does its job and unemployed. I know dares to question the Mayor, he gets very angry and we will be stuck reveals a side of his personality usually hidden from the with a minimum of public. $100 million in taxes Just read today's account in the Chicago Tribune: per the Chicago Sun Times of 8/6/09. For two weeks of Tough queries unleash a terrifying alter ego fame for our mayor he and his buddies John Kass - Chicago Tribune - August 9, 2009 will make money. For we people of For most of last week, Mayor Richard Daley was doing fine, calmly making pronouncements, issuing sweeping Chicago, our edicts, decrees and commands. families and grandchildren to be But then he released his inner Mayor Chucky. paying for this for generations is And when the terrifying Mayor Chucky persona came out unfair. PLEASE SAY by week's end -- after a Tribune investigation about political insiders poised to cash in on Daley's plans of NO. The largest ever hosting the 2016 Olympic Games -- it wasn't pretty. ongoing federal investigation of a "I just saw it on TV," said a friend on the phone. "A city, Chicago, shows reporter asks him a question about the Olympic land the corruption here. deal, and bingo. Mayor Chucky. Wow. It's scary." PLEASE give the Positively Chuckified. Olympics to a city were it will benefit Days earlier, Daley was publicly relaxed, almost like a the citizens, not normal person. He stood high above his metropolis, Chicago fat cats. perched on a tiny sliver of glass, standing on the Ledge on the observation Skydeck of what I still call Sears Donald Skonicki Tower. He was master of all he surveyed, staring at the tiny humans on the street far below. The man looked

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 53 Days - It's getting ugly in Chicago

happy. Chicago And he didn't lose his cool when foolish Chicago Public Signer of No Games Schools officials selected a popular singer as spokesman online petition for the mayor's big back-to-school push, without telling him the singer's big hit is "Birthday Sex."

But it was inevitable that Mayor Chucky would pop out. On Friday, observers noticed the aggravated facial expressions, then the hand waving, great circular motions from the shoulder, then the sneering, the finger pointing, and finally, the angry lip curling.

It was more terrifying than that little killer doll in the horror movies. But this was no Hollywood fictional character on screen. This wasn't some demonic puppet with 12-inch legs and tiny overalls, scampering down a dark hallway, wielding a butcher knife, and shrieking for blood. No, this was the mayor of Chicago in real life, yelling and trying to bully reporters because he was asked about a Tribune investigation.

The Tribune reported Friday that developer Michael Scott Sr., an insider who is also the mayor's president of the Chicago Board of Education, quietly arranged to develop nearly 20 parcels of West Side real estate right near a planned Olympics site.

Scott also is on a Daley Olympic subcommittee that Visit our web site and developed ethics guidelines about how politically download the "Book of connected insiders aren't supposed to cash in on Chicago Olympic gold. Evidence" that we delivered to you in As if. Lausanne! The mayor didn't want to answer. All he wanted to talk about was how he was providing infrastructure Open letter to the IOC: developments for the good of the people. The Scott "Why you don't want to questions were considered "off topic" by the mayor. give the Olympics to Many of you probably don't know that the mayor's office Chicago" insists that reporters stay "on topic" at most of his public events.

"On topic" means that he'll talk about the stunt of the moment, so reporters can give oodles of coverage to the news managed out of the mayor's press office. Many days, the mayor's schedulers inform reporters he'll only accept questions "on topic." And then you see the stunt on TV, the ribbon cutting or the meet-and-greet with the children or the seniors, and you think you're actually watching the news.

But a few local reporters on Friday, including a young Tribune reporter named Dan P. Blake, figured they should act like reporters, not press agents. So they

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 53 Days - It's getting ugly in Chicago

dared ask "off topic" questions about Michael Scott. That's when the Mayor Chucky came out.

"No," he said. "this is just gonna be on this."

Translation: Shut up. Stay on topic.

ABC-Ch. 7's Charles Thomas asked him, politely, why he would refuse comment on an important story.

"You know, I'm out every day, Charles," said Mayor Chucky. "I'm sorry I can't be feeding the machine every day for you. I have a job to do. ... I'm sorry I can't answer questions every day. Every day. I do it enough. ... You ask me all types of questions. Today, yesterday, you all had the opportunity. There will always be headlines, there will be another headline Monday, another Wednesday on something else, but that's not my job, to fill your headlines."

Another compliant reporter went back "on topic" hoping to appease the mayor, but then Blake politely asked a question:

"When do you think you'll be available next to talk about the deal reported about Michael Scott?"

"Oh, I do it every day," Mayor Chucky insisted. "You've been with me every day. NEVER insult me with that question! You're insulting me because every day I'm here, you're never here. And don't print that! So I know, you'll print it."

Huh? What? All Blake asked was a legitimate question about when the mayor would answer a legitimate question.

On Saturday, the mayor finally talked about Scott, but only long enough to deny, deny, deny and say reporters were making it all up just to hurt his feelings and ruin everything. "You come to conclusions, you're trying to hurt 2016. I don't know why. ...You come to conclusions!"

What will happen if Chicago actually wins the 2016 Olympics?

We'll have lots and lots of insider deals.

And we'll have lots of Mayor Chucky.

[email protected]

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 52 Days - More scandal from the Daley...

No Games Chicago Update 52 Days To Decision Daily News

August 10, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Scandal continues to swirl around Mayor Daley and his Daley can't manage family the budget for the City of Chicago and Daley's nephew gets break from city pension funds is one of the most Vanecko gets to put less of his own money in risky corrupt politicians deal to date. His, I don't BY TIM NOVAK Chicago Sun-Times Reporter - know or I didn't August 10, 2009 know, to every issue that falls at his feet When they started their real estate investment company shows how crafty three years ago, Mayor Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko and disingenuous a and his partners made a promise to five City of Chicago politician he really pension funds they were seeking as investors: is. Chicago can not We'll put $7 million of our own money into the deal to afford the Olympics. show we believe in our high-risk strategy of investing Chicago has too city retirees' pension money in developing inner-city many costly neighborhoods. problems already with its That assurance helped the start-up venture known as DV Urban Realty Partners quickly land $68 million from the infrastructure to city pension funds. throw itself into bankruptcy by But now it turns out that Vanecko and his partners -- adding the cost of Chicago developer Allison S. Davis and his son Jared the Olympics. No Davis -- will put in just $3.5 million, half of what they Olympics in Chicago! initially promised. Despite some concerns, the city pension funds quietly Jean Brennan agreed to rework the deal with Vanecko and the Davises Chicago last August, making changes that financially benefitted the mayor's nephew and his partners, recently Signer of No Games subpoenaed records show. online petition Vanecko -- whose dealings have come under scrutiny by the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago and the city's

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 52 Days - More scandal from the Daley...

inspector general -- personally lobbied city pension officials to rework the deal with his company, records show.

Three of the five pension fund boards voted on and approved the changes -- funds representing police, laborers and municipal employees. Each of those pension fund boards includes high-ranking members of the Daley administration who voted to approve the reworked deal.

The approval of just three of the five pension fund boards was needed. So once those three agreed, the pension funds for Chicago teachers and CTA employees didn't even vote on the reworked deal with Vanecko's company.

Which apparently was fine with CTA pension board executive director John Kallianis, who wrote in an Aug. 22, 2008, e-mail to his counterpart at the teachers pension fund: "I was hoping we could sit on the sidelines.''

Vanecko's negotiations with the pension fund officials are outlined in e-mails and other documents that a Visit our web site and federal grand jury recently subpoenaed. Authorities are download the "Book of looking into how the pension funds decided to invest Evidence" that we with the mayor's nephew, even though his new company delivered to you in had no track record; acknowledged that, despite Lausanne! potentially big payouts, its investment strategy was high-risk, and had been turned down by six other government pension funds. Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to Two weeks after the grand jury subpoenas were issued, give the Olympics to Vanecko announced in June he would leave DV Urban by Chicago" July 1. Neither the company nor pension officials would say if Vanecko has indeed left the company he started with Allison Davis, a longtime Daley ally in the city's African-American communities. Davis formerly headed a small Chicago law firm whose staff once included a then-young attorney named Barack Obama.

"We are continuing our discussions with Mr. Davis regarding Mr. Vanecko. In light of those ongoing discussions, we do not believe it is appropriate at this time to comment,'' said Michael Fishman, an attorney representing the three city employee pension funds that approved the reworked deal with DV Urban.

Fishman was hired by John Gallagher Jr., executive director of Chicago's police pension fund, who led the negotiations to redo the deal. Gallagher cited potential federal tax liabilities that he said the pension funds could face if DV Urban's real estate deals ended up turning a profit by the time the deal expires in 2014. So far, DV Urban's investments have fallen in value, which it has

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 52 Days - More scandal from the Daley...

blamed largely on the recession.

The new deal gives one key new benefit to the pension funds: They are now guaranteed that they will get back all of their initial investment before DV Urban is paid any incentive fees.

Under the revisions, DV Urban would still be able to collect as much as $8 million in management fees from the pension funds.

It also gets an extra year to invest the pension money, a quicker return on its investment, and the halved requirement for investing its own money, to $3.5 million.

The subpoenaed records show the city pension fund managers had concerns about reducing DV Urban's initial promise to invest $7 million.

"We want DV to have as much skin in the game as possible,'' James Mohler, of the municipal employees pension fund, wrote in a July 21, 2008, e-mail to the executive directors of all five pension funds. Fishman wrote in an e-mail that same day that the reworked agreement is "a much better deal'' for the pension funds because DV "gets no money until we get paid.''

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 51 Days - Tribune wants transparency

No Games Chicago Update 51 Days To Decision Daily News

August 11, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The Mayor and the 2016 Committee continue to be Chicago is already criticized by the business press. David Greising is the tottering business reporter for the Chicago Tribune. financially. Let's not let our vanity Public on hook deserves look into Chicago's and wishful Olympics bid thinking get in the David Greising - Chicago Tribune - August 11, 2009 way of sound finance, and For Chicago 2016, the Olympic organizing committee, financing the the long march through Chicago's 50 wards is nearly essential done. infrastructure that Chicago citizens The community meetings that wrap up this month have been arduous. Yet the Chicago committee has endured, really need. knowing its leaders, in cooperation with Mayor Richard Daley, will reign as near-sovereigns over Chicago for the Withdraw the Bid! next seven years -- building stadiums and housing complexes, controlling park land and transportation Laura Louzader routes -- should the city host the 2016 Games. Chicago None of it will happen, of course, unless the City Council commits taxpayers to an unlimited financial guarantee Signer of No Games that the Games will succeed. Daley and Chicago 2016 online petition Chairman Patrick Ryan have said as much.

All of which raises an age-old Chicago question: "Where's ours?"

If Chicago's taxpayers are to offer an indispensable guarantee, they should get more than the world's biggest swim and track meet. They should get, in fact, a tool that will provide a close-up view into the wheeling, the dealing, the high jinks and palm greasing that will make the 2016 Games uniquely Chicago.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 51 Days - Tribune wants transparency

In other words, the City Council should insist -- and Chicago 2016 should agree -- that the organizing committee become subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

The law requires government entities to provide information of public interest about how they operate. Now, Chicago 2016 is not a public entity. If a nosy person should ask, say, what's up with the awarding of a contract, or about how a certain road got rerouted, or how a lakefront harbor became an Olympic rowing venue, Chicago 2016 could tell them to just buzz off. That's private business.

Not anymore. Chicago 2016's demand that it needs an unlimited financial guarantee, not to mention $500 million from the city and $250 million from the state, makes organizing a Chicago Olympics a very public matter. Visit our web site and download the "Book of The City Council, before granting the unlimited financial Evidence" that we guarantee, should demand that Chicago 2016 agree to delivered to you in honor requests for information, following the same Lausanne! openness guidelines as described in Illinois' freedom of information law. The committee should appoint a freedom-of-information officer, answerable to the City Open letter to the IOC: Council and responsible for complying with information "Why you don't want to requests, as government offices do. give the Olympics to Chicago" Just last week, Tribune reporters Todd Lighty, David Heinzmann and Kathy Bergen showed what public information requests -- part of their research -- can yield. In revealing that bid committee member and Chicago Board of Education President Michael Scott Sr. has set up a real estate deal that could benefit him if the Games go on, the Tribune reminded Chicagoans -- yet again -- that Chicago is the city that works, too often, for the clique that surrounds Daley.

Why would Chicagoans need the power of the Freedom of Information Act?

The answer is simple: Today, Chicago 2016 needs us. They need the citizens' financial backing or the International Olympic Committee will not designate Chicago as host city over Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid.

Once Chicago gets the Games, though, the power equation reverses. For the next seven years, the Chicago organizing committee becomes the most powerful entity in town. Its needs will trump virtually anything else on the civic landscape. The Chicago Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games -- COCOG, get used to those initials -- will be answerable

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 51 Days - Tribune wants transparency

to Daley and no one else.

Last month, Chicago 2016 tipped its hand toward the sort of imperious behavior that could become common without appropriate checks. It delayed, until after the Oct. 2 IOC vote, the filing of IRS forms disclosing plans for funding the Games. So much for openness and the timely release of information.

To some skeptics, this might seem like a far-out request. There is no way Chicago 2016 can commit to public disclosure, some might say. Unprecedented, others may argue.

Under pressure early this year to demonstrate public support to the IOC, the Chicago bid committee voluntarily succumbed to community demands for openness in the awarding of Olympics contracts.

Subjecting itself to freedom-of-information requirements would take the committee just a half-step further. It also would comply with the spirit of the Illinois law, which treats contractors serving a government function as if they are the government itself.

In response to my request for its thinking on the topic, Chicago 2016 issued a statement with the expected boilerplate about being a private entity, the community meetings and its agreement to competitive bidding on contracts. What the committee did not say is the one sentence it should have: "Yes, we'll answer the public's questions about how we're financing and building the Games."

Openness should be the price of putting taxpayers on the hook for the 2016 Games.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 50 Days - XXXX

No Games Chicago Update 50 Days To Decision Daily News

August 12, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The 2016 Committee continues to meet with community My family traveled members. The more they meet, the angrier the into the city on community residents get. July 3 to attend the Taste of Olympic Committee meets a skeptical local Chicago and watch community the fireworks. By Dan Kolen | The Gazette - August 2009

Upon arrival, they Reaching out to local residents, the Chicago 2016 were turned away Olympic Committee visited Marshall High School's by Chicago Police auditorium on the West Side on July 14 in a meeting to who said it wasn't discuss how the Olympics would affect communities if safe and that the the City wins the Olympic bid. event was "closed" The Olympics would provide an indoor track located in due to violence. Douglass Park on the West Side, an Olympic Village in Bronzeville that would be transformed after the games My question is this: into housing (around 30% affordable), and a "direct If Mayor Ricard surplus to the City's budget," committee members Daley can't provide claimed. for the protection Many people who attended the meeting expressed of people attending concern about the Olympics, despite committee a regular event like members' rosy view. "They didn't answer the questions, the Taste of plain and simple," said Maurice Robinson. "With the Chicago, how does Olympics being here, the issues that are ahead of us - he plan to protect and thereare so many problems already - it's hard to imagine what's going to happen." those attending the 2016 Olympics? Public transit

Mike Volling, Concerning public transportation, the committee Antioch announced officials would arrange an additional bus system specifically for the people going to the games; no parking would be permitted around the games' sites.

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 50 Days - XXXX

Federal aid the City expects to get for transportation would "help immensely" to "permanently improve" the Letter to the Editor City's transportation infrastructure, according to Chicago Tribune committee members. July 29, 2009 "Both Atlanta and Salt Lake City benefited very significantly from federal transportation projects in their cities, so they would be ready for the games," said Doug Arnot, the committee's director of venues and games operations. "The existing system was improved in time for the games" and had a lasting impact, he noted.

Stephanie Patton, now a Chicago resident, lived in Atlanta in the lead-up to the 1996 games and said Atlanta did see a positive, permanent change in the infrastructure. For example, she noted, express lanes of certain thoroughfares were increased from three to five, although traffic still was massive.

"What happened was, though, during heavy traffic, the people of the city had to learn those back roads" during the games, she said. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were held in a city growing and expanding, but Chicago is an already built-up city, with public transit plagued by frequent delays, fare hikes, and threats of service cuts. The comments by the committee therefore did not help calm the concerns many residents had about the permanent impact the games would have on public transportation. "You certainly have your work cut out for you," Lee Ford, a Garfield Park resident, said to Arnot, who expressed a negative view of "the public transportation access and Visit our web site and the public transportation system in the City of Chicago." download the "Book of Evidence" that we Public funding delivered to you in Lausanne! On June 17, Mayor Richard M. Daley signed a contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) saying the City will take on full, unlimited financial liability for Open letter to the IOC: "planning, organization, and staging" the Olympics. The "Why you don't want to contract and issues pertaining to funding the games give the Olympics to drew criticism from several attendees. Chicago" The IOC is "in bed with Mayor Daley." Patton said. "If we get the Olympics, it's going to be a travesty for Chicago. I feel strongly that with Mayor Daley's leadership we're going to have to go deep into our pockets."

The committee members remained adamant that no taxpayer dollars would be used and that the City has not had to pay so far for planning the games. Despite the contract, the City "will not pay a dime for the games," committee members asserted. "No games since 1972 have lost money; all have turned a surplus," said Lori Healey, president of the committee.

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 50 Days - XXXX

"We also have additional insurance protection so we can cover costs on projects."

Huge price tags are associated with many of the proposed structures: Olympic Village would cost $1 billion, a stadium in Washington Park just under $400 million, and the Douglass Park facility that would be converted into a permanent track and field center after the games would cost $37.1 million. The games' total cost is estimated at around $4.8 billion. To cover such massive costs, the City would receive more than one billion dollars from television rights, with private financiers paying the rest, committee members said.

"No taxpayer dollars are included in the budget," Healey said. "We're 100% privately financed. In fact, we expect to turn a $450 million surplus."

Neighborhood impact

From reduced ticket prices for Chicago residents, to favorable vendor deals for locals, to World Sport Chicago's (WSC) sports program for kids in Chicago, the committee outlined direct, positive effects of the Olympics for the community.

"It's our commitment that World Sport Chicago grows and continues to grow," Arnot said about the program that already has enrolled 30,000 of the 300,000 kids in Chicago Public Schools. The committee showed a short documentary during the meeting to highlight a gymnastics class for WSC. Those attending responded with skepticism about how much the program and committee really wanted to help the city.

"We had never heard of World Sport Chicago until today," Patton said. "And with the games, we're going to be made to feel like guests or prisoners in our own backyards."

Some in attendance voiced support for the games, however.

"I think the Olympics are going to be a great thing for the city," said local resident Walter Fiedler. "The things that are going to happen are already under way, but it is a way for the people to know what is expected and what it's going to mean for us." Healey said that, with WSC and the new infrastructure, the games will "help us provide something new to the neighborhoods. There will be a lasting impact in the neighborhoods." She also stressed the importance of the residents' support.

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 50 Days - XXXX

"We need to show that the people of Chicago are passionate about sports, about bringing the games to the city," Healey said. "With your support, we can really transform this city."

Some at the meeting were not keen on lending their support, however. Patton said, "While you're advocating for support for the Olympics, advocate to get our children educated."

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 49 Days - Community not buying Olymp...

No Games Chicago Update 49 Days To Decision Daily News

August 13, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: I live in Chicago and my kids attend The 2016 Committee continues to meet with Chicago public community members. The more they meet, the schools. I currently angrier the community residents get. have no plans to move. As a Chicago Bronzeville Not Buying The Olympic homeowner and Guarantee taxpayer, I certainly have a Angela Caputo - Progress Illinois - August 12, 2009 vested interest in seeing my city Ever since they got a whiff of proposed plans to thrive. I also know turn their Chicago neighborhoods into ground the city is in a zero for the 2016 Olympics, many South Side tough financial spot residents have grown concerned that they will right now. end up sidelined by the games. Last year, a coalition organizations began pressuring City I've been reading Hall to produce a legally-binding "community your bi-weekly benefits agreement" to guarantee the locals Olympic missives on would see a cut -- via apprenticeships and this website and I'd housing -- of the Olympic development boom. like to suggest - in As regular readers know, the city initially all seriousness -- a attempted to stonewall the group. topic for your next entry. Many of us in But their campaign ultimately produced some Chicago are bad PR for the bid committee, not to mention opposed to the the mayor, and the City Hall insiders relented -- Olympics coming to sort of. In March, Chicago 2016 agreed to sign town because we a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding do not trust a lot of (MOU) upping minority contracting, local employment, and affordable housing goals. But legal experts subsequently confirmed what

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 49 Days - Community not buying Olymp...

community groups knew all along: the the public officials document hardly represents a guarantee. connected with the bid. (Many of us Apparently, Chicago 2016 thought that they had also think our city outfoxed the coalition -- and the public -- by is too handing them the MOU and walking away with cash-strapped to some favorable headlines. Indeed, while take on this appearing at one of the bid committee's adventure.) Week community meetings in Bronzeville last night, after week, we chairman Pat Ryan attempted to trot out the read about insider document as "legally-binding" evidence that the deals and apparent South Side is in line for big gains. Luckily, the conflicts of interest residents in attendance -- invited from the 3rd, involving many 4th, and 20th Wards -- knew better. folks close to those "You're selling it like it's going to protect us," at the 2016 helm. Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization's Too often, Jitu Travis told Ryan. "It's not. Where's the journalists who legally-binding document?" probe, asks questions, and try Ryan countered that the committee's obligation to gather is to its private investors, claiming that they will information using pay for "100 percent" of the games' "operating FOIA are routinely expenses." The identities of all those interests stonewalled (and remains under wraps, though, as the bid often ignored). committee continues to suspiciously push off disclosure requirements until after Oct. 2 (when I'd appreciate it if, the 2016 host city is announced). Moreover, the in your next piece big expenses will come from capital for The Huffington improvements, not operating expenses. As Post, you'd make Tribune business columnist David Greising the case for why pointed out yesterday, it's hard to swallow the we taxpayers committee's insistence that the Olympics are should trust these solely a private venture: leaders to keep the 2016 Summer Chicago 2016's demand that it needs an Games transparent unlimited financial guarantee, not to mention and free from the $500 million from the city and $250 million from cronyism and the state, makes organizing a Chicago Olympics corruption that so a very public matter. permeates everyday life here If last night's meeting is any indication, South in Chicago. Siders are catching on. When Ryan attempted to prove his confidence in the Chicago 2016 Matt Farmer, plan by offering to bet each audience member Chicago $1,000 that they won't pay for any of the Comment on Pat Olympics, he was virtually laughed off the Ryan's online stage.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 48 Days - Tribune wants more transparency

No Games Chicago Update 48 Days To Decision Daily News

August 14, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Our city does not need the Olympics!!! David Greising is the business reporter for #1 Buildings crumbling, the Chicago Tribune. He's been growing city services skeptical of the 2016 Committee's willingness deteriorating. Our city to be honest with the people of Chicago. needs better schools, Public transportation Time to hold 2016 Olympics committee's overhaul and city feet to flame on open records services to help the David Greising - August 14, 2009 Chicagoans do to cutbacks. #2 more "This is a good thing for our bid," Pat Ryan was private sector jobs.. saying the other night, after Bronzeville Without the jobs crime neighborhood citizens grilled Olympics officials for has riddled nearly three hours about costs and risks of staging a streets/neighborhoods. Chicago Olympics. "NO WORK"!! (NO A root-canal look on his face, Ryan had sat in a hot, OLYMPICS) crowded South Side meeting room as residents raised concerns about the demolition of historic Kurtis Schmitt buildings, travel inconveniences and access to Chicago business opportunities that could accompany a 2016 Games. Signer of No Games online petition The Chicago 2016 bid committee has been the most open ever, asserted Ryan, the chairman. The group that would run the Games -- the Chicago Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, or OCOG -- will be open to scrutiny too, Olympics officials have said.

Yet when it comes to opening their own records to public scrutiny, the way all public agencies must, the transparency goes dark.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 48 Days - Tribune wants more transparency

As a private entity, Chicago 2016 typically would have no obligation to open its records. But because it will get $750 million in state and city financial guarantees -- and wants an unlimited city commitment to cover any major Olympics shortfall -- in exchange it should agree to let taxpayers know how Olympics money will be spent.

Ryan and his second-in-command, Lori Healey, felt no obligation to open the Olympic committee's records. Yet the more they tried to explain their reasoning the less persuasive it became. Ryan asserted that freedom of information requests might make it impossible for Chicago 2016 and the International Olympic Committee to sell sponsorships, the biggest source of money for any Olympics.

"We're going to be having a competition for Visit our web site and sponsorships, and I hope that you wouldn't request download the "Book of the information in the FOIA that we reveal what this Evidence" that we company is bidding and what that company is delivered to you in bidding," Ryan said. Lausanne! But Illinois' freedom of information law specifically protects proprietary business information. Bids for Open letter to the IOC: sponsorships and other contracts would remain "Why you don't want to secret. give the Olympics to Chicago" Healey implied that the bid committee is powerless to bind the actual organizing committee to an open-records commitment.

"It's up to the OCOG," she said.

Healey and virtually everyone else on Chicago 2016 are expected to serve on the Chicago Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, but Healey makes the two groups sound like foreign entities.

"The OCOG is governed by its own board," she said. "They'll have to make decisions on this."

If the bid committee cannot make commitments that bind the OCOG, someone has a lot of explaining to do. The state and city need to know, because this puts their $750 million guarantees at risk. Someone tell the community groups that the fair-contracting agreement hammered out with dozens of community groups may have no effect on how the OCOG operates.

In fact, someone tell the IOC. They need to know if the bid committee's word is not the OCOG's bond.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 48 Days - Tribune wants more transparency

What Ryan seems not to appreciate is that an open-records policy might help Chicago's bid. Contracting scandals have ruined past Olympics, and Chicago's reputation on such matters is hardly pristine.

When Chicago 2016 goes to Copenhagen for the IOC vote Oct. 2, its bid will be stronger with an open-records commitment.

Now, Ryan is a phenomenally successful insurance executive. He knows a deal breaker when he sees it, and he knows he needs the city's financial guarantee for the Games or there is no Chicago Olympics.

Ryan and Mayor Richard Daley, who want the Olympics so badly, will do about anything to get that guarantee. And that is why -- in exchange for a government guarantee in a city and state with a corruption-riddled track record -- citizens must insist on access to the Olympic committee's records.

This is called negotiating leverage, and taxpayers and citizens, in those rare moments when they have leverage, are fools if they do not use it.

Access to the Olympic committee's records is within the reach of the people who are being asked to guarantee the Games. All the City Council has to do -- at hearings next month -- is ask.

[email protected]

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 47 Days - The Chicago Way

No Games Chicago Update 47 Days To Decision Daily News

August 15, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The games are just another John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago opportunity for the Tribune. He has been critical of Mayor Daley and politicians to steal Chicago politics for many years. Like other from the public. journalists covering Chicago, the mayor, the Let 2016 bid and the general state of corruption and Pat Ryan spend his incompetence here, Mr. Kass is connecting the money on this dots and placing the bid inside the circle of nonsense, corrupt practices our leaders are so well known Not the taxpayers. for.

Michael Underwood Chicago's politicians have got ethics covered Chicago John Kass - August 14, 2009

Signer of No Games With irritating frequency, national news anchors and online petition members of Congress are using a cool new phrase they must have just invented themselves: "The Chicago Way."

They talk like this even though President Barack Obama of Chicago continues to demand that citizens stand up and fight political corruption, just as long as they're citizens of Africa.

He did so during his campaign, complaining that Africans felt numbed and powerless by corruption. Visiting Africa a few weeks ago and without a hint of irony, Obama struck again, saying that Africans hoping to open a business or get a job surely must feel as if they "still have to pay a bribe."

Bribes? Can you imagine?

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 47 Days - The Chicago Way

Someday, our president might visit Illinois and say the same thing, and that will really make news. Until that day, we're left with Washington media types snickering about this "Chicago Way" business as if there aren't any good ethics around here.

When it comes to ethics, we have so many ethics boards, ethics panels, ordinances, laws and writs, all crafted with snazzy loopholes by machine politicians, that Illinois must be the veritable bastion of ethics in America. Visit our web site and download the "Book of Consider the case of Gary M. O'Neill, lured from Evidence" that we Louisiana to become director of the Chicago Board of delivered to you in Ethics. It's a collection of experts who decide what's Lausanne! ethical, and is controlled by Mayor Richard M. Daley.

In 1990, a year after Daley was elected, O'Neill was named ethics boss, and many surely dreamed Chicago Open letter to the IOC: would transcend the tired politics of the past. Sadly, a "Why you don't want to few days after he took the job, it was revealed O'Neill give the Olympics to had been sued by the Louisiana Ethics Board for financial Chicago" irregularities. And he'd been subpoenaed as part of a criminal investigation in a Louisiana insurance company scam.

Oh, and he also had an outstanding warrant for battery, stemming from a bar fight in Baton Rouge. So O'Neill resigned, hopped in a rental car and took off for Louisiana, but he was arrested in Missouri driving 102 m.p.h. That's the last we heard of the poor guy.

Clearly, our politicians endeavor to persevere in the ethics department. Just this week, Chicago solved several ethical dilemmas.

There were those snaky land maneuvers near a Chicago 2016 Olympic site that involved Michael Scott, the president of the Chicago Board of Education. Scott is also a member of a watchdog panel responsible for keeping political insiders from capitalizing on Chicago's Olympic dreams.

The mayor said there was nothing to it, everything was completely ethical, the Tribune owed him a personal apology for stories (columns?) that said he was angry even though he really wasn't angry, just passionate. Basically (pronounced Basick-eee), he decreed we should just shut up about the "phony story."

A few hours later, the mayor's Olympics ethics officer decided that, well, the story wasn't really phony and Scott probably should have disclosed that he was orchestrating land deals (featuring a cool Nike store) near a proposed Olympics venue. But what the heck?

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 47 Days - The Chicago Way

We also had another ethical snafu. No, not the Chicago reform alderman clouting his close family member into a top magnet school though the relative didn't have the grades. And no, not those wholesale changes in the city's contract department that has a great track record of giving affirmative action deals to white guys who know the mayor.

I'm talking about the retirement party for the grand poobah of Chicago zoning, Ald. William J.P. Banks (36th), the chairman of the zoning committee. His nephew, James Banks, has made a fortune as a zoning lawyer.

The Banks retirement party was to be held (where else?) in Rosemont. Invitations ordered revelers to fork over $200 apiece: "Make checks payable to William J. P. Banks (memo: retirement party)."

The Tribune's savvy City Hall writer Dan Mihalopoulos broke the story. He was also part of a Tribune investigative team that worked on a series called "Neighborhoods for Sale" involving the Banks family zoning empire. Now the feds are looking into the 36th Ward group and there's been a plethora of retirements.

After the story ran, Banks' guys said the money was really going to unspecified "children's charities" in the ward, though the invitation never mentioned charities. Unhappily, Steve Berlin, executive director of the Chicago Ethics Board, did not return phone calls.

But then Banks had his retirement party canceled, just because.

Cash and politicians are like hot dogs and buns. Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, who now wants to serve Daley as his County Board president, had a habit of regularly accepting cash gifts from employees on her birthday. But she finally stopped, so don't worry.

See how things work around here?

Obama probably won't be forced to say anything about Chicago corruption.

That's because we've got ethics out the wazoo, the Chicago Way.

[email protected]

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3 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 46 Days - Chicago closed for business

No Games Chicago Update 46 Days To Decision Daily News

August 16, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: I don't want the Olympics here in The city of Chicago is in such poor financial Chicago. Our mayor shape that the city will close tomorrow, is a crook and has Monday. This is just the first of a series of made every effort planned shut downs over this and next year. to make deals, pass ordinances and We told you that the city is broke. Every week make the hard we are getting new details of just how bad our working citizens of finances are. Chicago pay fines that are truly The more news we get about our terrible illegal and violate finances, the angrier citizens are getting about our rights so that the Mayor's relentless pursuit of the 2016 he can get the $$$ Olympics. to fund these Olypics . Shame on you Richard Daley...

Anonymous Chicago

Signer of No Games City Government Closed For Business On online petition Monday

Sun-Times News Group, August14, 2009

If you planned to check out a library book, visit a city clinic or have your garbage picked up on Monday, you're out of luck.

1 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 46 Days - Chicago closed for business

The City of Chicago will basically be closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay, according to a release from the Office of Budget and Management. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most city offices will be closed.

Emergency service providers including police, firefighters and paramedics will be working at full strength, but most services not directly related to public safety, including street sweeping, will not be provided, the release said.

That also includes garbage pickup. Residents Visit our web site who receive regular collection on Mondays and download the should expect trash to be picked up the "Book of Evidence" following day, the release said. Some other that we delivered customers may experience a one-day delay as to you in Lausanne! collectors catch up.

As part of the 2009 budget, three reduced- Open letter service days were planned for 2009, days which to the IOC: are unpaid for all affected employees -- the "Why you don't Friday after Thanksgiving; Christmas Eve; and want to give the New Year's Eve. The City Council recently Olympics to approved moving the reduced-service day Chicago" planned for New Year's Eve to Monday.

The 2009 budget anticipates saving $8.3 million due to the reduced-service days.

In addition to reduced service days, all non-union employees were asked to take a series of furlough days and unpaid holidays, and most non-sworn union employees agreed to similar unpaid time off.

"Every dollar we save from these measures helps to save jobs, and in the long-term, maintain services for Chicagoans," Mayor Daley said in the release. "This plan relies on most of our civilian employees to be part of the solution to our very serious budget challenges. I want to thank them again for their sacrifice."

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2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 45 Days - Prominent Chicago consultant...

No Games Chicago Update 45 Days To Decision Daily News

August 17, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: It's more than Don Rose is a prominent Chicago political and obvious that the communications consultant and commentator. His views leaders (politicians) are very influential in Chicago civic circles. of the City of Chicago and the NO-lympics for Me State of Illinois are incapable of By Don Rose Chicago Daily Observer - August 17, 2009 keeping their promise to keep A few weeks back an old friend called to say he could get funding private for me $25,000 from Very Important People if I would "blog the 2016 Olympics. in favor of the Olympics." It is a myth that Olympics make a For those of you who may have been comatose in profit for the host Central Waziristan for the past year or two, bringing the 2016 games to Chicago is something Mayor Daley wants cities. Instead, we more than oxygen itself. should be focusing on making sure our "I am still agnostic on the Olympics," say I. citizens have quality healthcare, This friend is indeed close to the mayor, but rarely education, actually represents him in such dealings. He is also close to many wealthy developers. improved infrastructure and Through the years this friend, with whom I occasionally access to good cooperate on a political project, has tried to lure me over jobs. If we can't to the Dark Side, suggesting that this Daley or the balance a budget preceding one would welcome me with open arms if only how are we going I would endorse or work for such and such a candidate. My sense always is that he is free-lancing these offers of to pay for the municipal largesse rather than being a direct emissary, Olympics? Oh yeah, but keep taxing the I never know for sure because I never take him up on them.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 45 Days - Prominent Chicago consultant...

"Rose," says this friend, "forget agnostic. You are now citizens. old enough to sell out and nobody would blame you. I'm talking about $25,000 cash, which is way more than you Darla Brown get for a lousy column." Chicago "Is this a firm offer?" ask I. Signer of No Games "I'll go to those people and get back to you before you online petition leave for Paris," says he.

Of course I never hear back. I am apparently not as saleable a commodity as I once may have been.

It is clear, however, that the mayor and his business confederates are spending a lot of money as well as much political capital buying up the opposition-- apparently even endorsing a sometimes reform alderwoman for the presidency of the Cook County Board in exchange for her switching from anti- to pro-games.

This is one of the reasons my agnosticism has morphed to antagonism. Daley Inc. just wants this thing too much, which is always a dangerous sign. (Whether a firm offer of that 25-large would have swayed me in the other direction is something strictly between my shrink and me.)

I admit I am not a big follower of Olympic sports, though I enjoy watching an occasional hour of gymnastics and the Dirty Old Man inside me sometimes sneaks a peek at women's beach volleyball.

Visit our web site I also love Chicago a lot, despite its political acne, and and download the wouldn't mind having the world see it in a new light. "Book of Evidence" Millennium Park, for example, is so wonderful I can that we delivered almost forgive Daley his past sins. to you in Lausanne! But what I see more and more is the old non-Olympic game of Chicago-style political scam. Daley and his business crowd are in this for more than civic glory. Open letter to the IOC: More like fun and profit at taxpayer expense, "Why you don't desecration of parklands and a stiff-arm to minority communities. (Most minority leadership, however, has want to give the been bought.) Olympics to Chicago" Building the necessary infrastructure, housing and sports facilities--in effect one of Chicago's largest-ever public works projects--will be a fiscal Niagara for the development and hospitality crowd.

Why do you think they're so eager to put up the front money?

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 45 Days - Prominent Chicago consultant...

One look at the planning map also shows the whole thing resembles several past boondoggles designed have the city pay for infrastructure along the south lakefront and stymie expanding black communities; the World's Fair, rejected by Harold Washington, was one. All of them were part of what we used to call "the master plan."

Here they go again.

Why do you suppose the master builders won't make all their records and proceedings public? Would they show that private funding will not cover the multibillion-dollar deficits the games are sure to bring?

Daley says the city's financial commitment will be limited, but he won't permit a City Council ordinance to cap the amount of tax money we taxpayers will have to cover. He's been caught in several little fibs about exactly what long-term fiscal commitments he made to the International Olympic Committee.

Would it be too paranoid to suggest that Daley might have much more than personal grandeur at stake here?

He will not be mayor forever-maybe not after 2011, let alone 2015. Could this be a little retirement planning? Could all those fat-cats he will be enriching (and those already enriched) perhaps return the favor once he is out of office with all sorts of sinecures, consulting contracts and other comforts of old age?

Could this be an Olympian IRA--the Chicago way?

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 44 Days - Neighbors protest at 2016 me...

No Games Chicago Update 44 Days To Decision Daily News

August 18, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The 2016 Committee continues to hold community meetings. The Chicago does not one last night in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood turned ugly have the money or because neighbors were protesting the increase in violence in leadership to their neighborhood. They were angry that the city is not spending enough money on crime prevention and youth services. sponsor these games. The city Yesterday was also the day the city shut down all non-essential cannot fix potholes services in order to save money. on the streets. How can they sponsor People are getting angrier and angrier at the Mayor and the way Chicago is being managed. the Olympic games? This is simply Uptown Residents Protest Violence another opportunity for Fox News Chicago - August 17, 2009 Daley and his Meetings like this are being held all over Chicago---in every cronies to make a neighborhood---to talk about the city's bid for the Olympic games load of money. in 2016. Chicago is a finalist but some people in tonight's crowd say the city has been playing games in Iptown for a long time, Anne Haggerty games with their safety. Chicago Dozens of residents stood outside while that meeting took place. They say Chicago shouldn't be able to bid on the games because Signer of the city's streets aren't safe. No Games online petition They say crime in Uptown is getting worse and the alderman of the 46th ward, Helen Schiller, isn't doing enough about it. Last week at the intersection of Leland and Sheridan, a neighbor caught a fight between rival gangs on camera.

"What are you going to do about bullet casings on the corner of Leland and Sheridan?" Joe Gray shot this video last Thursday and says this was the third night of fighting. He called police but says it took just as many calls to get them out on the scene. Over the weekend, Gray says he got a call from the Chicago Police Department about what he documented. Patrols on foot

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 44 Days - Neighbors protest at 2016 me...

and by car have increased but so far, he's says heard nothing from the alderman.

Gray says: "Alderwoman Schiller will just not show up for CAPS meetings."

Alderman Schiller did attend the city's 2016 meeting but got in through a side door. She wasn't so lucky going out. The crowd chanted: "Run away Helen. Run away."

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" Chicago shuts down to save money that we delivered to you in Lausanne! BBC News - August 18, 2009

Public services in the US city of Chicago have been shut Open letter down for a day as the authorities face an expected to the IOC: budget shortfall of some $300m (£184m). Non-essential services such as rubbish collections, libraries and health centres "Why you don't were closed, in the first of three planned reduced service days. want to give the Olympics to City authorities hope the move, with workers taking an enforced Chicago" unpaid holiday, will save an estimated $8.3m.

Other cities in the US have already introduced similar measures.

The savings from Chicago's reduced service days are small compared with the overall deficit.

But in a statement last week, Chicago's Mayor Richard M Daley thanked state employees for their "sacrifice".

"Every dollar we save from these measures helps to save jobs, and in the long-term, maintain service for Chicagoans," he said.

"This plan engages most civilian employees to accept cuts and to be part of the solution to our budget crisis."

Two more reduced service days have been scheduled - one for 27 November, the day after Thanksgiving and another for Christmas Eve, 24 December.

Workers have also been asked to take a series of unpaid days off and holidays without salary. Chicago is one of a number of US cities and states to introduce closures and furlough days to address deficits.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 44 Days - Neighbors protest at 2016 me...

In California, which has a budget deficit of some $24.3bn (£14.5bn) and has declared a fiscal emergency, state offices have been ordered to close for three days each month.

Michigan has said it will not pay its state employees on six days up to the end of September, to save nearly $22m.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 43 Days - Tribune calls for "Olympic c...

No Games Chicago Update 43 Days To Decision Daily News

August 19, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The Chicago Tribune is a conservative leaning newspaper owned We have the by a billionaire real estate developer. It's been a consistent highest taxes in the booster of the 2016 bid. But lately even it can't turn a blind eye to nation! the deficiencies of the Chicago bid and the arrogance of its sponsors. Gentrification is rampant! Our The advice the editors of the Chicago Tribune is offering the 2016 public schools are a Committee will most likely be ignored. Meanwhile, Chicago's disgrace! citizens are not as patient and trusting as the Tribune editors Few inches of rain seem to be. They are showing up angry and very skeptical at the 2016 community meetings. and our streets flood! Public Olympic candor transportation is poor! And yet we August 19, 2009 have funds to host Barely six weeks from now, the International Olympic Committee the Olympics. will select a city to host the 2016 Summer Games. Chicago's organizers, from Mayor Richard Daley on down, are a committed LET'S GET OUR lot. On the streets, in workplaces and over kitchen tables, though, PRIORITIES many citizens remain ambivalent. Would an Olympiad net out as a STRAIGHT!!!!! plus for this city -- or as a sinkhole of taxpayer debt? Before Chicago organizers close their sale to the IOC, they need Maria Depp to close their sale to Chicagoans. The best way to do that is to Chicago shower Chicago in all of the financing details -- and to create a rock-solid protocol for sharing future information with citizens as Signer of well. That isn't too much to ask, given that there will be no Chicago Olympics unless the City Council obligates taxpayers to No Games an open financial guarantee that the games will succeed. The city online petition has already provided a $500 million guarantee; the state has committed to $250 million in the event the Games lose money.

With each new guarantee of public financing, the Chicago effort to land the Games becomes an increasingly public endeavor. We second Tribune business columnist David Greising's proposal to give citizens their own guarantee, a guarantee of openness: "The

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 43 Days - Tribune calls for "Olympic c...

City Council, before granting the unlimited financial guarantee, should demand that Chicago 2016 agree to honor requests for information, following the same openness guidelines as described in Illinois' freedom of information law. The committee should appoint a freedom-of-information officer, answerable to the City Council and responsible for complying with information requests, as government offices do. ... Openness should be the price of putting taxpayers on the hook for the 2016 Games."

That proposal builds on a precedent: Earlier this year, responding to public suspicions, Chicago's bid committee agreed to community demands for openness in awarding of Olympic contracts. Recent events have only reinforced the need for a culture of full disclosure:

--The Tribune reported Aug. 7 that a member of Daley's team working to land the Olympics was involved in plans to develop city-owned land near a park that would be a 2016 Olympic venue. Developer Michael Scott Sr., who serves as president of the Visit our web site Chicago Board of Education, now is severing his ties to the potentially quite profitable project. But the disclosure dovetailed and download the with public suspicions that a 2016 Olympics would be a honey pot "Book of Evidence" for political insiders. that we delivered to you in Lausanne! --That news followed word that Chicago 2016 had delayed the filing of Internal Revenue Service documents on the financing of the Games until after the IOC announces its choice of a site. The committee says the City Council will have all of that information Open letter and more. So why not file the documents with the IRS before Oct. to the IOC: 2? "Why you don't want to give the --The Tribune reported that street and sewer costs associated with the proposed Olympic Village would add $100 million to the Olympics to cost, bringing the total to $1.18 billion. Does anyone think that Chicago" surprise is the last?

Aldermen and citizens need to be confident that the Games will come off without the city taking a bath. Because if and when Daley signs an agreement in Copenhagen guaranteeing that Chicago will deliver the Olympics -- no matter the cost -- those aldermen and citizens will be sitting in the tub.

Our advice to Chicago 2016 head Pat Ryan as he tries to sell an Olympics to Chicago: Be candid. Be specific. Don't sugarcoat risk. And focus on the following:

Taxpayers' risk

This is the big question. Can the city be reasonably assured that the games can be staged without taking a big loss? You keep saying that every Olympics since 1972 has made money. Explain in detail why this is so -- and why Chicago's plans are solid.

Is it whom you know?

Underlying a lot of the public's uneasiness is the suspicion that contracts and jobs will go to the "connected" few, and everyone else will be left out in the cold. Lay out in detail your policies for

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 43 Days - Tribune calls for "Olympic c...

keeping clout and other illicit influences out of the action.

About that insurance policy

Tell us as much as you can about the $500 million of private insurance you're working to arrange, and why you are confident it will insulate taxpayers from further liability. How will the insurance be structured? When would it kick in? Who's underwriting that risk? How much will it cost? Who resolves disputed claims? So far, there are no details.

It takes a village

Vancouver's 2010 Olympics got into trouble because the city awarded the Olympic Village contract to a single developer, which used a single lender, and they bet the ballgame on luxury condos just when the real estate bust hit. Village construction stalled and the city had to step up. Chicago proposes a village of 21 12-story buildings erected by multiple developers and multiple lenders, and a post-Olympic plan for a mixed-income residential and retail complex. So it won't rely on a single developer or lender. That's good, but more information on who is interested in participating would help assure Chicagoans they won't play the role of Vancouver in some future meltdown.

There are venues and there are venues

London's 2012 Games are way over budget. Explain why: London has to build 63 percent of its venues. Its games were always designed to boost the downtrodden East End; pollution remediation and European value-added taxes have made costs skyrocket. Chicago needs to build only five of 27 venues. It doesn't have to redevelop an entire swath of the city. It also doesn't have to build airports, train lines, subways or roads. Explain why you think McCormick Place is Chicago's "secret weapon": It exists; it's huge and it can host concurrent events.

The rosy scenario

At the City Council's insistence, Chicago 2016's $4.8 billion budget is being independently scrubbed by a London-based consulting firm hired by the Civic Federation. That neutral analysis of Chicago 2016's budget, revenue and cost projections -- and that additional insurance policy -- could go a long way toward reassuring Chicagoans.

Finally: freedom of information

Mr. Ryan, you and yours would do yourselves a great favor by voluntarily making your committee, and the successor Chicago Organizing Committee, subject to the provisions of Illinois' freedom-of-information law. That would allay the fear that, once you have the City Council on board, Chicago citizens will lose their leverage to protect the huge commitment you're asking of them.

3 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 42 Days - Trial set for Alderman

No Games Chicago Update 42 Days To Decision Daily News

August 20, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Chicago needs to There are a number of federal prosecutions under focus all its monies way that involve key members of the Chicago political and energies on establishment, including Alderman Ike Carothers, a improving its key ally of Mayor Daley. infrastructure and services for people Trial date set for Ald. Ike Carothers who live here, not to fund the red Chicago pol has been charged in zoning-for-bribes herring that is the case Olympics. Crime, Comments schools, and housing will all be August 19, 2009 - NATASHA KORECKI Federal ignored apart from Courts Reporter - Sun-Times the most superficial fixes in order to A federal judge today set a March 8 trial date for throw money at indicted Chicago Ald. Ike Carothers (29th) and a bringing the wealthy developer, both accused of taking part in a Olympics here. I zoning-for-bribes scheme. ask that, please, as Prosecutors, meanwhile, plan to turn over evidence in a lifelong citizen, the case to the defense today. taxpayer, and someone who is Carothers, an ally of Mayor Daley, and Chicago deeply concerned developer Calvin Boender have pleaded "not guilty" to for the future of the bribery and fraud charges. this city, our leaders shift the Carothers had cooperated with the government since focus to where it last year - cooperation that included wearing a wire to counts.! secretly record conversations. Carothers' lawyer, Larry Beaumont, said the alderman was waiting to review the evidence before deciding whether he'd fight the charges against him.

1 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 42 Days - Trial set for Alderman

Katherine Hannon Boender allegedly paid off Carothers as he sought Chicago zoning approval to redevelop a 50-acre former railyard and industrial site on the West Side into a residential Signer of and commercial neighborhood. No Games online petition Prosecutors say the zoning change could have brought Boender $3 million.

Michael Jackson's onetime attorney, Thomas Mesereau of Los Angeles, appeared in court for the first time today after signing on as Boender's attorney earlier this summer.

Here's what one reader commented:

"ike's daddy served three years .. Maybe his son will follow in his footsteps... Check it out on wikipedia.. Ike and his brother Tony went around terrorizing people. Straight outta wikipedia.....

In 1985, a federal judge ordered William Carothers, his two sons, and a fourth man to pay $152,000 in damages for a campaign of physical violence and intimidation organized by William Carothers, from prison, against a political opponent. Independent incumbent Illinois State Representative Arthur Turner of the far west side 17th District was challenged in Visit our web site 1982 by William Carothers' former assistant, Ozzie Hitchins, who was supported by the then imprisoned and download the William Carothers. Turner aides were threatened with "Book of Evidence" guns and one Turner aide suffering severe injuries to that we delivered the side of the head, including broken bones. At the to you in Lausanne! time Isaac and his brother were both Cook County deputy sheriffs with access to guns. Turner and aides filed a civil lawsuit following their defeat by Hitchins. Open letter U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras said Isaac to the IOC: Carothers appeared to be the ringleader and "Why you don't "organized their acts of intimidation" by force while want to give the the other son used his deputy's position to verbally Olympics to threaten the plaintiffs. Isaac Carothers was ordered to Chicago" pay $25,000 of the damages.

And Tony Carothers was just given a merit promotion by..... Ike Carothers."

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 41 Days - Chicago mass transit tops in d...

No Games Chicago Update 41 Days To Decision Daily News

August 21, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Mayor Daley, We've told you that Illinois and Chicago are broke. you can't run a city The state and city are running rivers of red ink and it's effectively - that's not projected to get better soon. been proven. So I know for sure you One of the most important components of our city is can't pull this off our public transit system which is operated by the without burdening Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Our public transit the citizens of system barely keeps up with the current needs of Chicago and the users. The systems need repairs, upkeep and State of Illinois expansion. without further tax ramifications. Unfortunately, these vital needs are being neglected.

Steve Crnkovich Stranded at the Station: The Impact of the Financial Crystal Lake Crisis in Public Transportation is the first systematic analysis of the conundrum faced by communities and Signer of their transit systems: Historic ridership and levels of No Games demand for service, coupled with the worst funding online petition crisis in decades.

According to a recent survey by the AmericanPublic Transportation Association, state, regional and local funding for more than 80 percent of U.S. transit systems has remained flat or has fallen lately, and nearly 90 percent of those systems have had to raise fares or cut service. Nearly half have done both.

Chicago is at the top of this list of major U.S. city transit systems running deficits.

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 41 Days - Chicago mass transit tops in d... http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs040/1102402695779/archive/11026...

We know you place considerable weight to the Visit our web site candidate city's transit system in making your and download the decision to award the games. "Book of Evidence" that we delivered There are no concrete, real plans to improve our to you in Lausanne! transit system. The 2016 Committee has been asked about their transit plans in many of the community meetings they've held over the past month. In every Open letter case they admit that their bid is based on existing to the IOC: infrastructure. "Why you don't want to give the We hope you will take this into consideration when Olympics to you make your decision on which city is most fit to Chicago" host the 2016 Olympic Games.

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2 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 40 Days - Sing along with the Clout Me...

No Games Chicago Update 40 Days To Decision Daily News

August 22, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Same ol' people gettin' overtime We've told you about the rampant corruption in Chicago politics. It's so widely known that a group of Same ol' names makin' city workers as formed a band and recorded a song headlines called "Chicago Clout Blues."

Same ol' crew stealin' from the kitty

Slitherin' snakes through departments of our city

Mayor Richie Daley tells us wrong from right

It's hard to do when he's on the next flight

He's hangin' out in Switzerland cuttin' big They uploaded the video to YouTube where you can deals watch it.

Too much funny business They've become an overnight sensation and they've here, everyone steals been covered by the Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Clout, Little Clout Meisters sing the 'Chicago Clout' blues City Richie's getting richer workers write, perform anti-Daley ditty Chicago Clout, nothin' stays the same August 22, 2009

Chicago Clout, there's After fighting City Hall for more than a decade, city never gonna be change worker Patrick McDonough has the blues -- the "Chicago Clout" blues.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 40 Days - Sing along with the Clout Me...

McDonough, a self-professed whistle-blower in the So, when you turn around a new scandal is city's Hired Truck scandal, and Chicago Park District brewin' music instructor Emery Joe Yost are the creators of a catchy little ditty about their beef with Chicago Daley knows nothin', it's politics. none of his doin' "Either you accept what they give you or you keep Now I have to move out, fighting to try and change what they're doing," said my taxes too high McDonough, a city plumber and investigator and longtime critic of Mayor Richard Daley. "I've been Daley don't care, "Let banging away for a very long time, and I think I've the middle class fry!" gotten very good at it."

And why should we Earlier this year, McDonough decided he needed a change? Everything is so good tune for his blog, ChicagoClout.com, where he documents his complaints and opinions about the Who cares if kids are city. So he approached Yost, a 30-year friend, for his gettin' shot in the 'hood? help in creating something "sad, dramatic, beaten- down," McDonough said. Yost, who wrote the music We're cuttin' deals for and collaborated with McDonough on the lyrics, our family and our nailed it, McDonough said. friends The song is performed by Yost, John Bernardi, Eric 2016 is when the world's McCabe and Phillip Garifuna -- known as the Clout gonna end! Meisters. (McCabe is employed by Chicago Public Schools; Bernardi and Garifuna do not work for the Chicago Clout, Little city.) And their work has become a local sensation. Richie's gettin' richer

Chicago Clout, nothin' "It's insane," said Yost, who added that decades of seems to change watching overtime and promotions go only to the politically connected have pushed him to speak -- or, Chicago Clout, it all rather, sing -- out. "When we wrote this song, we stays the same didn't write it for one specific scenario," he said. "We wrote it for all the scenarios combined." Lyrics of "Chicago Clout Blues" by the Clout Meisters

Watch the Clout Meisters on CBS News!

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 39 Days - Selling the bid

No Games Chicago Update 39 Days To Decision Daily News

August 23, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The 2016 Committee has been taking its case to the Politicians have our neighborhoods of Chicago on an almost daily basis since July 8. State screwed up As we've been reporting to you, this has been a very bumpy ride. enough. All areas of Today, the Chicago Sun-Times gives a fair summary of how the process has unfolded. our government are in bad shape and we are taxed to the limit right now. We don't need or want more taxes to pay for the Games (and many of us believe that will happen- regardless of what our politicians are saying). Chicago can't even meet it's payrolls now and has to force employees into Selling the Games, a ward at a time days off with no pay! No games here '16 OLYMPICS | Promoters seeking residents' support and with the economy input are getting an earful in as bad shape as it is - no way. Japan August 23, 2009 - LISA DONOVAN [email protected] wants them - let them have them. As it has at times in recent weeks, a community meeting about Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics soon veered off into a heated discussion about other things. Anonymous Montgomery, IL Affordable housing. Jobs. Crime.

An upset Mark Carter, 35, stood in the audience and demanded

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 39 Days - Selling the bid

that Mayor Daley's Olympic bid team, assembled on the dais, set aside some of the projected 310,000 jobs -- some temporary, Signer of others permanent -- expected to be created by the Olympic No Games Games for North Lawndale residents. He also asserted that the online petition beleaguered West Side community wasn't getting the help it needed because "the alderman sold us out."

First-term Ald. Sharon Denise Dixon (24th), standing next to the audience, didn't hold back.

"Shut up," she told Carter, who ran against her in the last election. "I'm an alderman, not a miracle worker."

This week, the Chicago 2016 Olympic organizing committee winds up a series of community meetings dubbed "50 wards in 50 days" -- a sprint to sell the Olympics to the public, even as criticism has built this summer over Daley's surprise announcement that he'll sign the standard Olympic host-city contract, putting taxpayers on the hook for any losses if the city ends up hosting the 2016 Games and the city's rosy financial predictions don't come true.

Chicago is competing to host the Olympics against finalist cities Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. The International Olympic Committee will meet Oct. 2 in Copenhagen and announce the winner.

Each city is required to sign the contract -- an open-ended agreement to pay for any losses the Games might incur.

The Olympic bid team's refrain at the community meetings has been that "not a single tax dollar has been spent on the Games" Visit our web site and that the $4.8 billion Olympic plan will be bankrolled by private and download the donations. "Book of Evidence" that we delivered The bid team has also said the Games here would make money, generating a $450 million surplus. to you in Lausanne! But so-called "tax-increment financing" dollars will be used in the planned Olympic Village on the South Side, and the safety net for Open letter the Games includes a state guarantee of $250 million, and a "last- to the IOC: resort" $500 million in taxpayer money from the City of Chicago. "Why you don't Olympic organizers say that in the unlikely event the Games end want to give the up losing money, they'd have to burn through millions in privately Olympics to purchased insurance before touching public dollars. Chicago" Chicago 2016 has organized more than 400 community meetings since 2007, according to a spokesman for the organization.

But these last sessions are particularly crucial, as aldermen gear up for a vote that would give the mayor the green light to formally sign the host-city contract.

If history is any predictor, the mayor will get what he wants -- and he wants the Olympics. But the meetings were organized so city residents could ask questions and weigh in before the vote.

Chicago 2016 President Lori Healey told the 350 people assembled for the kick-off meeting at the McKinley Park field

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 39 Days - Selling the bid

house on the Southeast Side that their support was crucial to winning the Games.

"We can't do it alone," Healey said. "The IOC does not want to give the Olympic Games to a city whose residents don't want it. We will lose this race without your support."

Well-versed in "the Chicago way," people attending the meeting wanted to know what's in it for them. A mother asked whether there would be money to open a bowling alley in Austin. Another city resident, who attended the St. Xavier University meeting on the Far South Side, wanted to know why there was so much fuss about winning the Summer Olympics when the city's focus should be on stopping the violence that's ravaging some communities.

Patrick Ryan, Chicago 2016's chief executive officer, answered: "Let me say that we can't, as the Olympic organizing committee, impact [social] problems. We all suffer with that emotionally."

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 38 Days - 2016 economic impact claim...

No Games Chicago Update 38 Days To Decision Daily News

August 24, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The veracity of Chicago's 2016 leadership comes under renewed Please withdraw criticism today in Crain's Chicago Business, our premier business Chicago's bid to news weekly. host the Olympics. No matter how it is Daley's Olympian stretch spun, the Olympics By: John Pletz - August 24, 2009 being here will displace the poor, Mayor Richard M. Daley's prediction that the 2016 Olympics trample civil would give Chicago's economy a $22.5-billion boost vastly liberties, and cost overstates the likely benefits of hosting the games, experts say. the city billions, "That's crazy," says Victor Matheson, a professor of economics at which we will be College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts who has studied the paying for for economic impact of the Olympics. "Anyone using this $22.5-billion generations. Don't number as justification to vote for the Olympics is being led down let it happen! the garden path."

The figure far exceeds estimated benefits in forecasts prepared Corinne Westing by other cities that have sought the games. Atlanta, for example, Chicago figured the games it hosted in 1996 would produce an economic jolt of just $7 billion in 2009 dollars. Signer of Similarly, the Chicago Olympics bid committee's prediction that No Games the 2016 games would create 315,000 jobs over 11 years is more than four times the jobs estimate for Atlanta. online petition Chicago's bid committee is touting the $22.5-billion figure as it tries to rally support for the 2016 games and persuade the City Council to approve a blanket guarantee of Olympics expenses. Mr. Daley's estimate of likely costs - $4.8 billion, including construction - already has been called into question. If projected benefits appear unrealistic, the council would have another reason to reject the guarantee when it votes next month.

Economic benefits of the 2016 games are more likely to range between $11 billion and $17 billion, based on the analysis of economists who question two key assumptions underlying the

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 38 Days - 2016 economic impact claim...

Chicago 2016 committee's estimate. The committee's economic study predicts a tourism boom following the games, something other host cities didn't see. And it applies an unusually high "multiplier" effect to Olympics-related spending. The forecast predicts the 2016 Olympics will generate $8.4 billion in direct spending, more than twice the $3.1 billion forecast in Atlanta. Some $7 billion of the Chicago 2016 figure represents tourism spending during and after the games.

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago" The committee predicts attendance in 2016 would exceed Atlanta's by 48%, owing to the increase in the number of events and larger venues. Economist Sanjay Varshney of California State University, Sacramento, who co-authored the committee's forecast, says that's one reason for the high tourism spending figure. Another is Chicago 2016's prediction that the city will see a $1.9-billion rise in tourism revenue in the five years after the games. Committee Chairman Patrick Ryan frequently points to Australia's increase in tourism after the 2000 games in Sydney, saying the number of international visitors passing through the city's airport has risen 25% since then.

But an expected $2.2-billion boost in tourism spending during the five years after the games "never materialized" for Sydney, says economist John Madden of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Dennis Tootelian, of Sacramento State, the other co-author of Chicago 2016's report, stands by his prediction: "When you take a look at the press the last Olympics received, that opens markets internationally. Over time, tourism should grow as the exposure grows."

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 38 Days - 2016 economic impact claim...

Without the post-Olympics tourism boost, direct spending predicted for the Chicago games would slip to $6.5 billion. The follow-on impact of that direct spending is another area where economists say Chicago 2016 goes too far.

The committee predicts a "multiplier" effect of 2.67, or $1.67 in additional spending for every dollar in direct Olympics spending. That's far higher than the 2.2 multiplier used in Atlanta's forecast for the 1996 games and the 1.68 figure that Washington, D.C., used in connection with its bid for the 2012 games.

"Typically, anything over 2 is pretty questionable," says Scott Watkins, a consultant at Anderson Economic Group LLC, a Lansing, Mich.-based firm that studies the impact of sporting events and expects to release next month an economic impact forecast for a Chicago Olympics.

Mr. Varshney and other economists note that multiplier effects are often higher in larger metropolitan areas like Chicago with economies big and diverse enough to absorb more follow-on spending locally. Mr. Tootelian says the multiplier is dictated by data fed into ImPlan, a frequently used economic-forecasting software program. "We don't set it."

Even economist who use ImPlan question the 2.67 multiplier. "I'm not sure how you get an induced impact that large," says Richard Clinch, a researcher at the University of Baltimore who co-authored the Washington forecast.

Mr. Tootelian dismisses questions about the proper multiplier, saying, "Even if it is 2, we're talking almost $17 billion in economic impact."

Predicting the economic effect of a future event is inherently speculative, but $17 billion is 24% less than Chicago 2016 says the games would inject into the local economy. And if the 1.68 multiplier used by D.C. is applied to the $6.5 billion economists consider a more realistic direct spending estimate, the benefits of the games would be $10.9 billion, less than half the committee's projection.

Similarly, the committee's forecast of 315,000 jobs over the 11-year period starting in 2011 is eye-popping compared to Atlanta and Washington, which estimated 77,000 and 70,000, respectively.

Mr. Matheson of Holy Cross says a study he conducted with Lake Forest College economics professor Robert Baade found that the Atlanta games actually created about 42,000 jobs at most.

"The Olympics in Chicago would be cool," Mr. Matheson says. "But don't expect them to make you rich."

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 37 Days - 2016 bid "ragged" and "smells"

No Games Chicago Update 37 Days To Decision Daily News

August 25, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The 2016 Committee continues to come under withering fire from NO OLYMPICS IN the local press. Here are two items from yesterday. CHICAGO - NOT IN 2016, NOT EVER. Olympic Bid Running Ragged With budged Chicago losing steam as facts emerge defecits running more than 450 By STEVE RHODES - NBC News Online Millions for the schools, the highest sales tax rate in the nation, an 11.5 trillion dollar defecit for the State of Illinois and only God knows what the true defecit is for the City itself because Dailey keeps selling The home stretch for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid looks about as promising as the Cubs winning their division. assets, we do not need, and we do The local organizing effort is springing leaks in every direction. not want this Emergency ward meetings designed to quell unrest over the about added financial the taxpayer liability aren't working. burden. "People are just not buying into the spin coming out," Stephen Alexander, a senior research fellow at DePaul University's Egan NO OLYMPICS, NO Urban Center, tells the Tribune. WAY, NOT IN 2016, NOT EVER! Alexander has attended several of the ward meetings and played witness to aggressive questioning from citizens and disingenuous answers from Olympic officials. Bruce Barnes Some residents are also unhappy that the ward meetings are

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 37 Days - 2016 bid "ragged" and "smells"

happening now -- as an obvious attempt at damage control -- Chicago instead of early on.

Signer of "Wouldn't it have made a lot more sense to have all these No Games meetings last year or the year before or the year before to get all this out before we had to sign a host-city contract that will online petition obligate to us to anything the IOC committee wants?" Joan Levin, a member of No-Games Chicago, asked at one ward meeting, according to the Trib.

Last week AFP reported that the Chicago effort was losing momentum while Rio was on the move. A source told the news agency that officials behind the Chicago bid had alienated IOC members who had previously been on their side. A large chunk of the blame has been laid at the feet of the United States Olympic Committee, which recently pulled a controversial broadcast plan off the table to appease the IOC, but the damage might not be repaired in time - and trust retained - for Chicago to win its bid.

- And Crain's reports what close observers have known for a long time but the media is only now examining: that Mayor Daley's claims of a $22.5 billion economic boost from hosting the Summer Games is pure fantasy.

"That's crazy," Holy Cross professor Victor Matheson, who has studied the economic impact of the Games, told Crain's. "Anyone using this $22.5 billion number as justification to vote for the Olympics is being led down a garden path."

Truly, this bid feels like its in reverse. A well-oiled machine at the outset is turning ragged at the finish line. That's what happens when folks finally start asking questions; sometimes the truth Visit our web site emerges. and download the "Book of Evidence" Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review. that we delivered to you in Lausanne! Greising: Olympic Secrecy "Doesn't Smell Very Good" Open letter to the IOC: Josh Kalven on August 24, 2009 - Progress Illinois "Why you don't want to give the This month, Tribune business columnist David Greising has written two pieces urging more disclosure on the part of Chicago's Olympics to Olympic bid committee and, in doing so, spurred a lengthy Chicago" editorial from his paper on the topic. On Friday, he appeared on Chicago Tonight's "Week in Review" show to discuss the games and continued to push back against the committee's assurances that they are being "open and transparent." Watch it (full video here):

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 37 Days - 2016 bid "ragged" and "smells"

GRIESING: It's interesting. I've talked to people at the Olympic committee -- Chicago 2016 -- and they all believe that they've been the most open and transparent group that has ever been seen in the face of the Olympic movement.

And yet, a few weeks away, 40-some days away from the October 2 vote, we still don't know who these insurance companies are that are supposed to be backing -- guaranteeing the bid. We have no idea who any of the developers are of the Olympic Village. The guarantee they're looking for -- the unlimited guarantee from the city -- we don't know much about.

We've had a little bit of corruption -- not corruption, conflicts of interest pop up with this Michael Scott -- this Olympic committee member who is involved in a development near the village.

It's just all kind of stirring around and it doesn't smell very good to longtime Chicagoans.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 36 Days - Mayor gets an earful - "Stupi...

No Games Chicago Update 36 Days To Decision Daily News

August 26, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

"If you can get that It's been a VERY rough few days for Mayor Daley. He appeared money together for at a public meeting on our 2010 budget last night on the City's a stupid Olympics, South Side. Many angry citizens demanded to know why essential you can take that city service continue to be cut back while he pursues his dream of bringing the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. money and put more police on the Here are just a few of the stories covering his troubled street." administration.

Judith Rodgers Chicago

Speaking to Mayor Daley at a public forum on Chicago's 2010 budget at the South Shore Cultural Center August 25

Here's a gem from our public radio station's overage of the hearing. "The mayor didn't answer that - or most - questions directly, instead asking his staff to meet people individually. A handful of speakers brought up the city's 2016 Olympic bid - almost all, like Judith Rodgers, opposed to it. RODGERS: If you can get that money together for a stupid Olympics, you can take that money and put more police on the street."

You can listen to this short clip by using the Evoca player by clicking here.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 36 Days - Mayor gets an earful - "Stupi...

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Click to read article Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago"

Click to read article

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 36 Days - Mayor gets an earful - "Stupi...

Click to read article

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 35 Days - 2016 Committee finances crit...

No Games Chicago Update 35 Days To Decision Daily News

August 27, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

The unfavorable publicity for the 2016 Committee and its work continues today with the release of the Civic Federation's review of the 2016 bid financing. This review was ordered by the City Council and was directed by the Civic Federation, an independent good government group. The Civic Federation hired L.E.K. Consulting to do the actual research.

Olympic 'real estate risks' Athletes' village could be financial drain, consultant says

Chicago Sun-Times August 26, 2009 - FRAN SPIELMAN and LISA DONOVAN The People Speak Chicago's $4.8 billion operating budget for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games provides "adequate protection" for taxpayers, I oppose the Olympics but the $1.1 billion Olympic Village exposes the city to "ongoing coming to Chicago. real estate risks" that must be insured and closely managed, We have a great city the Civic Federation has concluded. that needs a lot of work to make it The Civic Federation and its handpicked consultant, L.E.K. Consulting of London, conducted a six-week review of livable for all Chicago's Olympic bid at the City Council's request after the citizens. The time furor caused by Mayor Daley's pledge to match the full and money devoted government guarantee promised by rival cities -- and Chicago to hosting and 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan's decision to keep aldermen in the promoting the dark about it. Olympics is misspent. Today, the study was hand-delivered to aldermen, who are The true priorities expected to vote next month on whether to authorize Daley to should be quality of sign the blank-check promise. life, safety, education, The report recommends that: * the Olympic Organizing Committee that replaces Chicago environment and 2016 be led by a "professional and experienced management jobs. team" that selects employees and contractors "based on non-political criteria." * The City Council ride herd over the games by mandating

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 35 Days - 2016 Committee finances crit...

"regular reports." Karen Harlander *That insurance coverage designed to limit the contribution Chicago from Chicago taxpayers to the $500 million the City Council has already pledged include "capital replacement insurance" for the Signer of No Games Olympic Village to be built on the campus of Michael Reese hospital. "If developers proceed with the village as planned and Chicago are not required to buy the insurance, then taxpayers could be online petition exposed to risk," the report states, noting that Chicago 2016 has a $68.3 million insurance budget.

"It is critically important that aldermen provide legislative oversight to ensure the Organizing Committee is sticking to the detailed plan laid out by the Bid Committee," said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall.

"Some of the greatest risk ... does not come from the plan itself, but from not following the plan."

The report reveals that the city expects to spend $122 million on direct city services during the games, including police, fire and emergency services, however, public safety expenses would be reimbursed by the federal government. City costs after federal help are estimated at $41 million. Those costs would be covered by revenues generated by the amusement tax assessed on ticket sales and some sales taxes tacked on to Olympic concessions and merchandise.

Civic Fed OKs 2016 cost forecast - except for Olympic Village

By John Pletz - Crain's Chicago Business - Aug. 26, 2009

Visit our web site and The Civic Federation has come out with a report that generally download the "Book concurs with Mayor Richard M. Daley's budget projections for the 2016 Olympics - with the exception of the development of of Evidence" that we the Olympic Village. In a highly anticipated report, the delivered to you in tax-policy group said that "the operating budget, including Lausanne! venue construction, proposed by (Chicago) 2016 is fair and reasonable." But it warns that the Olympic Village, which would house athletes if Chicago gets the games, exposes the city to "continuing real estate risks that must be managed." The report Open letter recommends that the city purchase additional insurance to to the IOC: protect against cost overruns on the $1-billion project. "Why you don't want to give the Olympics See related story: "The next Olympic land mine" to Chicago" Patrick Ryan, CEO of the bid committee called the report "very gratifying." "We've been working on it for over three-and-half years, and they came out with the conclusion confirming what we've been saying all along," Mr. Ryan said. While the Civic Federation found the projected $3.8-billion operating budget "fair and reasonable," it warned that several of the mayor's estimates of how much revenue the games would generate are "optimistic compared with previous games."

Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said the Olympic

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 35 Days - 2016 Committee finances crit...

Village project presents the greatest risk in the bid because it's the most expensive project and relies on private developers. Last month, the city paid $86 million for the Near South Side land under what used to be Michael Reese Hospital. The intention is to sell the land to a private developer that would build the Olympic Village if Chicago lands the 2016 Summer Games, or turn it into private housing if Chicago is outbid.

Vancouver and London, hosts of the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, respectively, have had to step in with public money for Olympic housing projects when private funding dried up during the global recession.

Chicago 2016 told the Civic Federation that it has identified a relatively new class of insurance, called capital-replacement coverage, that would cover a financial shortfall on the part of developers.

Mr. Msall says such coverage costs about $17 million per $250 million of coverage, and the bid committee is contemplating about $2 billion worth of coverage. That would cost Chicago 2016 $137 million.

The Civic Federation's report says that such insurance - along with other policies the city plans to buy to cover everything from event liability to default by corporate sponsors - should be sufficient to shield taxpayers from financial risk, but only if Chicago 2016 sticks to its current financial plan.

"Much of the protection planned by the 2016 committee requires the purchase of insurance," Mr. Msall said. "That insurance is not yet available until it's determined whether Chicago gets the bid or not. That is the role where the City Council has to step forward with oversight."

Such insurance will increase the amount of private donations the Olympic committee will have to raise to $269 million to $287 million. Previously, the bid committee expected it would have to raise $246 million to cover previously identified construction-fund shortfalls.

The group's report comes in advance of the City Council's vote on whether to authorize a host city contract. The contract means the city would have unlimited financial liability for hosting and planning the games, a move drawing sharp criticism at a time when Chicago faces a growing budget shortfall.

Some have slammed Mr. Daley for going back on his word that no public dollars would be used for the event. The host-city guarantee is set to be presented to the City Council's Finance Committee on Sept. 8, followed by a full council vote Sept. 9.

Aldermen asked the Civic Federation to undertake the review, which was performed by London-based LEK Consulting and cost more than $100,000. Mr. Msall said the analysis was paid for largely with donations from private groups such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and the Chicago

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 35 Days - 2016 Committee finances crit...

Community Trust.

The International Olympic Committee requires bid cities to sign the host city contract. Chicago is competing against Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. The IOC will announce the host city on Oct. 2.

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 34 Days - Trubune: "Olympic pitfalls a...

No Games Chicago Update 34 Days To Decision Daily News

August 28, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The unfavorable publicity for the 2016 Committee and its work Please award the 2016 continues today following the release of the Civic Federation's Olympic games to a city review of the 2016 bid financing. This review was ordered by the other than Chicago. City Council and was directed by the Civic Federation, an Awarding them to independent good government group. The Civic Federation hired Chicago could well L.E.K. Consulting to do the actual research. damage the Olympic brand by inspiring David Greising is the business reporter for the Chicago Tribune. contempt for the RACE FOR THE 2016 GAMES games. Here is my reasoning. Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid: Deeper look shows Chicago now runs a potential financial pitfalls deep deficit. It can hardly afford the David Greising - August 28, 2009 games. Organizers of The Chicago 2016 Olympics committee is determined for Chicago the Chicago bid to host the Games, come hell or high water. recently toured the city in an attempt to But Chicagoans, who are being asked to guarantee the Games, build up support for need to worry about what will happen if we get both hell and high the Chicago bid among water. people other than city employees and The Civic Federation gave a remarkably robust go-ahead to the contractors. During Olympics bid on Wednesday. The financial watchdog group's that tour, one of the president, Laurence Msall, stepped before microphones in City organizers admitted Hall and declared that the Chicago 2016 projection of a $451 that Chicago could million financial surplus is "fair and reasonable." afford the games only Everyone expects Chicago 2016 to puff up the potential of their by appropriating city Summer Games. By the same token, there are people with every parks for the purpose. bit as strong a motivation to take a careful look at how much it We are so poor we would cost if things go terribly, financially wrong. have to take opportunities for For such worrywarts, a close read of the Civic Federation report recreation away from reinforces their skepticism of all this Olympics hoopla.

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 34 Days - Trubune: "Olympic pitfalls a...

Take a careful look at Msall's report, and one can only wonder: citizens. Did he read the darn thing?

Appropriating city For starters, there is that problematic graph that shows a variety parks for up to two of potential shortfalls that add up to $864 million in red ink. That's years, parks that are enough to wipe out the Olympic committee's projected budget now regularly used by surplus and then some. Chicagoans, will undoubtedly generate We're not talking doomsday scenarios, either. Between now and resentment and the Games, a mere 1 percent difference in the annual growth rate of sponsorship revenue adds up to a $234 million shortfall. A 10 contempt for the percent increase in construction costs would lop $146 million from Olympics. For the budgeted surplus, not that construction projects in Chicago instance, the planned ever go over budget. tennis venue near my home requires the Other assumptions and projects not delineated on the graph construction of a tennis further compound the sense of risk. Naming rights figure stadium in a heavily prominently in the Chicago 2016 budget: $15.7 million for the trafficked area of the velodrome and another $19 million for two facilities, the rowing park. and shooting venues.

This confiscation of In other words, the bid committee expects revenue that park land will obstruct approximates the most lucrative naming deal in sports: slapping Citibank's name on the New York Mets' new stadium at a cost of and prevent the use of $20 million a year. Chicago's most lucrative deal to date, for U.S. 4 baseball fields, 16 Cellular Field, nets all of $3.4 million a year. tennis courts, a lovely stand of trees, a Employee benefits are budgeted at 25 percent of salary, when parking lot for golfers the going rate in Chicago is 30 percent, the report notes. The cost and a picnic area as difference? Some $25.5 million. well as be perilously close to a prized area The bid committee budgets $9 million in outside legal costs. That for migratory birds. To may sound like a lot, but it's less than one-third the estimate of the simultaneously anger bid committee's own legal department, which pegged the cost at golfers, ball players, between $25 million and $40 million. tennis players, bird Much is made of all the insurance to be taken out to cover any lovers, and casual park budget shortfalls. The bid committee boasts plans to secure $1 users is quite a large billion in various policies, on top of the $500 million city guarantee gaffe. and $250 million in state backing.

Security and "We talk about it as 'belt and suspenders' protection," said Rick construction required Ludwig, chief financial officer of the Chicago bid. The sort of for the construction (2 shortfalls spelled out by the Civic Federation would happen only in years) will also close a a "perfect storm," he added. path by the area, a path that now carries Here's what the bid committee doesn't talk much about: The continual traffic of insurance would not cover a great many of the shortfalls laid out in bicycle riders, joggers, the Civic Federation report. The insurance is meant to cover major disasters: cancellation of the Olympics, for example, or a and walkers. What a sponsor's bankruptcy. blunder! What a blunder to displace so The worst likely will not happen. The Games likely are not headed many athletes in the for financial disaster. If professionally managed, with careful name of promoting oversight and a little luck, chances are the Chicago Olympics can athletics. I for one succeed. resent it. But in guaranteeing the Games -- unequivocally, without limit,

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 34 Days - Trubune: "Olympic pitfalls a...

come hell or high water -- that's a chance Chicago taxpayers are being asked to take. An old Chicago saying about corruption goes, "Chicago ain't ready for reform." It also ain't ready to host the games.

I would appreciate it if you could convey my message to the members of the IOC. Ask them to vote for a city other than Chicago.

William M. Kudlaty Chicago

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC:

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 33 Days - The city that furloughs

No Games Chicago Update 33 Days To Decision Daily News

August 29, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Sometimes a simple letter to the editor from an average citizen is worth more than all the reporting and editorializing that we have been sending you.

This letter appeared in the Chicago Tribune yesterday.

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne! The city that furloughs

Open letter August 28, 2009 to the IOC: "The city that works" is what Richard J. Daley dubbed Chicago. "Why you don't How sad would he have been to have seen our recent "reduced- want to give the service" day, with all but emergency services closed to Chicago's Olympics to taxpayers and citizens. Chicago" Can we have any better example of the abject fiscal failure his son Richard M. has been as mayor than these reduced-service days? They show us that it's obviously a lot easier being mayor when the cash is flowing in during market and real estate bubbles.

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 33 Days - The city that furloughs

However, it's quite another thing to be prepared for the times when those days have ended. After all, isn't that what we elect a mayor for, to make such preparations that would allow city services to continue during the bad times as well as during the good?

But, the history of the second Daley administration has never been one of preparations. It has been a history of do it on the fly, grab the quick buck, plug the hole in the dike and pray.

An example is taking cents on the dollar for parking meter or airport deals and then patting yourself on the back for your ingenuity.

Right now, the only long-term plan Mayor Daley seems to have, for anything, is Olympics, Olympics, Olympics.

What we do to pay for the needs of Chicago's citizens, between 2016 and now, though, no one seems to know, especially Richard M. Daley.

Most insulting is that the $25 million in TIF funds Daley just gave away to United Airlines, from Chicago taxpayers' pockets, to move into the unblighted Willis Tower, would have paid to keep city workers working all three of this year's scheduled reduced- service days, three times over.

-- Walter R. Kowalczyk, Chicago

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2 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 32 Days - Arab-American commentator...

No Games Chicago Update 32 Days To Decision Daily News

August 30, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The unfavorable publicity for the 2016 Committee and Olympic losses its work comes from a wide range of sources and points of view. Why don't we put the cost of any Ray Hanania writes columns analyzing Middle East anticipated and/or issues that are distributed internationally. Winner of realized loss from three Lisagor Award for Column Writing, Hanania was the Olympics on also named Best Ethnic American Columnist by the the people and New America Media in November of 2007. He also corporations that hosts a daily radio show and maintains several public stand to gain from affairs blogs. them? Build into any contracts a He has criticized Mayor Daley and the 2016 Committee clause that for discrimination against the city's extensive attaches a Arab-American community. percentage of the value of the Click here or on the image to watch his commentary. contract as a bond to offset any loss suffered by the City of Chicago. This should occur with any contract with a value greater than $10,000. This would shield small suppliers (if there were to be any this small).

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 32 Days - Arab-American commentator...

Rosanne Barrett Northfield

Letter to the Editor Chicago Tribune August 30, 2009

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago"

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2 of 3 No Games Chicago IOC Newsletter - No Confidence in Civic Federation...

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release August 31, 2009 Contact: For more information: Tom Tresser, 312-804-3230, [email protected] Or Bob Quellos, 773-531-2341, [email protected] http://www.nogameschicago.com/report

IOC NEWSLETTER - Aug. 31, 2009

No Games Chicago Has No Confidence in Civic Federation 2016 Report

(Chicago) No Games Chicago today issued its own review of the Civic Federation's review of the 2016 Committee's finances. "What we've got here is the sheep paying the foxes to audit the wolves" said No Games organizer Tom Tresser. "There are so many conflicts of interest in the inception, staffing and execution of this report as to make it virtually toothless." Nevertheless, despite the many flaws in the reporting process, the document still reveals many new reasons for Chicagoans to be concerned about the 2016 bid process and its authors.

No Games Chicago has a number of major objections to this report:

THE KEY PLAYERS ARE BIASED (Page numbers refer to the L.E.K. report unless otherwise indicated. Additional information and back up for this assertion is available at our website.)

1. The sponsoring body, the Civic Federation, is hardly impartial.

Of the 82 board members listed at the end of the Civic Federation's 2007 annual report 40 - or almost 50% - work for companies that are supporters of the 2016 bid - either as donors or members of the 2016 Committee.

2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan is displayed prominently in the Civic Federation's 2007 report because he was awarded their 2007 Lyman J. Gage Award for Outstanding Civic Contribution to the city. He is also a major donor to the Civic Federation.

Three of the seven funders of this study were major donors to the 2016 Committee. The Chicago Community Trust, the MacArthur Foundation and the Polk Brothers Foundation have donated a total of $3 million to the 2016 Committee.

2. L.E.K. Consulting, the firm hired by the Civic Federation, has ties to both the city administration and the Olympic movement.

L.E.K. has done major consulting work for the City of Chicago and has a major proposal pending - regarding retail opportunities at O'Hare Airport. The firm did work on the privatization of the Monroe Street garages (p.1). How can we expect them to be critical of the

1 of 4 No Games Chicago IOC Newsletter - No Confidence in Civic Federation...

Olympic bid when they know this is Mayor Daley's obsession? In addition, L.E.K. has done work on Olympic bids, according to Civic Federation President Lawrence Msall, quoted in Crain's Chicago Business online.

L.E.K. called upon subject matter experts friendly or directly beholden to the bid process. The list of experts "consulted to understand how the 2016 budget was crafted" shows 15 individuals from14 companies. Ten of those individuals were from eight companies that have donated to the 2016 Committee - that's two thirds of the "experts" consulted. If your firm is a major contributor to the 2016 effort what sort of perspective are you going to bring to a review process? (p.7)

2016 ASSUMPTIONS UNCHALLENGED - TOUGH QUESTIONS UNASKED

1. The Civic Committee's Narrative Summary says that "the following report is not a financial audit but rather a high-level review." (p. 3) So they're NOT really running the numbers but "testing the assumptions" used to develop the plan.

2. The report adheres to the fantasy that the 2016 committee is independent of City Hall and that their plans will be executed without the endemic corruption and overruns that have plagued every city project for decades.

3. Assumptions regarding the Olympic Village are extremely optimistic and are unwarranted given Olympic history and the Chicago marketplace.

The report accepts the committee's estimate that the Village, which will contain 7,300 athlete units, will cost about $1.2 billion to complete. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village, 1100 athlete units, is now estimated to cost almost $1 billion. How can Chicago possibly construct 7 times the space at approximately the same cost for a project that will take place seven years from now?

The report does not question the feasibly of finding private developers who will undertake this project. However, a report in Crain's Real Estate Daily quotes a principal at Kargil Development as saying lenders today will not finance more than 60-70% of a project, leaving taxpayers to pick up as much as $720 million if the project comes in on budget. This is in addition to $110 million in TIF funding for infrastructure costs. The private development of the Vancouver and London villages ran into severe economic difficulties and left the citizens of both cities will the entire bill for completing the buildings.

Once the Olympics are over, the city may be responsible for selling those units in a condominium market that has historically been volatile and risky. An aggressive estimate assumes the market will be able to absorb all 2,000 of the units created from the athletes' housing at a premium price over several years, although the report notes that "the true costs and sales potential will not be evident until trends in the construct and real estate markets become more certain." (p. 64-65)

4. Local sponsorships and donations are budgeted at substantially higher rates than previous Olympics (the report calls them "aggressive") and depends on many companies to participate at historic levels. However, no fundraising plans to achieve those goals have been established.

The $1.8 billion in sponsorship revenues, which account for one-third of total budgeted revenues, are $1 billion more than was achieved in Atlanta in 1996 (p. 20).

$177 million in naming rights, considered "donations" by the 2016 committee, are based on revenue costs and not on the market for naming rights. For example, the committee has set a target of $19 million for naming rights for the shooting and the rowing venues, equal to the amount Citibank pays annually (for a seven month season and 81 home games) for the right to put its name on the Mets stadium. Naming rights for the Olympic Stadium are budgeted for $47 million in a time of corporate cutbacks and cost cutting! (p. 26)

5. The contingency of $451 million included in the budget is likely to be insufficient if the

2 of 4 No Games Chicago IOC Newsletter - No Confidence in Civic Federation...

aggressive sponsorship and donation are not reached and construction costs are more than 10% over budget, as overruns have been in major Chicago projects such as Millennium Park, Block 37, and the Monroe Street garage.

6. Although the 2016 committee has repeatedly maintained that not one penny of taxpayer money is included in the Olympic bid, the report makes clear the City of Chicago and its citizens will be supplying, in addition to the $86 million in costs to buy the Michael Reese site (plus tens of millions for security, demolition and remediation costs), $110 million in TIF funding for the Olympic Village site (p. 66) and $35 million supplied by the Park District to build a velodrome in Douglas Park and a slalom canoe and kayak course on Northerly Island (p. 73), neither of which was requested by the citizens of Chicago and neither of which would have been thought of except for this Olympic scheme -- at a time when employee cutbacks have caused beaches to open later and close earlier and parks to be cleaned less often, when park programs have been cut and fees raised.

7. It was only after the L.E.K. report was issued that Chicago 2016 revealed its latest insurance policy to be put in place in the event of cost overruns -- leaving the plan for taxpayer protection unchecked by an outside body and L.E.K's review of Chicago 2016's proposed insurance policies virtually useless.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Chicago's bid team said it negotiated to move a $500 million "catastrophe" insurance policy to the front of the line of guarantees to be tapped. If that policy is exhausted, an additional $500 million in "umbrella" insurance will become available. After that, planners could tap Game revenues to date or take out a line of credit based on $450 million projected revenues from the Games."

However, if a "catastrophe" or something of the like were to occur and the insurance fund is tapped, Chicago taxpayers would again be responsible for picking up the tab.

And despite promises to taxpayers that insurance policies will pick up the tab, Natalie Moore of Chicago Public Radio reported that, "The insurance doesn't cover failure to secure sponsorships and game ticket sales," leaving taxpayers of Chicago on the hook for any portion of the optimistically budgeted $1.8 billion in sponsorship revenues not raised.

L.E.K. reports, "If construction insurance is triggered and emptied, additional funds will be drawn from the contingency, city and state guarantees and then additional funds from the city" (p. 77).

And with all the talk of "construction-overrun insurance" coming from Chicago 2016 it turns out that the policy isn't even required if Chicago is awarded the Games. L.E.K. states that, "cost overrun insurance will be optional as fixed price contracts may be negotiated instead of procuring the insurance." (p. 77) Again, leaving Chicago taxpayers exposed to cost overruns.

No Games Chicago believes there are numerous fundamental problems with the L.E.K. report. "How can we trust the independence of L.E.K.'s report when it is was hand picked by individuals backing the bid and L.E.K. is currently competing for a contract at O'Hare's International Terminal that is worth $33 million a year in revenue? This whole process reeks of typical Chicago politics," says Bob Quellos of No Games Chicago.

Even so, L.E.K.'s report does provide enough information to conclude that Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid is a raw deal for the people of the city. From shaky promises about insurance policies to over inflated projections on sponsorships and donations -- it is clear from L.E.K.'s report that Chicago 2016 is attempting to sell the people of the city a lemon.

No Games Chicago is an all-volunteer group of social justice activists, concerned citizens and grassroots organizations opposed to bringing the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. The group was launched on January 31, 2009 with a public forum at the University of Illinois Chicago.

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3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 30 Days - Tribune continues to criticize...

No Games Chicago Update 30 Days To Decision Daily News

September 1, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: David Greising, the chief business reporter for the Chicago Olympic Ticket Tribune, continues to criticize the 2016 Committee on its lack of Prices Outrageous candor, transparency and believability with regard to preventing corruption and incompetence inside the operation of the Chicago olympic effort. When it all started, I was all in favor of RACE FOR THE 2016 GAMES the city of Chicago bidding for the Chicago 2016 bid committee still short of finish line on public 2016 Olympics. The disclosure idea, I thought, was Bid leader Pat Ryan says rules will solve disclosure problems to participate in -- but rules alone rarely are enough to stop corruption the spirit of the Olympics to bring David Greising - September 1, 2009 friendship and sportsmanship as Chicago 2016 is making commitments to disclose all kinds of information about the way money, clout and contracts would flow well as the leading up to the Olympic Games the city hopes to host. financial rewards to the city and bring The salaries of top executives, contributions made by individuals us into the world and companies that get Olympics contracts, the organizing scheme of things. committee's revenue and spending totals: All would be subject to disclosure, Chicago 2016 says. That was my idea until I read the And how will anyone test whether there are no conflicts of article "2016 interest? Simple, said Chicago 2016 chief executive Pat Ryan in a tickets would be as visit to the Tribune editorial board in advance of a City Council high as $1645" appearance Tuesday. This, to say the "We test it by having the rule that we won't do that," Ryan said. least, is outrageous. Now there is an approach Chicago has never thought of before: With the economy Just make the right rules. Everyone will follow them, and we'll all live cloutlessly ever after. as it is, and who Had the rules just been clearer, no one would have turned the

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 30 Days - Tribune continues to criticize...

city's Hired Truck program into a symbol of graft. knows how it will be in 2016, it Tougher rules against patronage, and the Shakman decree would would seem to me not have been necessary. When Shakman did not work, even that in order to better rules would have erased the need to hire an independent monitor to enforce the decree the city was ignoring in the first garner support of place. the people, who are afraid that Better rules, and city pension funds would never have granted their taxes will be lucrative insurance business to a firm founded by Mayor Richard used to pay for Daley's nephew. these games, that At a hearing Tuesday, the City Council is expected to focus mainly it would be good to on the question of whether Chicago 2016 has presented a sound get full economic plan for the Games. A mostly adulatory Civic Federation participation of all report late last month largely made that question moot. And the spectators who Chicago 2016 took a step further last week, redrawing its insurance lines to give more financial protection to taxpayers. would like to see the games, not by Anyone who has watched Ryan and his team in action knows reserving them for financial soundness is not the core issue. This group can shoot a select few who straight. They have the right mix of business acumen and Olympics know-how. can pay that fee. I have always But this is, after all, the bid committee from clout city. Whenever wanted to see an the words "Chicago" and "bid" come together, something Olympic game, as regrettable often results, and with the Olympics there will be have I am sure billions and billions of dollars in contracts for bid. Rules alone do not kill clout. Many not-so-good citizens of Chicago seem to have other people in this trouble following such rules. city, but if I and others are to be That is where the Freedom of Information Act comes in. It excluded by these enables the public to learn who is following the rules and who is outlandish prices not. and higher fares for Though Chicago 2016 has taken strides to open itself to scrutiny, transportation, it is not yet going far enough. For starters, the organizing Mayor Daley can committee is both writer and enforcer of its own disclosure rules. forget about That is problematic, to say the least. support from me The bid committee is releasing names and salaries of only top and and others like officials -- those making more than $200,000. That hardly is the me. full-fledged list that might help the public trace the connections that show how clout affects who gets hired, who gets contracts John Ibes, and how much they are paid. Portage Park If construction costs get out of control, Chicago's Olympics organizers will know, but the public will not. And without Freedom of Information, the public would never be able to trace the internal Letter to the Editor communications that might reveal what went wrong. Chicago Sun-Times What business does the public have in any of this? After all, August 31, 2009 Chicago 2016 is a private entity. The Chicago Olympic organizing committee would be, too, if Chicago wins the Games on Oct. 2.

But the Chicago Olympic committee wants the public to guarantee it will cover any shortfall from the Games. That guarantee will make or break Chicago's bid. Even Chicago 2016 should know

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 30 Days - Tribune continues to criticize...

that, in this town, no one gets something for nothing.

The Games could and likely would be good for Chicago. But not at any price. The best way to keep costs -- and clout -- under control is to provide the public the same access it has to information about any other entity with that much power over the city's purse.

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne! Jack Higgins' political cartoon from today's Chicago Sun-Times sums up how people feel Open letter about Mayor Daley and his 2016 Olympic to the IOC: Committee. "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago"

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3 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 29 Days - Scratch our backs, we'll 'Bac...

No Games Chicago Update 29 Days To Decision Daily News

September 2, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Today's news cycle is all about your 2016 Evaluation A check for $75.00 Commission's report and how the 2016 Committee is spinning it. isin the mail. I sincerely wish it John Kass, the senior columnist for the Chicago Tribune, has an amusing, but very telling, take on the bid backers. could be more. Please keep the Scratch our backs, we'll 'Back the Bid' pressure on these filthy crooked John Kass - Chicago Tribune - September 2, 2009 bastards, especially the Daley Pat Ryan, the mayor's tough-minded point man for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, paused near my office on the Administration. way out of Tribune Tower recently. The level of corruption and The poor fellow didn't want to stop. But he had to stop because deceit exhibited by once I saw him, I jumped up and ran out into the corridor and all many of our city but tackled him. officials is That's when I dropped the Chicago Way on the guy and named absolutely my price for supporting the Olympics. staggering! These individuals "Hey, Pat, guess what? I'm ready to drop my opposition and would sell their support Chicago 2016! I'm ready to back the bid," I said, referring to the big "Back the Bid" promotion Sept. 13, in which such own mothers if a institutions as the Art Institute and the Chicago Symphony profit could be Orchestra will offer discounts to help drum up support for the made. They are mayor's Games. nothing more than a bunch of political "Really? You're in support?" asked the distinguished, white-haired former insurance company magnate. "That's nice." thugs and scam artists. Have they I don't think he believed me. already forgotten that Chicago is "Yes," I said, shaking Ryan's hand, pumping it up and down as if deep in the middle we'd just made a deal. "And all I want are the exclusive Gyros/Celtic Corn contracts, and the exclusive bottled water contracts for every Olympic venue. I mean, who's really gonna

1 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 29 Days - Scratch our backs, we'll 'Bac...

know?" of a serious financial crisis? The If you're wondering, there were witnesses present, including at individuals least one distinguished member of the Tribune's editorial board, who have which is an august panel of specialists in economics, government, politics and foreign affairs, each with a fine grasp of subtle policy been promoting shifts and nuance. (And a couple of them bring some really tasty Chicago as the best baked goods for coffee time.) Naturally, I am not a member. But I site for the 2016 did have Ryan's hand. And I wasn't letting go. Olympics are the very same people "Nice seeing you," Ryan said, trying to escape. who are I didn't have to tell Ryan this, but there is no Freedom of responsible for Information law mandating reporting requirements on who gets seriously what if the Games come to Chicago. There's just a promise by mismanaging or Ryan about full disclosure and another promise that clout will have squandering no place at Mayor Richard Daley's Olympics. our limited I've never heard of Ryan lying about anything. His promises about resources. disclosure are nice promises. This fact alone should be of grave Olympic disclosure is a subject that my Tribune colleague David Greising has written about extensively. Promises aren't law. There concern to the IOC is no force of law behind the vows to disclose who gets what so Evaluation the public can see who's really getting the Olympic gold. Commission. If the games are awarded Such disclosure laws apply to other agencies, but Illinois is still the to Chicago, the most politically corrupt state in the union. Of the last three governors, two have been indicted for corruption and one is inevitable boycotts already in prison. And at City Hall, there has been conflict after will be remarkable conflict, and promise after promise from the mayor to stop it. He's to say the least and been promising an end to conflicts and cronyism for 20 years. nobody will be able to claim that they Yet in a few weeks, the International Olympic Committee will be deciding whether Chicago or some other town gets the 2016 were not Games. Billions of dollars will be spent on a two-week sports forewarned. The festival that will reshape the South and West Sides, erect some Olympic Games are fantastically cool architecture, and, oh, some guys will get really a special "once in a rich. lifetime" event for And the rest of us chumbolones in Illinois? We'll most likely end up most athletes. paying for it one way or another, as we've paid for every deal, They deserve so with ever-increasing taxes and fees. But since the Olympics are much more than a wired, why not get on board? venue tainted with unrelenting Just do me a favor. Don't tell anyone about this, not even my editor. Keep it a secret among you and me and Ryan. Because controversy and without the force of law behind vows of disclosure, nobody really shameful political has to know, do they? scheming. I hope the IOC thinks so "So I'm ready to back the bid," I told Ryan. "But don't forget the gyros, the corn, the bottled water contracts, and then I'm yours." too and makes an informed decision. "Uh-huh," Ryan said. I give my personal thanks to everyone If Chicago gets the 2016 Olympics, there will be about a gazillion tourists in town, and I plan on feeding them oodles of salty meat and salty starch. Once they're thirsty enough, I'll sell bottled

2 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 29 Days - Scratch our backs, we'll 'Bac...

Chicago tap water at an outrageous price, and with my monopoly, who has fought I'll make a fortune. If the 2016 Olympic committee keeps my hard to end this name out of the newspapers and gives me the salt and water Olympic sized concessions, then I just might just become a cheerleader. charade. You are "Hmm," Ryan said. "Ah." Then he walked away, looking over his the true champions shoulder every few feet to make sure I wasn't following. My young in my view and colleague, Wings, was sighing loudly at his desk. your selfless efforts will be an example "What's wrong with you?" I hissed. "Go grab him! You're letting to others. Ryan get away!" Thank you Again. "You forgot to tell him about my Sangria stands," Wings whispered. "What about my exclusive 2016 Sangria stands? I Bill Schandelmeier, want to wet my beak too." Chicago - Donor to No Games Chicago So I yelled at Ryan's back: "And Wings wants the exclusive Sangria contract! Remember, Sangria for Wings. Water and salt for me! We're your men!"

He's such a nice fellow, that Mr. Ryan. He didn't actually promise anything -- perhaps the mayor wants to see if I really mean it this time -- but at least Ryan didn't say no.

Actually, he didn't say anything.

[email protected]

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 28 Days - It's official, Chicago rejects ...

No Games Chicago Update 28 Days To Decision Daily News

September 3, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: It's hard to overstate the importance of today's Update to you. Joyce Thoele, one The Chicago Tribune conducted a poll to measure public support of several poll for the bid. Chicago citizens overwhelmingly reject the notion respondents who of hosting and paying for the 2016 Olympics. 84% DO NOT spoke with the WANT TAX DOLLARS TO PAY FOR THE GAMES. Tribune, said she TRIBUNE/ WGN POLL did not believe Daley and others Olympic opposition getting second wind as who said taxpayers support in Chicago fades are not at risk. She opposes Daley's 47 percent of Chicagoans polled favor the bid, but Olympic plans and that support had been at 61 percent in February said she would not attend any events By Todd Lighty and Kathy Bergen - September 3, 2009 if the Games come here. Support in Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games has dwindled, with residents now sharply divided over whether the city should host the Games, a Tribune/WGN poll has found. "I'm against this because it's going Nearly as many city residents oppose Mayor Richard Daley's to cost us taxpayers Olympic plans, 45 percent, as support them, 47 percent. And residents increasingly and overwhelmingly oppose using tax more money," said dollars to cover any financial shortfalls for the Games, with 84 Thoele, 76, of the percent disapproving of the use of public money. Northwest Side. "The older I get,

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 28 Days - It's official, Chicago rejects ...

the more I don't trust Chicago politicians."

Mary Beth Nick, who lives in West Rogers Park, said the Olympics were not worth the The poll comes a month before the International Olympic disruption they Committee selects the host city for the 2016 Olympics. Chicago is would cause. "And I competing against Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. think we should The new results show slippage from the 2-to-1 support found in a concentrate on Tribune poll in February, and experts said the findings could hurt improving the Chicago's chances. quality of life in the city for more than "When less than half of the folks polled indicate they'd be willing to support the Olympics, that's certainly not an enthusiastic mandate a lot of visitors who for bringing the Games to Chicago," said sports finance expert are going to be Dennis Howard of the University of Oregon. "I can't speak for the here for a IOC members who will be making the decision, but I'd be fairly fortnight," she said. certain this would not help the cause for Chicago."

Patrick Ryan, who is leading the Chicago 2016 bid committee, Chicagoans polled declined to comment Wednesday about the poll results. But this by the Chicago morning, the committee issued a statement saying the poll was Tribune taken at a time when some taxpayers had lingering questions about whether they would be protected in the event of financial losses.

"In the days since this poll was conducted, those questions have been answered and those concerns have been alleviated," said the committee's spokesman, Patrick Sandusky.

Sandusky noted that the Civic Federation and the IOC issued reports stating that Chicago 2016's plan was financially responsible and posed "minimal risk to taxpayers." He added that aldermen have given the committee "high marks" for its plan.

Also, Sandusky said, polling is only one way to evaluate community sentiment. He said the committee has raised $70 million in private donations and that more than 20,000 volunteers support the bid.

The telephone survey of 380 Chicago registered voters, conducted Aug. 27 through Monday by Market Shares Corp., has a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

The Tribune/WGN poll is the first measure of public sentiment since Daley did an about-face in June, saying he would sign the standard host city contract giving the city full financial responsibility for any losses -- a move that triggered a firestorm of Visit our web site criticism. Until then, the city had been lobbying for amendments to the contract that would recognize the city's limited guarantees. and download the

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 28 Days - It's official, Chicago rejects ...

Poll respondents made it abundantly clear that they disapprove of "Book of Evidence" Daley's promise of an unlimited guarantee in the event the Games that we delivered lose money, with 75 percent opposed. to you in Lausanne! In a city already upset over the privatization of parking meters and worried about further cutbacks in government services, those respondents who talked to reporters expressed concerns about Open letter the economy, the cost of hosting the Games and traffic to the IOC: congestion. "Why you don't want to give the Even a majority of those who favor the Olympics opposed using taxes to cover losses and were against the unlimited guarantee. Olympics to Chicago" Joyce Thoele, one of several poll respondents who spoke with the Tribune, said she did not believe Daley and others who said taxpayers are not at risk. She opposes Daley's Olympic plans and said she would not attend any events if the Games come here.

"I'm against this because it's going to cost us taxpayers more money," said Thoele, 76, of the Northwest Side. "The older I get, the more I don't trust Chicago politicians."

Mary Beth Nick, who lives in West Rogers Park, said the Olympics were not worth the disruption they would cause. "And I think we should concentrate on improving the quality of life in the city for more than a lot of visitors who are going to be here for a fortnight," she said.

North Side resident Melanie Payne said she was ambivalent about the Olympics. She said the Games would provide an international showcase for the city, which she called the "most wonderful place to live." But she wondered about costs.

Daley and members of his Chicago 2016 bid committee said most costs will be covered by revenues from the Olympics, developer financing and donations. They project making money but have lined up $750 million in city and state guarantees in case of losses.

Chicago 2016 also has lined up $1 billion in private insurance coverage to protect taxpayers in the event of natural disasters, cancellation of the Games or a collapse of development financing.

The Tribune/WGN poll was conducted over five days, beginning the day after the Civic Federation released a report that was generally supportive of the 2016 committee's financial plans.

Aaron Williams-Banks, a college student who works part time for the Chicago Park District, favors the Games and believes taxpayers are adequately protected.

"We need a boost to our economy," he said. "This is a great thing. The Olympics will help the city."

When the Tribune last took the pulse of city residents on the Olympics in February, 61 percent supported the Games compared with 47 percent now. Opposition has grown from 26 percent in February to 45 percent now.

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 28 Days - It's official, Chicago rejects ...

The IOC conducted its own poll in February, finding that 67 percent of the residents in Chicago and the suburbs were in favor.

The IOC did not measure the sentiments of just city residents, as both Tribune polls did.

Since the last Tribune poll, feelings against using tax money to cover any shortfalls have grown stronger, with 84 percent opposed now, compared with 76 percent in February.

The extent to which the new poll influences IOC voters on Oct. 2, when the winning city is announced, will depend in large part on whether the results change the political landscape, said Kevin Wamsley, an Olympic historian at the University of Western Ontario. He said the fresh poll results could provide fodder for opponents.

Kevan Gosper of Australia, one of the longest-sitting IOC members, said he believed Chicago's bid was gaining traction among Olympic voters.

But he also said community support was an important element.

"Normally," Gosper said, "you would hope public sentiment would be building as a candidate city approaches the competition."

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 27 Days - Sports writer says "NO" to 2016

No Games Chicago Update 27 Days To Decision Daily News

September 4, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The tide has turned in Chicago against hosting the 2016 Olympics. Totally bankrupt Every day sees more public outcry. Today's column is by the some other city, sports reporter from a popular local news site. not Chicago. How about the mayor's Boosters oversell benefits of sports venues - Say family and the P. NO to 2016 Ryan family Patrick Kissane - Chi-Town Daily News guarantee everything before Jeff Long and Ken Manson report at the Chicago Tribune about putting one single the troubles that are beginning to ensnare the Sears Centre in taxpayer $ on the Hoffman Estates. It was a story covered in part in this column too, hook ? We don't when the United Hockey League Chicago Hounds were unable to reach an agreement with the Sears Centre for a lease renewal want this 2016 and folded. It could also be the future story of the Metro Centre in event. How often Rockford, home of the American Hockey League Rockford and in how many IceHogs and it could also be the story of the 2016 Olympics in ways does the IOC Chicago. need to hear this Public funding of large venues, from the Cell to the renovation of turndown? We are Soldier Field, has promised great financial rewards. But, saying "no" the according to the story by Long, the village of Hoffman Estates is dance, so move on on the hook for millions in bond repayments if the venue isn't to the next profitable. First, of course, the current owners, a combination of available partner. the Ryan Companies US of Minneapolis and Sears Holdings must move to terminate their ownership. Sears had helped to sell the deal to the village by promising to cover the bond payments for L. Geiger four years, according to the story. Now that the four years are up, the ownership group is looking to bail. Potentially holding the bag:

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 27 Days - Sports writer says "NO" to 2016

the good citizens of Hoffman Estates. Chicago Cal Skinner, a well-known writer who edits the McHenry County Signer of Blog, has been following the effort by Crystal Lake to create a No Games Chicago minor league baseball stadium in his blog. Skinner lists a number of studies that question some of the key sales points of online petition proponents for large sports venues.

But it doesn't matter what the opponents know about the lies put forward about economics by sports boosters. The boosters ignore the facts and continue to sell the dream of money falling from the sky.

Here's the reality. Over at the Illinois Sports Finance Authority, once you get past the offal about helping the community, you can see that financially, the Chicago White Sox contribute a tiny 7.3 percent of the total revenue for the last fiscal year reported. Tax payers, including visitors to the city, contribute almost 87 percent of the total revenue needed to pay the ISFA's bonds through a subsidy of $5 million from each of the city and the state general fund and "hotel" taxes.

Meanwhile, the ISFA makes this claim: "ISFA provided the public contribution, a total of $406 million, of the $606 million needed for the Chicago Lakefront Development project, including the significant restoration of Soldier Field. ISFA financed this operation through the issuance of municipal bonds backed by an existing 2 percent Authority Hotel Tax. This revenue did not come from State or City general revenue funds, nor is it a result of increased taxes for Chicago or Illinois residents."

It is Orwellian, at least, to claim that after being funded to the tune Visit our web site of 87 percent of your budget, that you did not use any of it to and download the redevelop and restore Soldier Field. Can I get my part of this "Book of Evidence" back please? A simple walk around the neighborhood that once called Comiskey Park home, will demonstrate that there wasn't a that we delivered large scale redevelopment of the area. While the North Side went to you in Lausanne! through a massive change which was largely funded by private developers, the South Side has largely languished. Further, I think it should be argued that the massive debt loaded onto Chicago Open letter taxpayers is a subsidy to the private company which owns the Chicago White Sox. To be fair, shouldn't the taxpayers also assist to the IOC: the Chicago Cubs? "Why you don't want to give the We live in a truly Orwellian place called Chicago. Guided by the Olympics to mayor and the local Olympic boosters, we are being sold tripe Chicago" about the economic benefits to the 2016 games. The mayor has defended tax increases by calling them abatements, has sold us tax increases by saying they won't effect us, just tourists.

What I see in the Sears Centre floundering is mismanagement by the Sears Centre, boosterism by the local supporters resulting in the citizens holding the bag and a warning of what could happen on a massive scale in Chicago if it pursues the 2016 games. Boosters cannot and will not see futures that challenge their rosy forecasts.

I am a citizen of Chicago, I am upset by the mismanagement by

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 27 Days - Sports writer says "NO" to 2016

the city of its assets. I do not believe the committee and this mayor any more. I say NO to the games. NO to taxpayers assuming the risk. NO to this mayor and this inept City Council and even worse Cook County government.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 26 Days - Our transit system broken

No Games Chicago Update 26 Days To Decision Daily News

September 5, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

How is it possible We've read the Evaluation Commission's report on the that Chicago is four 2016 finalist cities.Frankly, we think you missed a spending an many relevant factors. One important problem that the obscene amount of report did note was the state of Chicago's mass transit money on the one system. hand to win this bid and on the other hand is pleading "no money" to properly run this city without further totally unethical political "theft" from the taxpayers.

Not one person we know wants this 2016 event held here in Chicago. Take it else where.

B. Geiger

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 26 Days - Our transit system broken

Chicago

Signer of No Games online petition

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) operates our trains and buses. The Red Line is our major north/south line and it stops at the stadiums where the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs play. The above sign was posted at the Grand Street Station - in the heart of Chicago's major shopping district

Visit our web site and download the Chairman of Chicago's CTA Admits $7 Billion in "Book of Evidence" Unfunded Repairs that we delivered to you in Lausanne! CTA Chairman Carole L. Brown gave a speech to the APTA Rail Conference in Chicago on June 15, 2009. In it she revealed an alarming backlog of repair work for Open letter our mass transit system. to the IOC: "Why you don't "We still have an almost $7 BILLION - yes, 7 BILLION want to give the DOLLARS of unfunded repair needs." Olympics to Chicago" Read her full remarks here.

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2 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 25 Days - 2016 under continued scrutiny

No Games Chicago Update 25 Days To Decision Daily News

September 6, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

A recent Tribune The more people learn about Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympics, the less they support it. Today's Chicago poll showed 86% of Sun-Times published a summary of the defects of the Chicagoans against bid. using tax money for the Olympics. What Chicago 2016 Olympics debate amps up makes Chicago a great city isn't the CHICAGO 2016 | With decision a month skyline or the away, here are pros, cons of hosting lakefront, or the Games arts, it is the people! Chicago September 6, 2009 - BY LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter - [email protected] people make this a great city, and the Chicago's now in the final lap. Next month, we'll find out people have made it whether Mayor Daley and his team cross the finish line clear they do not first or go down as an also-ran in the race to host the want to pay for this 2016 Summer Olympics. mess! Even a Sun The Chicago 2016 organizing committee is in the midst Times online poll of a last-minute phone and letter-writing campaign to showed 78% against the 107-member International Olympic Committee, the Olympics hoping to allay concerns that Chicago's transit system can't handle the influx of just over a million visitors during the Games or that Chicago's financing plans don't

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provide an adequate safety net. recently! Why doesn't the Sun Chicago 2016 chief executive Patrick Ryan said the bid Times reflect the team wants IOC members, who will select a host city views of their Oct. 2 in Copenhagen, to know they've cleared several readers? hurdles, including getting the City Council's blessing for the mayor to sign the controversial host-city contract -- which puts taxpayers on the hook if a Chicago Olympics ended up losing money. Ken Kunz, reader comment on today's The mayor's announcement in June that he'd sign the Sun-Times article agreement was a surprise, fueling criticism that the process was shrouded in secrecy. Even some of the aldermen were ticked off, and a ward-by-ward community meeting blitz followed. There, the Olympic bid team -- minusthe mayor -- touted the jobs and tourism dollars that pour in to an Olympic city.

Still, some questioned whether the city could afford to host the Games.

Here's a look at some of the pros and cons:

Finances Pro: A "frugal" $4.8 billion plan to stage the Games, including an Olympic Village whose transformation from athlete dormitories to permanent housing is expected to help with costs. The Games would be bankrolled by private donors, and just under half of the planned venues are in existing facilities, touted as a cost-saver. Con: Chicago has a history of missing deadlines and going over budget with its big projects - including the $480 million Millennium Park, which opened in 2004.

Allen Sanderson, a University of Chicago economics professor, said that while Chicago is making use of its Visit our web site existing facilities, "You're still building the biggest venues - the village, the stadium, which are not only and download the big-ticket items for Chicago, but for . . . London, too." "Book of Evidence" The Olympic Village is priced at around $1 billion, while that we delivered the proposed Olympic Stadium in Washington Park is to you in Lausanne! priced at $397.6 million. London is on track to spend $18 billion for the 2012 Olympics - more than double what it budgeted, Sanderson noted.

Open letter Jobs to the IOC: Pros: Chicago 2016 has been touting that the Games "Why you don't would create 315,000 new job years, or roughly 31,000 want to give the jobs over a decade. Olympics to Chicago" Cons: Just what "315,000 job years means" is a stumper. Tom Tresser, spokesman for the group "No Games Chicago," said the figure doesn't say whether this is long-term employment or for a single year. And Tresser said he remains concerned that the Olympic

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organizing committee running things - with City Hall entrenched in the process - will follow the tradition of trading jobs for political favors.

Tourism Pro: With a projected 4 billion viewers tuning in to the Games and TV cameras panning across Lake Michigan and the dramatic skyline over Grant Park, Chicago could shed its image as a metropolis in flyover country and bump up its tourism numbers.

Con: Just how long Olympic fever can sustain that remains in question.

Legacies Pros: The IOC's evaluation team, in a visit here last spring, praised Chicago 2016 for creating a lineup of 31 venues that would leave behind no white elephants - like Beijing's architecturally stunning but now-empty Bird's Nest stadium. The city's plan makes use of 15 existing facilities and calls for building six new venues that would all be scaled back after the games - including the 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

Cons: The question remains, then, whether there's a visual centerpiece that would be left behind. "Maybe the Olympic Village - I don't know if it's a grabber or not," Sanderson said. "Depends on whether people want to walk through an Olympic Village."

Transportation Pros: The city and region are expecting, as other American cities have, millions in federal dollars to fix and upgrade the public transit system. That's important, considering the IOC's concern that Metra might not be able to handle a spike in demand during the Games.

Cons: Plans for public transit upgrades should be part of a 20-year plan and focus on regional and local needs. The concern, according to Sanderson, is that upgrades would be too tightly focused on July and August 2016 and not for the following years and decades. Also, during the Games, 366 miles of Chicago area roadways, including two lanes in either direction of Lake Shore Drive and single lanes of the Kennedy and Stevenson expressways, would be closed.

Chairman of Chicago's CTA Admits $7 Billion in Unfunded Repairs

CTA Chairman Carole L. Brown gave a speech to the APTA Rail Conference in Chicago on June 15, 2009.

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 25 Days - 2016 under continued scrutiny

In it she revealed an alarming backlog of repair work for our mass transit system.

"We still have an almost $7 BILLION - yes, 7 BILLION DOLLARS of unfunded repair needs."

Read her full remarks here.

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 24 Days - Mayor says he wants oversigh...

No Games Chicago Update 24 Days To Decision Daily News

September 7, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Once again, the The 2016 bod is embroiled in continued controversy. corrupt and spinless Now there are two competing City Council laws to politicians of introduce oversight and monitoring to the 2016 bid Chicago, have process and beyond. allowed Mayor Daley, to make Ben Joravsky from the Chicago Reader has a skeptical underhanded take on these two ordinances. The Sun-Times editorial decisions on the cartoon shows what people think of the Mayor and his "behalf" of all announced desires for good government and Chicagoans. Mayor "transparency." Daley has consistently LIED to The Substitute for the Substitute Chicagoans about this Olympic bid and Posted by Ben Joravsky - Sep 1, 2009 I don't trust him. He is only interested in I'm under no illusion that the 2016 Olympics-should himself and his we be so unlucky as to host them-will be anything but cronies. NO a waste of money, as the well-connected gorge OLYMPICS IN themselves at the public's expense. CHICAGO So the best the City Council could do for the masses would be to effectively kill the games by passing First Ward alderman Manny Flores's original proposal to cap

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 24 Days - Mayor says he wants oversigh...

public spending at $500 million. Erica Smith, But since Mayor Daley has made it clear that he won't Chicago let that legislation come up for a vote, much less win Signer of No Games approval, the council's next best bet is to pass Flores's online petition new proposal calling for strict oversights. (You can check out a PDF of it here.)

Now it's clear the mayor won't let them do that either.

Flores introduced his substitute proposal today and the mayor quickly countered with his own variation [PDF], which offers next to nothing in legitimate oversight. Click here for a chart that the alderman put together comparing the two proposals. "This ordinance will ensure greater public transparency about the Olympic finances as well as provide further protection to our taxpayers," Mayor Daley said in a prepared statement. Right.

So here's how tough things are for open government in Chicago: Mayor Daley's pushing a substitute for the substitute for the real legislation our aldermen ought to pass.

Hang tough, Manny. I guarantee you'll get votes from Visit our web site aldermen Scott Waguespack and Joe Moore and and download the maybe even Roberto Maldonado-that is, if he can get "Book of Evidence" his mind off his real estate holdings. that we delivered to you in Lausanne! Just kidding, Alderman M.

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago"

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 24 Days - Mayor says he wants oversigh...

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3 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 23 Days - Proposed 2016 overseer exposed

No Games Chicago Update 23 Days To Decision Daily News

September 8, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Today the Chicago City Council Finance Committee voted This is the wrong to approve the signing of the Host City Contract and the time in this city's Mayor's pledge to you that city taxpayers will cover all history -- hell, in expenses of the 2016 games as needed. this nation's history -- to gamble on The Aldermen also voted to make the Committee's Chairman, Ed Burke, a member of the Operating whether or not the Committee should Chicago be awarded the games. He will Olympics will bring be expected to exercise oversight over 2016 operations on money to this city. behalf of the citizens of Chicago. But because Daley and his cronies know Unfortunately, Mr. Burke was exposed in today's Chicago the damage they Sun-Times as using Chicago tax dollars for his personal benefit. take if it fails won't really hurt them, Crain's Chicago Business recently did a story on Alderman they are attempting Burke explaining how the powerful alderman exercises no to shove this down oversight at all over the Mayor's financial plans. The our throats. But it article stated that Alderman Burke takes in hundreds of will hurt the little thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and legal fees from firms that do business with the city. guy who works hard every day. And "Among recent contributions was $3,000 from Patrick that's why he Ryan, the former Aon Corp. CEO who chairs the Chicago 2016 Olympics committee. In his latest disclosure statement filed with the city, Mr. Burke reported receiving

1 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 23 Days - Proposed 2016 overseer exposed

at least $5,000 in 2008 from each of 31 law clients that basically lied to us also do business with the city. His firm, Klafter & Burke, is and the Olympic known for its work on property tax appeals." Committee about the financial We point these developments out to you so you will coverage issue. understand the outrage that will follow from Chicago taxpayers. Daley's like any other inveterate gambler at a roulette table. Sure, if his number falls he'll be the big hero--but if it doesn't, he loses his house and his family gets dumped out on the street. Unfortunately, we are his "family," and the "house" translates to loss of city services, extra taxes, etc. Also The fence that Burke built unfortunately for us, Daley is so fat, he is Powerful alderman spent $45,499 in taxpayer money to build a sidewalk and fence longer than a football only minimally field that keeps teens from hanging around the affected when he railroad track behind his home screws up...as he did with the CHRIS FUSCO and TIM NOVAK Staff Reporters- September overbudgeted 8, 2009 Millennium For years, the single railroad track south of Curie Metro Park...and the High School on the Southwest Side had been a hangout for parking meter teens and a cut-through for commuters walking to and fiasco. from the L's Orange Line station at Pulaski.

Then, a year ago, City Hall put up a wrought-iron fence Comment on CLTV south of the track, eliminating the shortcut. News website,"Garrard McClendon Live" segment onthe 2016 bid

2 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 23 Days - Proposed 2016 overseer exposed

This fence keeps people off a railroad track and away from the home (seen at top right) of Ald. Edward Burke (inset). Visit our web site and download the That also stopped teens from hanging out by the "Book of Evidence" neighborhood's newest and biggest house -- built and that we delivered occupied by one of the city's most powerful politicians, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th). to you in Lausanne! City taxpayers picked up the tab for the new wrought-iron fence and a sidewalk that directs pedestrians away from Open letter the house. to the IOC: It was Burke's call to put in the fence and sidewalk. "Why you don't He used his "aldermanic menu," a perk given to members want to give the of the Chicago City Council. They're given money they can Olympics to spend on whatever public works projects they want in their Chicago" wards. Burke -- who didn't respond to requests for comment for this story -- wanted the fence and sidewalk, each longer than a football field.

"I am asking that . . . funds be allocated to the Department of Transportation for the purpose of installing a sidewalk along with a wrought-iron fence from Harding to Pulaski on West 51st Street," Burke said in an April 17, 2008, letter to city officials. "The reason for the installation of the sidewalk and wrought-iron fence is to prevent the students from Curie High School using this rail-road grade cross as a shortcut."

Burke estimated the work would cost taxpayers $25,000. He was a bit off. By the time it was completed earlier this year, the bill came to $45,499, city records show -- $14,079 for the sidewalk, $31,420 for the wrought-iron fence.

That fence connects to the fence Burke already had around his $900,000 home. Before, people could walk right alongside his property.

3 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 23 Days - Proposed 2016 overseer exposed

They can't anymore.

From Burke's property, the fence runs west between the railroad track and a strip mall for a little less than a block, to Pulaski.

The fence has done some good, neighbors say. They credit it with helping cut down on crime and fights and discouraging gang members from hanging around.

"It's better than not having it," says one neighbor. But he also says: "It's really for Curie kids to stay off the tracks. Without that fence, they would go right past that house" -- pointing to Burke's house.

The alderman's home sits just south of the single track that, on average, is used by nine trains a day, most of them passing at under 10 mph, state records show.

Another neighbor says it's obvious why the fence went up. And it's not to keep kids from crossing the track, she says. "I think it's to keep that house safe," she says, pointing to Burke's home. "If it was for the trains, they would have put it up a long time ago."

Burke had the fence put up three years after his family moved into the house on the far southwest edge of his ward in 2005. Work on the fence began late last year. It was finished in April, city records show.

Already, it's rusting.

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

No Games Chicago Update 21 Days To Decision Daily News

September 10, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Yesterday the Chicago City Council voted to approve the Mayor's commitment to you and endorsed the Host City Contract.

Here's just a small sample of the citizen outrage that is pouring into the media, blogs, radio shows and online comments following 2016-related news stories.

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago"

1 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

The following comments are from JUST TWO articles, one from the Chicago Sun-Times and one from the Chicago Tribune.

THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1762851,CST- NWS-olyanalysis10.article

lee star wrote: As anyone in Chicago knows the Alderman are the biggest Daley b.u.t.t. Lickers in this state, they no shame or scruples.

lennny wrote: YOU LIE!

xbillcosby wrote: Fran you don't mention the aldermen in oversight are Burke and Austin. Two of Daley's biggest shills. Can you explain how this is a win? Or any real oversight?

focus wrote: Daley has money for the Willis group and the TIF in the Loop, but not for Citzens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEgn98vCnbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o570-57dVaU& feature=related

justanotheropinion wrote: Got a message for my alderman who likes his picture in the paper, Jim Balcer you are supposed to be representing the majority of your consituants, not just those deemed to have clout. WE DO NOT BACK THE BID.

2 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

And we will not back you come the next election cycle. This WILL be remembered. Time for you to get a real job and it shouldn't be in politics.

center cut wrote: If there was a public hearing about the olympics in the 41st ward somebody forgot to invite the public. What backroom of what bar was it held in

trex47 wrote: Not in Chicago but still in Illinois which will also be taxed up the yingying if Chicago gets it in 2016. Hope the residents also vote unanimously next election to send the King & 50 Daleyites a clear message, BID THIS!!!

on windy wrote: Chicago Aldermen: sheep following the Judas Goat! When Da Mare shouts "Squat!" fifty pairs of drawers hit the Council floor.

blackpanthers09 wrote: 49-0 huh! I can't wait for 2011 elections so we can vote 5million-0 on putting these daley lap dogs & his House Negros out office for good. Power to the people!

jack12345 wrote: What good is oversight by 49 lapdogs? It is like the CTA Board overseeing the CTA--laughable. Daley threw them a meaningless bone, and they said "yes, master."

antiseptic wrote: wizards23 wrote: This is not a rubber-stamp City Council. There's give and take. There's back-and-forth," he said. The taxpayers "give" and Daley "takes". The "back and forth" is Daley and his croonies giving it to the taxpayer up the wazooh. LOL!!

tim tells it like it is...chicago wrote: So there are a total of 49 complete idiots, plus 1 - Daley. Put your own cash on the table Bozos. Getting the word out, you are all so fired come election time.

nobama08 wrote: Just think of the traffic, security issues, clean up costs, maintenance of these facilities for years to come, etc. This is going to be a disaster for the City of Chicago and her taxpayers. This is all about Daley and his ego and not about Chicago.

I hope the IOC curses some other city with this bid.

citizen cane wrote:

3 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

Oh, and yes... don't forget to roll up your bits of WIT here into little balls of sh't... where it doesn't mean a thing... but it is good therapy and cathartic, so do it where it doesn't count.

Ha, Ha, simply remarkable.

PS: Don't forget to "twitter" as well, this is after all the Information Age, and YOU certainly do want to be informed... don't you?

dgm wrote: GIVE ME A BREAK!!! You laud the commissioners for attaining concessions? Laughable! You have 49 morons that voted the way Daley told them to vote...they did NOT, I repeat, did NOT utilize a democratic-republic process and ask their constituents how to vote...they voted they way they wanted to vote, PERIOD. The citizens of Chicago will be on the hook for Billions for DECADES...You morons who live in Chicago and pay ever increasing taxes have only yourselves to blame for continuing to vote these morons into office...enjoy your 2 weeks of Games...and MASSIVE debt for generations to come!!!

citizen cane wrote: WOW! UNBELIEVABLE!! CONGRATULATIONS Chicagoans! In view of YOUR city council's votes, Chicago... YOU "again" continue to be in the forefront of proving the theory that indeed you can fool ALL of the people ALL of the time. Ah yes, never so STUPID are those that fail to realize it... when they are being made so. Chicago, ENJOY paying for the games and the FOOLS that "some" folks; your neighbors (city council) make of you... while they laugh about and carve up the money pie.

Question: CAN Chicagoans BEcome any STUPIDER?

Answer: ABSOLUTELY, YES U CAN!! :D (lol)

chicrooko wrote: Chicago remember not to vote for incumbants in the next election. Let's vote out these Daley lap dogs.

mindus wrote: And let me guess, one of those two city council "representatives" is public enemy #2 Aldercriminal Ed Burke? The second biggest scumbag liar and money waster who's been allowed to city in an alderman's chair EVER!

Wow, now I trust everything.

And as far as Fioretti's BS fake ordinance, JUST

4 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

ANOTHER BS FAKEOUT TO SAVE FACE AGAINST HIS CONSTITUENT'S HATRED FOR THE GAMES. That ordinance will NEVER pass and he knew it when he introduced it.

The only line of BS that has changed from before is now two of the biggest scumbag aldermen in this city, and two of daley's best friends to boot, are now allegedly supposed to watch how the crime spree is dibursed.

Nothing has changed, Daley is now going to r@pe this city dry of money and turn it into detriot thanks to the lying scumbag aldermen laying down for a couple TIFF dollars to be spent in their ward.

Let's all see where that tiny percentage of TIF starts flowing now shall we?

amazing grace wrote: How nice to see the 11th Ward Alderman DALEY'S LACKY in the photo...it somehow fitting....Gee, I wonder how many Alderman and their familes businesses will benefit from contract....? Why are they NOT forbidding any ALDERMAN and their families to do business??????? WHY NOT...... ?

focus wrote: This is amazing, 50 fools that will sign off on anything pushed in front of them,and then want hearings after public outcry. I hope people remember this in 2011,$100,000 a year for a part-time job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o570-57dVaU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2NPG1wSnQE

bluestatecowboys wrote: Las Vegas has set the "over/under" at 2.5 for the number of current aldermen who will be in prison when the 2016 Olympics takes place -- no matter where the games are held.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4v5ihLlYKQ

GOOD KING RICH

(Spoken Intro) This is an open letter to the International Olympic Committee:

As you travel the world these next few months Being wined and dined in five-star restaurants In Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio De Janeiro, remember this:

5 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

You're upholding the proud tradition of your predecessors, Many of whom allegedly accepted bribes In exchange for awarding the 2002 Winter Games To that paragon of urban virtue - Salt Lake City, Utah

(Chorus)

Well, you can scrap that bid from old Madrid Say adios to Spain And just say no to Tokyo With its fancy bullet train

And if you're ill at ease speakin' Portugese Then Rio ain't your town Oh, but Good King Rich, he'll scratch your itch When he throws that cash around

(Verse)

Well, some folks say that it don't make sense To hold the Games in the 312 They say our city's broke; schools are a joke Well, friends, that just might be true

Oh, but Good King Rich, he'd rather fight than switch You know how the story's gonna end With all the King's family and all the King's friends Lining their pockets again and again

(Repeat Chorus)

(Verse w/ tag)

From the two-flats and the bungalows We applaud his every scheme From a tax increase to a parking meter lease He's helping us live the dream

Now with a wave of his hand and a line in the sand He's gonna bring the Olympics home So da_mn the torpedoes, full speed ahead He's gonna get us a velodrome

We can't pay for salt when there's ice on the streets But at least we'll have a velodrome

(Repeat Chorus (w/ tag))

Yeah, Good King Rich, he's gonna scratch your itch When you bring those games to town

wizards23 wrote: This is not a rubber-stamp City Council. There's give and take. There's back-and-forth," he said. The taxpayers

6 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

"give" and Daley "takes". The "back and forth" is Daley and his croonies giving it to the taxpayer up the wazooh.

orion wrote: Willie Cocharan, you are not running a laundremat anymore - this is the City of Chicago. Reviewing every contract over $25K will grind progress to a halt.

THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS CAN BE FOUND AT: http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2009/09 /chicago-aldermen-embrace-olympics-plans.html#more

I'm glad I moved out of Chicago. I look at the people who own my old place as 'suckers'. Daley & the crooked City Council pat themselves on the back and whoop it up while spending other people's money. I don't miss the 10.25% sales tax one bit either. Posted by: Cash | September 10, 2009 at 08:02 AM OH BOY! Daly is some piece of work. He has gone from ..we will have an insurance policy so taxpayers will not pay for any losses....but there has never been a city that has lost in the Olympics.. to Let's screw the Chicago taxpayer... AGAIN. Oh, by the way, Richie, EVERY city has lost money on the Olympics. When are the TAXPAYERS of Chicago going to vote this person out of office????We need to get rid of the alderman too. Let's stop being their pansies. I hope I get my property sold by the time 2016 comes around!!!!! Posted by: Gail Soberski

Most of us got a water bill a few weeks ago. That bill was about $10 more than the last instalment. That was a Daley family added value tax. Let me explain. Almost all of the trucks used in the truck for hire scandal were used by the water department. Remember that John Daley's brother-in-law was convicted of ghost payrolling at the water department. Daley's son and nephew got a contract to clean sewers for the water department. And when Daley's nephew raided the city pension funds for investment money he bought a warehouse that was storing trucks for the water department that they bought after the truck for hire scandal. The water department had a month-to-month lease so no city council approval was needed. The cost of the lease went up 600% after Vanecko bought the property. DO YOU SEE THE PATTERN HERE? Now imagine what these people can do if we get the Olympics! Posted by: NorthSide TaxPayer

GO RIO! Posted by: Chicago Citizen

The day we get the Olympics is the day I say goodbye to

7 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

this fat, bloated city of pigs. Posted by: Chicago Joe

Funny how some people want this, I know of no one. Put it to a vote...it will lose. Fitzgerald, please, please, get this creep out of office... Posted by: dumpdaley

The rubber stamps stamp again. Posted by: Pete |

NOlympics! Posted by: nothin' left in my pockets but lint |

There is no way an Olympic village can be built for less than proposed. Remember Millennium Park? I concur, time to start fighting our the Daley's and all who go along with this circus! Posted by: chicagoguy

Here's what I don't understand. In Congress, it's common for a Senator or Congressman to have an opinion on a bill, but that his constituents of on the other side. So, if the winning side doesn't need his vote, he can vote the way his constituents feel, without risk of angering his party's leadership. This was the case, when Congress voted for the bailout of the banks. Why doesn't anyway ask for this kind of dispensation from the Mayor? Is it that hard to say, "Mr. Mayor, I completely agree with you, but if I vote with you, your army of campaign workers simply can't get me re-elected. Please let me vote against you without reprecussion. You'll have my vote the next time a vote appears to be very close." Posted by: Chuck

I'm certainly glad that Suarez thinks that "It will make Chicago a world-class city," he said. Whew...finally we'll be a city worth something. WHAT? Aren't we a world-class city already? I'm out of here if we get the Olympics. We'll be bilked for millions and millions of tax dollare as the project will overrun their budgets day one. We're f'd. Posted by: Mr.B

Let's say the Olympics fail financially. SOME people will have come to Chicago, stayed in a hotel or motel, eaten food, bought 'stuff', etc. It was my impression that Chicago had a sales tax, an entertainment tax, and a tax on hotel and motel room rentals among others. Oops, I forgot city income tax - from cab drivers, employees at eating establishments, and all manner of other people. Because Police and Fire pay income tax, I suspect that some of their overtime will go back to the city. Even in an Olympics that does not do well at the gate, the city will collect some (extra) tax that the city would not have

8 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

otherwise. These extra tax revenues are what hosting the Olympics are about anyway. Posted by: Ed

Like this is news... You know it is a slow news day in Chicago when Rod and the Olympics are on the front page. Why wouldn't the Alderman put the taxpayers on the line? That's what they do everyday. Now if you have any money in retirement or pensions -- end your contributions now -- trust me these politicians will takje out a loan on the pension funds to fund the Olympics. How soon til election day? Posted by: Ed Kasprzycki

I don't see anyone protesting in their faces at City Hall. That's exactly what it will take to restore any sense of democratic representation in our municipal government. But people are too fat, too low on energy carrying all that lard around all day. They'd rather type and call it a day. Posted by: Guy

This is hardly surprising. Don't think medical science has advanced enough for the alderman to get spine transplants since the fiasco about the parking meters deal was exposed. Our only hope now is that the IOC gets a bigger bribe from one of the other host city candidates and let's Chicago off the the hook. Here's hoping that mayor Daley's quest for the 2016 Olympics will put the final nail in the coffin of machine politics Chicago style. Are you listening Patrick Fitzgerald? Posted by: Lee Majella

To all those that have decided to leave the city, don't forget to pay your exit tax. Those taxpayers left behind are going to need the money to help offset the cost of the freeloaders and the olympics. Posted by: Think Before You Vote |

Haven't these guys learned if you can't afford something, you just don't buy it? Why should city taxpayers cough up the cash? I'm sooooo glad in live in the 'burbs...but then, they'll probably find a way to put part of the burden on the suburban taxpayers, too...particularly if you live in Cook County. For that matter, the state of Illinois will pay their share. Get ready, downstate farmers! Posted by: Vote 'em all out

Does anyone have contact info for the IOC so we can let them know how we feel about the games coming to Chicago? Posted by: Emily

9 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 21 Days - Reaction to City Council vote

If the Olympics make money, and lately they haven't, do the taxpayer get the profit? No the taxpayers only get the debt. The rich guys get the profit. Don't forget they are worth it. Posted by: Dougmohns

If they can find money for the Olympics, they can find money for the homeless, stop the killing of kids and improve Chicago's school system. If we are put on the hook for paying something then we should have a vote in it. Well you know what maybe we should reconsider who we vote for. Posted by: PCarr

this will be like the parking meter mess. when things go wrong, they will say they didnt know what they were voting on. Posted by: mike h

of course they will screw that taxpayer. And the lemmings will keep wanting this scam. GO RIO .. THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY FOLKS. and please people. theres no cleaning house like you think. they will just cart in more crooks. Nothing will change untill there is literally a revolt on the steps of city hall.

Posted by: meesohawnee

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10 of 10 Update from No Games Chicago - 20 Days - Irate citizen speaks for us all

No Games Chicago Update 20 Days To Decision Daily News

September 11, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the Olympics to Chicago" This letter from today's Chicago Sun-Times sums up what most people here are feeling.

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 20 Days - Irate citizen speaks for us all

An Olympic-sized risk for taxpayers

September 11, 2009

Once again, the Mayor Daley cadre has universally rubber stamped a taxpayer obligation to foot any Olympic overruns should Chicago get the 2016 Games. Alderman Joe Moore had the nerve to make an impassioned speech declaring that the citizens are correct to question this obligation but voted for it anyway. Talk about gutless. Talk is cheap. The Olympics will be very, very expensive.

Mike Koskiewicz, Portage Park

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2 of 2 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 19 Days - President will send his wife

No Games Chicago Update 19 Days To Decision Daily News

September 12, 2009

The People Speak 2016 bid torch passed to Michelle Obama

I just wanted to First lady -- not president -- to fly to basically say that in Copenhagen to help make final pitch for my opinion Chicago Chicago to land Games should not get the Olympics. We Katherine Skiba, Kathy Bergen and Philip Hersh - Chicago Tribune reporters - September 12, 2009 supposedly have so many budget First Lady Michelle Obama will lead a delegation to deficits. How are Copenhagen next month for the vote on whether we going to be able Chicago beats three rivals to win the 2016 Summer to afford this. It's Olympic Games. ridiculous. And Mayor Daley do But the White House announcement Friday trumpeting need to get his the first lady's high-profile mission did little to extinguish a question that burns as brightly as the Olympic torch: priorities in check Will the popular first lady ultimately let her husband because the crime take the lead in the hour long presentation before the rate...get that in International Olympic Committee's vote on Oct. 2? order first. You know what I mean. On Friday afternoon, amid heavy speculation over We have so many whether the president would travel to Copenhagen to try other things to take to seal a deal, White House officials revealed that Mrs. care of. And he's so Obama would serve as an ambassador for Chicago 2016 when it states its case for the bid over Madrid, Tokyo worried about the and Rio de Janeiro.

1 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 19 Days - President will send his wife

In announcing Mrs. Obama's loftiest assignment yet, Olympics. Give it to White House officials said President Barack Obama on somebody else Friday informed the president of the International 'cause they deserve Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, that the effort to it. We don't, we pass health-care reform "keeps him from committing at don't need it. this time to travel to Copenhagen on Oct. 2."

Latisha, Chicago "At this time" was the operative phrase that seemed to leave open the prospect of a last-minute surprise trip by Call in comment to the president. the "Gerrard McClendon Live" Mrs. Obama will be accompanied by Valerie Jarrett, a television show, White House senior adviser, longtime friend and big September 2, 2009 backer of bringing the Games to Chicago. A group of athletes and celebrities is expected to join them.

"There is no doubt in my mind that Chicago would offer the world a fantastic setting for these historic games," Mrs. Obama said in a statement, "and I hope that the Olympic torch will have the chance to burn brightly in my hometown."

Mayor Richard Daley said he was "thrilled" that the first lady was going.

"As a lifelong resident of our city, Michelle's passion for Chicago is contagious," he said in a statement, adding, "This is not just Chicago's bid, it is America's bid."

At a news conference in Chicago, Patrick Ryan, CEO of Visit our web site Chicago 2016, applauded the choice and termed and download the Chicago's bid historic, citing "total cohesion" in support "Book of Evidence" "from City Hall to the state capitol to the White House." Still, reporters asked: Is the door closed to a presidential that we delivered trip? to you in Lausanne! Ryan said the White House statement spoke for itself, adding: "I think Michelle Obama will represent our Open letter country, our city and our bid tremendously. ... This vote to the IOC: is not going to be decided based on how many political leaders are going to be there." "Why you don't want to give the One observer said the announcement that Mrs. Obama Olympics to would take the lead convinced him that the president Chicago" would indeed show up at the 11th hour, creating a bigger splash.

"This is a great strategy to generate much more interest and to have a much greater entrance," said sports industry expert Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp Ltd. "His wife can go and represent him. It's someone senior from the White House and someone who's much better than Valerie Jarrett, who's a lovely lady but does not have the gravitas of the president or Michelle.

2 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 19 Days - President will send his wife

"And watch, Barack will show up almost unannounced, for a couple hours," Ganis said. "He'll give his commitment, look IOC members in the eye and say, 'I want your vote.' The same day he'll be back on Air Force One and back in Washington. This is a wonderful David Axelrod moment."

Axelrod, a top White House adviser from Chicago, spearheaded President Obama's campaign.

The first lady, whose approval ratings approach or exceed 70 percent, is sure to add substance and sizzle by virtue of two Ivy League degrees, a spot on Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed List and her advocacy of a host of pet issues including support for military families, healthy eating and education.

High-profile lobbyists have held sway in the past. Britain's Tony Blair and Russia's Vladimir Putin helped persuade IOC members before their countries won Olympic Games set for 2012 and 2014.

This time, a large cast of VIPs -- including King Juan Carlos of Spain, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and possibly the Japanese royal family -- will go to Copenhagen to push for their countries.

Next Wednesday, the Obamas will welcome Olympic and Paralympic athletes to the White House to advance Chicago's bid, and questions about whether the president will appear in Copenhagen are bound to persist.

Olympics historian Kevin Wamsley of the University of Western Ontario said the first lady's presence is unlikely to carry as much weight as the president's could. "He does have a presence, and it's a little more overwhelming than other international leaders," Wamsley said. "My guess is that a lot of minds may be made up, but there may be little bit of a swing vote."

One person who didn't think that the president's presence would matter was IOC member Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden, an Olympic champion alpine skier in the 1990s.

"I think the people from Chicago will be able to do a very good job with or without President Barack Obama," she said in an e-mail. "If he comes I would love to say hello, but I am sure it will not make me vote in one way or the other!"

3 of 4 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 18 Days - Mayor approval rate at 35%

No Games Chicago Update 18 Days To Decision Daily News

September 13, 2009

The People Speak

Daley's mismanagement of Chicago was hidden by a booming national economy throughout the 90s and from 03-07. It took a bad recession to see the full effects of his poor management. Now he expects people to believe he can complete Olympic Mayor Daley is now extremely unpopular projects on time and in Chicago and his pushing of the 2016 on budget when his Olympics has contributed to his track record for historically low approval ratings. Despite most major projects what you are being told, the people of is pitiful. Chicago do NOT want the 2016 Olympics Daley has Olympic to come here.

1 of 3 Update fromNo Games Chicago - 18 Days - Mayor approval rate at 35%

tunnel vision. He As Olympics vote looms, Daley believes they are a struggles panacea for all of Chicago's ills. The Dan Mihalopoulos - Chicago Tribune - problem is the man September 13, 2009 has absolutely no Plan B or alternate ...But with the pivotal Olympics decision three vision if Chicago weeks away, Daley finds himself in one of the does not get the most troubled periods of his long reign. Daley's Olympics. It's time decision to lease the city parking meter system to dump this tired, left motorists furious over skyrocketing rates paranoid old fool and balky machines. Then he fumbled in who has drained the explaining his promise that taxpayers would taxpayers for the cover potential losses from the Olympics. benefit of his family and friends. For the first time since he became mayor two A reader comments decades ago, Daley's critics outnumber his fans, on the Chicago a Tribune/WGN poll found. The mayor's Tribune article, "As approval rating is at an all-time low of 35 Olympic vote looms, percent in Tribune polls, according to the new Daley struggles" survey.

Visit our web site and download the "Book of Evidence" that we delivered to you in Lausanne!

Open letter to the IOC: "Why you don't want to give the

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 17 Days - Cartoon says it all

No Games Chicago Update 17 Days To Decision Daily News

September 14, 2009

The People Speak Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words... WHY!!!!!! Why are you doing this.. We already pay the highest taxes in all of the United States. Do you ereally have to do this... Have you guys not learnd anything from Atlanta! Sad really sad..... From Crain's Chicago Business, September 14, 2009. Marisa Moy, Chicago is NOT ready to take Chicago this leap for the Mayor! Signer of No Games Chicago online petition

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 16 Days - Chicago 2016 desperate

No Games Chicago Update 16 Days To Decision Daily News

September 15, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Crain's Chicago Business is our premier weekly business With the shocking publication. This report ran today on their web site. increase in crime in Lincoln Park and They report what we at No Games Chicago have known Lakeview, we need for some time - namely, that public support for the 2016 to be spending bid has dissolved and the 2106 Committee is getting desperate to try to shore up its failing status. They go money on city from one bad idea to another, as this report documents. services, not these games which will Chicago 2016 launches last-ditch ad push certainly bankrupt the city. The Jeremy Mullman - Sept. 15, 2009 promise of federal assistance is Mayor (Crain's) - Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Daley's only hope of Olympics has had no shortage of marketing firepower at its disposal: Nearly all of the major creative agencies in keeping Chicago the nation's No. 2 agency market -including Leo Burnett, from collapsing. Ogilvy & Mather, Downtown Partners and others - have pitched in to help craft ads and presentations in support Ed Linn, of the bid. Chicago But for all the creative firepower aimed primarily at persuading the judges of the International Olympic Signer of No Games Committee, the bid hasn't spent as much time or energy Chicago online persuading Chicagoans that winning the games is a worthwhile goal, and that may wind up undermining its

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 16 Days - Chicago 2016 desperate

efforts. petition A Chicago Tribune poll earlier this month found that only 47% of Chicagoans supported the city's bid to host the games, a potentially devastating blow so close to the Oct. 2 decision deadline.

People close to the situation said organizers have leaned on mostly favorable coverage in local newspapers and TV shows to make their case but were caught off-guard by that news, which will almost certainly be wielded by rival cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid in their own bids to host the games. "I think they were shocked," said one person close to the bid. "And now they know it's going to be used against them."

So, in a last-ditch effort to generate local enthusiasm, organizers last week began broadcasting audio messages supporting the bid on city buses. If Twitter is any indication (search for "CTA" and "2016") the appeals Visit our web site from former Olympians are doing more harm than good, and download the as sentiment toward the "propaganda" is overwhelmingly "Book of Evidence" negative. that we delivered "It doesn't demonstrate public support and in fact will to you in Lausanne! only erode whatever support exists," wrote Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman, in a piece that mirrored the sentiment of many posts. "No one likes Open letter being aurally assaulted while part of a captive audience." to the IOC: "Why you don't The bid also last week launched a series of print and radio ads intended to tout the potential positive want to give the economic impact that hosting the games could have for Olympics to Chicago and the surrounding region. Chicago" But in the weeks and months before the recent spate of messages, the local dialogue concerning the impact of the games has largely centered around who pays for it, and a controversial provision that could leave city taxpayers on the hook for certain cost overruns. Those sorts of concerns tend to be particularly potent in a city where citizens have become accustomed to daily headlines about corruption probes in city and state government.

There are also persistent worries about the traffic and congestion that will surround construction for the games, and over whether the city's public-transit system could handle the increased traffic that would come with the Olympics.

Chicago 2016 Chief Brand Officer Mark Mitten last week referred an inquiry to a spokesman, who did not return a phone call. A subsequent call to the Chicago 2016 media line was not returned.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 15 Days - Cartoon says it best

No Games Chicago Update 15 Days To Decision Daily News

September 16, 2009

The People Dear Member of the International Olympic Speak Committee:

The aldermanic The editorial cartoon in today's Chicago Sun-Times backbone was expresses the sentiments of 84% of Chicago only that of a citizens. very few and momentary at best as evidenced by the unanimous cave in of the vote. We citizens are on the hook just as the IOC wants it. The IOC is not willing to take on any risk for its self which of course is why it is so high on Today's Chicago Tribune has a front page story, their list of host "Sorting out bid's true cost" that contradicts the city 2016 Committee's repeated claims that "not one penny of taxpayer funds has been or will be used

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 15 Days - Cartoon says it best

for the 2016 Olympics." They compiled a chart of requirements expenses that tops $2 billion and has several prior to holding "unknown" figures that alarm citizens with fears of the vote. IOC is costs that could spiral out of control. beholden to no one, no city, no state, no government, no country. NO ONE. Yet, who ever is the bid "winner", a questionable term, is beholden, held hostage if you will, to the IOC and its governance of the games, not the "winners" own citizenry. At least not until after the fact, when of course "oversite" comes into play. In this instant, oversite becomes an oxymoron, even a lie, as there is no F.O.I.A..that applies. No FO.I.A. anywhere on this earth that applies to the IOC. None, Nada, Nunca, Zip. Oversite comes after the fact. The only party left holding the bag are the only ones not invited to the party, you and me, the

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 15 Days - Cartoon says it best

taxpayers. The IOC wants you to have all the liability, as does the Chicago City Council, Pat Ryan and his 2016 bid committee, Mayor Daley, the State of Illinois, and "Chicago politics lite" the Obama administration.

Comment at Chicago Sun-Timesonline blog

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3 of 3 5/8/2011 2:55 PM Update from No Games Chicago - 14 Days - Mayor once scoffed at Olympics

No Games Chicago Update 14 Days To Decision Daily News

September 17, 2009

The People Dear Member of the International Olympic Speak Committee:

The Chicago Tribune's John Kass today reveals that Mayor According to Daley originally dismissed the idea of seeking the Olympics Wikipedia, for Chicago. "The Olympics is a construction industry," he Millennium Park told the Rotary Club in 2004. "They wanted $2 million from was "finished me just to make a proposal! They want to build everything four years behind new." But his administration became plagued with scandal schedule and and several of his highest ranking officials were arrested, convicted and sent to prison. He then became an Olympic cost advocate to divert attention from the failings of his approximately administration. three times as much as was May the farce be with you, Obama and initially Daley budgeted." I don't think the John Kass - September 17, 2009 Olympic venues will be any Some think President Barack Obama was playing Zorro on different. I figure the White House lawn Wednesday, fencing with an Olympic foil, with Mayor Richard Daley looking on. that since the Olympics won't Others figured the president was Han Solo to the mayoral get delayed, the Yoda, foreshadowing a climactic scene to come in overtime will kill Copenhagen, Obama swooping in on Air Force One as if it were the Millennium (Park) Falcon, heroically rescuing the tiny-legged, verbally challenged sage.

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 14 Days - Mayor once scoffed at Olympics

us tax wise. I But please, let's not get bogged down in confusing mythic have no symbolism. confidence in the city being able to The message from President Obama was real clear politics: do it on time and Chicago's president of the United States wants Chicago's budget. political boss happy and hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.

Secondly, I have "Chicago is ready, the American people are ready," said the talked to many president, with about two weeks until the International people about this Olympic Committee meets in Copenhagen to decide whether and no one wants Chicago gets the Olympic payoff. "We want these Games." the Olympics But a recent Tribune poll showed mixed feelings. People here. I'm not might not be crazy about the Games, but Daley sure is. He sure where the reaches for the Olympics the way a drowning man reaches polls are being for a floating chunk of wood. taken, but it's not by my And if Daley doesn't get the Olympics -- if the IOC chooses associates. Rio, Tokyo or Madrid -- don't be surprised if this becomes the mayor's last term. Ironically, co-workers in Because, after a 20-year spending spree, the money is Madrid don't finally gone. Daley is now so desperate for cash that he want it there allowed parking meter rates to be increased, knowing there either. would be a public backlash.

Now he needs that Olympic gold, to pass it out among the Finally, I had hungry interests and maintain control. His Olympic push is read that the not about sport. It's never been about sport. The Olympic opening theme song and wondering who might carry the torch down ceremonies could Michigan Avenue has been part of the children's fairy tale. cost $1,800.00 per person. Even But grown-ups know that the Chicago Olympics are about keeping Daley in power. Period. It began four years ago, in the best of just as big business and labor and the guys behind the guys economies, how started wondering if Daley was weakening. A boss thought many Chicagoans to be weak is a boss in danger. So just getting to this point can afford to go has been a masterful political stroke on the part of the to that? I'm not mayor. talking about Oprah, Obama, In August 2004, Daley was busy ridiculing the idea of a Chicago Olympics. Daley, etc. I'm talking about the "The Olympics is a construction industry," he told the Rotary normal, middle Club. "They wanted $2 million from me just to make a class. proposal! They want to build everything new."

Comment on Back then, he was in trouble. The Hired Truck scandal was widening. Daley's administration was also under siege by John Kass's another federal investigation into the wholesale abuse of column posted to political patronage through the mayor's office. Taxpayers the Chicago subsidized Daley's political troops who were working the precincts and controlling elections.

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 14 Days - Mayor once scoffed at Olympics

Tribune In December 2004, Daley loyalist and water department boss Donald Tomczak was charged with bribery. Tomczak's illegal patronage army of hundreds of workers helped elect then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak) to office. Emanuel is now Obama's chief of staff.

In May 2005, the feds raided the mayor's offices with search warrants. On July 18, 2005, Daley patronage chief Robert Sorich and others were charged with fraud. Daley would soon be sitting down with federal prosecutors, giving his own deposition on corruption matters.

But one week after Sorich and others were charged in the July 18 indictments, the mayor formally changed his tune and started backing the Olympics for Chicago.

"It would be done with private money," said the mayor. "This is a big-ticket item that ... we should look at very carefully."

In the weeks leading up to that announcement, Daley privately began offering a choice to establishment Chicago:

Get on the Olympic bus with the mayor or get left behind. No CEO could afford to be left behind. They jumped on, as did the rest of the power players.

That was Daley's brilliance. The 2016 Olympics became the mortar keeping his brick house from collapsing. If he wins the Olympics, he'll stay boss for years.

Even the president, who once vowed to transcend the cynical politics of the past, jumped on board. Why not? The guys running the Obama White House come direct from Daley's City Hall.

On Wednesday, as the president joked around with swords, First Lady Michelle Obama offered a reality check. She'll accompany Daley to the Oct. 2 IOC meeting in Copenhagen.

Don't be shocked if the president makes a "surprise" appearance and wins the day.

"You should have seen the president in there fencing, it was pathetic," Mrs. Obama laughed. "But he passed the baton really well."

Actually, Daley passed the baton. And now it can't be dropped.

It is handed from Chicago's boss to his presidential anchorman, in the most important political relay of Daley's life.

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 13 Days - Corruption update from Chicago

No Games Chicago Update 13 Days To Decision Daily News

September 18, 2009

The People Dear Member of the International Olympic Speak Committee:

Chicago does Today we're sending you updates on various scandals not have a relating to local government here. Hardly a day goes sufficient by without some local official being caught or infrastructure sentenced for some misdeed. Chicago is experiencing to host an a political tsunami as a consequence of Mayor event of this Daley's scandal plagued administration. Scandals at magnitude. the county and state level also reflect poorly on the One only need Mayor as he controls state Democratic politics. to look at Millennium Park to see that huge delays and huge cost overruns are the hallmark of the Daley administration. Goodness knows what

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 13 Days - Corruption update from Chicago

Daley would sell to the highest bidder to pay for this - naming rights to the city?

Michael Matlock, Chicago No Games online petition signer

City: Chicago police scandal: 4 cops in special unit sentenced after pleading guilty in long-running probe

Chicago police officers assigned to the elite Special Operations Section stole nearly half a million dollars after targeting a Hispanic man driving an expensive car and withheld insulin from another man until he told them where he hid cash and cocaine, prosecutors alleged Friday.

The new details came as four former officers became the first to plead guilty in the long-running state and federal investigation that contributed to the early retirement of Police Supt. Phil Cline.

County: Stroger upset with leaked subpoena

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger said today that a subpoena for financial records tied to a "current grand jury investigation" was leaked to the news media by county commissioners who put politics ahead of "what's good for the government.".

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 13 Days - Corruption update from Chicago

Cook County prosecutors issued the subpoena last month for records from Deloitte and Touche LLP, used in the "customary preparation" of the 2008 annual audit of county finances.

State: Patti denies taking charity's donor list IT'S 'MY LIST' | Accused of using it to contact people to promote ex-gov's book

A fuming Patti Blagojevich fired back Thursday at "galling" allegations that she absconded with a contact list from her old job at a charity so she could promote her husband's new book. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Blagojevich said she took no such list from the Chicago Christian Industrial League, despite public comments from an official with the group who accused her of acting unethically.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 12 Days - Columnist advises President

No Games Chicago Update 12 Days To Decision Daily News

September 19, 2009

The People Dear Member of the International Olympic Speak Committee:

Chicago is no Ben Joravsky, one of Chicago's most distinguished position to even political reporters, has this advice for President consider hosting Obama with regard to visiting you in Copenhagen: the 2016 olympics. Our "Near as anyone can tell, the race to host the 2016 educational Olympics has come down to Chicago versus Rio. system is in a Most accounts have Madrid and Tokyo falling shambles, we further behind as the International Olympic have one of the Committee gears up to make its decision on highest October 2. unemployment rates in the A crucial factor seems to be President Obama. If he nation, we have shows up in Copenhagen to charm the IOC one of largest delegates, Chicago will probably prevail. If he budget deficits in doesn't, the favorite is Rio. But even as Mayor history, and the Daley and other Olympic boosters urge him on, crime rate is Obama isn't making any promises-he's said only seriously out of that the First Lady will be there to make a pitch for control. Chicago. The media's also calling on him to go: on September 11 the Sun-Times even ran an open letter to the president, begging him to catch that plane for Europe, and the Trib followed suit four

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 12 Days - Columnist advises President

days later. In my opinion, the resources Well, here's my advice: Don't go, Mr. President. being spent to lobby the IOC, It's not just that you have more important things would be better to do-remember that little health care problem?-or spent repairing that the games are looking like bad news for your some of the ills cash-strapped hometown, since they're sure to we're facing right mutilate the parks and gobble up billions of dollars now. that could otherwise go to needy schools and city departments that are reducing services as basic as Anonymous, trash collection. Chicago No Games online It's that having the games in Chicago will ultimately petition signer be bad for you and detrimental to all that you want to accomplish.

Once you make a grand pitch for Daley's games, they'll become your games too. Every scandal, cost overrun, and delay (and you were around this town long enough to know there will be plenty of each) will be laid at your feet by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and all your other haters.

If you forgot how dirty Chicago politics can be, read Blago's book and remember you were lucky to get out of this swamp. Don't be foolish enough to dive back in."

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2 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 11 Days - League of Women Voters say...

No Games Chicago Update 11 Days To Decision Daily News

September 20, 2009

The People Dear Member of the International Olympic Speak Committee: The League of Women Voters is a 79-year old I have figured organization that promotes civic engagement and out a way to informed voting in all elections. The organization fund the was started in Chicago. Their members and leaders Olympics and are among the most informed and active citizens in keep everyone in our city. the city happy, even all the folks Today the Chicago League of Women Voters went like me who do on record opposing Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. not want the Olympics here: Questionable Olympics plan All the rich people in the TV Chicago Tribune - September 20, 2009 ads for the Olympics can put The League of Women Voters of Chicago opposes their money up the selection of Chicago as the site of the 2016 as a guarantee Summer Olympics. We do so in reliance on the since they seem principle of our organization that democratic so sure that it government depends upon the informed and active would be great participation of its citizens and requires that governmental bodies protect the people's right to know by giving adequate notice of proposed

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 11 Days - League of Women Voters say...

actions, holding open meetings and making public for the city. records accessible. Skip Feats, Preparation of the Chicago bid to host the 2016 Chicago Olympics did not provide us with adequate notice of the proposal as it developed, and we had no Letter to The opportunity to comment or question aspects of the Chicago Tribune, proposal. September 20 Many questions exist; the bid proposal, ostensibly a privately developed plan, relies on substantial public funding and facilities. With declining revenue to fund existing city and Park District costs, what sources exist to fund construction of the Olympics facilities? Will TIF funds be used? And from which TIF districts? On what basis does the Olympics planning committee believe that the federal government will provide the funds for transit repair and extension or the security costs?

Our organization believes that the parks should be used for public recreation only, consistent with and enhancing their aesthetic quality. Buildings should be kept to a minimum. Funds should be distributed equitably for maintenance and development of parks throughout the city. Construction of the venues in the parks will eliminate open space for residents' use. This is space in which an individual can walk, children can play games and families can gather.

A separate concern is the lengthy withdrawal of park facilities from public use. Areas of Washington, Douglas and Jackson Parks will be closed to the public during construction and the post-Olympics facilities will eliminate residents' unstructured use of open space. Also, will park maintenance and programs continue unaffected by the Olympics preparations? Or will these decline to provide funds for the construction? The preparation of the Chicago Olympics bid occupied years and the plan relies on public money from all levels of government. Yet only recently have public meetings been held throughout the city. The people can comment, but we cannot influence either the proposal or the decision to seek selection as the site of the 2016 Olympics. The Chicago bid to host the 2016 Olympics was undemocratic and

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 11 Days - League of Women Voters say...

unworthy of the great city in which we live.

-- Esta Kallen, president, -- Margaret Herring, board member, League of Women Voters of Chicago

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 10 Days - Crain's Chicago Business Do...

No Games Chicago Update 10 Days To Decision Daily News

September 21, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Crain's Chicago Business is our premier local business publication. The problem is not Today they published a review of the 2016 Committee's going to rest solely at supposed financial guarantees and found them wanting. the city level. You This adds to the growing dis-enchantment with the 2016 know that when push Committee, the 2016 bid and Mayor Daley. comes to shove His Honor will be asking Peeling back the coverage the state to kick in money because "The John Pletz - September 21, 2009 costs were so Mayor Richard M. Daley and Patrick Ryan assure Chicago unexpectedly high and taxpayers that a safety net of insurance would insulate them the Olympics brought from the financial risks of hosting the 2016 Olympics. fame and money to Illinois as well as But the insurance policies Mr. Ryan says he'll secure would Chicago." cover only about $1.1 billion of the $3.8-billion operating budget that the mayor's Olympic point man has drawn up for the games. In many key areas, no insurer stands between His Honor and Mr Ryan taxpayers and the risk of revenue shortfalls or cost overruns. would make me feel a lot better if both of For example, there's no insurance against the risk that private them would pledge ALL lenders won't shell out $1 billion to finance construction of the Olympic Village, as Messrs. Daley and Ryan predict they will. of their assets plus And there's no coverage against shortfalls in corporate sponsorship sales, which they predict will rake in $1.8 billion,

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 10 Days - Crain's Chicago Business Do...

two-thirds more than London expects to collect for the 2012 that of their spouses, games. including pension plan balances, as security Insurance against overruns on the construction of Olympics for all Olympic venues tops out at 10% over budgeted costs, in a city where major public works projects have come in at two or three times expenses PRIOR to any estimates. Another uninsured assumption in the budget is $246 insurance being used. million in contributions from private donors, a source already tapped for $72 million to finance the city's bid. Put them fully on the hook before any "It's a leap of faith," acknowledges Alderman Joe Moore (49th), a skeptic who ultimately voted to give Mr. Daley outside money is authorization to sign the host-city contract with the International needed. Olympic Committee. The contract puts the city on the hook for all costs of staging the 2016 games if the IOC chooses Thomas S, Chicago Chicago over Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo on Oct. 2. The primary protection for taxpayers is a projected Comment on Crain's $450-million operating profit built into the budget. That's a 12% Chicago web site margin for error. While it's enough to cover a few fiscal misses, shortcomings in multiple areas would overwhelm it. More important is sticking to the budget, something many Olympics cities have failed to do, though the track record is better in the U.S.

"The taxpayers are adequately protected by insurance and the validity of our budget, which the IOC found to be reasonable," says Rick Ludwig, chief financial officer of Chicago 2016, the city's Olympic bid committee.

While Mr. Ryan has arranged more than $1 billion in liability and event-cancellation insurance, those haven't proved to be the big risks for Olympics host cities. Experience shows that the primary hazard is cost overruns on venues for games and housing for athletes.

RISKY VILLAGE The biggest risk is the Olympic Village. The city hopes to hand it off to private-sector developers, which would transform the former Michael Reese Hospital into athletes' quarters to be sold later as condominiums or rental housing. While Mr. Ryan expects to get surety bonds and other insurance to guarantee on-time completion of the project, he must first sell it to developers and their lenders. It's hardly a given that lenders will deem the project worthy of financing, as the IOC noted in its evaluation report on the finalist cities. If the private sector won't finance the village, taxpayers must shoulder the $1-billion cost, or the price of some scaled-down version of the project.

Mr. Ryan has obtained a letter of commitment from German insurer Munich Re A.G. to provide $250 million in capital- replacement insurance, an untested type of coverage that would provide money for the Olympic Village if an investor or lender promises financing but backs out after the project starts. That happened in Vancouver, host of next year's winter Olympics. "This doesn't protect you if nobody shows up to develop the project," says Laurence Msall, president of the

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 10 Days - Crain's Chicago Business Do...

Civic Federation, which reviewed the city's Olympics plan and found it "reasonable" but pushed to have the insurance included.

COSTLY OPTIMISM Then there's the cost of building athletic venues. Chicago 2016 budgeted for a 10% cost overrun, and it plans insurance for another 10%, unless builders agree to a fixed-price contract. That's far less than the cost overruns for the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, which doubled the original projections, or the 23% overrun Vancouver now expects to incur on venues.

Vancouver has needed a government cash infusion of $110 million and has almost drained a $100-million contingency fund, which is bigger than Chicago's $82-million reserve.

"The long and sad history of cost overruns on venues is something that cannot be ignored," says Rob Baade, an economics professor at Lake Forest College who has studied Olympics financing. While recent U.S. games, such as Atlanta's and Salt Lake City's, largely were on target for construction, Chicago's history of cost overruns on big projects casts doubt on the bid committee's projections.

"Millennium Park was three times budget; the Dan Ryan Expressway (reconstruction) was two times budget," says Allen Sanderson, a University of Chicago sports economist.

Chicago is planning fewer permanent facilities than any previous games, keeping its venue-construction budget below $1 billion. But the timetable, unlike on Millennium Park, isn't flexible. The estimates are based on preliminary designs, meaning costs could be 20% to 60% higher, according to industry benchmarks.

"Given all the risks we're talking about, 10% contingency seems low," says Neil Miltonberger, a Chicago-based vice-president at Kenrich Group, which mediates construction disputes. According to the Civic Federation, an additional 20% overrun in venue costs would put a $164-million dent in Chicago's $450-million budget cushion.

ROSY REVENUE FORECASTS If Chicago 2016's revenue projections prove optimistic, no insurer will step in to make up the difference. Chicago expects to sell $1.76 billion in corporate sponsorships - 66% more than London predicts for the 2012 games and more than double Atlanta's take, adjusted for inflation. The IOC calls the target "ambitious but achievable." The U.S. Olympic Committee would cover the first $70 million of any shortfalls.

Ticket sales, at $705 million, the second-biggest source of revenue, would have to be the highest since the 2000 Sydney games. The Civic Federation report says the prices for the most-popular events "may be aggressive." A 20% reduction in prices for premium tickets would cut $68 million from the

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projected budget surplus, it says.

BACK TO THE WEALTHY Chicago also aims to raise $246 million from private donors, 23% more than was raised for Millennium Park. Most of the donations, $177 million, would come from selling naming rights to sports venues. But under Olympics rules, sponsors' names can't go up until after the games are over.

The committee hopes to raise $47 million of the total from selling naming rights to the Washington Park Olympic stadium after it's converted to a 3,500-seat track venue following the games. "Securing naming-rights donations may be difficult," the Civic Federation report says. If only 50% of the naming-rights donations come through, it would cut $88.5 million from the $450-million cushion.

"It's a milestone event, and we think there will be a lot of interest," Mr. Ludwig, the Chicago 2016 CFO, says.

In the final analysis, insurance doesn't cover all the potential budget miscalculations that could cost taxpayers money.

"Athens was three times over budget; London is four times over budget," Mr. Sanderson says. "I don't see that happening here. But are they going to come in at $4.8 billion? No, I just don't see it."

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 9 Days - Transit Authority Bleeds $ and...

No Games Chicago Update 9 Days To Decision Daily News

September 22, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: Today the Chicago Transit Authority lost its two top leaders who are leaving our mass transit system system in a financial I am a huge fan of the mess. "It's a huge loss" said one CTA official. Olympics, but there is The CTA, like all other agencies of the city, are experiencing just too much financial major revenue short falls and service disruptions. risk for Chicago taxpayers at this time. CTA Board loses top two; chairwoman, Let Rio have the vice-chair quit games, and the expenses. FRAN SPIELMAN AND MARY WISNIEWSKI - September 22, 2009 Anyone that believes the $1 billion in CTA Board Chairwoman Carole Brown and her co-hort, Vice insurance premiums Chair Susan Leonis, resigned today, creating a leadership will not filter back to vacuum at the chronically-troubled mass transit agency. friends and allies of The tandem resignations leave former Aviation Commissioner city insiders is foolish. Richard Rodriguez - newly-appointed CTA president with no That is just the mass transit experience - to face the financial crisis without the beginning of the huge CTA board's most savvy members. cost overages that will The CTA closed a $190 million budget gap without raising be incurred. Taxpayers fares or reducing service, only after shifting capital funds to will foot the bill for operations and ordering, yet another painful round of budget cuts. The outlook for next year is worse. Brown, 45, is a former senior vice-president for now-defunct

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 9 Days - Transit Authority Bleeds $ and...

Lehman Brothers who used the municipal finance expertise she many many years. gained at Harvard and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management to put together the bond deal that Baker98765 helped the CTA solve its pension crisis. She was appointed by Mayor Daley in September, 2003, and re-appointed to a term that expires in 2013. Leonis, a close Comment on Chicago friend of first lady Maggie Daley, was appointed to the CTA Tribune's web site board by Gov. Edgar in 1996. article on the 2016 Committee's insurance "It's a huge loss," one CTA official said of Brown's departure. plan. "She knows finance. She helped get the legislation through Springfield that shored up our finances and pensions. That's her strength and that's what we're losing."

Sources said the demise of Lehman Brothers played a role in Brown's exit. After a brief stint at Mesirow Financial, Brown landed at Siebert Brandford Shank LLC, a municipal finance firm that demands more of her time.

"Ever since she started, the CTA has had one crisis after another. There's no money. It took years to a get a bail-out through Springfield. She spends a lot of time at the CTA," said a source familiar with the explanation Brown gave to Daley Tuesday.

"Lehman Brothers was a huge multi-national firm with tens of thousands of employees. This is a much smaller firm. She just doesn't have that kind of time anymore." Brown could not be reached for comment.

In 2005, while dealing with a $55 million budget gap, she started her own blog to debunk what she called myths and misinformation about the agency.

"I am not the angel of death," she said at the time. In early 2008, a "doomsday" of higher fares and drastically reduced service was averted by increases in the sales tax and real estate transfer tax.

But both tax sources have suffered from the bad economy, leading to more losses this year.

Brown has always been publicly outspoken in her role as chair. Often, she has more to say to the media after board hearings than the CTA president.

Last month, Brown expressed her frustration with the frequent budget cutting in a complaint against an RTA proposal to take CTA and Metra capital money to help patch a hole in Pace's paratransit budget. She noted that the CTA was able to cover paratransit needs when it ran the van system for the disabled.

Leonis said she was meeting Brown for champagne Tuesday afternoon. "We're really good friends," Leonis said.

Leonis said she's leaving after 15 years because it's time for a change.

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"It's time to do something different," Leonis said. "I'm just tired." Asked if the recent budget problems helped prompt her decision, Leonis laughed, saying there are frequently budget problems at the CTA.

"I can't say these are any different than we've had for a long time," Leonis said.

She said she was glad she had the opportunity to serve.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 8 Days - Nation Magazine Sports Write...

No Games Chicago Update 8 Days To Decision Daily News

September 23, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The Olympics are 6 1/2 years away, do you really Dave Zirin is the sports writer for The Nation think Chicago will be in any Magazine. His column today addressed the wisdom better shape to host them? of President Obama going to Copenhagen to try to Does the Olympic committe convince you to give Chicago the 2016 Olympics. in Copenhagen know to host the games in Chicago OLYMPICS IN CHICAGO: 'OBAMA'S FOLLY"? would be a disaster!? How about 1 million plus people Dave Zorin - September 22, 2009 using our outdated roadways, you think traffic "... In fact, the very idea that Chicago could be the is bad now, forget it. Or our transit system thats setting for the Olympics could have been hatched falling apart, what a way by Jon Stewart for a four-year supply of comedic to showcase or city! Or how fodder. To greater or lesser degrees, the Olympics about the fact that were bring gentrification, graft and police violence the murder capital of the wherever they nest. Even without the Olympic world, i feel sorry for those Games, Chicago has been ground zero in the past tourists coming home late decade for the destruction of public housing from all those events! (gentrification), political corruption (it ain't just Daley would love for all Blagojevich; I can't remember the last Illinois them sucker tourists to governor who didn't end up behind bars) and pump quarters in those police violence (the death row torture scandals). meters, nobody else is. Bringing the Olympics to this town would be like

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 8 Days - Nation Magazine Sports Write...

sending a gift basket filled with bottles of Jim Beam Copenhagen should realize to the Betty Ford Clinic: overconsumption followed were the most corrupt city in the nation, [SAYS FBI], by disaster. the most dangerous and expensive and probably be It's also difficult for Chicago residents to see how the most embarrassing this will help their pocketbooks, given that Daley Olympics in history. But pledged to the International Olympic Committee they did a good job in that any cost overruns would be covered by covering that up for I.O.C taxpayers. members. Lets hope there not the kind of people who This is why a staggering 84 percent of the city dont see through all the opposes bringing the Games to Chicago." deception, greed and downright evilness of our city. Read the full column.

Comment on line at Chicago Sun-Times coverage of Mayor Daley's comments that it would take "an earthquake or a tornado" for taxpayers to incur expenses for the 2016 Olympics.

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2 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - 7 Days - FAA Sites O'Hare For Major ...

No Games Chicago Update 7 Days To Decision Daily News

September 24, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: The Olympics coming Today we want to call to your attention this disturbing news to Chicago, on the item from the Chicago Tribune. It seems that the city has been surface, is a good idea. routinely falsifying airport safety reports to the federal It will bring jobs, government. money, and tourism to the city. On the other "The problems at O'Hare the FAA cited in its warning notice are considered major violations -- not just housekeeping issues hand, it will also bring -- because airfields are supposed to be sterile environments more corruption, with free of debris and other hazards that could interfere with politicians squandering flights." millions of Olympic dollars on their If the city is lying to the federal government about airport safety, one has to wonder - what else have they been personal trust funds dishonest about? and vanity projects, and money that was O'Hare Airport hit for safety violations in originally allocated for FAA report neighborhood improvements will, Tribune exclusive FAA's warning notice most likely, be wasted. Also, while lists hazards that endanger takeoffs and the downtown has landings been vastly improved Jon Hilkevitch - Tribune reporter - September 24, 2009

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Federal inspectors found numerous violations at O'Hare over the years, with International Airport that endanger airplanes at the most critical such projects as phases of flight -- takeoffs and landings, officials said Millennium Park and Wednesday. the museum campus, The safety breaches, uncovered by the Federal Aviation to name a few, a lot of Administration during routine inspections last month at O'Hare, the neighborhoods still range from debris on runways to excessive amounts of tall suffer with lack of grass and weeds that create hazards for planes by attracting garbage pickup, filth birds and other wildlife. on the streets, and a A warning notice from the FAA to Chicago said the inspections mass transit system show that O'Hare is seriously out of compliance with federal that is substandard, aviation law. The notice, called a "letter of correction," also with bus and train chastised the Chicago Department of Aviation for what the service which I would federal agency called a pattern of false statements in its have to call self-inspection program. haphazard, as there "The daily self-inspection records do not reflect actual are times when you conditions in the field, violations have not been noted on the still have to wait up to self-inspection records that are evident in the field," said the twenty minutes for a FAA letter, which was obtained by the Tribune. bus or train, and you Most of the violations have already been corrected, and the really have no idea rest, involving the training of workers driving on the airfield and when you are going to filing accurate self-inspection reports, will be resolved by the get your bus or train to end of November, said Karen Pride, spokeswoman for the come. All in all, the Aviation Department. Olympics would only An object as small as a stone on a runway can pose a danger benefit the wealthy to flight by being ingested into aircraft jet turbines or piercing a among us, and the rest fuel tank and sparking an explosion and fire. of us would just watch it on TV, and face the Yet FAA inspectors found rocks, garbage and wood survey stakes used during construction on runways and taxiways at consequences of more O'Hare. traffic and crowds, and less service. Collisions between aircraft and birds are a constant threat to safety at airports like O'Hare that are surrounded by woods Mitchco, and waterways. Letter to the Editor, The FAA has told aviation officials nationwide to practice The Chicago Reader, extreme vigilance in controlling bird populations in the wake of September 24, 2009 a US Airways jetliner crash-landing in New York's Hudson River in January after flying into geese as the plane climbed up from LaGuardia Airport. All on board survived.

The problems at O'Hare the FAA cited in its warning notice are considered major violations -- not just housekeeping issues -- because airfields are supposed to be sterile environments free of debris and other hazards that could interfere with flights.

The FAA inspectors determined that the wildlife hazard management program at O'Hare "is not being complied with regarding 6" grass height and modification of vegetation on the airfield."

"All paved surfaces should be free of any type of vegetation at

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all times," said the report written by Tricia Halpin, a FAA airport certification safety inspector.

During an inspection of O'Hare's newest runway that opened last year, the FAA found rocks and construction debris in the safety areas at the ends of the runway, on the airport's northern sector. It is important that safety areas be maintained as pristinely as runways because they are used in emergencies when planes overrun the runway during landing or must abort a takeoff and need additional pavement to stop safely.

Inspectors also identified "potentially hazardous ruts, humps (and) depressions" on the surface of the new pavement in the safety areas of the runway. The FAA inspectors uncovered similar problems on O'Hare's longest runway that serves the largest commercial planes carrying hundreds of passengers.

Other violations the FAA cited include incomplete training of personnel working on the airfield and record-keeping problems. One violation reported included instances in which airport workers were allowed to drive vehicles on the airfield without receiving all of the required training, officials said.

Recurrent driver training and testing were also being put off for "numerous employees" until the final weeks before the expiration of the drivers' badges allowing them to operate vehicles on the airfield, the FAA said.

In some areas where the FAA spotted lapses in airport operations, including daily field inspections and garbage removal, the inspectors said the problems reflect "insufficient or unqualified personnel to comply with the regulation. Additional training is needed."

Chicago Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino was out of town Wednesday and unavailable for comment, Pride said.

But Andolino and other city aviation officials are taking the FAA warning very seriously, Pride said. "The highest priority we have at the airport is safety and the cleanliness of the runways and the taxiways," she said.

All airport operations supervisors will be required to view instructional videos on how to properly conduct self inspections, Pride said. In addition, O'Hare recently added extra inspections of all taxiways and runways, she said.

O'Hare air-traffic controller Craig Burzych said he noticed that in the last week the city has temporarily shut down runways for up to 45 minutes at a time during daylight hours to carry out major inspections for debris.

"They said they were missing things at night," said Burzych, who is a runway safety representative at O'Hare for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Andolino took over responsibility for O'Hare and Midway

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 7 Days - FAA Sites O'Hare For Major ...

Airport this year when Mayor Richard Daley promoted her to a dual city aviation post. Andolino, 42, already served as director since 2003 of the O'Hare Modernization Program, a $15 billion runway expansion project.

Some airline officials who have worked closely with Andolino on O'Hare expansion questioned the move to have one individual in charge of two very complex and time-consuming programs. Daley said that when he expanded Andolino's responsibilities in February, it made sense to consolidate all aviation activities.

But the findings in the new FAA inspections raise doubts about the ability of Andolino and her department heads to provide sufficient oversight on daily maintenance issues and operations at O'Hare, officials said.

"It's hard to tell whether the airport management in Chicago has not been keeping up with the physical plant. But this is a shot across the bow of the airport to get its act together," said Frank Ayers, executive vice president at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's campus in Prescott, Ariz.

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4 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 6 Days - 2016 Insider Conflict of Interes...

No Games Chicago Update 6 Days To Decision Daily News

September 25, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: So in a year or two we Today the Chicago Tribune continues to chronicle the conflict of can look forward to interests of Michael Scott, the chairman of the 2016 hearing a speech from Community Outreach Committee. Daley saying how he is losing faith in the Mr. Scott led the 2016 Committee's efforts to negotiate a company that won the community benefits agreement with dozens of neighborhood groups to get their support for the bid. Apparently the only construction bid or benefits being distributed from the bid are to insiders, such as how shocked he was to himself. find out somebody on the Olympic Here is a link to an earlier story about Mr. Scott's sweetheart Committee has been land deal involving a site across the street form a proposed Olympic venue. arrested for bribery. He will have to come Chicago 2016 Olympics: Bid team up with a new speech member has ties to prospective Olympic to explain cost Village developer overruns and how the insurance Chicago 2016 member Michael Scott works out doesn%u2019t cover of developer Gerald Fogelson's office them. The Feds could do us a favor and just David Heinzmann, Todd Lighty and Kathy Bergen start overseeing the Tribune reporters - September 25, 2009

A key member of Mayor Richard Daley's Olympic committee

1 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 6 Days - 2016 Insider Conflict of Interes...

has a long business relationship with a developer vying to build bid process now. the billion-dollar Olympic Village, the grandest piece of Chicago's plans for the 2016 Summer Games. Comment online reacting to this Chicago 2016 committee member Michael Scott also served as a consultant to the developer on a condominium project Chicago Tribune story. near the proposed athletes village, a development that would increase in value if the city wins the Olympics.

Scott, who negotiated key components of the $1.2 billion Olympic Village plan, said his business relationship with the developer, Gerald Fogelson, does not interfere with his role with the bid team. Chicago 2016 officials declined to say whether Scott's relationship with Fogelson was a problem, with Daley's Olympic team poised to spend billions of dollars in coming years.

But Scott's multiple roles as a private developer, mayoral confidant and member of the city's Olympic committee raises anew concerns about insider dealings in a city where Daley allies have long benefited from civic projects the mayor champions. City Hall insiders for years have profited under Daley's administration in myriad deals, from minority contracting to leasing trucks to scooping up prime city-owned land.

Scott, who works out of Fogelson's office, acknowledged he did work on the ongoing Eastgate Village condominium project, but said he provided limited services -- free -- as a favor to the millionaire developer.

"I had no financial interest. I didn't do any real work," Scott said.

Fogelson also described Scott's work as a favor. "He's a longtime friend. He offices here. He's done us favors. We've done him favors," Fogelson said Thursday. "We have other business dealings with him that date back a long time."

Earlier this summer, Scott moved to sever his ties to another development after the Tribune revealed his role in plans to build a housing and retail project near the proposed Olympic cycling venue on the West Side. Fogelson was not involved in that venture. Scott said he was working for free on that project also, advising a group of ministers. Chicago 2016 officials advised him to end his involvement.

Scott said he did not disclose his ties to Fogelson to Chicago 2016 because he sees no conflict of interest. But a Chicago 2016 spokesman said officials knew of Scott's relationship with Fogelson.

In an e-mail, Patrick Sandusky said no contracts have yet been awarded for development and if the city wins the games on Oct. 2, Chicago 2016 would be dissolved and a new organizing committee would "have a public and open bidding process for the village development."

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 6 Days - 2016 Insider Conflict of Interes...

Fogelson is among a dozen developers who have formally notified Chicago 2016 of their interest in the Olympic Village project. The village would boost property values for Eastgate and other developments, Fogelson said. Scott, currently the president of the Chicago Board of Education, has served Daley and three previous mayors in a series of appointed positions. Along the way he has become a real estate developer, involved in various projects.

Public records show that in 2002 Fogelson and Scott formed a partnership -- FS Associates LLC -- to develop city-owned land in the West Side Austin neighborhood into condominiums. Fogelson withdrew from the deal before the project was built, and Scott formed a new partnership with David Doig, former superintendent of the Chicago Park District.

Scott currently has an office in Fogelson's building and his business e-mail has a Fogelson Properties address.

Fogelson acknowledged a longtime business relationship with Scott but declined to discuss their dealings.

"I don't feel that it's anybody's business to know all the various real estate and other activities we're engaged in," Fogelson said. "I don't think there's anything improper about that. We try to stay under the radar."

Scott, too, declined to discuss his relationship with Fogelson beyond their sharing of office space.

Scott, who is black, said he advised Fogelson on building the development in a predominantly African-American neighborhood just south of the McCormick Place convention center, including arranging for radio personality Herb Kent to act as master of ceremonies for a promotional event.

"I helped them get an emcee and gave them ideas for marketing to the African-American community," Scott said. "I am not the developer."

Others recall Scott's role as more active. "I know Mike Scott. I know he was part of it. He was involved," said Madeline Haithcock, the former alderman for the area.

A Web site marketing Eastgate Village identified Scott as a development partner in a July 2008 account about a street- naming ceremony.

Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, said he didn't learn of Scott's involvement in Eastgate until he saw him at the street-naming ceremony in late 2007. But Fioretti said he first became aware of their business relationship earlier that year when he visited Fogelson's office soon after becoming alderman. Fioretti recalled looking over plans in the office when Scott walked into the room.

"I was like, 'Wow, OK. This explains a lot about who's who and what's what in this city,' " Fioretti said.

3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago -5 Days - African-American Journalists ...

No Games Chicago Update 5 Days To Decision Daily News

September 26, 2009

The People Speak Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: We expect you've been hearing about how diverse our city is Olympics or Human and what a boon the games would be for the various Life? neighborhoods who have suffered from lack of investment and few opportunities.

Corey McClaurin and Several prominent African-American journalists are troubled by Corey Harris have been the zeal and immense concentration of public and private gunned down, but the resources marshaled on behalf of the bid. Mary Mitchell, a Olympics still gets the member of the Editorial Board at the Chicago Sun-Times, top story. Human life writes "To those of us who live in the real world, the push for the Olympics has been a bit hard to swallow. is just a sidebar and Just about every day, another child gets wounded or is 2016 is more murdered in our city." important than the senior classes of City's troubles take back seat to Simeon Career Academy and Dyett Games bid High School. No Games If only our have-nots drew same level of Chicago may be upset attention ... that taxpayers may be on the hook for huge Mary Mitchell - Sun-Times Columnist- September 24, 2009 costs, but I'm more concerned with Only eight days left, and Mayor Daley will know whether or not he will get his way. Chicagoans staying Forget Rio.

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alive. My money is on Daley.

The mayor wants When Daley decides to do something, it gets done: Millennium this more than your Park, Meigs Field, O'Hare expansion, the takeover of the Chicago Public Schools, and the dismantling of the CHA. first kiss from your high school crush. He Daley's quest for the 2016 Olympics has been a demonstration salivates for the 5 of his great ability. rings that would blanket the city. He At a time when the lines stretch around the block at places that take care of the out-of-work and indigent, aldermen voted 49-0 lusts after Olympic to give Daley a blank check putting taxpayers on the hook for villages and Stadiums - any uninsured losses. while not giving a hoot about a safe city. Is it At a time when a lot of Chicagoans are facing homelessness because the ones because of foreclosures, Daley is assuring taxpayers that only an "earthquake or a tornado" would put them on the hook for getting shot aren't any losses. well-to-do? Wrong side of town? Does Daley And at a time when the cries of frustrated community activists think that this is are falling on deaf ears at the White House, Daley and his Olympic team have the star-power of first lady Michelle natural selection? I'm Obama, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Oprah for the Olympics - in a Winfrey. safe city with jobs, and thriving south and Indeed, the "We Back the Bid" campaign is a reminder of why west sides. But why we need muckety-mucks. should we put all of Only the well-heeled business owners who live in a different the energy into the Chicago could pull something like this off. Olympics? Where are the additional officers They are the only folks who still can afford to hop a flight and on the streets? pay thousands of dollars for Chicago 2016 land packages just so they can witness the yea or nay. Where are the high As they say, money attracts money. quality teachers throughout CPS? Bid backers are going to Copenhagen waving that big ol' blank When was the last check and parading some of the city's most prominent citizens time Mayor Daley before an international committee of snobs with the hope of scoring a world-class party. focused on the worse I'm not hating. I am just saying. parts of the city? Olympic bid vs. dying kids City Hall has placed more importance on To those of us who live in the real world, the push for the Olympics has been a bit hard to swallow. games than lives. Jane Byrne spent a day in Just about every day, another child gets wounded or is Cabrini Green. I can't murdered in our city. roll with an Olympics if Daley won't spend a Last Saturday, it was Corey McClaurin, a 17-year-old senior who was shot as he sat in his car parked around the corner day in the "Wild from his home. Hunnids." Usually, you hear about something like this happening well after the witching hour.

2 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago -5 Days - African-American Journalists ...

But it was 7 p.m. -- still daylight -- when McClaurin was killed. We're just a few days The shooter pulled up in a "dark blue or black minivan," fired a from a decision. I'm round of shots, and hopped back in the van. praying fo Chicago, but I want high school Family and friends of the victim can think of no motive for the shooting. students to live. "It's not gang-related. It's not drug-related. This was a great Television kid," a neighbor said. commentator Garrard McClendonCommentary During the 2008-2009 school year, 34 Chicago Public Schools students were killed, and 290 were shot. Another 108 students for September 22, were wounded over the summer. So far this school year, 2009 seven students have been shot, and two have been fatally wounded.

Corey Harris, a 17-year-old junior at Dyett High School, was killed by a Chicago Police officer who claimed the teen aimed a gun at the officer.

Help for youth better late than never

I'm cynical enough to think that an anti-violence plan recently launched by schools chief Ron Huberman was done, in part, to mute criticism the mayor has faced for not putting the same effort into saving the city's children as he has put into securing the Olympics.

Even so, I'm still grateful.

Huberman has identified 38 schools that have the most youth who could be exposed to gang violence. About 200 students are targeted for intervention that includes intensive counseling and a job.

The Youth Advocacy Program will cost about $5 million. "We are trying to find out why this violence is happening," said Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Public Schools.

"We can't prevent every student from becoming a victim, but we can certainly try to start somewhere. We can't ignore it" she said.

There is no question that the root of the violence that takes place routinely in Chicago's neighborhoods is complex. But we know a great deal of the violence is gang- and drug-related or associated with the breakdown of family structures.

I wish the Olympics 2016 Committee a victory in Copenhagen.

I only wish the mayor and his team had the same level of commitment to stop the city's bloodshed as they do for bringing home the Games.

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3 of 4 Update from No Games Chicago - 4 Days - African-American Journalists...

No Games Chicago Update 4 Days To Decision Daily News

September 27, 2009

THE PEOPLE SPEAK Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee: We expect you've been hearing about how diverse our city is As a native Chicagoan, and what a boon the games would be for the various I strongly oppose the neighborhoods who have suffered from lack of investment and 2016 Summer Olympic few opportunities. games. As a citizen I Several prominent African-American journalists are troubled by oppose them because the zeal and immense concentration of public and private of Mayor Daley's record resources marshaled on behalf of the bid. Today, Dawn Turner of spending taxpayer Trice of the Chicago Tribune writes that the children of Chicago money he doesn't deserve at least as much attention as the 2016 bid. have. He is misleading Chicago 2016 Olympics: Chicago's the citizens, saying no taxpayer money will be children deserve Olympian effort, too spent. On election night last November, Chicago was stage-set as the world watched. Grant Park teemed with people of different BULL**s!!! Due to his races who stood side by side, hugging, cheering and crying. past record he can't be One of the city's favorite sons, a black man, had achieved the trusted. To the IOC, seemingly impossible feat of winning the White House. PLEASE don't That night showed a Chicago in her ideal. But the city -- whose pick Chicago for 2016 mayor is hoping once again to cast it in the best light for the games.We can't 2016 Olympics -- has a dark side. Despite its dazzling profile afford them and don't and the self-congratulation attendant to an Olympic bid, want them. Chicago can never truly be a world-class city until it figures out how to save its children.

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Consider this: The Black Star Project, an advocacy group that mentors and tutors black and Latino students, has counted 53 Greg Pantazi, Chicago children and teens under 18 who have been killed in Chicago Signer of No Games from Sept. 2, 2008, to Sept. 2, 2009. Chicago online petition "Since the Iraq war started in 2003, we've lost 10 soldiers who resided in this city, and that's awful," said Phillip Jackson, executive director of Black Star. "But during that same time, we've lost about 300 of our children. So you tell me: Is this not a war?"

It is indeed. And the proof from some of the city's most embattled communities breaks your heart. You remember 9-year-old Chastity Turner, who was fatally shot in the neck in June as she gave her dogs a bath outside her father's home in the Englewood neighborhood.

A few months before her, Gregory Robinson, 14, was gunned down in the back seat of a car in the 1100 block of West 110th Place. He died slumped over two younger relatives, whom family members believe he was trying to protect.

Despite the city's recent launch of an anti-violence campaign designed to offer intensive counseling and a job to the Chicago Public Schools students most in danger of becoming victims, two teenagers in the city's schools already have been killed in gun violence this school year.

Corey McClaurin, 17, was a senior at Simeon Career Academy High School. Corey Harris, 17, was a basketball player at Dyett High School. Seven other students have been shot this month.

Chicago 2016's stewardship report touts the benefits to children of hosting the games. The report says: "The surplus produced by the 1984 Los Angeles Games provided the funding for the LA84 Foundation, which has committed more than $185 million to youth sport programs in Southern California. Similar opportunity will be provided to Chicago youth as a result of the 2016 Games."

That sounds good, but a recent report from a RAND Corp. study reminds us that too many of Los Angeles' youth continue to struggle.

The report found that those growing up in South Central's gang-infested communities amid violence have higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder than children growing up in Baghdad.

"All of these kids are casualties," said Jackson. "Who can study in a school in LA or Chicago when they're worried about whether they're going to be alive tomorrow?"

The International Olympics Committee on Friday will pick a host city in the four-way race among Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

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Regardless of which city is chosen, it's no small endeavor that Mayor Richard Daley was able to marshal so many resources to get Chicago this close.

He found a chief executive who persuaded a lot of people to volunteer their time and donate millions to an effort in which they believed.

Indeed, there's no one event or thing that will immediately solve the complex stew of problems affecting youth who are at risk. Finding a solution will take a tremendous team approach that requires families and communities to pull their weight.

But Chicago 2016 provides a template for mobilizing the dollars and the will to make something really big happen.

We know that if Chicago wins the bid, the city's beautiful skyline will glow in the spotlight. But maybe getting something so grand would help us work to realize a city whose true beauty lies within.

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 3 Days - Burning Cash

No Games Chicago Update 3 Days To Decision Daily News

September 28, 2009

THE PEOPLE SPEAK Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

Olympics would cost Here are two images that sum up what 84% of the people of Chicagoans big-time Chicago associate with the Olympics and the 2016 bid.

The decision of the International Olympic Committee is close at hand. Every Chicagoan should cross fingers, say prayers and hope that the International Olympic Committee picks . . . any other city.

First and foremost, all those businesslike economic projections flowing out of City Hall and the Chicago boosters are fabrications, theories. Without the benefit of high-priced accounting firms, I will make a prediction. Should we get the Olympics, the costs will be higher than projected and the income lower. The promised ancillary benefits

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 3 Days - Burning Cash

will never materialize. The impact on the working-class taxpayer will be significant.

If you don't believe me, you should know that virtually every independent accounting authority says the city's projections are nothing but hype. Even the promised insurance policy that is supposed to protect the taxpayers is full of holes -- billions of dollars in costs will come out of Chicago workers' paychecks. Our hard-earned money will be redistributed to the rich and powerful friends of City Hall. . In the twisted irony of . Chicago politics, those who will scoop up millions of dollars in windfall profits will have the best accom- modations, the best seats, the best parties. The working-stiff footing the bill will watch the hometown Olympics on television, find it impossible to get into a restaurant, stand in long lines for entertainment venues and have to make their way to work in super congestion. I say: Go! Go! Rio!

Larry Horist, President, Public Policy Caucuses, Chicago Chicago Sun-Times letter to the editor, September 26, 2009

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 2 Days - Will you meet with us?

No Games Chicago Update 2 Days To Decision Daily News

September 29 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

NO GAMES IOC NEWSLETTER ONLINE ARCHIVE

Click here to view any of the email newsletters No Games Chicago has sent you.

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 2 Days - Will you meet with us?

The same team of No Games Chicago volunteer delegates that came to Lausanne in June is now in Copenhagen.

Many people from Chicago will be meeting with you. Our President will be meeting with you. Unfortunately, NONE of them speaks for the vast majority of the citizens of Chicago who feel as we do that the 2016 Olympics is the wrong project for the wrong city at the wrong time.

Will you allow us to come before you at a time of your choosing BEFORE you vote on Friday? Many of you have been following our daily email updates, which we have been sending you since late July. We hope you have found them informative and useful in your deliberations.

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - 2 Days - Will you meet with us?

Our local phone number is 011-45- 416-89740.

We look forward to giving you information you will want to have before you cast your vote on Friday.

Thank you, as always, for your kind attention to our concerns.

Martin Macias, Jr. Thomas Tresser Rhoda Whitehorse No Games Chicago Copehhagen Delegation [email protected] . .

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3 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - Chicago Scandals Continue

No Games Chicago Update Daily News

September 30 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

The same team of No Games Chicago volunteer delegates that came to Lausanne in June is now in Copenhagen.

Many people from Chicago will be meeting with you. Our President will be meeting with you. Unfortunately, NONE of them speaks for the vast majority of the citizens of Chicago who feel as we do that the 2016 Olympics is the wrong project for the wrong city at the wrong time.

Will you allow us to come before you at a time of NO GAMES your choosing BEFORE you vote on Friday? Many IOC NEWSLETTER ONLINE ARCHIVE of you have been following our daily email updates, which we have been sending you since late July. Click here to view any of We hope you have found them informative and the email newsletters No useful in your deliberations. Games Chicago has sent you. Our local phone number is 011-45- 416-89740.

No Games Chicago Copehhagen Delegation [email protected]. .

1 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - Chicago Scandals Continue

We have told you that the government of Chicago is plagued with corruption and incompetence. We have told you that this results in terrible management, cost overruns and risk. In this case, there is also the real danger of security lapses resulting from unqualified people making key decisions based on personal gain and not on the public's welfare.

Here is a report from yesterday revealing that a top official tasked with security and readiness has been accused of fraudulent practices. These are the kind of people that will building and managing the Olympics if they come to Chicago.

Report: Fire city public safety exec

- FRAN SPIELMAN Chicago Sun-Times - September 29, 2009

The inspector general's office is recommending the firing of the No. 2 man at Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications for alleged contract irregularities that cost taxpayers $2.25 million.

Jim Argiropoulos, the $149,832-a-year first deputy who once served as OEMC's acting director, is accused of engineering a scheme that culminated in the falsification of documents to expedite the purchase of a new 911 dispatch console system from Schaumburg-based Motorola.

The inspector general's office is recommending the firing of Jim Agripoulos for alleged contract irregularities that cost taxpayers $2.25 million.

Chicago taxpayers have yet to receive anything for their money.

The alleged irregularities took place in 2004 and 2005 while Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman was running OEMC.

Without a contract to justify the console purchase -- and apparently unwilling to wade through the normal bidding process -- Argiropoulos allegedly ordered underlings to find a way to get it done. As a result, a phony voucher was issued for 18,000

2 of 3 Update from No Games Chicago - Chicago Scandals Continue

handheld radios under an existing Motorola contract.

No sooner had the company started ordering software than Argiropoulos allegedly demanded an upgrade, with the $2.25 million payment applied to the new system.

When Motorola balked at the demand, Argiropoulos allegedly played hardball: If Motorola didn't give him what he wanted, its future city contracts would be in jeopardy, according to sources familiar with the inspector general's report.

Argiropoulos could not be reached for comment. Motorola spokesman Steve Gorecki referred questions to the city. The company was not accused of wrongdoing.

The Motorola investigation was first disclosed by the Chicago Sun-Times in May 2008.

The following day, the newspaper reported that Argiropoulos had stripped a $104,804-a-year underling of his respon- sibilities after the subordinate provided key information to investigators probing the $2.25 million in payments to Motorola beyond the scope of the company's contracts.

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3 of 3 No Games Chicago Press Announcement - We're in Copenhagen

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release September 30, 2009 Contact: For more information: In Copenhagen: Tom Tresser, 011-45-41-689740, [email protected] In Chicago:Francesca Rodriguez, 773-456-6226, [email protected] Bob Quellos, 773-531-2341, [email protected] http://www.nogameschicago.com No Games Chicago Sends Delegation to Copenhagen

Copenhagen - No Games Chicago has sent three volunteers to Copenhagen, Denmark in order to persuade the members of the International Olympic Committee to pick another city for the 2016 Olympics.

The members of the delegation are Martin Macias, Jr., Thomas Tresser and Rhoda Whitehorse. The same team went to Lausanne Switzerland on June 15 to bring the message of "no games for Chicago" to the IOC, They delivered 100 copies of the "Book of Evidence" - 160 pages of reprints from local papers over the past four years documenting the poor finances and management of the city and showing that the people here do not support the bid.

Tom Tresser is an educator and activist and former actor and producer. He is a co-founder of Protect Our Parks, which fights the privatization of public space and an member of the Executive Committee of the 43rd Ward Independent Democratic Ward organization in Chicago. He can be reached in Copenhagen at [email protected] or (45) 416-89740.

Rhoda Whitehorse has lived in Chicago for 40 years and is a former public school teacher. She is a mother and grandmother and minister who cares deeply about the world they will inherit. She can be reached in Copenhagen at [email protected] or 312-968-9682.

Martin Macias Jr. is a youth organizer for the Chicago Environmental Justice Coalition. He is also a media reform activist with the community radio station Radio Arte. He can be reached at [email protected] or (45) 539-26003.

"Our goal is, and always has been, to communicate information to the members of the International Olympic Committee that they need to make a wise decision on awarding the 2016 games. We belive that hosting the Olympics is the wrong project for the wrong city at the wrong time," said delegate member Tom Tresser, "Eight-four percent of the people of Chicago agree with us. We're here to speak up for them."

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No Games Chicago is an all-volunteer group of social justice activists, concerned citizens and grassroots organizations opposed to bringing the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. The group was launched on January 31, 2009 with a public forum at the University of Illinois Chicago.

1 of 2 Update from No Games Chicago - Tomorrow you decide

No Games Chicago Update Daily News

October 1, 2009

Dear Member of the International Olympic Committee:

The same team of No Games Chicago volunteer delegates that came to Lausanne in June is now in Copenhagen.

Many people from Chicago will be meeting with you. Our President will be meeting with you. Unfortunately, NONE of them speaks for the vast majority of the citizens of Chicago who feel as we do that the 2016 Olympics is the wrong project for the wrong city at the wrong time.

Will you allow us to come before you at a time of NO GAMES your choosing BEFORE you vote on Friday? Many IOC NEWSLETTER ONLINE ARCHIVE of you have been following our daily email updates, which we have been sending you since late July. Click here to view any of We hope you have found them informative and the email newsletters No useful in your deliberations. Games Chicago has sent you. Our local phone number is 011-45- 416-89740.

No Games Chicago Copehhagen Delegation [email protected]. .

1 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - Tomorrow you decide

With one day left before you decide who will host the 2016 Olympics, we'd like to share with you an excellent summing up of the reasons why picking Chicago would be a grave error.

Chicago political reporter Ben Joravsky wrote an open letter to you in April citing the main reasons why awarding the games to Chicago would be a terrible mistake. Today he repeats and adds to these arguments. We hope you will take a few moments to carefully consider his point of view.

Dear International Olympic Committee: One last argument for why Chicago doesn't need, want, or deserve the games.

Ben Joravsky -The Chicago Reader

Dear Members of the International Olympic Committee: It's been almost six months since I last wrote to encourage you not to award Chicago the 2016 games.

Back then, as you recall, I was welcoming some of you to town for your official visit. Now, of course, you're in Copenhagen, preparing to announce on October 2 which city they'll be held in-Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo, or Rio.

I don't want Chicago to "win" for the reasons I mentioned last time: we can't afford the games, and they'll tear up our parks. But let's talk about your needs. I urge you, for your own sake: spare yourself the cost overruns, backroom deals, political wrangling, embarrassing scandals, and ugly headlines a Chicago Olympics would almost certainly bring you.

Let me explain.

For starters, no one around here really wants them.

OK, that's not completely true. Obviously, Mayor Daley wants them, and his opinion counts far more than most.

But on this issue, at least, he doesn't represent the city well. According to the most recent poll, conducted in late August for the Chicago Tribune, 45 percent of Chicagoans are explicitly against bringing the games here, and 84 percent are effectively against them because they're opposed to using any taxpayer money to fund them. As you probably know, having scrutinized the books, taxpayers will almost certainly have to cover at least some of the costs. Mayor Daley says it will cost $3.3 billion to stage the games and he'll raise $3.8 billion from private donors, leaving a $500 million pot from which to build parks and field houses in low-income neighborhoods.

But what you might not know is that the city hasn't completed a major construction project on time or on budget in recent memory. Pick a project, any project: the reconstruction of Soldier Field, the creation of Millennium Park, the

2 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - Tomorrow you decide

redevelopment of the prime downtown land at Block 37, the expansion of O'Hare airport-they were all finished way over budget if they were finished at all. In Chicago, people know that the question isn't whether city projects will go over budget, but by how much.

Faith in the predictions that the games would be an economic boon for Chicago is exactly that: faith. Science doesn't support them. As my colleague Deanna Isaacs wrote a couple of weeks ago, studies have found that the games have a marginal impact on the local economy-one study, produced by the European Tour Operators Association, even concluded that "there appears to be little evidence of any benefit to tourism of hosting an Olympic Games, and considerable evidence of damage." Just last week the Anderson Economic Group, an independent research and consulting firm, released a report designed to let area businesses know more about the probable impact of hosting the 2016 Olympics. They concluded that the games could yield $4.4 billion in economic benefits-a not insubstantial sum, but less than a quarter of the $22 billion the mayor's office and the Chicago 2016 bid committee have been trumpeting.

You may recall that the mayor initially vowed that the games wouldn't cost Chicagoans one dime in public money. Yet we've already committed half a billion bucks (and that doesn't include $250 million put up by the state, which is also strapped for cash). It's not the same deal with Tokyo, Madrid, and Rio, whose national governments have promised to pay their Olympic bills. The residents of Chicago are being asked to pretty much shoulder this sucker on their own.

Why should you care about any of this? Because we're broke, and with all our other pressing needs there's bound to be political blowback if we spend money on a three-week-long international party.

I know, I told you about our financial troubles last time. But guess what: they've gotten worse. Back then the city was estimating it was about $200 million in the red. In the ensuing months, Mayor Daley laid off workers, forced employees to take unpaid furloughs, and even closed City Hall for a day in August. Yet the deficit still grew-it's now expected to be more than $500 million for the coming year. In addition, the Chicago Public Schools is facing its own deficit of $475 million as school officials talk about raising property taxes and cutting staff and programs.

The mayor's in a bit of a bind. He can close the budget gap with another tax hike and another round of service cuts, or he can do what he's done the past few years: make unrealistically rosy projections of how much revenue the city expects to collect in the coming months. Of course, if he chooses plan B-the politically safe option-the city will make plans to spend more than it can really afford and we'll end up with an even a greater budget deficit just a few months from now.

In either case, the decision won't come until after you make

3 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - Tomorrow you decide

your October 2 announcement.

Think of it this way: If you were to give Chicago the Olympics, the city would have to spend money to build athletic facilities, housing, and other infrastructure for the games even as Mayor Daley raises taxes, lays off teachers, and cuts the services that supposedly make this city "work."

What would be the consequences for your games? That's the multi-billion-dollar question you have to ponder. On the one hand, Chicagoans have been very tolerant of Mayor Daley, despite years of scandal and corruption. He's been reelected five times since 1989 with no less than 60 percent of the vote.

On the other hand, these are unusually volatile times. Recent public opinion polls in the Trib found that the percentage of Chicagoans who view Daley favorably has slipped to 35, an all-time low. The public is still grumbling about the parking meter debacle, in which City Hall, with virtually no oversight or expert analysis, leased the city's meter system to a consortium of investors for 75 years, apparently for far less than it was worth. The process was engineered by a battery of well-connected law firms and investment bankers who've donated thousands of dollars to the mayor's political-and Olympic-coffers. Daley swore that the new operators would run the meters far more efficiently than the city had, but they've had all kinds of problems in the months since they took over. Even as the rates quadrupled, meters broke down, motorists got tickets, angry consumers sabotaged the meters, and aldermen and the state attorney general launched investigations.

If you want to know why the public is having a hard time buying anything the mayor's selling these days-and why you too should be wary of his promises-you ought to read the Reader's coverage of how the meter deal went down.

Give us the games and you run the risk of replacing the parking meter operators as everybody's favorite whipping boys-the most convenient scapegoat for all the service cuts and tax hikes people will be facing.

And don't forget: this isn't China, where the central government controls the press. There are still reporters around town who delight in exposing the murky details of inside deals, cost overruns, project delays, investigations, and-when they happen, and they do happen-federal indictments and convictions. Already the city's Olympic bid has begun to give off the scent of scandal. Just last week the Trib broke the news that Michael Scott-a powerful Daley ally and member of the Chicago 2016 bid committee-has worked as a consultant for one of the firms hoping to develop Chicago's $1.2 billion Olympic Village. Earlier stories reported that Scott, who's also head of the Chicago school board, was part of a group of west-siders hatching plans to develop city-owned land near Douglas Park, the planned site of the planned Olympic velodrome.If the Olympics come to Chicago, these properties would soar in

4 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - Tomorrow you decide

value. Scott, though, said he wasn't in it for himself-he was just providing pro bono advice to a group of ministers working on the project.

Just in case Mayor Daley didn't include any of these articles in your press packet, let me quote a choice sample of the Trib's latest: "Scott's multiple roles as a private developer, mayoral confidant and member of the city's Olympic committee raises anew concerns about insider dealings in a city where Daley allies have long benefited from civic projects the mayor champions. City Hall insiders for years have profited under Daley's administration in myriad deals, from minority contracting to leasing trucks to scooping up prime city-owned land."

Ouch. And you haven't even awarded us the games yet.

Of course, you will undoubtedly hear a different story from the dignitaries Mayor Daley brings to Copenhagen. Everyone from Oprah to President Obama will be telling you it's all hunky-dory in Chicago. Don't believe them. I doubt they believe it themselves.

I guess our corporate and civic bigwigs have decided it's in their best interest to go along to get along. This is very much a one-man town-Mayor Daley calls the shots. Most players here know that if they want anything they have to go through him. As several told me on the condition that I not use their names (they're not eager to face the mayor's wrath for talking), they see their Olympic support as either payback for things they got in the past or a down payment on things they hope to get in the future. Many of the most generous contributors to the Olympic cause are either city contractors or leaders of institutions who count on city funding to operate.

As for President Obama, he doesn't live here anymore, so he won't be around to take the hit when the locals get fed up. Plus, the largely African-American south- and west-siders who are likely to pay the most for the games-through the loss of parks or rising property taxes-are likely to remain loyal to him regardless. I guess he figures he's got nothing to lose.

You've probably heard that our City Council voted unanimously to back Chicago's Olympics bid. That's not as it seems either. I've talked to quite a few of them over the last few weeks, and they've told me they felt they had no choice. Aldermen Robert Fioretti, Scott Waguespack, and Joe Moore, for starters, have all told me the mayor made it clear he would never forgive or forget anyone who came out against the games. He wanted an unblemished vote, and he got it.

Still, many of the aldermen realize that the Olympics will be a hot political issue in this town for years to come-particularly if they have to continue to hike taxes and cut services at the same time we're all reading articles about Olympic overruns and inside deals.

"There's no point in voting no-it only pisses off the mayor and I

5 of 6 Update from No Games Chicago - Tomorrow you decide

don't need that," I was told by one alderman who didn't want his name used in print.

Besides, he added, "We're not getting the games-Rio's getting them. You heard it here first."

And if you're wrong? I asked him.

"We're screwed."

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6 of 6 No Games Chicago Newsletter - 2016 Committee Accused of Discrimination

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release October 2, 2009 Contact: For more information: Valencia Rias 773-236-7252, x 241 Don Moore 312-236-7252, x 236 Chicago Residents File Complaint with U.S. Department of Justice to Challenge Discriminatory Practices of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee

Chicago, IL - October 1, 2009

The Chicago Park District, The Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee, and Chicago Mayor Daley have demonstrated a pattern of racial discrimination in the development and design of their Olympic Bid," said Valencia Rias, who is a South Side community activist.

As a result, Rias and eight other Chicagoans filed a civil rights Racial Discrimination complaint today with the U.S. Department of Justice, charging that:

Chicago's strategy for carrying out the Olympics (as stated in Chicago's Olympic bid) relies heavily on the "donation" of major Chicago parks for the clear majority of Olympic ceremonies and competitions, even though the Chicago version of the Games has been advertised as "privately funded").

Most important, three major public parks with the heaviest burden for the Games (especially Washington Park, but also including Douglas Park and Jackson Park) serve communities that are nearly 100% African-American and among the poorest in the city. These communities will be substantially deprived of the use of a significant poart of their parks for periods of two years or more, while major venues (such as the temporary 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium at Jackson Park) are constructed and then torn down after the Olympics.

These three parks are almost the only resource that many young people and adults have available in their communities for recreation (especially organized and informal sports that keep young people out of trouble, but also including jogging, and picnicking).

For example, Washington Park is a 98% African American 65% low-income community on Chicago's South Side. Washington Park will become the site not only of an 80,000-seat stadium, but also five swimming pools.

After being denied access to Washington Park for two years, residents will watch Olympic spectators arrive on shuttle buses, enter the stadium and pool sites through fences surrounding them, and then return to their hotels-once again by shuttle bus.

1 of 3 No Games Chicago Newsletter - 2016 Committee Accused of Discrimination

Washington Park has virtually no full-service stores. They have no major restaurants or other businesses that are to attract people who come to watch the Olympics. The Chicago Olympic bid itself does not include concrete and substantial funds to help Washington Park and other venues with their the major economic development commitment needed to turn them around.

The Rio bid makes the long-term development of the communities where the Olympics will be held central to their bid. With no similar funds as part of Chicago's bid several Chicago foundations are establishing a fund to aid the communities where the Games would be held in Chicago.

The three African American communities in which these parks are located had no say in whether or how their parks would be used for Olympic events. The decision to "donate" their use to the Chicago Olympic Committee was made by the Chicago Park Board, which is appointed and totally controlled by Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley. (The Mayor's former Chief of Staff, Gery Chico) is now the Park Board's President.)

Of the more than 50 public parks larger than 100 acres in Chicago, only one park in a predominantly white community is being required by the Park District and the Mayor to bear a somewhat similar burden, by serving as the site for tennis, with some new courts to be built.

"I think the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee has stolen parks in low-income African-American neighborhoods because they think we will just be quiet and take it- while white and more affluent neighborhoods wouldn't tolerate it," says Michael Johnson, an active parent who coaches a youth football team in Washington Park.

A map of where the city's parks are located clearly indicates the Committee could have had set these different competitions up in a wide variety of communities that are still close to the Olympic Village," said Rias.

"The Olympic Committee has talked about using parks that have breath-taking lakefront views, but only one of the three parks in the African American community is actually on the Lake Michigan. Chicago has a real lakefront park that extends along nearly the entire lakefront on Chicago's North Side, but this park is in the wealthiest part of the city and would never tolerate extensive shutdowns and construction," said Toni Stith, another signer of the Department of Justice complaint.

Parents also question why a city that faces a record $500 million deficit for the coming fiscal year can shell out millions for the Olympics. Due to both city and state budget deficits this year, many social service and health care workers were laid off. "I would rather have a good teacher in my son's classroom than watch the Olympics through a fence," said Crystal Crokett, another parent who signed the federal complaint.

Michael Scott, Mayor Daley's appointed head of the Chicago Board of Education and a member of the committee seeking to bring the Olympics to Chicago, bet that real estate prices would go up around the Douglas Park Olympic venue on the West Side, when he bought run-down real estate near the park, where the Olympic bicycle-racing track will be built. When a journalist exposed Scott's activities, Scott dropped his ties to this land purchase.

Chicago's precarious financial position and the sense that insiders will be the primary beneficiaries, if the Olympics come to the Windy City, have helped contribute to a sharp drop in public support for the Chicago 2016 bid. Last February, 67% of Chicagoans supported holding the Games here, according to the Chicago Tribune. This percentage dropped to 47% in September, with 84% Chicagoans saying that no public money should be used to support the Games. The level of public support for the Olympics is one stated standard that the International Olympic Committee uses to judge competitors' bids.

"This percentage could sink even lower after lengthy Olympic construction forces families to curtail the use of parks in low-income African American communities, after these communities have been required to "donate" their parks for Olympic competitions in 2016." said Rias.

2 of 3 No Games Chicago Newsletter - 2016 Committee Accused of Discrimination

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Designs for Change 814 South Western Avenue Chicago, IL 60612 www.designsforchange.org

No Games Chicago is an all-volunteer group of social justice activists, concerned citizens and grassroots organizations opposed to bringing the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. The group was launched on January 31, 2009 with a public forum at the University of Illinois Chicago. We have transmitted this press release from a member of the No Games Coalition, Designs for Change.

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