Chicagoans DO U WANT THE 2016 Olympics? (Glendale Heights, Itasca: 2009, insurance, condos)

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by jdiddy

The kayak and canoing venues would be permanent, and in my opinion would make Northerly Island a much more interesting place to visit.

I fully agree these would be cool, but these guys (and others):

http://chicagoriverpaddle.com/

get by on little more than a trailer and the actual kayaks/canoes and paddles, etc. you don't need the Olympics to have kayak and canoeing launches, that would be extremely inexpensive, they could just use the 12 St. Beach (which is woefully underutilized) at it's southern edge.

Originally Posted by jdiddy

I realize the tourist impact the museums have. I just have doubts they will suffer all that much from the Northerly Island construction.

The Soldier Field construction was devastating to the Museum Campus. And that didn't include the kind of security issues the Olympics will bring.

Don't get me wrong - the impact on the Museum Campus is only 1 out of 1,000 intelligent reasons to be skeptical of the Olympics, but it's IMO a pretty perfect highlight of what nonsense we're being fed in terms of the long-term tourist benefits of the games, when juxtaposed with the very real negative impact it will have on existing, time-tested tourism.

I'd rather see a few million bucks go to put state-of-the-art canoeing and kayaking facilities on Northerly Island than the ad campaign and salaries the City is paying for this, you know?

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

I fully agree these would be cool, but these guys (and others):

http://chicagoriverpaddle.com/

get by on little more than a trailer and the actual kayaks/canoes and paddles, etc. you don't need the Olympics to have kayak and canoeing launches, that would be extremely inexpensive, they could just use the 12 St. Beach (which is woefully underutilized) at it's southern edge.



The Soldier Field construction was devastating to the Museum Campus. And that didn't include the kind of security issues the Olympics will bring.

Don't get me wrong - the impact on the Museum Campus is only 1 out of 1,000 intelligent reasons to be skeptical of the Olympics, but it's IMO a pretty perfect highlight of what nonsense we're being fed in terms of the long-term tourist benefits of the games, when juxtaposed with the very real negative impact it will have on existing, time-tested tourism.

I'd rather see a few million bucks go to put state-of-the-art canoeing and kayaking facilities on Northerly Island than the ad campaign and salaries the City is paying for this, you know?

I'm still not sure construction will be that big an issue for the Museum Campus. The venues proposed for Northerly Island pale in comparison to the scale of the Soldier Field redesign. The bigger issue is the recent trend of tourism declines in the year or two prior and following the Olympics. The last few Olympic cities saw unexpected declines in that time period, so the city's tourism board would have to spend quite a bit more on advertising during that time period to prevent it from happening here as well.

All that goes back to the main issue for me - cost.

[Manigault]

I support the Olympic bid and I live near Washington Park. Construction for the various venues will have six years to be completed -- the Soldier Field refurb was during a much shorter time frame. When folks talk about cost they ignore the continuing benefits of the permanent structures which the city will gain. Think! Much of the Green Line from MLK to the loop and the Museum of Science and Industry are vestiges of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Some hotels built for that festival are still standing in Hyde Park and Woodlawn.

There is easy construction access down Garfield from the Dan Ryan to WA Park so congestion fears may not be so factual. As for roads in the city, well, a great metropolis does not live on smooth streets alone.

[Banx]

Uhhh duh, because were being taxed enough as it is. We can't afford the Olympics. It's not worth it to watch one month of games, and entertain stupid tourists and foreigners to me. How are we going to pay for this? Every benefit Daley mentions out of his mouth is a complete fabrication and a lie, we will be so much in debt going into this project. It also goes down the line of more gentrification BS, this time involving Washington Park. I hate the idea of having the Olympics here. Taxes are up and services are down, and the Olympics would be like throwing gasoline on an open flame. If the Olympics come to Chicago, it'll just be more proof that this city is slowly being filled with idiots and more of a reason why I need to move.

[Irishtom29]

Well my pals in the building trades will make out as will some connected developers and politicians. That's OK I guess, I never had illusions about how this town works and anyway, I got mine.

This is off the topic but why not have permanent facilities for the games and hold them there all the time. In Olympia say? Afterall it worked for the real Olympics.

Problem then would be the Olympics being more about the games themselves than the money and prestige the games bring (people hope anyway) to a place. The Olympics is just a big racket, any adult should see that. But Olympics or no Atlanta is still an overgrown tank town, same with Salt Lake City.

[WhaThe]

That's about the only thing that will make me feel good about the Olympics coming as I'm not sure I see it paying off. Still, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

I have a few friends in the trades. Ones taking jobs all over the country to keep money coming in and just scraping by. I'm sure his family would love to see more of him.

[via chicago]

The answer to why Chicagoans are so hesitant is simple: a lack of trust.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by via chicago

The answer to why Chicagoans are so hesitant is simple: a lack of trust.

That and the fact that it seems like every City that has hosted the Olympics for the past 30 years has suffered a long-term case of "buyer's remorse" after realizing how overbudget they went, and how long it took to pay down the debt incurred in the process.

[NYrules]

Originally Posted by Drover

Because we're tired of being lied to about the costs, the projected economic benefit, and the scope of taxpayer liability for cost overruns. That and we're tired of the city's myopic obsession with the Olympic bid seemingly at the expense of serving the city's basic needs. It's hard to get excited over an Olympic bid when the city's mass transit system is falling apart and the streets look like strips of moon craters after years of neglect.

Wow, I never thought I would actually go out of my way to sign on and support Drover, but WELL SAID!

How can a city that is claiming to be BROKE and crying all the time for more taxes be ready to dish out billions of dollars towards the Olympics when there are so many things in this area that need repair or to be addressed like more police to keep the children from beating eachother to death with boards that were laying around in the street of which why the F were boards laying around in the street in the first place? Oh wait it's Chicago, the garbage men have been cut down to save money apparently because the city is broke along with all the other city services like police, and street sweepers, and others.... BUUUUUTTTT a few billion in tax payer dollars for the Olympics??? No problem! See the irony there?

[Chi-town Native]

Chicago isn't broke, it's just that Daley's TIF piggybank (well over $1 billion) has been excluded on the assets/liabilities sheets we generally hear about.

TIFs will suck something like $600 million out of the general operating fund this year, that would fix a lot of streets, perhaps even paving a good number of them in gold.