A Chicago Blog

3 Responses to “Olympics? Open Thread”

1. Daniel Messick
   March 12th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

   

   Mike,
   I would like to state that I am NOT against the athletes or spectacle and pageant that is the Olympic Games. What I’m against, is the taxpayer footing the bill for this potential (or should I say probable) boondoggle.

   The public has been told time and again across the country by private owners of sports franchises from Seattle, WA to Pittsburgh, PA that by incurring a small “bump” in the local sales tax, or hotel tax, or rental car tax, (or whichever tax is most convenient, and won’t “hurt” the public so much) to help finance a new stadium for a PRIVATE sports franchise, that ultimately they say, the local economy will benefit.

   Yet, in study after study, and no I don’t have the numbers, but I have a link here to one of many books by sports economists that makes the argument that the public financing of private sports stadiums has never been shown to contribute or benefit the local economy of those cities who passed laws allowing special taxes to be assessed on the public to finance the building of a new stadium.

   That said, Daley continues to press on with regard to chasing the Olympic dream, while initially avoiding answering direct questions with regard to whether Chicagoans will help foot the bill. Now, we’re told today the taxpayers may end up footing the bill to the tune of some $500 million dollars. A staggering amount for “games” when the CTA continues to cry for more money, the school systems continue to falter, despite higher test scores in some schools (where standards were lowered, thus the higher test scores were questionable at best), and questions are raised with regard to where the money is going to come from for the CTA & CPS.

   Oh, and the monstrosity on the lakefront that is the “new” Soldier Field? Had the mayor had the foresight to look to the future, perhaps a new Bears stadium would have been made in 2003 with an eye towards the future; Perhaps a retractable domed stadium that could have housed the opening and closing games could have been built…instead, we have an architectural nightmare on the lakefront, that has also lost its national historic landmarks designation, while picking up accolades from a UFO squadron from Nebulon 5.

   Oh, and you taxpayers out there…Yeah, we paid for that too.

2. Mike
   March 13th, 2007 at 5:41 am

   

   Dan, I am pretty sure I agree with you, but to be devil’s advocate. Can you really compare building all this Olympic stuff to building a stadium for a PRIVATE sports franchises. The Olympics is not a private corporation like the Bears.

   And what about city pride. Yes, it will cost money, but don’t you want Chicago to be in the world spotlight for a few weeks.

   That’s the only possible justification I can think of.

3. Daniel Messick
   March 13th, 2007 at 7:57 am

   

   City/civic pride? No, that doesn’t move me to want the Olympics in Chicago…It reminds me of the entertaining (certainly not great) film “Gladiator” when the Roman senators are discussing the problems of Rome with a bored Caesar Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Rather then address the problems of Rome, Caesar proposes “games” to divert the public from the real issues at hand for Rome…Not unlike Daley proposing bringing the Olympics to Chicago, while skirting the issues with public transportation in Chicago, the CPS continuing to falter, and property taxes getting out of hand…
   With regard to my analogy between private sports franchises and the olympics, I accept that it is not a like-for-like comparison, however, the Olympics ARE in fact run by an Olympic administration, not unlike a private enterprise such as the Seattle Mariners (owned by CEO of Nintendo) or Pittsburgh Pirates.

   My argument remains as it did for the “new” Soldier Field: The public through a referendum should be allowed to vote on whether they are willing to incur additional taxes to help finance what is essentially a private endeavor. The public’s vote should then be respected, which was NOT the case in Pittsburgh, where the public voted AGAINST a special levy for a new Pirates stadium, and the Pirates got around the ‘no’ vote by pulling some questionable tactics…such as pulling money from public areas such as the parks system…which the public would accept a levy on.
   Finally, Chicago in “the world spotlight?” I don’t have the numbers, but I’m pretty sure that from Olympics to Olympics the viewership has gone steadily down. In fact, I am not aware of anyone who isn’t apathetic about the Olympics and the events therein.