Summer Olympics 2016: The Chicago Quagmire

The topic, regarding Chicago hosting 2016 Summer Olympics, is as controversial as the allegations that certain city officials are linked to patronage hiring, backroom deals and other corrupting pleasantries. Considering the local committee named the proposal for Olympics 2016: "Let Friendship Shine," the opposite seems true among Chicagoans frustrated by the municipality's track-record for taking on projects at the taxpayers' expense.

For the city council, Chicago's opportunity to gleam in the spotlight symbolizes new contracts (1) for the few, bold and connected "businesses," or the most generous campaign contributors. For these entities and high profiled Chicagoans, attaching their name to the Olympics 2016--it opens the door to leverage future personal-interests and financial incentives.

Although President Obama and Mayer Richard Daley are proud to feature their hometown, for each leader, Summer Olympics 2016 represents two very distinct agendas. For Mayor Daley, it is a moment to bask in the making of global history and exceed his father's legacy (2). Metaphorically, Summer Olympics 2016 heightens Daley's status with the likes of Daniel Burnham (3) , urban planner/architect of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.

Despite the Mayor's contentions about legitimate business dealings, citizens are getting a lucid perspective about their city's 'leader." The Windy city, once run by Mr. Al Capone, is now lauded and run by a structured organization of another kind, sometimes referred to as the "machine." Over the last five years, three different situations demonstrate Mayor Daley's propensity to enforce his personal objectives over Chicago residents.

In 2003, during the wee hours of the night, the Mayor ordered bulldozers to demolish the famous Meigs Field (4) airport. Although, the rationalization was for security purposes, other local and state officials were not given a choice in the matter or even notified.

Last year, the proposed relocation of the Children's Museum to Grant Park proved to be another self-focused project, endorsed by the Daley administration. While many consider the museum a conflict of interest for a major city park, Mayor Daley with the assistance of his sycophants impelled their vast majority. After all, the same mayor annihilated an entire city airport in the middle of the night-his colleagues do not want to make him angry.

In recent news, a story leaked to the Chicago Tribune, demonstrated that the Chicago Yacht Club (5) feared retaliation from the city council's office-to the point they warned members not to vocalize their unhappiness about the Monroe Harbor's proposed rowing race site for the Olympics, where owners currently rent space to moor their yachts during the boating season.

For our President, as well as most Chicagoans, the idea of bringing the world to our city symbolizes the accessibility of an athletic global celebration. In recent news, President Obama awarded a $1 billion stimulus package of which a portion is to improve Chicago's public transportation infrastructure.

On the contrary and over the last half decade, Chicagoans who rely on the transit system have experienced consolidated routes, fare hikes and further deterioration in service. But now, with the city up as a leading contender for Olympics 2016, city officials rekindled their interest for making the system function efficiently. Meanwhile, seven years away from the proposed event, what are the people who rely on the CTA to do in the interim to get to work, suffering through an extensive repair-long overdue?

(Other cities vying for the 2016 Summer Olympics include: Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro)

On the city's south side, at Washington Park, a potential site for the 2016 Summer Olympics campus, Chicagoans who reside on streets riddled with potholes (6) were disturbed when the Streets and Sanitations' department made repairs all along the park versus its neighborhoods. Although the areas side streets are in dire need of repair, once again citizens' took a backseat to ensure that the presentation to the Olympic committee is smoothly repaved and free of the moon-sized-craters seen on other roads.

The quagmire is that while many Chicagoans would love to be part of a moment in history, citizens are despondent about the Olympics 2016, because they are sick of funding initiatives which ultimately cost them money and grief. For example, the city claims that it is in such financial distress, it "has to raise" the price of street parking to $3.50 an hour. This new rate was instilled shortly after awarding a private company a 75-year contract to man the city's parking meters. Consequently, the city of Chicago has launched an aggressive ticket writing -campaign.

There is a silent grumbling about the mayor's propensity to accommodate his pet projects without any regard for the comfort of its citizens. In the end-the taxpayers, not Mayor Daley, MK Pritzker and Pat Ryan (members of the Chicago committee) bear the brunt of auto damage due to pothole laden streets, an overpriced public transit system, excessive street parking rates and the highest sales tax in the nation. Moreover, with the State of Illinois raising taxes and simultaneously offering $250 million dollars for the Olympics 2016, it appears as though Illinoisans are already eating the cost of the event.

Tack on the probability that acquiring tickets to the event will be tantamount to scoring Cubs' tickets; Chicagoan's once again will bear the financial burden and traffic nightmares. Using Meigs Field, the parking fiasco, and the Children's Museum as examples of how projects are 'agreed upon" and completed in Chicago, Summer Olympics 2016 would be better named: "Forced Friendship: Reign or Shine."

Sources:

(1) http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/mayor/index.html

(2) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-070415legacy-oly-story,0,1483322.story

(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham

(4) http://www.nbaa.org/news/pr/2003/20030331-010.php

(5) http://www.sailfastchicago.com/site/2009/02/15/chicago-tribune-boat-owners-warned-dont-make-waves-over-olympics-rowing-plan/

(6) http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/City-Repaves-Roads-at-Olympic-Site-First.html?corder=&pg=1