ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

I woke up early this morning to be inundated with stories of the President's speech in Copenhagen. This was on the behalf of Chicago's bid for 2016 Olympic Games. I have to go on record as one of the many people who are in favor of the Olympics in Chicago. It would be one of the greatest things to happen to the city since we rebuilt it after that stupid cow burned it down.

I remember when Atlanta hosted the Olympics. That was a disaster. For a number of reasons. Whether it was the guy who pulled off that bombing, or the fact that the IOC should have given the Olympics to Greece that year (it was the anniversary of the modern Olympics that year I believe) the Coca-Cola run Olympics sucked in the ATL. Sorry dirty South, but this is a universal FACT. It's time to write the wrong of Atlanta and show them how it's done. With that said, I do believe that the ATL did improve a lot of its infrastructure, and I don't recall them really losing a ton of money on the games.

Chicago is a perfect city for the event. We are diverse. We are large enough to host. We have the infrastructure to support the games (although it is aging and needs help). We're a great sports town. We're just a fit. What other city in this country could pull this off? NYC? LA? (they already got one) Miami? Denver? Maybe Seattle? Dallas? All fine cities, but no, Chicago has the perfect balance. Midwestern fundamentals wrapped into a big city.

But it's not all roses. The complainers in the audience have some serious issues with the city's bid. I've heard a lot of them these past few weeks via Twitter, the newspaper, TV, radio. The haters in Chicago aren't crazy. They have concerns that no one has answered yet. I'll give it a shot to calm them down. So grab a warm cider and relax, I'll get you through all your concerns:

• Taxpayers are going to foot this bill. If they overrun their budget, which every Olympic city the past decade has, the city of Chicago is going to raise its already high taxes to cover the costs. This is just plain wrong. Completely wrong, and I agree with the complainers with this one. You can't pull this shit off and then ask me to foot the bill. I want the Olympics, but I'm not interested in a 12% tax rate. The Feds should kick in some cash to cover the overrun that is expected.
  
• Cronies! Daley is Dirty! Unions are corrupt! Everyone is going to get rich? There are no ethics involved when making money in this town. Everyone is dirty. That's the assumption. And frankly, it's impossible to dispute. Everyone in this town is on the take. I'm positive there are going to be people taking advantage of the situation if we win these games, but let's get something straight. If some alderman accepts cash to allow some insider to own a block of condos outside of the Olympic stadium, then lock him up. If Daley is giving jobs to his family, which he has done in the past, lock him up too. Everything is going to go out to bid. And I would be shocked if some of those bids weren't going to go to outsiders (especially European firms that have done this before). The bottom line is this, the city is already corrupt. The Olympics aren't going to change that. Did all you people complaining about the potential shennanigans complain about the 30 condo buildings that are half built downtown? The Trump Tower? Oh, you did? Well, get over it already. What will happen is that there should be more of the pie for all of us to share. You really think I care if the guy hiring me gets rich off the Olympics? He gave me a job. I get paid too. Get over this. The politicians will have to kick something back to the community or they risk getting tossed out on their asses. If I'm not mistaken, Daley is up for re-election soon. Put your money where your mouth is hater-clan. Throw him out if he messes up. But if he actually gets federal support, and things like the CTA get upgraded as a result of this event, you need to eat crow.
• We should be solving the crime issue and the education issues in this town. Not planning a 2 week party for the world. This is true. People have this concern because Chicago is becoming more and more violent. I'm not sure what happened,but part of the Mayor's job was to keep us safe. He isn't doing this very well, and as a result I think he is going to lose the upcoming election. Notice, this again has nothing to do with the Olympics. The fact the City can raise all this money to host these games isn't a poor reflection on the Mayor or the City. It's a poor reflection on the private donors who are more interested in the Olympics than in funding education. But last I checked, there is only 1 way to improve the quality of police and schools in this city. And that's to raise taxes. Oh. Wait. We also have to use the tax gains to actually fix both the police and the schools. Well, how about a compromise. Force the city to take a good percentage of the revenue they make off the Olympics (if they make it) and have them kick it back into the community. Hell, force all the dudes that make money off the Olympics to kick back too. For the greater good, right? :)

So here is my bottom line. The Athens Olympics were a debacle in the early stages of construction. They were running out of cash, there were strikes, corruption, and facilities weren't being built. It was a scramble to the finish. With that said, I just got back from Athens and all the stuff they built for the Olympics : highways, the new underground train, and the tram finally make Athens a place I really wanted to visit, not just pass through. The city is beautiful. Sure, some old stadiums are probably going unused, but the infrastructure of the city drastically improved Athens and I'm counting on the same transformation for Chicago.