Sunday, February 08, 2009

Anti-Olympic Movement Arises

Probably too late to actually affect anything, seeing as how the bid went out two days ago:
  • Nearly two-thirds of Chicago-area residents want the city to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, but most don't want tax money to pay for it, a new Tribune poll found.

    Yet many supporters—as well as a vast majority of those opposed to bringing the Games here—don't buy the idea that private funds will cover nearly all the costs.

    Mayor Richard Daley's push for the Games was favored by 64 percent and opposed by 28 percent in the poll of registered voters from Chicago and the suburbs.

    But 75 percent of all those surveyed said they were against the use of tax money to cover any financial shortfalls.
Boy, aren't these sheep going to be surprised to hear the mayor has already gotten something on the order of $500 million in guarantees made up entirely of taxpayer money? During a recession and in the midst of the largest tax hikes in history.

Kass has his usual spot-on take of the whole sorry mess. Daley is taking this city to the cleaners and he'll ride off into the sunset leaving nothing but wreckage behind.

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43 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

WGN-TV just ran a text-in poll on this. heir numbers were simlar -- 64% wanted the Olympics in Chicago and 28% didn't, with 8% undecided.

WGN, however, was decent enough to tell us that most of the "yes" votes for the Olympics CAME FROM THE COLLAR COUNTIES.

2/08/2009 12:09:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daley knows the Daley claim to this city is soon to be over. The city is changing to much for the dynasty to continue. He is hoping for the Olympics so he, his family and friends can make millions after he is out of office. He doesn't care at all about the city or it's residents...

2/08/2009 12:28:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where can I vote? Who did they poll cause every one of my friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members that live in Chicago all said they don't want the Olympics coming to Chicago. The fix is in as always huh? No seriously, where and when can we vote?

2/08/2009 12:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great picture in the Trib. Some whacked out teacher all giddy, while a student next to her, rolls her eyes.

Darn I can' paste, check the front page od the Trib' website.

2/08/2009 01:16:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

TAX HIKES DON'T WORK!!!!
I now shop out of the city and county every chance I get. We all live close to the border and take advantage of it. I haven't bought anything in the city in in over 6 weeks unless it was a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk!
wORST ECONOMY EVER!
RAISE TAXES!
YOU WON'T HAVE A TAX BASE AT THIS RATE!
FORECLOSURES, SALES!!!
I HATE POLITICIANS!!!!
LAKE AND DUPAGE COUNTY AREN'T TOO FAR AWAY!!!

2/08/2009 01:23:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just how is Chicago going to finance the Olympics?

2/08/2009 02:32:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From the _Tribune_ article --

"Daley insisted taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook.

"'Tax money isn't paying for it,' Daley said when asked... 'There's no city tax money whatsoever'"

Then --

"Chicago will have to pay about $45 million for city services such as street cleaning to support the Olympics. The city also has pledged property tax revenue to cover infrastructure improvements for the planned Olympic village..."

...and I'm getting that distinct "tip of the iceberg" feeling here...

2/08/2009 03:02:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They only polled 350 people. What kind of sample is that?

2/08/2009 04:38:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kass For Mayor Of The Shitty Of Shitcago AND Gov Of Illinois!

2/08/2009 05:14:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think I'd like to hear from the people and newspaper accounts from the last ten Olympic games what the upside and downside is of being the host city.

London and Vancouver are the sites of the next two Olympics. Both cities Games are already in turmoil financially and are wishing they had never bid on them.

My heart keeps saying, "Why not in Chicago?" when I've watched the Games in other cities in the past, and could this be a way to keep Chicago working in the bad economy? Then my brain kicks in, and I foresee nothing but errors in cost projections, cost overruns, a rebirth of projects like the hired truck scandal and simply put, pure disaster ! After all, nobody has a criminal enterprise in place the likes of Chicago's Daley crime family !

.

2/08/2009 06:41:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Mayor Richard Daley's push for the Games was favored by 64 percent and opposed by 28 percent in the poll of registered voters from Chicago and the suburbs."

I don't recall answering ANY questions regarding the Olympics. Who did they ask, ....100 registered voters working at city hall?

2/08/2009 07:01:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't want it here and I'm sure 2/3rds is BS. People leave town when the Taste, Air/Water show, etc. come here and they want the Olympics? I smell a rat and it's Daleys Tribune. I haven't heard from ANYONE I know that wants them here.

2/08/2009 07:37:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I unsuccessfully attempted to find the person and the address that I could send a letter to, asking the Olympic Commitee to pass Chicago by, in their selection for 2016. Can anyone out there help me?

2/08/2009 08:32:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We have a desperate, even hopeless situation when the "legislators" who make the laws in Chicago, CRook County and Illinois are the most flagrant and unchecked violators of these very laws.

No checks and balances. No term limits. No recall referendum mechanism in place. An apathetic electorate which is dumb as a box of rocks.

GOD HELP US!

2/08/2009 08:36:00 AM  
Blogger John Northen said...

God bless you, John Kass!

You're the only reason why I'd still buy a newspaper.

Today, even Pravda would have more credibility than the MSM.

2/08/2009 08:44:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And yet the guy continues to get strong or even landslide wins. Sometimes I think Chicago residents have something akin to battered wife syndrome when it comes to politics.

2/08/2009 09:01:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mayor Richard Daley's push for the Games was favored by 64 percent




yaaaaa i doubt that.

2/08/2009 09:25:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Three very large metropolitan Chicago based corporations, McDonalds, Motorola, United Airlines have been losing money lately. They have cut their work force at all levels. Corporations all across America are cutting costs. Companies are laying off low, mid, and high level employees. Yet, Daley is only going to use donations from private, or corporate groups to pay for the Olympics? BULLSHIT! It ain't possible. Corporations are trying to get out of stadium naming rights agreements, cutting their advertising campaigns, and downsizing at every chance possible. Why won't Daley disclose how the city plans to spend the billions of dollars this stimulus will send here for these phony "shovel ready" projects? It's because he's going to spend it on the Olympics. There is no way in hell he can pay for all this without our tax dollars. It's financially impossible because the corporations are not just spending their money that liberally anymore. So, he'll have to use tax dollars, and also raise city taxes. Remember the underground parking garage at Grant Park. Went 3 or 4 times over budget. The Olympics will cost us dearly, you watch.

2/08/2009 11:41:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daley is just another version of David Dinkins,[DEMOC-RAT] ex-Mayor of New York City, who left a crippled and crime ridden city when finally ousted by Rudy Giulani,[REPUBLICAN] who did a gerat job in turning Dinkins mess around. Why are the Feds giving Daley money and not making him account for every penny of it? Is it the Obama factor? Are the Feds intimidated and not enforcing the law anymore? Do Politics superceed the laws of the Land now in this day and age? How about a straight HONEST answer for just once Feds, as to what's really going on with all our vanished/stolen tax dollars, here in Crook County.

2/08/2009 12:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daley is lieing through his teeth about taxpayers not having to pay for the Olympics. Chicago Taxpayers ALWAYS end up paying, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS. So why would any dummy think this would end up any different? You have to be a Stupid JACK-ASS to believe anything the man says.

2/08/2009 12:06:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

no tax payer money huh? the city will start looking to off-duty PO's to work various olympic events because there are already NOT enough PO's to simply PATROL this city. where will that money come from?

NO CONTRACT=NO WORK....period!!!

2/08/2009 12:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Make sure you get an indoor track. Can not run a mile worth a damn in this city. You will trip over a pot hole lol! This is why Jim Ryan never broke the 4 minute mile. Las Vegas would make a great Olympic spot.

2/08/2009 01:09:00 PM  
Blogger Save Street End Beaches said...

Check No Games Chicago,
http://nogameschicago.com/no/

2/08/2009 01:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nobody i know wants the OLympics. who did Daley poll. all his cronies under him i bet. the olympics will put this city so deep in debt its not even funny. like we're not in ruins already. dickhead dushbag daley needs to go. and leave all that stolen money behind before you leave.

2/08/2009 01:39:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just who in the hell did they poll, City Hall?

2/08/2009 01:46:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No disclosure: No olympics

2/08/2009 01:50:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Talk or we'll walk.

2/08/2009 01:50:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No Olympics! Justice for Cozzi

2/08/2009 01:51:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Mayor Richard Daley's push for the Games was favored by 64 percent




yaaaaa i doubt that.

2/08/2009 09:25:00 AM


....64% of his patronage workers.
Wait til they get pink slips.

2/08/2009 02:04:00 PM  
Blogger Reverend Al said...

Daley is taking this city to the cleaners and he'll ride off into the sunset leaving nothing but wreckage behind.

Ride off into the sunset? Not likely. His fat drunken ass may be hauled off in limo, but so what?
Like his father before him, he'll likely stroke out before getting a chance to enjoy his dough. A guy in his position can't afford to turn things over to someone else because he can't trust anyone else.
Who would really want to trade places with him? Become a fat, ugly, dumb little troll, partners with guys that would snuff him in a heartbeat if they needed to?
I'd drink too, in his position.
Of course, I drink anyway.

2/08/2009 02:21:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mayor Richard Daley's push for the Games was favored by 64 percent and opposed by 28 percent in the poll of registered voters from Chicago and the suburbs.

-----------------------------------

Really? I'm a registered voter and nobody asked me. I wonder where the took this poll at.

2/08/2009 03:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From the _Tribune_ article --

"Daley insisted taxpayers wouldn't be on the hook.

"'Tax money isn't paying for it,' Daley said when asked... 'There's no city tax money whatsoever'
----------------------------------

Then where the hell did the original 500 million dollar guarantee come from? I always thought the tif funds were tax payer money? That sorry excuse for a human being lies so much he doesn't know what the truth is anymore.

2/08/2009 03:44:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A city already claiming to have a budget shortage of over $450 million along with the economy getting worse has no business going after the olympic games.

I dont see the city coming out of this making any money and daley isnt really saying it would (red flag).

2/08/2009 03:47:00 PM  
Blogger RP Free Speech said...

Mayor Richard Daley's push for the Games was favored by 64 percent

yaaaaa i doubt that.

2/08/2009 09:25:00 AM

Anonymous:

It all depends upon the INTELLECT of those who were polled. Some were NOT residents of Chicago, but of a suburban persuasion.

I have already called this poll as FAKE on my blog.

GG

2/08/2009 04:15:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I unsuccessfully attempted to find the person and the address that I could send a letter to, asking the Olympic Commitee to pass Chicago by, in their selection for 2016. Can anyone out there help me?"

--2/08/2009 08:32:00 AM

The IOC web site is not exactly "transparent;" I could not find e-mail addresses to contact anyone but a publicist who will send you promotional literature. If you wish to contact the IOC, use regular mail.
...............................

The International Olympic Committee is the supreme authority of the Olympic Movement


PRESIDENT

Jacques Rogge

VICE-PRESIDENT(S)

Lambis V. Nikolaou
Chiharu Igaya
Thomas Bach
Zaiqing Yu

MEMBER(S)

Ser Miang Ng
Mario Pescante
Sam Ramsamy
Gerhard Heiberg
Denis Oswald
René Fasel
Mario Vázquez Raña
Frank Fredericks
Nawal El Moutawakel
Richard L. Carrión

ADDRESS

International Olympic Committee
Executive Board
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland

TELEPHONE

(41.21) 621 61 11

FAX

(41.21) 621 62 16

2/08/2009 05:22:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

64% of those polled is 224 people!

2/08/2009 05:35:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daley is a freakin' Liar !!!!! If every time he told us a lie his nose grew, his nose would be longer than the Skyway !!!!

2/08/2009 08:08:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry but when you have SUBURBANITES chiming in on what happens in the CITY of CHICAGO how is that even a poll?

2/08/2009 09:16:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If Daley says the citizens will have to pay only $45 million, look for the real figure to be closed to $200 to $250 million.

This is based on his cost estimates of Millennium Park and we still don't know the real cost of that.

2/08/2009 09:40:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Olympics? I agree. It is a LOSING proposition. Olympics NEVER make money. It could be good for bragging rights and getting people to notice Chicago globally but all the "econometrics" showing all the revenue streams and residual value is why the Windy City is named what it is = for a lot of hot air.

As for your retro pay I keep reading about. That will come when the equity of my house rises back up to where it was. I lost a lot of money as did many, if not all of you.

You want a thick retro raise? Dream on. You keep whining about retro pay. Figure that's as real as the equity on my house that just evaporated. It's gone. It rose into the ethersphere.

2/09/2009 10:21:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
And yet the guy continues to get strong or even landslide wins. Sometimes I think Chicago residents have something akin to battered wife syndrome when it comes to politics.

2/08/2009 09:01:00 AM

He beats me 'cause he loves me.
If he doesn't beat me; I worry that he loves someone else.
That's how he shows his love for me. Hit me again, daddy.
I love you.

2/09/2009 03:34:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

IS THERE ANYONE WHO STILL WANTS TO VOTE FOR THIS @$$-HAT

2/11/2009 11:14:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just a thought....

Members of the International Olympic Committee get "bribes" from the cities that "want" the Olympics. Only they are not called "bribes"; they are lavish trips, scholarships for their kids at universities, jobs for their relatives, just like Illinois politicians.

If they don't burden us with the Olympics, will they have to returnthe "bribes"?

2/12/2009 10:43:00 AM  

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