trickybeck wrote:
Ignoring the vapid Obama discussion, I'd rather Chicago not get the Olympics. For one thing, studies tend to show that supposed "economic benefit" is no sure thing - many cities lose money in the long run. And a study from this year showing that Chicago would lose money was dismissed by Mayor Daley because it was conducted by an organization from Michigan.(!!) What a ******.
The other big problem is that, in this corrupt city, any potential economic benefit would be sucked up by crooked politicians, businessmen with their hands in said politicians' pockets, contracts given to friends & family, etc.
The one real lasting benefit I could see coming out of it is if they improve the state of the public trans. More frequent service and more areas of coverage would be super.
I live and own a retail business about 2 minutes from Downtown. I was actually really hoping to see us get it for that very reason. Millions of visitors which means lots of money.
You also get that city wide push to clean up everything that has deteriorated in the last 5 years. You can't even drive down one of my streets because of a sinkhole that has been there since spring. (Kinzie St.)
Its the urban planning that really matters. Do the venues just sit around and do nothing after the games? (*cough* Greece) Or do they continue to stimulate the populace outside of general sporting events.
On the other hand, one thing that bothered me was exactly how the they were going to make room for these venues. I am about to purchase my second sailboat and many of us were very concerned about the rumor that half of the marinas were going to be torn up to make way for new sailing venues. Slip fees were expensive enough in the past ($100 a foot in some places), I am sure that the new fees would reflect the tremendous amount of money required to redo the lakefront.
Washington Park, a community that has some of the lowest Testing scores in the state was going to be torn up in place of some stadium I think.
So yeah, there was a huge question if the return on investment really would bleed out to us hard working Chicagoans that could really use it.
Rio will most definitely benefit from the games. That is an example of the Olympics being able to completely rebuild a city and transform it into world class traveling destination. The common formula that even works with World Cup venues works. Massive development in the city center pushes out the low income and crime ridden areas.
