In the latest round of “let’s pretend were going to have an Olympics,” Chicago Mayor Daley has selected a site for a new stadium, gone to Washington to urge the Illinois congressional delegation to cheer on the idea (duuuuuh!), and announced that his Olympics will not require any taxpayer funding. (<-- Yeah! He really said that.)
I guess if you are going to talk about a fantasy Olympic bid, you can make it as fictional as a Michael Moore documentary.
Of course the stadium idea only reminds us (again) of the fiasco at Soldier’s Field. Now Mayor Green Space is thinking of tearing up a great park for yet another stadium. And who will use the new stadium after the Olympians go home? Well, not to worry. There will be no Olympians here anyway … ergo no new stadium.
Nice PR move though … going to Washington to get the Illinois delegation endorsing his fantasy. I mean, what would you expect an Illinois legislator to say … “please, please do not give Chicago the Olympics?”
Of course, it is a lot more pleasant answering hypothetical questions about a theoretical event than to deal with inquiries regarding the level official corruption that is lapping political effluent at the door of Hizzoner’s office.
Private funding? No taxpayer money? Geez, even fantasies have to maintain some credibility. First of all, if I were one of those deep pocket business leaders who got hog snaggled into paying for Millennium Park, with all its cost overruns, I would be petrified with fear to guarantee a multi billion dollar spectacle like the Olympics.
And, if any one believes that an Olympic bid can be successful without HUGE amounts of taxpayer money, I have some old Enron stock I would like to sell to you. Support services alone will require hundreds of millions in additional spending. Just making an Olympic bid will cost the taxpayers millions. I mean, who paid for the PR luncheon and press conference in Washington?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment