No shit. But if you think directing scarce resources towards merely impressing Olympic officials is a pain, keep in mind that if we impress them we actually have to host the Olympics.
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“The city wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on temporary Olympic arenas while many neighborhoods face a critical shortage of park and sports facilities. The public schools still have no indoor tracks or batting cages—haven’t they heard we have winter in this town? And the Park District’s so broke—especially after agreeing to pay $22 million for its new Streeterville headquarters—that it’s forcing youth leagues and community groups to foot the bill for new fields and play lots, and instructional time at swimming pools has been cut.” – Ben Joravsky, 7/10/08
“Just kidding! He didn’t actually say any of that. But Lori Healey, formerly the mayor’s chief of staff and now the president of the Chicago 2016 bid committee, told aldermen today that the city would be paying for the proposed Olympic Village with TIF dollars. ‘If the city is selected to host the 2016 Summer Games, it will carve out a new TIF district from the existing Bronzeville TIF to help fund new roads, sewers, and other infrastructure needed for the Olympic Village,’ she said, according to an article in Crain’s.” – Ben Joravsky, 1/12/09
“For once, when [Stanley Isaacs, ex-president of the borough of Manhattan] tried to explain to the press the philosophy behind Moses’ projects and what was wrong with that philosophy, the press paid heed to the explanation – even on the editorial page of the newspaper that had been Moses’ staunchest defender for thirty years…. [O]n April 20, the Times carried an editorial that, while it perpetuated the Moses myth, also contained statements that were, coming from the Times, especially remarkable….
Okay, it’s unlikely that the Paving of Payne Drive will be Mayor Daley’s “Battle of Central Park,” but when it does come, it wouldn’t surprise me if it came over something comparatively easy to comprehend.
