Letters to the Editor | April 2009

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the Gazette’s letters column are those of the letter-writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Gazette’s editors. We also reserve the right to edit letters for space.

Dear Editor:

We all remember Mayor Richard M. Daley and Pat Ryan [Chicago 2016 chair] telling us what an honor it would be to have the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago. We heard them tell us it would put Chicago on the world map! It would bring millions of dollars, billions of dollars to the city. It would mean jobs. It would be the best thing to happen to Chicago, and, it would not cost the taxpayers a cent. It would all be done with “private funding.”

Here is another story about the Olympics from Vancouver, B.C. They had just found out they “won” the right to co-host the 2010 Winter Olympics with Whistler (a nearby ski resort town). Their leaders also told them that the inflow of investment was going to put the city “on the map” along with international cities, like Tokyo, London, Milan, etc. They even began an advertising campaign with the slogan “The Best Place on Earth.” Or so went the familiar story.

Unfortunately, Vancouver residents have been shocked to learn the B.C. legislature will be called for a special session to deal with Vancouver’s request for permission to borrow more than $450 million to complete the troubled Olympic Village project. Plus, more revealing facts are surfacing showing the taxpayers are on the hook for $875 million in Vancouver, for a project that was supposed to be funded through private dollars (sound familiar?), a project that may leave the city bankrupt!

The 2012 Olympics in London are already over four times over budget—with security costs alone expected to exceed $2 billion.

The point is, we were all bamboozled here and in other cities by the so-called leadership. In every city the taxpayer is being forced to pick up the tab for the cost of the Olympics. If we do not stop this snowball now, we will be stuck with the growing snowball created by the mayor.

Mayor Daley entered into bidding for 2016 with little or no public debate. We were not asked if we wanted 2016; it was forced down our throats.

The Olympics are turning out to be an unmitigated disaster—Montreal 1976 took the city 30 years to pay off the debt left to them. Chicago, guess who will be stuck paying for the mayor’s and Pat Ryan’s spectacle—if we allow it to continue.

The mayor does not believe in transparency and we have no idea what is going on. We cannot depend on the City Council to protect us or defend our rights, so we will have to do it ourselves. The media has given us the info we need; now it is up to us.

- Ann M. Gutierrez (Bridgeport)

Honor architect Louis Sullivan

Dear Editor:

Chicago is always looking for ways to increase tourism. We should have a Louis Sullivan museum. Initially, it would have models and drawings of all his Chicago buildings. Eventually it would have all his work, including structures envisioned but never built. If you really want to think outside the box, exhibits about his proteges, rivals, and architects heavily influenced by him could be displayed.

- James Reyes