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STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power) is holding a protest tomorrow morning to protest the closing of several mental health facilities and the city's 2016 Olympics bid. The organization is calling for the protest to begin at 10 a.m. in the lobby of the mayor's office (121 N. LaSalle - 5th Floor). According to STOP's website:
Mayor Daley is violating a 2006 City Council Resolution by trying to close a third of the City's mental health clinics, all of which are in black and latino communities on the south side. The Mayor points his finger at the State, who deserves part of the blame for under-funding mental health, but with $50 million to be spent just advertising the Olympic Bid and millions available from the recent parking meter sales, the Mayor has the power to keep these clinics open while we fight for a more permanent and comprehensive solution to funding mental health services in Chicago.
This latest example of anti-Olympics sentiment comes as a new Trib poll found that support for the games is beginning to weaken, but only ever-so-slightly. According to the poll, the approval rate for hosting the games stands at 64 percent while the no-games contingent is at 28 percent. More telling is this: "An overwhelming 75 percent of those surveyed said they would disapprove of using tax dollars to cover Olympic costs. More than half, 54 percent, said they don't believe Mayor Daley's pledge that private money will cover expenses."
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If you'd like crime to increase even more than it already has, by all means start closing mental health clinics in poorer neighborhoods.
I am opposed to the Olympic games, but I don't intend to still be living in Chicago at that point, so I don't feel too strongly about it.
The games shouldn't come at the expense of something else. But I feel people that oppose the games are selfish. The Olympics would create so much revenue and jobs for Chicago both immediately and years down the road for tourism. I have heard opponents say "it will be too crowded." Get over it.
It' not just the 'crowded' many of us are concerned with. I just don't think we have the infrastructure to support it--nor do we have the ability (financially or otherwise) to develop such an infrastructure.
Other cities that prepare for their own Olympics rally the entire country behind them and pour untold funds into creating a world-class environment. Meanwhile, back in Chicago, the escalator at my el stop broke two weeks ago. CTA put up a sign saying it would be fixed in the middle of May. Four months to fix an escalator, and yet we think we can put on an Olympics that won't be an utter disaster to the region?
I don't see it.
I agree with you Gordon. I don't think there's any argument if the olympics were guaranteed to be 100% privately funded, but I think we all know how that's going to turn out.
Do you want to be Daley's Olympic chumbolone? I don't.
Improving Chicago's infrastructure is one of the greatest benefits the Olympic games will bring. *Federal* funding to improve highways, mass-transit, and other capital improvements are also used to bolster a host city. Atlanta received 600M in 96' and Salt Lake City received 1.3B in 02'. From these precedents, Chicago could very well receive 2-3 billion to improve the very aspects Olympic detractor complain about.
Now, if, as taxpayers, one were to argue that no government funding should be used to pay for the Olympics, than that's another story. But critics should instead argue against all US Olympic bids, not just the current bid in Chicago.