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Oprah-geddon: Winfrey To Quit Show In 2011
Daley Blames - Who Else? - The Media For Oprah-geddon
NYT Preps For Chicago Edition
Chicago Gets Googled
When it was announced that Oprah would be shutting down a portion of Michigan Ave (between Ohio and Wacker) to shoot her 24th season premiere, we heard from many people not too happy about the move. And now at least one city official is getting cranky about the closure. Transportation Committee Chairman Tom Allen (38th Ward) told the Sun-Times, "Two-and-a-half days is kind of reckless. It smacks of elitism. The citizens own the street. Maybe they should ask the people how they feel." There's also some argument as to whether or not Oprah's folks were required to follow the usual protocol of giving 45 days notice to Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) who says they gave him 10 days notice. But Special Events spokeswoman Cindy Gatziolis told the Sun-Times this isn't classified as a "special event" and therefore didn't require 45 days: "This falls under the category of film and TV production. Those require a two-day notice. This has been much more than a two-day notice."
Oprah's Party Makes Some Cranky
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NYT article detailing how the city will spend all of the money from the parking meter lease by 2010.
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2 and a half days is a bit much.
And has been pointed out many times, this is within walking distance of a GIANT PARK WITH A STAGE. And about 10 minutes from Navy Pier, for all the fine skyline views.
Hell, move it out west or north or south, just out of the loop.
Quit yer whining. Oprah is bringing attention and revenue to the city. God forbid people have to walk an extra block to get to work for two days.
Oprah is bringing attention
Yeah, because nobody had ever heard of Chicago before her. So what far-flung nation on the planet will become enlightened about Chicago due to Oprah that wasn't before? Seriously, evertime some dolt says,"This will make us known all over the world (yes, I'm talking to you, Daley)", I want to know what area they're talking about. Having this woman stand on Michigan Ave and talk to some second rate sports reporter about how she felt violated when someone made a sneaky videotape of her isn't what's going to make Chicago a "World class city". Getting crime under control, ending the disparity between the haves and the have-nots...THAT'S what's going to make the rest of the world stand up and say "Wow, look at Chicago!"
What do you like Jess Nevins? I'd like to see your reaction if she picked up and moved to New York. You'd probably blame Daley, you moron.
This whole comment makes my teeth hurt with the stupid.
Oprah can bugger off to NYC any time she likes.
For the record, I like a lot of things. Cats, Hot Dougs, the Lakefront, Jesse White, tamale men at my local bar and comfortable running shoes.
I don't like rich tv chodes cluttering up my city with their ego-moments.
What does Oprah do for Chicago? She brings almost zero attention to the city and then expects the entire population to bow down when she wants to close down a major area of the city.
Who cares about her.
No offense, but this is a dumb comment. She surely generates a significant amount of tourism. Or do you think her studio audiences are all comprised of locals?
Significant tourism??? How many people does her studio seat? Multiply that by the limited number of days that she actually is in production in Chicago (and not on the road). That's not "significant". And trust me, those women from Iowa or South Carolina or Tennesse would probably come here without here.
I believe her audience seats around 200. She's done over 3700 shows (looked it up on wikipedia, mind you). I'd assume at least 80% were filmed in Chicago (I don't really watch the show at all). I'll further assume that half the audience are tourists and half are locals. That mean's she directly or indirectly involved in bringing around 300,000 tourists to the city since she started her show. (probably more, to be honest with you).
Assuming each tourist spends around $200 during their stay in Chicago, that amounts to a $60 million contribution to our economy.
That's just a bunch of rough guesses, but I feel pretty comfortable with them. Also, I never even mentioned all the jobs that she brought with Harpo Studios (which produces more than just her show)
surprisingly, it doesn't appear anyone has done a real economic analysis of oprah's effect on the local economy. My estimates might hold up under scrutiny, they might not.
I didn't give much thought to the street closures at first - never realized until now it would be 2 1/2 days of closure. That's a bit much for such a popular stretch of the city.
I agree with Jess Navins - Grant Park, the band shell, the Pritzker Pavillion and Millenium Park (now THAT would have garnered some interest in Chicago) are all more suitable locations.
I don't care so much about that as I do Mayor Daley twice stating how this would "help create jobs." What, for a couple of days? How is this going to help create jobs? My guess is that every single person working on this event will already be an employee of an events production company.
Any thoughts on that?
No kidding about the jobs BS. Reminds of when Blago was on the radio talking about how the highway green lanes would create 50,000 jobs. Yes, that's four zeroes.
Blah blah blah...its two days, folks! Get over it!
It's not the delays most people seem to be upset with. It's just one more thing that shows the city government's lack of concern for the people who actually live here. The announcement was sprung virtually right before it the closures are set to happen, there are FAR more reasonable venues for this sort of event, etc, etc.
Personally, I think Oprah is just great, but this is still bullshit. Her Summer of Faulkner a few years back gave me and my mom something to talk about.
Oprah & Daley's Drunk On Power Move: Blame It On Olympic Lust http://windycitizen.com/wdKU
Yes more bread and circuses for stupid people of Chicago! That's all they care about.
She should do a show in Lawndale or Austin. Seriously, whether you like her or not, Oprah has a lot of power. I'm reminded of a show Skip Gates did a few years ago where he went to different housing projects in Chicago and interviewed people. He put a human face on places most people will never see or understand. Oprah could have done the same sort of thing. This Michigan Avenue thing is arrogant and shameless ... I predict most people will eat it up and love it.