Mayor Richard Daley attempted to gain support for Chicago’s Olympic bid one last time before leaving for Copenhagen, where the International Olympics Commission will decide which city will host the 2016 Olympics.
Mayor Richard Daley attempted to gain support for Chicago’s Olympic bid one last time before leaving for Copenhagen, where the International Olympics Commission will decide which city will host the 2016 Olympics.
We don't enjoy starting our mornings by having a downright hissy fit, but reading the Sun-Times story on Mayor Daley's planned speech in which he'll allegedly admit he made a mistake with the infamous parking meter deal is throwing us into a hulk-out rage. Know why? Well, for starters:
Details of how Chicago would implement the 2016 Olympics are coming out as the IOC tours the city. One such detail includes security restrictions that might limit access to the portions of the lakefront for most of the summer.
The BBC has a nice little page that runs down the facts, pros, and cons of the candidates to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. They also have Chicago as the favorites to win the bidding at 11/10 odds (followed by Rio, Tokyo, and Madrid). What does the BBC say of us?
Image by John P. Glynn
Chicago will be the first stop on a world tour for the IOC's 2016 Summer Games evaluation commission next spring. The fun is from April 2nd to 8th here in Chicago; the rest of the order goes Tokyo (April 14 to 20), Rio (April 27 to May 3), and Madrid (May 4 to 9). Someone's gonna have a lot of frequent flyer miles. After the tour, the commission will issue a report at the beginning of September in advance of the October 2, 2009 announcement of the host city.
The Sox and Cubs sit atop their respective divisions, Chicago resident and Illinois Senator Barack Obama is set to be named the Democratic Presidential candidate, and Chicago made the short-list to host the 2016 Olympics. Some have suggested that the summer of '08 is Chicago's "moment", to which we say, "Really? Just now?" Yes, Chicago has seen some great success stories so far this year: Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a Pulitzer and is expected to add a Tony while Alinea's Grant Achatz has made headlines for his fight with cancer and for being a pretty damn good chef. And with all the other things about our great city that we love, we can understand why there's a swell of civic pride. We just think expectations should be tempered a bit. The Cubs are due any day now for their annual collapse, this year's election will be one of the most hotly contested in recent history, and we have a long road to travel before we secure the 2016 games.