City's Olympic Bid Not Yet in the Clear

By Kevin Robinson in News on Mar 31, 2009 4:20PM

Thursday's news that Chicago's Olympic bid committee had reached a community benefits agreement that would set aside affordable house and increase minority contracting appears to have been premature. Both the Reader's Ben Joravsky and Progress Illinois took a harder look at what came out of the city council's Finance Committee last week, and found some decidedly un-Olympic games being played.

The agreement, which was announced Wednesday, is between Chicago 2016 and the Outreach Advisory Council. As Joravsky points out, "the deal was ostensibly struck between Chicago 2016, the organization Mayor Daley put together to oversee the games, and the Outreach Advisory Council, a group put together by Chicago 2016. Think of it as Mayor Daley negotiating with himself." The City Council's Finance Committee then approved a memorandum of understanding between Chicago 2016 and... itself. As Progress Illinois points out, the relevant language in the ordinance amounts to little more than "an aldermanic nod of support" to the MOU. Because the city itself is not actually a party to the agreement, enforcement of the provisions of the "agreement" are predicated solely on Mayor Daley agreeing with himself in seven years.

That lack of accountability is leading some community groups to go ahead with protests planned for the IOC visit this week. "We played by the rules. We took our ideas to our officials and tried to negotiate," Jay Travis of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) told Progress Illinois. "Until the city puts forth the effort to protect its neighborhoods, we're going to be busy." Even if you aren't a part of a community group like KOCO, or a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, you can still make your voice heard this week. No Games Chicago is holding an anti-Olympics demonstration on the Federal Plaza Thursday, April 2 at 5p.m.