No Games Chicago Opposes Bid to Host 2016 Olympics

Chicago Tribune, January 28, 2009

Chicago's Olympics boosters aren't used to much opposition. So when they got wind that a handful of anti-Olympic activists were holding a public forum on Saturday, they didn't take any chances.

They sent an e-mail to their volunteers, who number 10,000, asking that supporters pack the event and make their views known.

"We need to show the world and the International Olympic Committee that this small group does not speak for all Chicagoans and that we want the Games here," the e-mail said.

The high-voltage reaction surprised the meeting organizers, who are paying out of their own pockets to rent a room at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"What threat do we pose?" said Bob Quellos, an organizer of No Games Chicago. "I think the intent of the e-mail is to try to drown out debate and discussion."

The bid team for the 2016 Summer Games denied any effort to stifle dissent. "We are only asking our supporters and volunteers to take part in a forum discussing the idea of Olympic Games in Chicago," spokesman Patrick Sandusky said.

The Chicago 2016 e-mail went out after No Games rejected its offer to provide a speaker for the panel discussion at the event.

Since Mayor Richard Daley began his quest for the Olympics three years ago, there have been few dissenting voices. The City Council earlier this month approved, with no debate, a package of guarantees required for the bid.

No Games Chicago, which wants the International Olympic Committee to choose another host city in October, is raising tough questions about how much the Games might cost taxpayers and whether the projected benefits might be overblown.

Organizers of the new group hope Chicagoans will be alarmed by news from Vancouver, which will host the 2010 Winter Games. Vancouver had to take over the financing of its Olympics Village after banks cut off funding to the private developer.

"People should look at Vancouver and be worried about Chicago," Quellos said.

Chicago 2016 officials have maintained that taxpayers won't have to pay for the Games, even though the city has pledged up to $500 million to cover any operating deficit, will have to provide additional city services and plans to spend $86 million to buy land for an athletes village.

--Laurie Cohen and Kathy Bergen