No Games Chicago Protests IOC Delegation

Chris Shaw (For the Vancouver Observer)

Chicago, a city known for political activism, showed that the spirit of dissent was alive and well last night when hundreds of demonstrators of all ages and races gathered to protest a visit by the IOC's Technical Team. Police estimated that over 200 people gathered in the city's Federal Plaza to hear a series of speakers denounce Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The event was organized by No Games Chicago 2016, a network of community and activist groups in the city. Speakers addressed Chicago's well known corruption and asked how city politicians and developers will handle the billions of dollars of Olympic spending without the money falling victim to problems that have plagued past development projects. Other speakers addressed the failing city infrastructure, school and hospital closures and demanded that money go to address these short falls rather than a "17 day party for the rich". This writer addressed the crowd on the costs of Vancouver's 2010 Games, the looming security lock down of city transportation, and the huge financial burden that the Athletes' Village debacle has left for Vancouverites.

Chicago's 2010 Bid organizers have claimed that the entire cost of the Games in Chicago can be financed solely by the private sector for under $5 billion. They have not specified who the sponsors would be. In spite of a boost for Chicago's bid from President Barack Obama and TV star Oprah Winfrey, Chicago's chance for success, once considered "Chicago's to lose", is now listed as last amongst the four candidate cities for the 2016 Games according to the Games Bid website that monitors hopeful Olympic cities. Chicago now trails competitors Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, and Tokyo. An online poll of almost 30,000 people by the Chicago Tribune newspaper found that 76% of those responding were against Chicago's bid.

No Games organizers led the protesters from Federal Plaza through the city's financial district to Aon Tower, the site of the Chicago Bid committee, to chants of "IOC, leave us be!" and "Hey, hey, no way, we don't want the Olympic Games". Protest organizer Bob Quellos called the protest a success. "We sent the IOC and Mayor Richard Daley a loud and clear message: We don't want the Olympics in Chicago when money is needed for schools and hospitals. We don't want to repeat the mistakes made by Vancouver and other Olympic sucker cities".

Protest organizers promised to hound the IOC for their entire six day visit. "We are going to be in their face every day", said Quellos. "When we're done the IOC will know that Chicago doesn't support the bid and that bringing the Games here won't be a good idea for them. Just as Vancouver's Olympic Resistance Network will meet the IOC in the streets in 2010, if the Games are awarded to Chicago, we'll fight it every step of the way to 2016".

Chicago cops protest contracts during IOC visit

By SOPHIA TAREEN, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Protesters took their causes to the streets Thursday as an International Olympic Committee delegation arrived in Chicago — their first stop among four cities vying to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

As committee members checked into the Fairmont Hotel and geared up for several days of meetings and bravado, Chicago police officers picketed City Hall, using the IOC visit to draw attention to a contract dispute, and the group "No Games Chicago" staged a downtown march and rally.

The opposition group, which believes the Games are bad for cities financially and can displace thousands of people, says money and energy directed at the Olympic movement should go toward schools, hospitals and transportation.

"The priorities in the city of Chicago, they're putting on an Olympic games while the city is crumbling around us," group member Bob Quellos said. "We're being sold lies."

Chicago is competing against Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro to host the Games. The IOC's inspection team, which will also meet with Chicago 2016 officials, is charged with grading the city's bid.

Activities on their agenda include visits to proposed venues along Lake Michigan where many sporting events would take place. The IOC is scheduled to make their decision in October.

Several hundred members of Quellos' group held an early evening rally at Federal Plaza downtown, and then matched to the Aon Building, where Chicago 2016 has been meeting. About a dozen speakers, most of whom denounced Mayor Richard M. Daley, predicted the games would be a disaster for the public schools, the poor, and the city's taxpayers.

"Mayor Daley wants to spend billions to bring world-class sprinters and jumpers here for two weeks, while no Chicago Public School has indoor track facilities," teacher Jim Vail said. "Where are the games for us?"

Several speakers urged the creation of a tent city for the homeless on Sunday at Washington Park on the South Side, which would be the site of the main proposed Olympic stadium.

Earlier Thursday, organizers estimated about 3,000 Chicago police officers circled City Hall and chanted, objecting to recent actions in contract negotiations.

While union officials would not say they planned the protest to coincide with the IOC delegation's arrival, the message was implied everywhere and officers participating said it helped the cause.

Several officers wore black T-shirts featuring white chalk outlines of bodies and "Chicago 2016" written underneath. Another had handcuffs in the shape of the Olympic rings. Other protesters criticized city officials; one sign read "Daley Unfair. No Games."

The city's police officers have worked without a contract since June 2007. Most recently, an offer that included pay raises was taken off the table, which infuriated many officers who came to the protest.

"We need to send a message that we're frustrated with negotiations," Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue said.

Brenda Ellerson, a 24-year veteran of the police department, said it helped that members of the IOC were in town during the protest, particularly since officers would be relied upon if officials choose Chicago.

"We're putting our lives on the line every day," she said. "It's just not fair. We know the economy is bad, but we still have to pay bills."

Daley spokesman Lance Lewis said the group has a right to protest, but referred all inquiries to Chicago police.

"We obviously honor the First Amendment right to exercise free speech," Chicago police spokesman Roderick Drew said. "Both sides need to sit down and work on an agreement. And we would rather have the two parties sit down face to face than to target an unrelated event."

Associated Press Writer F.N. D'Alessio contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Thousands protest against Olympic Games in Chicago
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-03 09:04:29

CHICAGO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A group opposed to spending money on the Olympics rather than on basic needs such as housing and education, held a rally at downtown Chicago Thursday when the International Olympic evaluation team arrived to inspect Chicago's bid for 2016 summer games.

A group calling itself "No Games Chicago" says the city should be spending money on schools and housing, public transportations and improvement of environment.

"We don't want Olympic Games, we want houses, we want schools, we want clinics", the protesters shouted.

Babara, who is working in a financial institute in Chicago, told Xinhua that she is opposing the Games, because "we have budget crisis, we are under economic turndowns, we want the money to be used for our housing, education, public transit." she said Chicago should not follow Athens Olympic Games which lost more than 8 billion U.S. dollars.

Another protester named David said that he lives in the south of Chicago near the Washington Park, but the Chicago 2016 plans to build a Olympic stadium in the park. He questioned the legacy of an Olympic stadium in a park he considers his lawn.

"Such a plan will damage the green environment and lead to decrease of properties and hike of prices of properties", he added.

Chanting "no contract, no Olympics," more than a thousand off-duty Chicago police officers formed a picket line ringing the Chicago City Hall in the late morning to demonstrate their anger over troubled labor negotiations with the city administration.

Asked about the prospect of protests during a press conference, mayor Richard Daley said "Everyone has the right to demonstrate. Let them demonstrate."

Independent observers say protests have become quite common when cities are preparing to bid for or host Olympic Games.

Chicago is the first stop on the evaluation committee's itinerary. It will visit Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid in the coming weeks, and the full IOC membership will select a host city from among the four finalists on October 2.

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Chicago Olympics: Michael Jordan, and protesters, to be part of international officials' visit to Chicago

By Kathy Bergen and David Heinzmann | Chicago Tribune, April 2, 2009

The images that Chicago will serve up to international Olympics officials in the coming week are changing by the hour, with an appearance by Michael Jordan and yet another community protest among the recent additions.

Long-expected to play a role in Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, basketball legend Jordan finally brings his megawatt smile to a promotional video unveiled at a news conference Wednesday at Douglas Park, an Olympic venue site on the West Side.

"The Olympic spirit—it's alive in Chicago," His Airness says in the video. "We're ready."

The former Chicago Bulls star, who played for the U.S. team that won gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, will not make a personal appearance during the International Olympic Committee evaluation commission's visit, which begins Thursday. But he will be more engaged as the bid enters its final months, said Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan.
Mayor Richard Daley and Ryan stressed the importance of Chicagoans showing their enthusiasm for the IOC visit.

"We couldn't have come this far without you, and we won't be in a position to get the Games unless we all work together on behalf of our great city," said Daley, the bid's chief booster.

Public support has inched up 1 percentage point in recent months, to 78 percent, according to a survey commissioned by the bid committee and unveiled Wednesday. Nonetheless, several protests are expected during the visit.

Activists who want a Chicago Olympics to produce community jobs, minority contracts and affordable housing said Wednesday that they will protest during the IOC visit at an unspecified time and place, despite a pending ordinance to ensure some of those benefits.

Communities for Equitable Olympics, a coalition, said it was upset that Daley and the Chicago 2016 bid team did not secure full City Council approval for a community benefits ordinance before the visit.

"Chicago has not honored its promise," said Denise Dixon, executive director of Action Now, one of the coalition group's members. "They told us we will have our concerns heard and a legally binding agreement to prove it. We don't have it."

The City Council's Finance Committee last week approved an ordinance calling for at least 30 percent of contracts to go to minorities and at least 10 percent to women, among other provisions.

-- (not on the protests, but some quotes from Dick Pound in this one)
THE INFLUENCE GAME: Lobbying to land the Olympics

By FREDERIC J. FROMMER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bringing the Olympics to the United States is a cause most American politicians can support. Still, the Chicago 2016 organizing committee figures a little prodding couldn't hurt.

The group has spent $420,000 on pressing its case in Washington since the second half of 2007, when it hired lobbying firm Dutko Worldwide LLC, through the end of last year. Much of the effort was aimed at getting public officials on board with persuading the International Olympic Committee. That included generating letters and resolutions of support from members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries and others, and sending them to the IOC as part of its bid submission.

The U.S. Olympic Committee, meanwhile, spent a similar sum on lobbying through the end of last year. Its work focused on ensuring a smooth U.S. visa process for visiting athletes, coaches and officials, and securing federal money for its Paralympic Military Program for disabled veterans and military service members.

The IOC is in Chicago this week, its first stop on its tour of potential host cities. The other finalists are Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.

Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky said the group will spend significantly less on lobbying this year. It now has a built-in ally in President Barack Obama, a longtime Chicago resident, and its work soliciting letters and resolutions for the bid book sent to the IOC in February is done. That book included a Jan. 15 letter from Obama, and he also appeared in a video message on behalf of the effort last year.

In fact, Obama could deliver the biggest coup for Chicago 2016 if he goes to Copenhagen for the final presentation to the IOC in October, when a host city will be selected.

In his letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, Obama calls the Olympics "an opportunity for our nation to reach out, welcome the world to our shores and strengthen our friendships across the globe."

"The president has been a vocal and ardent supporter of the bid from its inception, from the days he was a senator," said Sandusky. "We can't speak to the president's schedule, but we certainly made them aware of the date, and would certainly welcome his attendance should he be able to make it."

Heads of state can play a key role in the Olympic selection process. An in-person push by British Prime Minister Tony Blair was seen as a factor in helping London land the 2012 Games.

Sandusky said Dutko Worldwide helped generate resolutions and letters of support from not only federal officials but organizations representing governors, mayors and county officials, to demonstrate a broad government support. The lobbying effort also included seeking government subsidies for security.

The bid book, which cites U.S. House and Senate resolutions backing Chicago's quest, brags, "Chicago 2016 enjoys unified government support, with leaders and political parties at the national, state and local levels wholeheartedly endorsing Chicago's bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games ... All levels of government are aligned behind the city's candidature, and binding agreements assure the effective coordination of governmental authorities."

Olympic historian David Wallechinsky said the IOC looks at government support in reviewing a city's bid.

"The United States is unusual in that we don't have government funding for athletes, and for the USOC in general," Wallechinsky said. "So the IOC needs to be convinced that the U.S. government is behind this."

He said that the letters and resolutions of support are a minimum requirement. But without them, the bid would look flat.

"It's good ground work for Chicago to be doing this," said Dick Pound, an IOC member since 1978 from Canada. He said a divided vote by the Toronto City Council in 1990 to submit a bid for the '96 Summer Olympics helped derail that effort. The IOC wound up awarding the games to Atlanta, Pound said, partly because, "Atlanta came in rah-rah-rah, rah-rah-rah."

USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said much of his group's lobbying work on the 2016 bid is geared to the Olympic Leader Travel Program, which works to ensure that international athletes, coaches and officials destined for the U.S. for competition can come here.

"The ability to ensure access to our country is an important consideration for athletes and officials in international sport," he said. He said sometimes visiting teams will be named at a very late date.

"We want to make certain the (entry) process is as efficient as possible," Seibel said.

Sandusky said that Chicago 2016's lobbying also involves working with the government to "ensure ease of entry for all athletes, coaches and officials" from Olympic nations.

Wallechinsky said that was an important consideration for the IOC.

"They don't want to run into a situation where they get the sense that the U.S. government will balk at visas for athletes from Cuba or North Korea," he said.

Pound said he had no doubt that similar domestic lobbying efforts were taking place in Brazil, Spain and Japan.

"Almost every candidate city requires quite a lot of help from its national government," he said. "So you can be sure they're all working to achieve that."