DALEY DAMAGE CONTROL

The Gazette Chicago chimes in on Daley's Olympic dreams: Mayor's Vision of Olympic Rings Not Exactly Golden:

The City Council and the public have yet to see solid numbers on what the costs will be — and the Council and the public will not be shown those figures for around 60 days, giving us all a short window of time to react before the International Olympic Committee decides which city will get the Olympics. We are expected to have faith in numbers we have not seen.

Once again, whether concerning costs or contracts, City decisions are being made in a hurry, in a vacuum with no transparency and no scrutiny.

What does Chicago’s government machinations usually come up with—the best-case scenario, or the worst? Think about that the next time you’re parking at a meter.

...

Mayor Daley may have gotten President Barack Obama to stump for the games, but he has not gotten him to guarantee one cent to pay for them. The City already is stuck with a 75-year parking deal that’s going to drastically reduce its revenue. Add a Montreal-like potential 30-year Olympic debt, and you have more than a recipe for disaster; you have a recipe for municipal bankruptcy.

In other Olympic news, Chicago 2016 officials are going to hold public meetings:

Mayor Daley’s Olympic team will hold a series of public meetings around the city in the wake of the erosion of public support for the proposed 2016 Olympics following the city’s open-ended financial guarantee.

Working with local aldermen, public meetings are being scheduled so that residents in all of the city’s 50 Wards can meet with the Chicago 2016 organizing committee, aldermen and even Olympic athletes, to talk about the city's bid for the Summer Games.

A Chicago 2016 official pooh-poohed the notion that this was damage control in the wake of Mayor Daley making a surprise announcement that he would sign an Olympic host-city contract that would leave taxpayers on the hook for any losses.

Kurt Summers, chief of staff for Chicago 2016, said this is about keeping the public informed with just 90 days before the International Olympic Committee votes for a host city.

Various meetings are in the works. You can find a schedule here.

No word yet on if these meetings will be like the ones Chicago 2016 secretly held with our aldermen. You know, the same meetings one alderman called a "bullshit" Olympic propaganda briefing.

I'm hoping these Olympic people will let the public take a look at their financial analysis and answer all the questions we have about the real costs of the Olympics in Chicago. But if these meetings are anything like other public meetings in Chicago, I highly doubt it will be much more than a lengthy presentation by the Chicago 2016 folks. Remember what Tom Tresser said in this rant:

Congratulations Mr. Mayor, your lap dogs at the Park District and Chicago Plan Commission have sullied public process and honest government once again. Your appointees to these bodies have shown us that clout and law breaking is what drives policy decisions in your administration. You have appointed hacks and cronies to every agency that is supposed to serve the public. Instead, they are fleecing the public. Your way of governing looks more like Stalinist Russia and Communist China than main street America. This body and the Plan Commission are stacked with your minions who vote in lock step after zero true public debate. This very meeting was called early to cut short public protest.

photo via Gazette Chicago