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Chicago 2016
Posted by Stillthinking • 4/25/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: chicago 2016, olympics
Chicago is one of the finalists for the 2016 Summer Games! Most of the city is in a tizzy of excitement over the possibility.
I am huge supporter of the Olympics coming to Chicago for purely selfish reasons.
The Olympics is an architect's wet dream. Even if you are not directly involved with the Games, there is residual and peripheral business and building that spreads out like a ripple effect. Winning the games means 7 years of non-stop growth and the opportunity to show off how gorgeous Chicago actually is!
There are Naysayers to the Games. They are in the minority, but they are really vocal.
Do you live in a city that has hosted (or is scheduled to host) the Olympic Games and how has that affected your city?
User Comments
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I live close enough to London to have some idea of the effect; yes, it spurs regeneration. However, the city's infrastructure is groaning as it is - it's a city that has evolved over time, and thus can't simply impose wider thoroughfares.
It is very expensive, and I'm concerned about what the long term benefits will be: I can't see all the facilities getting tremendous use in future. This is a problem that particularly afflicted the Athens games.
I love the Olympics, and there are up-sides, but it's a mixed blessing.-
Mayor Daley (I don't think people outside of Chicago realize how influential he is) is a huge supporter of the Games. It was his idea and he gathered all the local business support for it.
Daley has been mayor of Chicago for almost 20 years and truthfully, most Chicagoans consider him His Royal Highness "Da Mayor". If any American city has a king, its this one. -
that's kinda sickening
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Some people feel that way, unfortunately they are outnumbered by the Chicago Democratic Machine.
I support the Mayor in his attempts to make Chicago an architectural leader in Green building and his desire to make Chicago a world class tourist destination.
And to his credit, Chicago is a hugely pleasant and livable city that until recently was growing economically. -
To be perfectly honest, I think the Olympics are going to Rio - it would be the first time that South America has hosted the Games.
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I guess if he's a benevolent dictator
Green building is a worthy cause. -
I don't know. Obama is from Chicago and awarding the games to the city where the First African American president came from could be seen as a political reward.
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I wonder which neighborhoods they would have to clear...
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They are not clearing any neighborhoods. They are putting the Games in the Jackson park area and where the old Michael Reese hospital was. They are putting the games in the same spot where the Columbian Exposition was a hundred years ago.
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Oh
*pleasantly impressed--despite dissapointment over diffused cynicism*
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Come on! We don't have any Vancouver-ites or Salt Lakers or Atlantians who would like to speak up?
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Any Londoners? No one? *crickets crickets*
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I live in Fargo, dear. I've got nothin'. -
thank you for responding though. Well, this thread is crashing and burning.
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I live near Phoenix and unless they add the "Heat Stroke" as an Olympic event, I don't see it ever happening here. Here's wishing your fair city the best of the bids.
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