It seems that some of the city’s Southwest side constituents aren’t too pleased about Chicago 2016 Olympic plans.
Ray Hanania, pretty much the lead columnist for the Southwest News-Herald, wrote in a column today that while Southwest side taxpayers will be asked to shoulder its share of the burden, the area probably wouldn’t play a role in any Chicago 2016 plans, to everyone’s detriment.
He writes:
A lot will be forgotten during that time, and that’s good for Southwest politicians who are scrambling to explain why they were AWOL when the Olympic proposal was crafted.
Congressman Dan Lipinski and Ald. Mike Zalewski told our reporter Chuck Salvatore that Palos Park and Bridgeview will host “some” events, the Orange Line will get an “uplift,” and maybe they’ll improve the local highways.
We have one local highway. The Stevenson. It’ll be renovated regardless of the Olympics, to keep the road contractors fat and happy, and motorists late and distressed.
Oh. And they’ll improve Archer Heights streets. So, is Zalewski saying Archer Heights will have to wait 10 years before it sees any street work? Or, street improvements happen all the time, Olympics or not?
Geez. Hanania doesn’t pull any punches. He continues:
Mayor Daley insists there’s no need for taxes to pay for the $5 billion cost of the event. That’s $5 billion in today’s money. You know that price tag will skyrocket on the basis of the “Chicago Political Principle.”
The Chicago Political Principle is much like Murphy’s Law. The latter is all Irish the former is mostly Irish.
Here’s some examples of the Chicago Political Principle.
Millennium Park. It was budgeted at $150 million, but it took four more years to build and it ran $350 million over budget. Oh, Daley had an excuse for every dollar, of course.
Ouch. It’d be nice if the Tribune and Sun-Times gave these guys equal voice in their coverage of a potential Chicago 2016 Olympics.
