Day: June 25, 2007

Just read an interesting piece on the Chicago 2016 bid in In These Times. Mischa Gaus, a Chicago-based writer, wrote “The Olympic Hustle,” a piece about what the Games could do to the city. He highlights it with a bit of history about what previous Olympics have done to its host cities.

It’s an interesting piece. Not one I’d necessarily write, given the magazine’s history, but good nonetheless.

On the opposite end of the editorial spectrum, Kathy Bergen of the Chicago Tribune reported today that L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa co-signed a resolution supporting the city’s Olympic bid. Others signing the resolution were Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, president of the United States Conference of Mayors; Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, chair of the USCM committee on tourism, arts, parks, entertainment and sports; and Richard M. Daley.

Ben Bradley, the ABC 7 Chicago reporter covering the Chicago 2016 bid, is blogging about the Games!

While he doesn’t offer regular updates (the last post is from May 30) what he does offer is a bona-fide press credential. And he’s pretty candid on his blog, too. About his experiences covering the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, he writes:

The Chicago media’s attempts to secure credentials to cover the Pan Am Games may be emblematic of the problems plaguing the organizing committee: We are just five weeks away from opening ceremonies and Rio 2007 has not yet managed to issue non-rights holder credentials to members of the press seeking to cover the Pan Am Games. Typically, this purely bureaucratic task is accomplished nine months before opening ceremonies. Heck, the committee hosting the Summer Olympics in Beijing next summer have already contacted the media to begin the credentialing process.

I look forward to reading more posts from Ben. Keep it up!