Olympics & Chicago: Chi-Town Residents Don’t Trust Politicians, Suspicious They Will Get Stuck with Bill during Recession
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on July 27, 2009
Chicago residents suspicious they'll end up paying Olympics bill
Broken promises and bold-faced lies from the past make it difficult to trust, IMAGINE that…
The bid for the Olympics in 2016 aren’t being viewed favorably by Chicago residents, hit by the economic crisis, who doubt the word of city officials. City electeds are zealously promising that taxpayers won’t be left holding the bills for the event.
Are they telling the truth? Unfortunately, so many politicians in Chicago, and nationwide, have been effortlessly lying for so long, trusting them sure seems like a sucker’s game. And every time, once the lie is discovered, it’s too bloody late to do anything constructive about it. Citizens often feel helpless, not being able to protect and defend themselves from unscrupulous elected public servants. They can’t do anything about it…
Except to vote the lying, manipulative weasels out in 2010.
Like Connecticut’s Senator Christopher “Master of Lies and Lobbyists” Dodd: Dodd rails about lobbyists, rakes in their cash and Unscrupulous borrowers: Democrats Dodd & Conrad knew about VIP treatment and Corruptocrat Chris Dodd caught lying again
Kick a dog often enough, he’ll haul off and bite you in the leg. And if you’re bitten, no sympathy from most folks for the obvious end result of following through on a despicable, bullying path. Tell enough lies, and eventually, no amount of “I see the error of my ways” truth-telling will ever undo the resulting distrust and contempt.
From the New York Times:
Recession Shadowing Chicago Bid for Games
By Monica Davey | July 26, 2009…Polls here suggest broad support for bringing the Olympic Games to the city. But increasingly, the economic downturn is taking a central role in the local debate over the bid as more residents raise concerns that Chicago taxpayers, already struggling, could be left paying the bills despite assertions from organizers that no city dollars will be needed.
“How do we know?” a resident, Douglas Brown, demanded of leaders of the Olympics bid during a recent neighborhood meeting on the South Side.
“We can’t take your word for it,” Mr. Brown said, adding, “When do we get our guarantees to make us sleep at night?”
[...]
Organizers say private financial support is mounting, with $60 million raised so far for the bid, and no city dollars are expected to be needed for either the bid or the Games.
On that last point, however, residents of Chicago seem skeptical. They have heard promises before.
This spring, a $1.15 billion deal to privatize the city’s parking meter system turned into a fiasco after City Hall’s inspector general called it a dubious financial deal and after motorists said they poured money into fancy new meters that, in turn, spat out error messages. A few years ago, Millennium Park, a downtown centerpiece, opened behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget.
“You all are projecting we’re going to make a lot of money,” a resident, Robin Kaufman, told Olympics planners at a neighborhood meeting, one in a series intended to shore up support. “But the bankers were projecting they were going to make a lot of money. Bernie Madoff was predicting he was going to make a lot of money.”
Ms. Kaufman lifted a sign that read, “No Blank Checks.”
At a high school auditorium on the West Side, where the bid leaders showed glossy Olympics schematics and stood beside toned former Olympians, Stephanie Patton asked, “Why should we trust you?”
Even without a city having been picked for the 2016 event, Chicago agreed this summer to spend $86 million on land for an Olympics village. Bid leaders say private developers will ultimately foot the bill for a project that is to create permanent housing regardless of the Olympics.
Bid leaders say the Games themselves are expected to make $450 million in profits. In case of a shortfall, though, a “safety net” package for the Games will include an expected $1 billion in private insurance, according to bid leaders, as well as pledges from the State of Illinois of $250 million and the City of Chicago of $500 million.
Additional reading:
Founding Bloggers: Congress Votes To Support Chicago Olympic Bid – Dozens Wounded
PJTV: Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, Stephen Green: Does Obama Have A Different Copy of the Constitution Than The Rest of Us? (video)
The Underground Conservative: The Chicago Way In Action
The American Spectator: Obama’s Olympic Spirit
Hot Air: The Peasant Plan and Joltin’ Joe whiffs on his own curveball and Quotes of the day (Obama’s citizenship) and Boehner to Emanuel: Hey, thanks for “rescuing” the economy and Biden: We must bankrupt the country to avoid bankrupting it and What top-tier economists use to analyze success and Obama on stimulus: It’s worked great! and Obama staffers exhausted from grueling work of wasting trillions of dollars and White House: We’ll cut off criticism of Porkulus and Obama, the reverse Reagan and Video: The self-promotion stimulus and Rasmussen “passion index” down to -8
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Obama, Tell Me Lies… Tell Me Sweet Little Lies and Approval Rating Plunges to Negative 11 for POTUS: Obama’s Approval Drops to Double Digits for First Time
Patterico’s Pontifications: Obama to flog his faltering takeover of healthcare
Michelle Malkin: What the NYT’s 8,100-word Valerie Jarrett profile didn’t tell you and Stimulus…or smut-ulus? and The Obama-conomy: “It’s worse than you think” and “Michelle vs. Michelle” and More Soros-bots outnumbered at NY health care counterprotest and New unemployment numbers: Quick, blame Bush! and Obama’s transparency policy: Don’t let the sunshine in and The other party of the rich and Laughingstock: President Doom does a 180, cancels fear-mongering and Rahm’s ill-gotten gains and An Olympic-sized carbon footprint
Atlas Shrugs: Dirty Rahm
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: The party of corruption and crime: Pennsylvania Democrat Vincent Fumo convicted on 137 counts
Gunservatively!: The Dems Game Plan: Distraction, Distraction, Distraction
Repeal the 17th Amendment: Obama: No Pork or Earmarks in My Stimulus
Obama Lies: Learn about the Lies of the Obama Administration
Gateway Pundit: Ouch! Sen. Judd Gregg Tells Geithner His Budget Forecast Is a Lie and Ouch Again!… Sen. Judd Gregg Delivers GOP Weekly Radio Address – Slams Obama Spending and Busted!… Democrats Fudge Petition Numbers
The American Spectator: Another Obama Promise by the Wayside
Mere Rhetoric: WaPo: Obama Staffers The Bestest And Diligentest Staffers Ever. Especially That Gibbs Guy. He’s Super.
The Washington Times: GOP hits Pelosi for mouse funds
Innocent Bystanders: The Stimulus Package that Forgot to Stimulate Anything
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