Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Chicago and the Olympics

This past weekend Chicago cleared a major hurdle on it's way to hosting the 2016 summer Olympics. As a native of the Chicagoland area (I'm actually about a half hour outside of the city in a very wooded area) I'm really thrilled. Especially as I figured Los Angeles had it in the bag. Chicago is quite beautiful and I think would do a wonderful job hosting this event. Madrid and Rio are going to be pretty tough competition though. Any thoughts? Has anyone been to an Olypmic event before?

I live about 1 mile from the proposed stadium in Washington Park, and I too am thrilled! Like the Columbian Exposition of 1893, I think a Chicago Olympics has the strong potential to catalyze faster redevelopment of the South Side, and get the area to deal with problems it has ignored for too long, especially public transit.

I wish Chicago had the strength and vision to deal with its problems just for their own sake, but that's like wishing summer lasted all year long at 42 degrees north latitude.

I would think Chicago has a great chance for the following reasons 1) The opportunity to have a majority of venues and residences in the compact urban center, along or near the Lakeshore, using fallow, undeveloped or under-developed land, is a real draw. You would have to bulldoze historic sections of Madrid or Prague to accomplish the same. (See, even vacant lots are an asset, if you wait long enough!) The Lake, fronted by downtown, is a truly unique venue in the world, and will be a strong draw for the IOC, I think.

2) Never, ever bet against Mayor Richie Daley if it's something he REALLY wants. As the USOC selection shows, he's well nigh an unstoppable juggernaut. Before the final vote, Villaraigosa (LA Mayor) was practically endorsing the Chicago bid. My limited knowledge of the IOC is that it is a nexus of vainglorious, corrupt hacks. In other words, the kind of people a Chicago pol like Daley knows how to play like a Strad fiddle.

3) Daley is backed by a unified, manageably small group of Chicago corporate bigwigs with a lot of money and influence, and they seem very united behind the pitch. Chicago's business elite have been doing this sort of thing since the city began, starting with selling canal land before the canal existed in 1848.

Never been to one but I went to school in Atlanta and if they could hold one then Chicago can hold a better one. Congrats to Chicago. I don't think Rio has a chance, too much crime. Madrid will be tough competition.

So essentially the Olympics would be coming to your front door. How wild is that? And I couldn't agree with you more about Chicago's lakefront. Traveling down the Drive with such a powerful metropolis to oneside and such natural beauty to the other is still a thrill. I guess we owe a big thank you to Montogomery Ward and the many others who fought to keep the shore free of commercial and industrial developement.

if we get the Games it would be fun. but I am worried about cost overruns and any new taxes that may come out of this.

Chicago would be great. It's almost a Toledo suburb.

Between the beer, the brats, and the pizza, there won't be a single world record broken in any sport outside the weight lifting venue.