 merrie says: The event was a success in that the most countries ever participated, in that it made money, and in that the Soviet Union’s absence was hardly missed. But Los Angeles’ people " not its government " shared the spotlight. Will that be the case in Mayor Daley’s and President Obama’s Chicago? Finally, it will cost a lot of money. Whether private enterprise turns it into a net positive remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: it could have been much less risky. And both Obama and Daley know it. As Air Force One made its trek over the Atlantic, maybe Obama thought back nine years ago, when he voted “yes” in the Illinois Senate on renovating Soldier Field. The project cost more $600 million dollars, and the state and city were left with an open-air stadium with 6,000 fewer seats and a smaller playing field than before. The state could have paid for a larger stadium with a dome that could be used to host more than a handful of events a year. A larger playing field would have allowed Soldier Field to be the main Olympic Stadium. When Obama spoke in Springfield in favor of the project, he claimed it didn’t cost the state a penny. Wrong! The city collected the funds through a new hotel tax, which of course cost the state. In addition to making a trip to Illinois’ largest city that much more expensive, the tax to pay for the stadium could not pay for the state’s schools, pension system, infrastructure or property tax relief. Or it could have helped pay for Mayor Daley’s Olympic adventure. T.J. Brown is a small business executive by day and a freelance writer by night. He earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Journalism at ... |
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