City council backs Olympics funding pledge
In a historic vote that could transform Chicago or saddle future generations with Olympic debt, the City Council on Wednesday authorized Mayor Daley to sign a host city contract that amounts to an unlimited guarantee from Chicago taxpayers.
The 49-to-0 vote sends a message loud and clear to International Olympic Committee members — one of whom was in the City Council chambers: Chicago may have hesitated to sign on the dotted line. But, there’s no hesitation anymore.
(AP)
“We are joining the ranks of the other three [finalist cities]. No longer will we be at a competitive disadvantage,” said Chicago 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan.
Minutes before the roll call, an impassioned Daley almost dared aldermen to vote against the Olympics.
“Vote your conscience. If you firmly believe and you have the courage, you vote no … Be not afraid of the stand you’ve taken before in a committee or on the floor,” he said, refusing to name names.
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) acknowledged that Wednesday’s vote was a leap of faith. But, she said, “Fear can’t paralyze you. Fear of the unseen cannot stop you from taking risk.”
Even Ald. Joe Moore (49th), the mayor’s most persistent City Council critic, signed on, despite what he called “lingering public anger and cynicism” tied to the “ugly stain of political corruption and favoritism” and the “history of cost overruns” on major Chicago projects.
If Chicago wins the Olympic sweepstakes Oct. 2 and the 2016 Summer Games are a financial disaster, taxpayers would be left holding the bag.
Daley and Ryan insist that won’t happen.
They claim Olympic organizers would literally have to blow through $2.4 billion worth of surpluses, private insurance and previously approved city and state guarantees before Chicago taxpayers would be left standing alone.
“This is very, very well protected. We have every catastrophe covered,” Ryan said.
“They have got this thing buttoned down so tight, unless a meteor hits us two days before” the Games, taxpayers will be protected, Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) said.
But, if the worst happens, Chicago’s financial future is now on the line.
That’s far more than the $500 million the City Council has already promised — and a far cry from Daley’s oft-repeated pledge not to spend “a dime” of taxpayers’ money on the Olympics.
Daley tried to avoid matching the full government guarantees pledged by rival cities, to no avail.
“The IOC made it clear this was non-negotiable,” he said.
That prompted the mayor’s June about-face at an IOC meeting in Switzerland that touched off a political firestorm at home and took the rest of the summer to put out.