South, West Side group eyes share of Olympic pie
CEO 2016 | Demands jobs, contracts and protection from displacement
Saying it fears that poor and working-class Chicagoans would miss out on the benefits of hosting an Olympics here in 2016, a local citizens group Thursday demanded a share in jobs and contracts and protection from relocation.
The group, Communities for an Equitable Olympics 2016, comprised of a dozen established organizations, says that ordinary citizens from other American cities that have hosted the Games were unfairly displaced from their homes and missed out on economic opportunities.
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
"We're not anti-Olympics. We want to make sure the Olympics benefits the people in the neighborhoods,'' said Jay Travis, the executive director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, a CEO 2016 member group.
"We have no intention of giving up our homes and our jobs so that others can play games on the graveyards of our people,'' said the Rev. Booker Vance of the Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations.
CEO 2016, citing a Chicago Urban League study, said more than 25,000 people in Atlanta were displaced by Olympic development there for the 1996 games.
CEO 2016 wants a legally binding "benefits agreement" that includes ensuring that 80 percent of entry-level development jobs go to residents in the South and West sides near where Olympic venues will be built, protection from evictions, relocation benefits to those who do move, construction of new affordable housing and improved parks. The group wants four affordable grocery stores to be built on the South and West sides and portions of Olympic revenues to be directed to the Chicago Public Schools.
Chicago 2016 spokesman Patrick Sandusky did not address the specifics of the group's request in an e-mail from China but said, "It is our belief that hosting the Games will have a positive, long-lasting and beneficial impact on the city and its citizens. At this time, we have only begun conversations with members of CEO 2016 and we look forward to having a productive dialogue with them"
Meanwhile, Mayor Daley, back in Chicago after visiting the Olympic Games in Beijing, said China made a "statement to the world" that no other city can possibly compete with -- and Chicago would not even try if it hosts the 2016 Summer Games.
China spent $300 million on its dazzling Opening Ceremony alone. That's nearly as much as Chicago plans to spent to build its temporary stadium in Washington Park. "No one's gonna spend that,'' said Daley.