Olympic chances just got better
Barack Obama’s victory doesn’t mean Chicago is a shoo-in to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. But let’s put it this way: Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro are probably running scared right about now.
Using Obama’s superstar status on the world stage to carry Chicago’s Olympic bid over the goal line leads Mayor Daley’s wish list of hopes for the new president.
(Jean Lachat/Sun-Times)
“You can bring your Olympics…[only] so far. Your prime minister [or] your president has to then carry the football…It helps us tremendously, but you can’t take it for granted. That would hurt us…in the eyes of the International Olympic Committee,” the mayor said.
Daley has long contended that, when the private sector economy slows down, it’s time for the public sector to speed up — by initiating a massive public works program that generates jobs and contracts.
With Obama in the White House and more Democrats in Congress, Daley just might get his wish for a modern day version of the New Deal.
“He reminds me of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He’s taking over the country in a recession…Some people think it’s a Depression…You have to put people back to work,” Daley said.
Police Committee Chairman Isaac Carothers (29th) wants Obama to adopt a Clinton-style federal program to put more police officers on the streets in Chicago and other major cities at a time Daley is slowing police hiring to a crawl.
Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) wants Obama to make Chicago the Midwest hub of a high-speed rail network and to increase CTA funding. Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is hoping Obama will give unions battling Wal-Mart higher wages and an organizing foothold so the battle shifts to Washington, opening the door for a stalled Wal-Mart super-center in Chatham.
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) cautioned her colleagues to shorten their wish-list.
“Those of us who saw Harold Washington and lived through that realized that Harold could never live up to the expectations of the populace. That’s going to be the same thing with our new president,” Lyle said.
“I don’t know if you can have a windfall [for Chicago] when the economy has tanked. If the economy were better, we certainly would be hopeful. But I just don’t see how you can do it now.”