Disappointment at bid rejection not shared by all
Anti-Olympics activists cheered Friday morning as the rest of the crowd at Daley Center Plaza mourned the International Olympic Committee's decision to give the 2016 Games to Rio de Janeiro instead of Chicago.
As the Rev. Jesse Jackson tried to do TV interviews, Willie J.R. Fleming shouted, "Tell Mayor Daley and President Obama they need to come back here and come to Fenger High School!"
That was the school attended by honor student Derrion Albert, beaten to death last week.
The mantra of the anti-Games activists has been that the Olympics would divert money and attention from more pressing city needs, such as efforts to improve schools and infrastructure. The Games would raise taxes and enrich the connected, they said.
As dejected Olympics supporters left Daley Center Plaza, George Blakemore shouted, "Good! Now go home and work on parking meters and schools!"
Anka Karewicz, 28, another anti-Games activist, said she hoped opponents such as herself are part of the reason Chicago lost.
Amid the unhappy faces in Washington Park on Friday, one man didn't seem too upset. The Chicago resident, who declined to give his name, said, "The only Chicago people not happy about this decision are the ones in Copenhagen."
Abdon Pallasch, Dan Rozek