Chicago makes its case to be 2016 Olympics host

Andy Shaw played the role of bad guy, the yang to Chicago 2016's ying.

The final segment of a two-day seminar, “An Inside Look at Chicago's Bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics,” last month at DePaul University offered Lori Healy, president of Chicago 2016, on one side and Shaw, a government watchdog, on the other.

Shaw, a retired political reporter and executive director of the Better Government Association, worries about doing things “the Chicago way,” aka under-the-table dealings and cost overruns.

The International Olympic Committee votes Friday on the 2016 host, choosing between Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.

“Chicago has a great plan for the Games,” Healy said. “We have a responsible approach. ... Chicago reflects the diversity of the world.”

Not all agree, however. Many residents are skeptical, fearing displacement in some areas and higher taxes. A recent Chicago Tribune poll found about half the respondents are against the Games, and some opponents even marched in protest Tuesday.

“I don't believe anything the city and the 2016 committee says,” Chicago native Larry Rivkin told the Associated Press.

There is ample support, too. Former Olympic committee Vice President Richard Pound, speaking at the DePaul seminar, said he'd be more worried if there was overwhelming support seven years before the event.

“The United States would never fail” as host, he said. “Nobody (among the IOC) has any doubt about that.”

Even Shaw had to admit “all of the bid components are on the right track.”

Organizing committee members and others involved in the bid are calling Chicago the “compact games” and are proud of the fact that Chicago would use many existing facilities, including Soldier Field and the McCormick Center. The $4.8 billion price tag is the lowest among the four cities bidding for the 2016 Games.

Ninety percent of the 31 venues in Chicago would be within 15 minutes of the Olympic Village, located along Lake Shore Drive with easy access to Lake Michigan. The price tag for the village is $1.03 billion and will be constructed regardless of what happens Friday.

“We are building neighborhoods that are going to last,” said Manuel Flores, 1st Ward alderman in Chicago's city government.

Just south of the village would be Olympic Stadium, an 80,000-seat structure planned for Washington Park. The stadium would be reconfigured as a 2,500- to 3,000-seat stadium after the Olympics.

“Nobody wants an 80,000-seat stadium in this area,” said Arnold Randall, Chicago 2016 director of community involvement. “It would never get used.”

Washington Park is located in a low-income area and at the heart of many of the concerns in Chicago. He and Cecilia Butler, president of the Washington Park Advisory Council, said the benefits outweigh any concerns.

“The Games will help with needed improvements in the park,” Randall said. “The Olympics provide a catalyst ... to rebuild. This will bring jobs and disruption, hope and worry, life and concern.”