Just Doing Our Job

Hooray! I was so excited Chicago’s not getting the Olympics I made this crappy little photoshopped collage just for you by way of thanks for all your good reporting. —Anthony Burton

Re: “We Win!,” posted by Ben Joravsky, October 2

When I heard the news my first thought was “Thanks, Ben Joravsky!” Sometimes we can only articulate lousy realities. Once in a while we make some change with our reporting. I know you’re to thank as well as the folks at No Games Chicago.

What a week for Daley’s real Chicago to rear its head. I wonder how many people can connect the dots with how his crazy Ren 2010 program—school closings, reshuffled kids, and fired veteran teachers—has escalated the gang violence he doesn’t stop. —Sharon Schmidt

I realize that’s it’s more arcane IOC politics than anything else that doomed this bid, but at least it doomed it. I just hope this will have some blowback on Daley, both to tarnish his “legacy” and so we can boot his ass. What pissed me off more than anything was the way they tried to ram this down our throats without making any attempt to build real public support. That and how they wanted to tear up a Frederick Law Olmsted masterpiece—Washington Park—for a stadium. Imagine the outrage in NY if the government had tried that with Olmsted’s Central Park?

And to destroy the Michael Reese Campus—how can Chicago claim to love its architecture when the powers that be can blithely commit to destroying the only work of Gropius in the U.S.? And the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Friends of the Parks supported the bid! Chicagoans need to learn how to stand up to Daley. Even more sickening was how the aldermen just knuckled under to Daley—what a profile in courage that was. —Jolieblonde

Fuck you, Ben. Fuck you, Reader and fuck you, No Games Chicago. While you wring your hands in self righteous worry about corruption, traffic and crime, myself and thousands of other laborers who were hoping, PRAYING for the Olympics will now have to take on second and third jobs to keep the kids fed and the roof over our heads. It’s bad enough to watch what would have been work for maybe six years evaporate, but to see some assholes gloat about “dodging a bullet” makes me vibrate with rage. so, in closing, fuck you. It isn’t polite or pretty but it fits. —Brian

Seriously, what kind of pricks wouldn’t want the Olympics in their city? Cities do well when they have projects that people do together. The whole cost-benefit argument of how most Games actually lose money is irrelevant. The Olympics is the greatest festival a city could have. It’s great exposure. It’s what living in a city is about. —BigB

Please remember that the International Olympic Committee is an international body with internal politics. No Games Chicago and Mr. Joravsky only had opinions and attempted to let people know them. The International Olympic Committee had votes and they made the decision.

If someone convinced you that the vote was secured and that the Olympics were coming to Chicago, those people misinformed you. There was always a chance that Chicago would not be selected as the host city.

I am sorry that you had your hopes dashed. I think that Joravsky is writing about the potential for the city to have been responsible for billions of dollars in expenses related to hosting the Olympics, which given the fragile state of our economy, would only make Chicago’s financial situation even worse. &emdash;Fearless in a Fearful Chicago

Re: “Sweet!,” posted by Mick Dumke, October 2

All I can say is Felicitações, Rio de Janeiro! Congratulations, Rio de Janeiro! And if there’s any corruption involved, well ha ha, it’s your fustercluck. Also, obregado (thanks) to Ben Joravsky for all of his columns on this subject. —Don Mac Gregor, Riverwoods

Congratulations to Ben Joravsky for his tirelessly accurate reporting on the disastrous idea of the 2016 Olympic bid! His lone dissenting perspective stood in sharp contrast to the “rah-rah” schlockism of other local media’s bid coverage. Those of us possessed of any sense are delighted not only with the IOC’s decision but with its implicit message that Daley can no longer bull his way past the serious problems of basic infrastructure, both physical and social, that his interminable and tyrannous administration has wrought.

Relievedly yours,

Bruch Reed, Roscoe Village

Much gratitude to Ben and the rest of the Reader staff for keeping us educated, and of course, for the victory-through-loss this morning. A great day for informed Chicagoans. —lykorian

Thanks for your efforts, Reader, and for being one of the first beyond the south side to draw attention to the disaster this bid would have meant for Washington and other parks. —Charlotte

Great job, Ben et al. You guys love Chicago enough to hate the way it’s being run, and I love you for it. All the mainstream papers are just reprinting rah-rah boosterism about how we aren’t “the second city.” No wonder they’re going down the tubes. —skyperson

Ben, you’re a genuine hero. Thanks man. —Old School Native South Sider

Thanks for the great reporting Ben. Mick D. too. Take a victory lap. —Ze Roberto