This is what happens when you allow the King Daley to control the bid. Important things are left out that affect the region and, in this case, the State of Illinois.
In a last-second "oops, we need to do that?" effort, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagjoevich has written a letter pledging he will TRY to get $150 million of taxpayer support from the State of Illinois General Assembly, just after city officials noticed the State of California's financial guarantee was officially signed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The problem with this is that why all of a sudden when we've all known for the past year this was necessary? It goes back to the problem of Daley's micromanagement. This has become Daley's process, not an independent process that looks at the full picture. That means that everyone sits on the sidelines unless Daley chooses to invite them. That's not how successful bids have worked in the past or will work in the future.
The State of Illinois has a very huge deficit and massive financial problems, not to mention the proposed biggest tax increase in history being pushed by Gov. Blagojevich. Maybe the State of Illinois should kick in funds, but not if this is a Daley-Chicago process that excludes the 7 million people in the Chicago metropolitan area that surround the City of Chicago. Thus far, the region has been excluded, which is poor planning and actually goes against the original vision back in the early 90's, which smartly was inclusive of the region.
We hope the USOC is thinking through these things carefully. The question isn't whether Los Angeles or Chicago is a viable host. The question is also about trust in the process. Thus far, Daley has miserably failed when it comes to trust.
In a last-second "oops, we need to do that?" effort, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagjoevich has written a letter pledging he will TRY to get $150 million of taxpayer support from the State of Illinois General Assembly, just after city officials noticed the State of California's financial guarantee was officially signed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The problem with this is that why all of a sudden when we've all known for the past year this was necessary? It goes back to the problem of Daley's micromanagement. This has become Daley's process, not an independent process that looks at the full picture. That means that everyone sits on the sidelines unless Daley chooses to invite them. That's not how successful bids have worked in the past or will work in the future.
The State of Illinois has a very huge deficit and massive financial problems, not to mention the proposed biggest tax increase in history being pushed by Gov. Blagojevich. Maybe the State of Illinois should kick in funds, but not if this is a Daley-Chicago process that excludes the 7 million people in the Chicago metropolitan area that surround the City of Chicago. Thus far, the region has been excluded, which is poor planning and actually goes against the original vision back in the early 90's, which smartly was inclusive of the region.
We hope the USOC is thinking through these things carefully. The question isn't whether Los Angeles or Chicago is a viable host. The question is also about trust in the process. Thus far, Daley has miserably failed when it comes to trust.
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