The Chicago City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted for a measure that saddles taxpayers with the bill if the 2016 Olympic Games lose money.
The law authorizes Mayor Richard Daley to sign off on a contract that puts full financial liability for the Games on the city should Chicago next month be named the host city. It also requires Chicago 2016 to provide the council with quarterly reports covering expenses, financial forecasts, construction progress and details about women and minority contractors.
The vote marked a show of solidarity by the aldermen, some of whom had expressed concern about making taxpayers financially liable if the games lose money. The vote comes just weeks after a report from the International Olympic Committee that cited the lack of a full financial guarantee and lagging public support as strikes against Chicago’s bid.
“It’s not just the Chicago Olympics, it’s the United States Olympics,” Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) said before the council’s vote, prompting many in the audience who wore “I Back the Bid” t-shirts to applaud. “If we want to be united as a country, we gotta pull together as a city, as a state, as a country, for the bid.”
The International Olympic Committee will decide on Oct. 2 between the finalist cities of Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro. The event would bring more than 360,000 jobs to the Chicago area, Chicago 2016 leaders have said.
In a series of patriotic speeches leading to Wednesday’s 49-0 vote (the 36th Ward does not currently have an alderman after William J.P. Banks’ retirement last month), aldermen envisioned a Chicago whose landscape and economy had been invigorated by the Games.
Some formerly skeptical aldermen pointed to a reassuring audit of Chicago 2016’s budget by the respected Civic Federation as a turning point in their feelings toward the bid; others praised Chicago 2016 CEO Pat Ryan and his staff for conducting a series of community meetings – one in each of the 50 wards.
“I think everyone was concerned about the possibility of overruns,” said Ald. Richard F. Mell (33rd). “But they (Chicago 2016) got this thing buttoned down so tight, I think unless a meteor hits us the day before, this is gonna be a marvelous event.”
Other aldermen lauded Daley as a visionary.
“It’s not too often that you have a mayor who thinks years and years ahead,” said Ald. Gene Schulter (47th).
Ald. Joe Moore (49th) was a rare exception to the congratulatory speeches, focusing instead on his worries over the potential for corruption and a lack of transparency. He said he had decided just hours earlier to vote in favor of the ordinance.
“I will cast my vote in support of hope, in support of optimism, in support of what the Olympics can bring to our city, but with a wary eye cast on our city’s ugly history of political corruption and of favoritism,” Moore said.
For Chicago resident Jan Barkell, one of several dozen people wearing bid t-shirts in the packed council chambers, the aldermen’s vote was a major step toward realizing her dream of bringing the Games to Chicago.
Barknell, a homemaker who lives in Lincoln Park, said she believes the Olympics will be a boon to Chicago’s economy instead of a hindrance.
“I can’t imagine how beautiful it would be to showcase it (the Games) on the lakefront,” she said.
Members of groups opposing the bid, who have made their presence known in recent community meetings with jeers and signs, were largely unheard inside the chamber. But a member of No Games Chicago criticized the unanimous vote before it even occurred.
“No Games Chicago has always predicted that our aldermen would abandon their duty to protect taxpayer interests and go along with the mayor’s Olympic blank check,” Tom Tresser said in a press release he handed out as aldermen prepared for the vote.