After Olympic flop, Daley must face budget gaps, record low popularity

[IndianaGreen]

Stuck with no-rings circus

ANALYSIS | After Olympic flop, Daley must face budget gaps, record low popularity

October 3, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Capturing Olympic gold would have solidified Mayor Daley's builder legacy and provided a bonanza of federal funding, jobs and contracts to bolster Daley's prospects for re-election in 2011.

Will losing the Olympics mark the beginning of the end of the Daley era?

Time will tell, but one thing is certain: After spending his political capital on the Olympics at the expense of higher priorities, the mayor has virtually nothing to show for it.

He comes home to face the grim reality of a $520 million city budget gap, a $300 million CTA shortfall and the continuing fallout from the horrific videotaped beating death of a Fenger High School student.

Without the extraordinary booty from a seven-year-long public works project, he'll be forced to find other ways to rebuild the South Side and reward feisty aldermen, corporate chieftains who bankrolled the bid and union leaders whose concessions helped minimize city layoffs.

"It's a disappointment. But it's not blood in the water," said Ald. Pat O'Connor (40th), the mayor's unofficial City Council floor leader.

"The challenges before him will now be more center stage. But if people think he's vulnerable, they're making a mistake. Losing the Olympics will not be the cause."

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/olympics/1804725,CST-NWS-olydaley04.stng

Disappointment at bid rejection not shared by all

October 3, 2009

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."

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/olympics/1804212,CST-NWS-olyhappy03.stng