No one can argue that getting the 2016 Olympics for Chicago would be both prestigious and profitable. The argument comes when you ask: Prestigious and profitable for whom....?
Obviously prestigious for the Mayor. A pretty good mayor who like all of history's pretty good leaders hopes to see something spectacular left in his wake. A statue, a building, a law, or hey why not an international event where I can cut ribbons and be seen by about 3 billion people over dinner?
As for the profitable part, the record suggests the biggest profit-takers will be the airlines, hotels, restaurants, cabbies, ladies of the night, and those city-loving investors.
No one's arguing about these folks turning a buck. But here's the thing. These prestige/profit takers total about 2% of the population. The other 98% of us will have to be content with (1) boasting to our out-of-town friends and relatives (2) cancelling all downtown plans for a month.
Of course, there's historic precedent for this sort of thing. Think Egyptian Pharaohs and Egyptian workers on the pyramids. The big guy convinced the little guys this would be something they and posterity would never forget. Turns out the Pharaoh was half-right. Posterity has never forgotten him.
The little guys...? Somehow posterity never caught their name...!
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I guess I'm selfish...while it would be a coo to have the Olympics here in Chicago, the thought of all the traffic it would bring, makes my vote no! :-)
ReplyDeleteHey, lets hear it for "selfish." I know that's un-civic of us, but then folks like us have so little control in our world. So I believe a little self-interest on our part should be permitted!
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