August 2 - 8, 2021 Vol. 29 No. 30
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We are replacing our usual calendar with virtual events and recommendations from StreetWise vendors, readers and staff to keep you entertained at home! Should the Olympics still go on without spectators?
Cover Story: Olympic Aftermath
Postponed by a year because of COVID-19, the Tokyo Olympic Games are not popular with the Japanese people because of a coronavirus surge. Meanwhile, hosting the Olympics has become unpopular because of the costs not only of Olympic facilities but of public infrastructure -airports, transit and more - to support the influx of Olympic tourists. In an effort to burnish its global image, Chicago sought the 2016 Games that ultimately went to Rio de Janeiro at a cost of $20 billion. What are solutions for the Games of the future?
The Playground ON THE COVER & THIS PAGE: The Olympic Stadium in Tokyo (courtesy of the International Olympic Committee).
Dave Hamilton, Creative Director/Publisher
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StreetWiseChicago @StreetWise_CHI
Suzanne Hanney, Editor-In-Chief
suzannestreetwise@yahoo.com
Amanda Jones, Director of programs
ajones@streetwise.org
Julie Youngquist, Executive director
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ARTS & (HOME) ENTERTAINMENT RECOMMENDATIONS A Chicago Homecoming!
The Obama Portraits On loan from the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, these paintings are touring the country and Chicago is their first stop! The exhibit includes Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of President Barack Obama and Amy Sherald’s portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. The Art Institute of Chicago is proud to welcome this exhibit in celebration of the Obamas’ history, living and working in Chicago; Michelle Obama has even said that The Art Institute is where they went on their first date! The two portraits are covered in the highlights tour “Artists of the Obama White House,” which also examines works by other artists the Obamas chose to feature on their walls during Barack Obama’s presidency. On display through August 15. For more information about hours and pricing, including FREE days, go to arctic.edu/exhibitions/9507.
Broadway Outdoors!
Broadway in Your Backyard Presented by Porchlight Music Theater, this FREE, outdoor concert series highlights a variety of famous Broadway songs with positive and inspirational messages. The songs featured in this performance celebrate friends, family, and community, making it appropriate for all ages, so feel free to bring the whole family! The show begins at 6:30 p.m. on August 3, and runs for 90 minutes at Welles Park, 2333 Sunnyside Ave. In the event of rain, the official reschedule date is August 4 at the same time. For more information about the "Broadway in Your Backyard" series or other Porchlight Music Theater events, visit porchlightmusictheater.org.
(HOME) ENTERTAINMENT
Art In Tune!
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Tuesdays on the Terrace: Jazz at the MCA Come see this live musical performance in the Museum of Contemporary Art’s Anne and John Kern Terrace Garden, 200 E. Chicago Ave. This weekly series highlights renowned artists from throughout Chicago’s jazz community in a setting that’s free and accessible to the general public. Due to space constraints, those who wish to attend must reserve tickets in advance and they can do so at mcachicago.org/programs/music/tuesdays-on-the-terrace. If you can’t make it to this one, visit the same link to see other dates in this series! Hosted by Al Carter-Bey (WDCB 90.9 FM) and Richton Guy Thomas (WHPK 88.5 FM), the concert will run from 5:30 - 7 p.m. on August 3.
A Market for All!
Pilsen Vendor Market Pilsen Art House is offering its nonprofit gallery space for this weekly pop-up event to support Pilsen artists and vendors. The market has both indoor and outdoor spaces for community members to sell paintings, jewelry, candles, apparel, and other artwork and handmade goods. The event runs from noon - 5 p.m. on this (August 8) and future Sundays through October 17, and is a family-friendly option for community engagement. Admission into the market is free, and all patrons are required to wear masks in accordance with Pilsen Art House’s guidelines. Pilsen Art House is located at 1756 W. 19th St.
Midday Classical!
Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert - Virtual Broadcast The International Music Foundation presents this free virtual concert broadcast live from the Chicago Cultural Center. The program runs from 12:15 - 1 p.m. on August 4, and includes pieces by Tomeka Reid (pictured), Alexander Borodin, and Jessie Montgomery performed by the Grant Park Music Festival 2021 Project Inclusion String Fellows. Dame Julia Myra Hess was an English pianist who grew popular in the early 1900s for her performances of musical works by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann. To view the broadcast, and for more information, visit imfchicago.org/events. The concert will also be broadcast on 98.7 WFMT.
Combien ça coûte?
French Market at Gallagher Way Gallagher Way, 3635 N. Clark St., is excited to host this French street market on this (August 5) and other select Thursday nights for the rest of the summer. Guests can enjoy the casual nature of the event's open-street setup while connecting with neighbors, businesses, and vendors from the community. The market is host to over 20 vendors selling food, pastries, flowers, candles, soaps, and other goods with a European artisan flair. The event also offers a kid’s craft booth and live music, making it a perfect outing for the whole family. Gallagher Way will be open for the market from 4 - 7 p.m. and admission is FREE. For more information, go to gallagherway.com/events/french-market.
A Look Inside!
Summer on the Patio - Staged Readings This series offers a way for theater fans to share in the Artistic Home’s play production process. Throughout the weekend of August 6-8, they will be hosting a variety of staged script readings and open rehearsals of contemporary works, free for public audiences to sit in on. The scripts for these events will include "Mud" by María Irene Fornés, a contemporary classic about emancipatory feminism; "Ironbound" by Martyna Majok, a story of an immigrant woman’s life in the U.S.; and "The Pavilion" by Craig Wright, a poetic and humorous study of ordinary life. The staged readings will take place from 7 - 9 p.m. at Artistic Home’s Training Studio, 3054 N. Milwaukee Ave. and are also available to stream. A full schedule is available at theartistichome.org.
Human Rights & Nelson Mandela!
From Law Breakers to Law Makers: Working with Nelson Mandela - Virtual Panel Join the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center for this online panel discussion with Judge Albert “Albie” Louis Sachs, an anti-apartheid activist who was appointed judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela, and Justice Irwin Cotler, an international human rights lawyer and Counsel to Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment. Moderated by Juliet S. Sorenson, this conversation will examine human rights in the context of Nelson Mandela’s work and the people like Sachs and Cotler who aided it. Admission is free with a recommended $10 donation to support the museum and will run from 12 - 1 p.m. on August 8. Register online at ilholocaustmuseum.org/programs-events.
Fitness & Fun Times!
Pier Fitness: Sunset Yoga at Navy Pier Relieve stress at the end of a long weekday through this event presented by Navy Pier and Lifeway. Every Tuesday through August 31, a yoga instructor will be presenting a vinyasa + yin style class from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. in Navy Pier Polk Bros Park at 600 E. Grand Ave. This style of yoga focuses on strength and balancing while working to detoxify your body and is accessible to people of all skill levels. The workout is free, but patrons must bring their own yoga mat. Sunset Yoga is one of many outdoor exercise options Navy Pier is offering throughout the summer. For more information or to see what other classes are available, visit navypier.org/events-and-public-programs.
-Compiled by Audrey Champelli
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Vendors Russ Adams, John Hagan and Donald Morris chat with Executive Assistant Patrick Edwards.
SPORTSWISE
Donald: Jumping right in, fellas. I don’t know about this no-spectators thing happening out there in Tokyo this summer. I mean, I really don’t know about this. On a lighter side of it, I’m tripping a little bit on the whole physical aspect of it all with having no fans. Just my own thing with it. But, then, we got to realize—I mean, realize—the reason for the no-spectator rule: That COVID-19 ain’t spread its wings and flew away yet! Patrick: Don, first of all, I love that song. Spread my wings…and fly away…to a place that— Russ: …I long for…and my heart—all right, all right, y’all, let’s get back to it. Good to laugh and smile for a moment, but let’s get it. Donald: Yeah, so I’m now
hung up a bit on the whole “COVID’s back” thing. John: I believe that there should be fans, but definitely not to full capacity due to the low volume of COVID-19 vaccine remaining. Mental illness has been on the rise what with the lockdown. Getting COVID-19 is not as deadly as being shot or stabbed or in a car accident. So, to me, it seems to be about control—not health. Patrick: Now, for me, in regard to the Olympics— well, those in power in Tokyo making the decisions whether to bar spectators or not—there being a back and forth on the decision is troubling enough. I get that we’re opening up all around the world, and things are looking much better than they did a year ago—shoot, a couple of months ago—but that
we’re, first of all, leaning on vaccines that are not yet FDA-approved, plus not everyone is vaccinated or, even, planning to be and, second, there are new strains out here. There’s absolutely no way there should be fan attendance for something this international. Basically, the Olympics is such an amazingly worldwide celebration and, sans spectators, I believe it should be cancelled.
crying—none of that. I don’t know, fellas, a cancellation might not be horrible.
Russ: I feel you, but I’m still watching. I prefer the fans, but I dig the Olympics enough to watch regardless. With the NBA, WNBA, and NHL done, and only the MLB around, I think it’ll be cool to have the Olympics to check out.
Russ: Agreed.
Donald: Man, this pandemic is affecting everything. Ooowee. No cheering, waving flags,
Send an e-mail with your thoughts to: pedwards@streetwise.org
Patrick: Don’t get me wrong, people, I believe the Olympics can be bigger than having fans in the stands—or not—it just doesn’t feel right. John: And the big-head video people don’t sound good either.
Donald: So, there we go, fellas, we’re disappointed of course with the happenings in Tokyo, but let’s lean on the positive that it appears that those in power are looking out for the world.
COVERSTORY
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Anger in Tokyo over the Summer Olympics is just the latest example of how unpopular hosting the games has become by Mark Wilson
The Summer Olympics, postponed in 2020 by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021, in Tokyo. Even though surfing and four other sports will debut at these games, the locals aren’t exactly thrilled. According to a recent poll, some 83% of the Japanese public wants the Olympics canceled, and protests are frequent. Amid a coronavirus surge that’s left the country short on hospital space and slow on carrying out vaccinations, an association representing thousands of Tokyo doctors wants the games called off. So do Japanese business leaders. The International Olympic Committee, the nongovernmental authority that organizes the winter and summer games, has acknowledged this erosion of support without changing course. “We listen but won’t be guided by public opinion,” spokesman Mark Adams said. Based on research my colleagues and I have done about the costs and benefits of hosting the Olympics and other multibilliondollar sporting events, I find this statement ironic. The International Olympic Committee weighs public sentiment in cities when it decides where to hold the games.
COVERSTORY
For example, in 2019 the committee ruled out Stockholm’s bid to host the winter games in 2026. It selected instead Milan and the Alpine ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo because public support was stronger in Italy. Four other countries bowed out of the bidding process because of underwhelming domestic support to host the Olympics.
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Losing interest Tokyo’s predicament is only the latest and most extreme example of the way host cities tend to lose interest by the time these events happen. The risks that come with the prestige and attention generated when the Olympics, World Cup and other huge events are held no longer seem worth the trouble or the cost. Initially, the 2020 games commanded strong support. Tokyo got creative about engaging the public, such as by crowdsourcing the transformation of discarded consumer electronics into Olympic medals, seeking volunteers and collectively choosing Olym-
pic mascots. After a tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the games carried the promise and symbol of national recovery. That sense of promise was short-lived. Five years before the coronavirus pandemic began, Tokyo residents were losing interest in the Olympics. Critics bemoaned the bureaucracy, cost overruns and a lack of trained workers. When the original design for a new national stadium approached US$2 billion, it was replaced with a revised plan that would cost half as much. This pattern echoed what happened in Brazil, which hosted the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Years earlier, many Brazilians had been excited about the event. The reality was far different, with abandoned facilities, claims of corruption, and lost opportunities to remake Rio for all of its citizens. Urban planning scholar Eva Kassens-Noor and I analyzed 21 million tweets to gauge public interest in the Rio games. We found that while the sporting events may have been popular, the International Olympic Committee generated far more negative than positive sentiments. The tenor of those tweets suggests that the public saw the IOC as self-serving and lacking an interest in helping the host city.
What’s in it for hosts? On May 25, 2021, the State Department issued an advisory warning that “U.S. citizens are strongly discouraged from traveling to Japan.” It told Americans not to go there because of “a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.” But the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee indicated that U.S. athletes would participate anyway. Even if the games do happen, they will be scaled back. No international spectators are coming, and the safety concerns already expressed by many athletes around the world before the ominous U.S. travel advisory could translate into lower numbers of competitors than expected. A scaled-back Olympics would still generate plenty of broadcast revenue. The IOC earned $4.5 billion for the 2018 and 2020 Olympics, a powerful incentive to maintain the event. People around the world will still be able to watch the competition on television or on other devices, possibly with crowd noise added for effect. But that money largely flows to the International Olympic Committee, not to the place hosting the event.
The committee initially offered Tokyo $1.3 billion to cover some of what it’s spending on the Olympics, although contract language allows it to pay a different amount at its discretion. By one estimate, losing out on in-person foreign spectators could cost Japan as much as $23 billion. Local organizers have historically benefited most not from ticket sales but from what spectators spend on hotels, restaurants and their travels around the city and country. The decision to ban foreign spectators precipitates trip cancellations and refunds owed for 600,000 tickets.
A brighter future is possible Even if Tokyo’s Olympics turn out to be the debacle residents seem to fear, I don’t think it will necessarily damage the Olympics’ credibility for other potential host cities. Instead, the coming decade will determine whether the event will keep going in the future. Will the Paris Summer Games in 2024, the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in 2026 and the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028 be success stories? These events promise to be less expensive, as they will make use of venues built for past events, use temporary facilities and integrate long-term local needs into their construction plans. Each of these cities has hosted big sporting events before. The challenge is to do it again, only better. Mark Wilson is professor of urban & regional planning at the School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University. Courtesy of the Conversation.
Top: Protesters speak out against the Olympics in Tokyo on May 17, 2021 (Koji Sasahara photo). Center: An anti-Olympics banner in Tokyo (Jules Boykoff photo).
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How can the Olympic Games continue if cities no longer want to host them? by Suzanne Hanney
Cities no longer compete to host the Olympics, says University of Chicago Professor Allen Sanderson, so the question is how the Games should continue.
the Boston mayor said he “refuse[d] to mortgage the future of the city away.” Other 2024 finalists Budapest, Hamburg and Rome also withdrew. The choice came down to Los Angeles and Paris.
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) model has been for a long time to get a bunch of cities or countries to bid for the right to host the Winter/Summer Games and they will choose the best candidate. A lot of times it’s whoever’s willing to spend the most money for facilities,” Sanderson said in a telephone interview.
However, Los Angeles made it clear to the IOC that if it didn’t win, the city would not bid again.
“But more and more countries are finding out that the Olympics are far from being profitable. In fact, they are money losers of a significant nature. Things have changed somewhat in the 21st century, out of their control.”
As Sanderson wrote in the Tribune, “The spin from IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland: We have two outstanding proposals for 2024 and it would be a shame to reject either one, so let's reward them both. A less charitable interpretation: Given there were only two bids for 2024, the IOC did not want to risk the embarrassment of having no other suitors for 2028.”
Terrorism is a new cost, for one thing. The 2004 Summer Games in Athens were the first after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center, which raised their cost of security alone to $1.5 billion.
Paris will get the 2024 Games, nostalgically in line with the centennial of its 1924 Games, as portrayed in the movie, “Chariots of Fire.” Los Angeles will host the 2028 games.
In addition, sky-high bidding by Beijing for the 2008 Summer Games and Russia for the 2014 Sochi Games “raised the ante significantly,” as Sanderson wrote in the Chicago Tribune. “Russia spent more in Sochi in 2014 than had been spent on all previous Winter Games combined.”
Los Angeles is the only U.S. city that should host an Olympics, Sanderson says, because it has so much existing infrastructure, starting with the Rose Bowl and the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The latter hosted two Super Bowls, three NFL championships, the 1959 World Series, a mass by Pope John Paul II and a 1964 crusade by the Rev. Billy Graham that drew a record 134,254 people. Student dorms for the University of Southern California and the University of Califormia at Los Angeles will serve as the Olympic Village, “which will allow LA to get by on the cheap.”
China and Russia can spend money freely because of their topdown economy and an entrenched bureaucracy that inhibits public protest, Sanderson said. But European nations and the United States are more focused on the bottom line, and economists have preached that after the Games, Olympic facilities are white elephants. Sanderson saw the turning point when he was involved with Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Games. “We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do this,’ just ‘Here are the risks, here are the costs and the experiences of the last 10 cities that have done this.’” Boston withdrew its bid in August 2015 after receiving Sanderson’s report. According to a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) backgrounder,
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Los Angeles hosted the downsized 1984 Games, (Soviet nations boycotted in retaliation for the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games) which turned a profit. L.A. also hosted the Depression-era 1932 Games. Boston is Sanderson’s second choice for a U.S. Olympic city, given greater buy-in from Harvard and Boston College, also for the use of their dorms.
Barcelona 1992
An NBA team comprised of Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley took basketball gold, while new teams competed from former Soviet bloc nations and post-apartheid South Africa. The cost of the Games accounted for just 9.4% of the $9.3 billion spent to prepare the city, from new roads, to airport renovation, to two miles of beaches reclaimed from industrial slums. In the process, Business Insider said the city rose from 11th to 6th most popular in Europe. TOP: The Olympic Park in Barcelona, Spain (David Grey photo). CENTER: The Opening Ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona (photo courtesy of the International Olympic Committee). BOTTOM: Barcelona's Olympic Stadium (J. McLuvin photo).
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But what about Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Games that ultimately went to Rio de Janeiro? “Personally, I am glad Chicago did not win the bid because we’ve got enough of a financial problem,” said Sanderson, who has taught more University of Chicago students than anyone in its history. “Chicago and Illinois are not your poster children for how to run a state or a city. Pensions are a big issue. How do you get these people to stop spending money?”
Athens 2004
The birthplace of the ancient Olympics and the site of the first modern Games in 1896, Athens drew 11,000 athletes from 202 nations in 2004. Swimmer Michael Phelps topped the medals count, with six gold and two bronze. Preparations included a new airport, expanded public transport, and permanent sports infrastructure, which some economists say contributed to a Greek debt crisis.
If the IOC had allowed Chicago to use Soldier Field, dorms at the University of Chicago, Northwestern and DePaul as an Olympic Village, and McCormick Place as a media center, Sanderson said he would have been in favor of the city’s bid. But a 90,000-capacity stadium in Washington Park was a non-starter for him (plans called for it to be reduced capacity, post-Games). There was also the likelihood of cost overruns, because “the human tendency is to want to satisfy my constituency. Once you use the word ‘billion,’ every developer wants to get into the game. It’s the old Chicago question: ‘where’s mine?’ ’’ Terrorism was always a risk, but his bigger concern was “the tail wagging the dog rather than the dog wagging its tail” in terms of infrastructure. “What you would like to do is say, ‘We need infrastructure improvements to help our city and by the way, how would the Olympics fit into our plan?’ But we let this three-week party drive our expenditures for 50 years down the horizon. Countries get it backwards.” Rio de Janeiro is perhaps the most beautiful city he has ever seen, Sanderson said, but as a developing nation, Brazil didn’t have the economy for the new, expensive Olympics. CFR put the final tally for Rio’s Games at $20 billion, with Rio responsible for at least $13 billion. Four clusters of stadia were built, connected by $3 billion in new highways and a subway, which a state auditor found was overbilled by 25 percent. The 4,000 apartments that comprised the athletes’ village remained empty as of 2018, although at least 77,000 people had been evicted during construction. The city was still unable to pay its public employees, which some said led to a rise in violent crime.
TOP: Olympic flame at the opening ceremony of the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics (I. Alterego photo). BOTTOM: Peace and Friendship Stadium hosted volleyball in Athens (M. Eiskalt photo).
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“Urban mobility has improved, even if it is mainly between the Olympic city and the center of Rio,” Henrique Peregrino de Trindade wrote via Facebook message. Peregrino edits the bi-monthly Aurora de Rua newspaper written by a homeless
community in Salvador, 1200 miles north of Rio. Like StreetWise, it is one of more than 100 street papers around the world, members of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), headquartered in Glasgow. Seeing disabled Brazilian athletes win medals at the Rio Paralympics also increased national pride, he said. “But with the [2014] World Cup and the Olympics Games, Brazil went into debt and many investments that could have been against poverty went to the sport's elites,” Peregrino said. “Social injustice in Brazil - perhaps the worst wound in the country - has increased, not decreased, with these sporting events. You need a lot of money for these events, so the resources are lacking in social assistance, in health, in culture. In Salvador, during the 2014 World Cup, it was necessary to ‘clean the city’, hide the misery. Homeless people and favelas could not be seen by athletes and tourists.” Sanderson doesn't buy the argument that hosting the Games enhances international prestige. His students have compared building permits, hotels and tourists in cities that won Olympics with nearby cities that didn’t: Barcelona (1992) and Madrid, Atlanta (1996) and Charlotte, Sydney (2000) and Melbourne, Australia. They couldn’t tell the difference. Barcelona had a slight bump, however, because it was sprucing itself up to enter what was then called the Common Market, now the European Union.
Rio 2016
Michael Phelps swam for five gold medals and one silver in his fifth Olympics; with 28 medals, he became the most decorated athlete in the modern Summer Games history. Gymnast Simone Biles won four gold and a bronze, a feat she is predicted to surpass in Tokyo this year. The first Olympics in South America, the Rio Games cost $20 billion, including $2.06 billion for 34 sports venues (nine of them permanent), $8.2 billion for a subway line that ensured nearly half the athletes could reach their venues in 10 minutes and 75 percent in 25 minutes; for renovation of an historic port area and cleanup of polluted Guanabana Bay.
Some people have called for a permanent Olympic site, such as Athens or a Greek island, because of the debt that nation incurred. But because the Olympics always demand the latest technology, Sanderson said that would still put financial pressure on one country. Rotating the Olympics around five venues would just mean greater costs at 20-year intervals. The future of Games, he said, may come down to breaking them up into smaller world track, soccer, skiing and figure skating events that could even be split up among different countries. The effect would be similar to the World Series or the Super Bowl. “We have to have some way to reduce the costs, because that is the only way to keep more countries as participants.”
TOP: Aerial view of Baía de Guanabara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 12, 2019 (Lucas Campoi photo). BOTTOM: Barra Olympic Park in 2016 (André Motta photo).
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Chicago's failed Olympic bid 2016
The idea of Chicago hosting the 2016 Olympic Games was promoted as a possible fifth star on the city’s flag, equal to the two world’s fairs in 1893 and 1933. Mayor Richard M. Daley promised that $3.8 billion spent on the Games would make Chicago a “global city” and would return $22 billion in tourism and economic investment.
OLYMPIC STADIUM (OVERHEAD VIEW) - OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES, ATHLETICS Chicago's Olympic Stadium, designed and built specifically for the 2016 Olympic Games, would have rested in 100 acres of historic parkland in the Washington Park neighborhood. The stadium would have hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics competition. This facility represented both innovative and responsible construction, with the ability to accommodate crowds of 80,000 for the Games, then being reduced to a community-friendly amphitheatre post-Games.
Chicago proposed 79 percent of its venues as existing or temporary, according to the archived bid book. Soldier Field would host soccer; McCormick Place table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, volleyball; Douglas (now Douglass) Park on the West Side gymnastics, basketball, and cycling. Washington Park on the South Side would have been the site of swimming, diving, and the opening ceremonies in an 80,000-seat stadium that would have been reduced in capacity after the Games. Northerly Island would have hosted beach volleyball and even slalom kayaking, thanks to a river of rapids. The 16,000 athletes would have stayed in a $1 billion Olympic Village on the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital, 2929 S. Ellis Ave. Otherwise, Chicago promised economy, with two-thirds of spectators taking the CTA and Metra to venues. John Murray, chief bid officer, said in 2016 that a two-week event could not pay for 30 years of infrastructure.
OLYMPIC VILLAGE Located on Chicago's rapidly developing near South Side just west of the lake, the Olympic Village was to provide convenient, picturesque housing for 16,000 athletes and officials. Eighty-eight percent of athletes would have been within 15 minutes of their competition venues. After the games, it was to convert to mixed-income housing.
However, displacement was a concern. Kenwood Oakland Community Organization Executive Director Jay Travis told WBEZ that Olympic infrastructure would change South and West Side neighborhoods and raise the cost of housing. The Chicago Defender reported that the group No Games Chicago met with International Olympic Committee (IOC) members during an April 2009 visit to Chicago. In October 2009, Chicago lost its bid on the first vote of the IOC, which ultimately chose Rio over Madrid and Tokyo. NPR speculated that the IOC was enamored of having the first Olympics in South America, still angered at a bribery scandal involving the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and perturbed that Chicago was the last of the cities to guarantee the cost of the Games if ticket sales and sponsorships didn’t suffice. Advocates say that the effort still helped Chicago. Murray told ABC7 Chicago in 2016 that the attention led to Chicago gaining the NFL Draft, the America’s Cup race, an international triathlon and international rugby matches.
OLYMPIC SPORTS COMPLEX AT NORTHERLY ISLAND — BEACH VOLLEYBALL, BMX, TRACK CYCLING The Olympic Sports Complex at Northerly Island was to play host to Beach Volleyball, BMX Cycling, and Track Cycling. Images from the proposed Chicago 2016 Olympic bid (www.chicago2016.org).
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Chicago would have been paying off the $91 million loan on the Michael Reese property until 2024. However, on July 21 the City Council accepted the $96.9 million bid of GRIT Chicago LLC for a 7 million square-foot, mixed-use development. The 48-acre property will include 4,800 residential units, 20 percent of them affordable; the City will provide $60 million for new streets and a park.
1 to 9.
Streetwise 7/12/21 Crossword To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, column and box must contain the numbers 1 to 9.
Sudoku
©2016 PuzzleJunction.com
59 Mine passages 64 Roswell sightings 66 Cup handle 67 Nativity scene 68 Ballet wear 69 It has strings attached 70 Exhaustive 71 Strong cleaner 72 ___ capita 73 Cashing in one’s chips
7 8 9 10 11 12
Lettuce variety 35 Trifle Waste pipe 37 Moonfish Eccentric 38 Arizona city Wrist joints 39 Garden figure French farewell 41 Cover story? Peacock 46 English ___ network 49 Study 15 Junk E-mail 51 Just about 20 On pins and 52 Joint problem needles 53 Horrible 21 Sherpa’s home 54 Bubkes 24 Append 55 Fruit-peeling 26 Undiluted device 27 White hat 58 Tahoe, e.g. Down wearer 60 Supermarket 1 Stag 28 German mister section 2 Blackhearted 29 La Scala 61 It’s clicked on a 3 Track highlight computer assignment 30 “Phèdre” 62 Hoodlum 4 Plains Indian playwright 63 Collector’s goal 5 Refusals 34 “The Matrix” 65 Take to court 6 Get on ___ role PuzzleJunction.com 67 No-goodnik Copyright ©2016
Copyright ©2021 PuzzleJunction.com
©PuzzleJunction.com
lastSudoku week's Puzzle Answers Solution
Solution
Sudoku Solution
PuzzleJu
Crossword
Across 1 Putting woes 5 Logs Z’s 9 Mail deliverers 13 Demolish 14 Aid in crime 15 Student of Seneca 16 Mentally quick 17 Waxy covering of a bird’s beak 18 Auspices (Var.) 19 Fortify 20 Chernobyl natives 23 High regard 25 Kind of drive 26 Deserving 28 Sharpen 29 On the road 30 Sugarcoat ©2021 PuzzleJunction.com 33 Working day 37 Hideout 11 Light 64 Oklahoma city 38 Ancillary refractor 65 Start with while 40 Rarer than rare 66 Poseidon’s 12 “Send help!” 41 Lay to rest 13 Scottish cap mother 43 Penny, perhaps 67 Leave in, as text 21 Like a piano 44 Sea predator 22 Latin clarifier 45 Look like a 24 Eye infection Down wolf 26 Dry riverbed 1 Eastern 47 Tooth decay 27 John Irving’s discipline 49 Overthrow “A Prayer for 2 Gypsy 51 Lucky charm ___ Meany” 3 Goombah 53 Web site 28 Left 4 Investigator necessity 5 Mother-of-pearl 31 Like some 55 Bruiser doors 6 Crosswise, on 58 Eric of Monty deck 32 Overhead Python fame light? 7 Persian spirit 59 Slave away 34 Peevish 8 Fetor 60 Automaton 9 Discover 35 Type of card 62 Astute 36 “___ the night 10 Musical 63 Brewer’s kiln before...” notation
38 Hippodrome, e.g. 39 Bodily cavity 42 Ingredient 44 Bonanza find 46 Newspaper worker 48 Advisories 49 Milk dispenser 50 Ends of the earth 51 Biscotto flavoring 52 Gozo Island is part of it 54 Genesis skipper 56 Assignment 57 LAX info 58 Mamie’s man 61 Loophole
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Financial Literacy Vendors buy StreetWise for $0.90, and sell it for $2. The profit of $1.10 goes directly to the licensed vendor for them to earn a living.
Supportive Services StreetWise provides referrals, advocacy and other support to assist participants in meeting their basic needs and getting out of crisis.
S.T.E.P. Program StreetWise’s S.T.E.P. Program provides job readiness training and ongoing direct service support to ensure participants’ success in entering the traditional workforce.
THE PLAYGROUND
To empower the entrepreneurial spirit through the dignity of self-employment by providing Chicagoans facing homelessness with a combination of supportive social services, workforce development resources and immediate access to gainful employment.
Solution
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