Thursday, June 25, 2009

More on Aldermanic meetings with Olympic officials

A couple of articles on the controversy over the City of Chicago must guarantee the financing of the Olympics if the city is successful in its bid.

Aldermen lower the boom on Olympic planners after pledge backlash - Sun-Times
Chicago aldermen lowered the boom on Mayor Daley’s Olympic planners on Wednesday for concealing the need to sign a host-city contract that amounts to an open-ended guarantee from local taxpayers.

Chicago 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan has said he knew several weeks ago that the International Olympic Committee would insist that Chicago match the full-government guarantees pledged by rival cities.

But, Ryan chose to keep it quiet until last week, when Daley made the pledge to IOC members meeting in Switzerland.
...
Daley also waited until after the 2007 mayoral election to come clean about the need for a $500 million Olympic guarantee after initially pledging that “not a dime” of taxpayers’ money would be used to host the 2016 Summer Games.
Ald. Lyle was quoted in this article however one part of her quote was already seen in a similar article that I had already posted on this blog yesterday.

Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan meets with aldermen in private on Olympics funding issues - Tribune
Just two days after Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan tried to put off public hearings with angry aldermen about plans for financing the Olympic Games, he came to City Hall on Wednesday to allay their concerns in a series of closed-door meetings.

As he tried to calm City Council members who complained Mayor Richard Daley was keeping them in the dark about potential liability for taxpayers, Ryan and a Daley spokeswoman denied the private briefings would prevent the public from knowing what aldermen were being told.

"There will be [public] hearings and there will be briefings before the hearings, so they're fully aware and informed before the hearings," Ryan said of the aldermen when reporters caught up to him outside the unannounced meetings. "We want to take any mystery out of this, there's no privacy going on, what we're really doing is explaining where we are, why we are where we are."

Ryan was trying to calm a political storm caused last week when Daley told the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland that he was ready to sign "as is" a standard host-city contract. That agreement gives Chicago full financial responsibility for the Games, which would make taxpayers liable if the Olympics expenses outstripped about $2 billion in public guarantees and private insurance.

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