Olympic planners meet with aldermen to discuss taxpayer contributions

Sun-Times only to reinforce what has been said already today about the subject of financing the Olympics:

Mayor Daley's Olympic planners will brief Chicago aldermen today to try and reverse a public relations nightmare caused by the mayor's pledge to sign a host city contract that amounts to an open-ended guarantee from local taxpayers.

"People in my community are in my face saying, ‘You were tricked. He said you weren't gonna have to. Now, he's saying you must. Who's watching the shop? Who's representing us?'" said Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th).

"He puts everybody in a very difficult position. We have to respond to our constituents, and I don't need to get beat up about this."

Last week, Daley touched off a political firestorm back home when he told International Olympic Committee members meeting in Switzerland that Chicago would match the full government guarantees offered by its Olympic rivals in Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

That means Chicago taxpayers would be the final back-stop for Olympic losses if Chicago 2016 burns through $2.5 billion worth of public and private guarantees, including insurance that has not yet been secured.

I'm sure there will be more updates about the meetings with the City Aldermen regarding the olympic bid!

UPDATED 10:12PM Olympics bid team holding secret meeting with aldermen - Clout St

Matsoff said the briefings to groups of about 13 aldermen today and tomorrow will be similar to the presentation Ryan made to reporters on Monday. That's when Ryan said it would take 45 to 60 days to brief aldermen on an insurance plan he said will prevent taxpayers from being on the hook.

The change in plan was "in response to the City Council and part of our own process," Matsoff said.

Headed into a meeting this afternoon were Alds. Tom Tunney (44th), Ariel Reboyras (30th), Ricardo Munoz (22nd), George Cardenas (12th), and Robert Fioretti (2nd).

Jacquelyn Heard, the mayor's spokeswoman, disputed the notion that the unannounced, closed-door meetings were secret.

“The 2016 team walked into a public building in broad daylight right past a crowd of reporters that the team knew was waiting there and proceeded to brief aldermen as part of the same process that had been in place for decades," Heard said. "First, aldermen are given the opportunity to ask questions and hear the facts in private. This allows them to develop a well-informed opinion before they air them publicly.”