If you need proof, if you need anecdotes about the pain of Athens, here you go

Gypsies live in the shadows of their Olympic venues. One can only imagine what would take up in the shadow of billions in wasted buildings here in Chicago. Martin Rogers with Yahoo! Sports tells us:

Four years since the Athens Games, a Greek tragedy is taking place. Incredibly, 21 out of the 22 Olympic venues now lie abandoned and in various states of ruin.

Gypsy camps have sprung up in the shadow of stadiums where the world’s finest athletes once battled for gold. Graffiti is scrawled over the outer walls of many sites, and it has been reported in Greece that upward of $1 billion has been spent simply to maintain these ugly wrecks.

That is Athens’ legacy.

Sixteen days of glory, but at what price? The Olympics are now almost a dirty word in Athens, most regularly used by politicians who use the issue of decay as a powerful campaigning point.

There was an element of tokenism in awarding the Olympics to Athens in the first place, a symbolic gesture intended as a nod to Ancient Olympia.

The Games will never return there. They will not be allowed to, if for no other reason than that the level of public outrage at the grotesque waste of money on oversized venues with no future is extreme.

The answer is clear Chicago, NO Olympics here

So, the governor even thinks downtown is "Out of Control"

So how would we as a city hold a successful Olympics, games that would quite possibly bankrupt the city, all while the National Guard and state police run the streets?

The violence is out of control downtown and it's high time SOMEBODY did something about it. We NEED the National Guard downtown and in the neighborhoods (on the south side). What we don't need is the globe looking at our bloodshed.



Gov. says Chicago 'out of control'
NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN? | Gov offers to send state troopers and National Guard copters to fight gang violence

July 17, 2008 Recommend (18)
BY FRAN SPIELMAN, DAVE MCKINNEY, FRANK MAIN AND ANNIE SWEENEY Staff Reporters
Calling violence in Chicago "out of control," Gov. Blagojevich on Wednesday offered to lend state troopers and National Guard helicopters to the city to augment the Chicago Police.

The governor is considering forming an "elite tactical team" to help the Chicago Police fight gang problems, a source said, adding that the unit could later be sent across the state to deal with gang problems at any city's request.


Gov. Blagojevich has offered to "loan" state troopers and National Guard equipment to the city to augment the work of Chicago Police officers. The image of state troopers and National Guard helicopters patrolling the streets of Chicago is certain to embarrass Mayor Daley.
(Sun-Times/AP files)


"It's fair to say that violent crime in Chicago is out of control. In certain communities in the city of Chicago, it is reaching epidemic proportions," Blagojevich told reporters at a bill-signing ceremony in Chicago.

The governor noted 16 children -- "almost one child a day" -- have been gunned down in Chicago since June 26. The shooting death toll for Chicago Public School students stands at 29 since last fall.

"Twenty-eight of those kids are African-American and Latino. Hard to imagine that that would be acceptable if that were, in fact, the case in other parts of the city or in a middle-class suburb somewhere. . . . Something is wrong, and this violence has to stop," he said.

The governor's surprise offer also comes at a time when his $34 billion state construction program is in a deep freeze, largely because Mayor Daley is unwilling to go along with a Chicago casino to finance it. Daley is aligned with state House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) against a massive gambling expansion.

The image -- or even the possibility -- of state troopers and National Guard helicopters patrolling Chicago is certain to embarrass Daley at a time when the city is one of four finalists to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Still, City Hall did not automatically reject the governor's sketchy offer.

Opening up this blog for all the search engines to find

And prove once and for all Chicago has OTHER fiscal and social obligations to it's citizens that come before the Olympics bid

How can we bring the world here to see us, our streets are running with blood!

When you invite company over to visit, you clean up your home so they see the best of you. Our city cannot seem to clean up our streets from all the murders and we're going to bring the entire world here.

Sorry, NO!

*Man fatally shot by police on NW Side
*Cops shoot, kill man on parole

Has anyone been paying attention to the shifting around being done by the Daley bunch to half ass move this and that concerning the Olympics everywhere all over town? They have NO IDEA what they are going to do for sites and all the lodging. It's like a Chinese fire drill even today

And just LOOK at what the world would see of us

Fresh from this morning's headlines around Chicago:

Teen shooting victim called 'mama's boy' -- Sun TImes

Boy, 14, shot in head, 'extremely critical' -- Sun Times

Driver shot by pedestrian in Oak Park -- Sun Times

Park Forest woman fatally shot at home -- Sun TImes

Cops seek car in hit-run death of GI -- Sun Times

Man fatally shot on South Side front porch -- Sun Times

Teen is shot for the 3rd time this year -- Tribune

Is this REALLY the face of our city and suburbs we'd like to show the world? Again, the Olympics have a much higher price tag than dollars.

One could well imagine an eager foreign press eating up those headlines and calling us Detroit

Athens, Greece, lost 10-12 BILLION dollars

That's billion with a B.

According to About.com, that was 5% of Greece's annual gross domestic product! Can we afford even the loss of 1 million dollars, heaven forbid 10 billion dollars?! The elected officials will make out fine, their well connected friends in the building industry will do well, but you and me, that's another question. How will I get to my office? How will you get to yours? 

You'll be hit financially once during the actual Olympics as you have to spend time doing things differently, and your time is certainly money. How much longer will your commute be? Sitting traffic wasting $4 a gallon gas are we?

This is just the tip of the iceberg friends.

Welcome to No Chicago Olympics

Welcome to what I hope will be an eye opening and informative look at the financial hardships that can occur to cities that graciously host the Olympics only to pay a lot more out in garbage collection, police, fire, city workers and others in overtime costs, the increased crime rate in the suburbs (as downtown and near events becomes a police state), the utter inconvenience of regular people getting to where they NEED to go in these tough times.

Hopefully this site will speak for the workaday concerns as well.

I'll welcome all intelligent rational discussion either for or against the Olympics being held in Chicago