Results tagged “chicago2016”

Media outlets around the city are reporting that a body pulled from the Chicago River near Merchandise Mart early this morning is that of CPS Board of Education President Michael Scott. As of 9:00 a.m. this morning, police have yet to confirm the news but outlets such as the Tribune, Sun-Times, and ABC 7 (where Scott's wife, Diana Palomar, was vice president of community affairs) have reported the body as being Scott's. The body was discovered around 3:15 a.m. and Scott's car was found parked in a lot near the river; the body was pulled from the river around 4:30 a.m. Scott had last been seen yesterday evening around 6 p.m. after visiting his sister in a South Loop care facility, something family members said he did every Sunday. Scott's family later reported him missing. Neither police or the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office have confirmed the body was Scotts, though ABC 7 reports the CCME confirmed the body is an unidentified man, black, in his 50s.

Despite a failed attempt at securing the 2016 Games in Chicago, Patrick Ryan still has work to do on the Olympics front. Ryan, who was the head of the Chicago Olympics bid, was named chairman of the board of World Sport Chicago on Thursday, an organization whose focus is to get Chicago youth to participate in the wide range of Olympic sports. Ryan had promised that the city's work for the Olympics wouldn't end with the failed bid and this new position will test that promise.

Sure, we're over a month removed from the vote that sent shockwaves through the city (no matter what you thought of the bid), but we're just now starting to hear more information on what exactly went on in Copenhagen. The latest comes from Jack Kelly, of Lexington Kentucky and member of the 2016 bid.

It's been three weeks since the Big Letdown but Mayor Daley hasn't been quick to move on from the disappointment of finishing last of the Final Four in 2016 Olympic voting. Speaking last week to the editorial board at Crain's, Daley pointed out the disparity between government support for U.S. candidate cities and support other governments give their candidates.

Speaking at a DNC fundraiser last night in New York City, President Obama addressed criticism of his proposed health care reform but also took a moment to address criticism of his trip to Copenhagen on behalf of Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. Said Obama of his whirlwind, transatlantic adventure:

• The Cook County state's attorney's office is doing battle with Northwestern University's Medill Innocence Project over students' work in securing a new hearing for Anthony McKinney, who the project claims was wrongfully convicted for a 1978 murder.
• After months of pressure as a result of the Clout College scandal, University of Illinois chancellor Richard Herman announced his resignation, effective Monday.
• Anger is spreading over a fundraiser being held by the Fraternal Order of Police for Chicago Police officer Joseph Frugoli, who was charged with a DUI and reckless homicide for a drunk driving accident this past spring that claimed the lives of two men. Frugoli was off-duty at the time of the accident.

Chicago 2016 Olympic FAILGATE is starting to become a fleeting memory, which is why we're so glad we came upon this video before we fully move on to other things. If you're familiar with the various "Hitler bitches about..." Internet memes floating around the wasteland, then you already know some (all?) of the language is NSFW.

In his first local press conference since Chicago lost its bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, Mayor Richard Daley declared that he would pay no political price for the loss, "none whatsoever." “You wrote my obituary, didn’t you? Some of you have, I guess,” the mayor told the press. “I don’t know why you already put me in the grave,” he said. “I know you’re all planning on it, don’t worry,” he said, after asking that we at least run a nice picture of him.

With Chicago's Olympic hopes dashed, the local organization that dared us to Imagine Letting Friendship Shine will begin to close up shop. Chicago 2016 is expected to lay off nearly 60 members of its support staff, retaining a skeleton crew as it winds down operations by year's end. All of the brain power and dreamers, many collecting six-figure salaries from the organization, will go back to their corporate jobs or on to other lucrative jobs. What's left of Chicago 2016 will be dissolved, and its remaining finances will be donated to World Sport Chicago, who's mission is to "uphold and advance the Olympic ideals in every day life through active participation in Olympic and Paralympic sports" by bringing sports opportunities to Chicago youth.

So here we are, three days later, and we're still scratching our heads as to what exactly happened. But, puzzled or not, we move on. We know we came close to becoming "Olympicsist" over the last few weeks, but it was an important event for this city, a city we love. The questions surrounding the failed bid will linger and the biggest consequences of that failure won't shake out for a while, possibly until February 2011. The topic will still come up from time to time here on the site, but, for now, we, like the rest of the city, move on. If you feel like accessing any of our previous coverage of the 2016 bid, this can be done via a search of the tags "Chicago 2016" and "Olympics."

Between health care and the failed Chicago 2016 Olympics bid, we knew the honeymoon was probably over for President Obama. Even SNL has turned on Obama as evidenced by last night's opening skit. Politics aside, we couldn't help but chuckle at the Chicago 2016 t-shirt joke.

The Obama administration has gone into spin control in regards to Obama's trip to Copenhagen to support Chicago 2016's failed Olympic bid and is using the classic, "Well, they told us it'd be fine" method. A report in this morning's Tribune reveals behind-the-scenes details describing the way in which the Chicago 2016 bid committee persuaded Obama to make his much-talked-about whirlwind trip to Copenhagen on behalf of the city's bid. Worried that the heated health care bill would head to the floor of either the House or Senate for debate with him in Europe, Obama was still hesitant to make the trip until a few days before he took off.

• So what happened at the IOC vote? Some say blame the USOC though an Australian IOC rep thinks an Asian alliance may have teamed up to help Tokyo and hurting Chicago's bid as a result.
• Obama had a subdued, respectful reaction to the results - did we expect anything else - but the question as to how much this will impact his legacy looms.
• It took three hours after Chicago's first round bounce for Mayor Daley to surface, but he did and he was straight-forward in his thoughts on the bid: "I'm disappointed but you go on with your life."

The Tribune has the final tallies from the IOC's vote. Madrid was the surprise leader after round one but it seems most of those who voted for Chicago threw their support behind Rio come Round 2 and Tokyo supporters followed suit.

                 

We're still trying to figure out exactly...why? Was it the wooden performance by members of the bid team last night? Was there an anti-American sentiment? Was it something as seemingly small but actually big as the world-wide exposure of the Derrion Albert video, a single, visceral act of horrific violence? Who knows? What we do know is that there will be much speculation over the next few days - including here - and maybe we'll come to an answer. Though many of us here at Chicagoist were wary of the Games being held here, to lose in the first round is still...insulting? Hurtful? Because though we might not have wanted the Olympics here, that doesn't mean we don't have civic pride. We love this city. That's why we're here, writing day-in and day-out on this website about this city of ours. Out of love for a city we marvel at. So call us conflicted this afternoon as we try to figure out what happened. And, for some of us, catching up on sleep.

In an announcement that means heartbreak for many but relief for others, the International Olympic Committee has awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro over Madrid. Chicago, as we all know by now, was eliminated first in a stunning development.

Chicago 2016 has been eliminated in the first round in a stunning development. The crowd here at Daley Plaza is absolutely stunned. The crowd has thinned considerably and an alderman is trying to rally the remaining attendees. Most of the people remaining are walking around stunned. We'll have more photos and information as it becomes available. Speculation has already begun as to why not and now the memory of New York being eliminated in the second round for the 2012 Olympics is fresh on our minds.

             

Hello from downtown Chicago. The festivities have been kicking here for not quite a half an hour or so and the cool weather hasn't dampened the spirits of the large crowd gathered here at a sunny Daley Plaza. We're still a little under an hour away from the start of the IOC's voting. Barring a huge upset, Chicago is expected to make it to the final round of voting, most likely against Rio. That means we won't find out who gets the Games until the official IOC announcement at 11:30 a.m. In the meantime, be sure to keep checking back with this post as we add more pics and updates from the festivities and count down to the big reveal.

     

We're just a few scant hours away from learning who, exactly, will host the 2016 Summer Olympics and things are getting heated. An American source told CNN the battle between Rio and Chicago is "close as hell." Still, representatives for long-shots Tokyo and Madrid are also still going all out for the bid. Need a quick cram session so you can wow the coworkers around the water cooler with your 2016 bid knowledge before the big announcement? Then check out our candidate city profiles: Chicago; Tokyo; Madrid; and Rio.

                      

Good morning, Chicago. We're awaiting the start of Chicago 2016's final presentation before the International Olympic Committee. You can follow along at the official Olympics website or watch the presentation live on any of the main network affiliates or their websites. We'll hit the highlights below.

• According to the Trib, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is accompanying President Obama on the quick trip to Copenhagen. We're guessing they sneaked out before Sen. Burris knew they were gone.
• Speaking of Obama, once tomorrow's Olympic announcement is out of the way, he'll send Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Chicago to follow up on the Derrion Albert attack.
• We're not the only ones going all-in on the 2016 announcement; our pals at The Reader have a lot of great coverage of their own.

So the day is almost upon us. In fact, a long day of Olympic activities will kick off not only in Copenhagen, but also Chicago not long after midnight Chicago time. That's when - at around 1:45 a.m. our time - all four cities will have a chance to present their case to the IOC one last time. Every major network in town will carry it live both on television and stream it on their website. The IOC will also stream all the fun via their website. For the three of you still awake and on this site at that hour, I'll be covering it as well right here. Once that's all wrapped up, the voting begins. So how will the voting go down? The Tribune's James Janega is all over that question and breaks it down for us.

       

The IOC is all about pomp and circumstance, which is the only way to explain the opening ceremonies held Thursday night in Copenhagen. An opening ceremony for a vote? Sure, why not. Oprah, Mayor Daley, and Michelle Obama were among the Chicago delegates there while other members continued to spread out around town. The Trib has a running update of today's events.

With the Olympic announcement less than 24-hours away, we turned to a member of the staff who has experience living in an Olympic host city for a defense of the bid. Benjy is one of three Chicagoist staffers who lived in the Atlanta area during the 1996 Olympics and offers this pro-Olympics perspective.

              

Almost 200 people picketed City Hall last night to voice their opposition to the 2016 Olympic games in Chicago. Protesters hoped to send a message to Copenhagen - Chicago just can't afford it. “We're spending more money than we have. The city is spending millions while leaving workers out in the cold” said one demonstrator. Another protester, speaking from a megaphone, said “we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on public displays of wealth that we can't access.” The boisterous crowd petered out around 7:00pm, leaving only a few stragglers behind. Later, six people were arrested for the banner burning, but, again, authorities have said they believe those six were not involved with the main protest.

        

Six men were arrested at the Daley Center last night after they ripped down an Olympic banner from the Picasso and tried to burn it in the "eternal flame." The group got into a "physical confrontation" with police officers who responded and all six were taken into custody. Authorities have said they believe that the six jackasses men were not part of the organized anti-Olympics rally that was held earlier in the evening - we'll have more on that later. We'd like to think that these jerkstores were just upset over Pele's dissing of Michael Jordan, but...no. They just seem like trouble-making douchebags making things harder on those that protested earlier without relegating themselves to destruction of city property.

Ethics dust-up or no, it seems that Rio's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics has taken a big hit with the cancellation of several international swimming events. The reason? A lack of money. According to an AP report:

Brazil's Olympic promoters are fanning the flames of comments made last week by Mayor Daley regarding the competition between cities to host the 2016 Games. Daley minimized the odds of Tokyo and Madrid, based on geography, and dismissed Rio's bid chances in light of their hosting the World Cup in 2014. When asked last week if Rio hosting the World Cup would help it's bid for the 2016 Games, Daley said ``I don't think so. The World Cup is completely different than the Olympics,'' adding. ``that's all soccer stadiums, it's completely different. They don't have all the other events there that we have.'' The IOC prohibits bid cities from criticizing rivals.

• Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan, speaking at today's press conference in Copenhagen, cited a new Zogby poll that claims 72 percent of Chicagoans support the Olympic bid.
• The Teen Cop Impersonator is back in the news as a judge has ordered him to three months in juvenile detention for violating the rules of his home confinement.
• The FBI is asking for the public's help in tracking down a Cicero man wanted in connection with a 1996 murder.

         

We mentioned earlier that the Chicago 2016 delegation has arrived in Copenhagen in preparation for this week's final presentation and vote on the 2016 Summer Olympics host city. Here's photographic evidence of the team hitting the ground running (in some cases, literally).