Current Event #2- Olympics loss forces Chicago to rethink city plans

Recently several cities had been campaigning to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Richard Daley (mayor of Chicago), and President Barack Obama had been campaigning for some time for the Olympics to be held in Chicago, by promising that they would create jobs through games-related jobs, construction, tourism and transportation. This past week however mayor Daley, President Obama and the residents of Chicago were all disappointed when it was announced that the 2016 summer Olympics would be held in Rio de Janeiro.

Like many other states in the U.S. Chicago is experiencing financial difficulty. Olympic organizers were anticipating that hosting the 2016 games would create a $13.7 billion citywide economic impact. "The loss marked a stunning defeat for Mayor Richard M. Daley, who spent three years working to sell Chicago residents on the games, often highlighting job creation and a financial influx that would help the city emerge from a recessional slump." Mayor Daley will be running for his seventh term in 2011, making him Chicago's longest serving mayor, but now the question is will this loss prevent him from being re-elected? " 'I don't think he will be looked at like a loser,' said Angela Byrd, 40, a teacher's assistant from Chicago." While some Chicago residents feel similarly to Ms. Byrd, Daley's approval rating has sunk to 35% as shown in a recent poll by the Chicago Tribune/WGN.

Loosing the campaign will definitely prevent the city of Chicago from bringing in the prospective revenue from the Olympic Games that they very much needed. However, if Mayor Daley wants to help Chicago out of their financial downturn, and improve his approval ratings, he needs to quickly propose new ideas and projects that will bring revenue and jobs into the city. By quickly getting started on these new projects, Daley will be able to shift the focus of Chicago residents from what could have been to what will now help them to better the city's economy.

While loosing the campaign for the 2016 Summer Olympic games was disappointing for Chicago, if Mayor Richard Daley focuses more on new projects and less on their loss, he can help improve Chicago's economy, and increase his chances at re-election.

"Olympics loss forces Chicago to rethink city plans," USAToday.com, October 4, 2009 <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-03-chicago-whats-next_N.htm>