In recent headlines in the Chicao Sun Times and Tribune, now the “L” trains cannot even stay on the tracks above 6 MPH in many zones because the rails have basically rotted away to splintering timbers and there is no money to fix the rails right, so all the CTA can do is just little patch jobs to get from one day to the next without a major incident. Another issue is unlike NY with it’s rails which travel EVERYWHERE, we (Chicago) don’t even have any trains that run north and south that do not have travvel through the downtown area thereby forcing suburban commuters traveling suburb to suburb like Joliet to Schaumburg for instance to have to drive.

The Next big problem would be that Chicago’s roads are like something out of a third world country with their basic two lane design in most places, no left or right hand turning lanes in many places, potholes everywhere, tons of road construction, and horrible timing of traffic signals which causes constant backups on city streets like… well all of them! This poor sequencing of signals makes not only commuters in their cars late for things, but also busses, EMT’s, cabs, etc. since you will get stopped by nearly every signal along your route as nearly every signal will change to red as you approach it.

Another problem Chicago faces is that in a city where people rely heavily on mass transit (Chicago), we only have about 6,000 registered cabs, yet the Chicago metropolitan area is home to over 8,000,000, and by comparison, NYC has over 14,000 cabs???? Where are our (Chicago) other 8,000 cabs which we could REALLY USE???

In closing, if we are to host the Olympics, then Chicago really needs to start setting the standard in living by fixing it’s major problems and stop focusing on petty things such as green roof tops and skycraper setbacks from the street to allow for more sun light. Chicago wants to be a world class city, then it needs to stop lagging behind times and letting cities such as LA set the way of the future.

Here are some other events that could be hosted in a huge new stadium:
1. Concerts (both summer and winter w/ retractable roof).
2. Cricket, surely there’s a team in Chicago?
3. Rugby, again, surely there’s a team here??
4. Field Hockey
5. A 3rd MLB team???
6. College World Series
7. Pam Am Games
8. International trials for Track and field events for future Olympics.
9. Final 4
10. As mentioned above… THE SUPERBOWL!!
11. Political National Conventions

Personally I’d place the stadium just east of the existing (unused) El tracks that are just east of The United Center. So it’d be in the West Loop essentially, read below as to why I think that’s a good location.

Here are the reasons I support Chicago hosting the 2016 Olympics:
1. USA central location = cheap domestic and international travel, and it = great prime time TV audience coverage for the huge American populations on BOTH the East and West Coasts. Chicago is easy to get to, fly, drive, take Amtrak or take Greyhound.
2. By 2016 it will be the 20th anniversary of the USA hosting the Summer Olympics…. actually the 20th anniversary of the WESTERN HEMISPHERE hosting the summer Olympics.
3. I went to the Olympics in Atlanta in ‘96 and if they can do a great job, then shit, Chicago can do a stellar job!
4. The OMP (O’Hare Modernization Program) will be complete by then. It’s likely that the Gary Airport Expansion will be complete by then too. Which means Chicagoland will have O’Hare, Midway, Gary Airport, and South Bend airport all to host people flying in and out.
5. Chicago has great existing Rail Rapid Transit (RRT). Whereas Athens had to build their “second” subway, Chicago already has SEVEN RRT lines, and Metra has TWELVE (or more) commuter rail lines. Two of our RRT lines provide 24-7 service as do several bus lines. Not to mention the NICTD, RiverBus summertime service, trolley buses, and by 2016 the Carroll Ave. Transitway (now going under the name of The River Line).
6. Chicago may have the Airport Express trains up and running by 2016.
7. Chicagoland and “The Region” have most of the sports venues needed including:
a. Two baseball stadiums (although I hear Baseball is going to be cut from the Olympics altogether???).
b. The United Center for basketball
c. Soldier Field for soccer, field hockey, etc, etc.
d. The New Chicago Fire soccer stadium
e. Allstate Arena for basketball.
f. McCormick place for gymnastics
g. Notre Dame in South Bend (accessible via NICTD trains) for rowing.
h. Other universities, U of C, UIC, Northwestern, Loyola, just to name a few have existing sports infrastructure.
i. The lakefront park including Lincoln Park, Grant Park, and Burnham Park all have an enormous number of sports venues.
8. Summertime in Chicago in June and early July is gorgeous, enough said.
9. Chicago has the hotel, restaurant, and entertainment infrastructure to support an Olympics selling at least twice the number of tickets that Atlanta sold. It also has the cultural attractions and museums to satisfy our visitors.
10. Chicago has a huge existing media system including a major NBC office to help support global media coverage.
11. The Brown Line Capacity expansion will be completed by 2016.
12. The CTA Circle Line MIGHT (big “might”) be completed by 2016. I say put the main Olympic stadium next to the unused El tracks just east of the United Center and then incorporate the stadium into a new El stop there with direct access (skybridge) to the stadium from El platform level.
13. The swath of unused land that was supposed to be RiverSide Park http://www.riversideparkchicago.com/Flash.html
could be developed as the Olympic Village. It’s a good spot from a security stand point b/c one side is already bound by the south branch of the Chicago River. Additionally the site is very close to the Roosevelt Orange, Green, and Red Line stops so it’s highly transit accessible. It’s also close to downtown, not many cities around the world the size of Chicago have parcels of land that big and unused. It’s also close to Soldier field, and McCormick Place. Turning this into a mixed-use development would be great. The Olympic village (to be sold as condos or rented out afterwards), stores, restaurants, movie theaters, etc.

So the items mentioned above are just a start. I could literally waste my entire Sunday thinking of thousands of very good and solid reasons why Chicago SHOULD host the 2016 Summer Olympics… but I have to run.

C-H-I-C-A-G-O 2016 BABY!!!

It would be assome!