Digg this
| 
Post to del.icio.us
| 
E-mail to a friend
I'm going to have to start charging Mayor Daley for all the advice I've been giving him for free.
Last year, I wrote a story saying if Daley "really wants to bring the Olympics to Chicago, I suggest he move the site of the proposed equestrian center out of Lake County."
My point was that he was stirring up more local opposition than he could handle with his plans to stick stables, riding paths, a 15,000-seat stadium, and a barn in the middle of the Lakewood Forest Preserve.
Unlike the wimps here in Chicago, who take whatever beating the mayor offers and ask for more, the residents of Lake County don't mess around. They don't want Daley and his Olympics team paving over their forest preserve and they weren't afraid to say so. They created an organization (Voters for Preservation) and a Web site, besieged the International Olympic Committee with letters and e-mail of opposition, and, perhaps most significant, put up candidates to run against Lake County Forest Preserve board members who had voted for the Equestrian Center.
The result? This morning Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee, which is coordinating the city's bid, sent out a press release announcing that the proposed Equestrian Facility is being sited at Tempel Farms, a stable in Lake County. The release quotes Bonnie Thomson Carter, one of the Forest Preserve District members running for her reelection life, saying, "We were honored to have been considered as a potential site for the Olympic Equestrian Facility."
In a Sun-Times blog post on the move, Doug Arnot, Chicago 2016 director of sports and operations, says local opposition had nothing to do with the change of venue.
Right. I say if enough Chicagoans say no, we won't get the games and the higher taxes and loss of park space that comes with them. It's just too much of a headache for the International Olympic Committee to shove a project down the throats of people who don't want it.
Because Daley didn't take all of my advice -- he took the proposed center out of the forest preserve but kept it in Lake County -- he's still not out of the woods. When I told Jay Glenn, a leader of the anti-Olympics movement in Lake County, about the change he said, "I'm happy as far as Lakewood is concerned, but I don't believe one tax penny of taxpayers dollars should go to the Olympics."
So here's some more advice for Mayor Daley: Just forget about the Olympics. Spend the money on schools and parks and stuff that we really need. Folks will call you a hero. I'll give you all the credit. If anyone asks, I'll say it was your idea all along.
Against Olympics and Ripping up Grany Park is not current?What planet are you on? Winning is in the eyes of the beholder. Your just mad because I have survived everthing Daley has thrown at me. NOW the shoe is on the other foot and I'm going to put it right in Daley's
A-S-S!
Sorich took orders from JOHN DALEY about hiring and CONTRACTS$$$$$$.I think thats Mayor Rich Daley's brother.
You think the Mayor knew?
lots of problems in Atlanta
I guess thats the main goal. It will be like Katrina in New Orleans, except its a man made hurricane.
He was an associate of Victor Reyes and Al Sanchez and worked on a number of campaigns including the 1999 Jesse Granato race that there was a book written about by famed Chicago author Peter Zelchenko where it documents the criminal activity of Tim Mitchell.
Mitchell also worked in the 10th, 12th, and 25th wards and for Stroger. He used to drive the State's Attorney float in the gay parade and was made fun of by his Catholic School family while unbenkowst to them Tim Mitchell was twisted and confused in sexual issues.
There is much much corruption in the Park District regarding jobs, contracts and other items.
Just look at the Millenium Park overruns and the Park Grill and the sex scandals, political contracts, and no paying for taxes and services.
Slim Tim Mitchell is also a racist and tries to violate civil rights and many other things.
Slim Tim, sue the reader and let's depose you so we can ask you under oath about your disgusting habits and what you have asked employees to do.
Slim Tim Mitchell the obese head of the Park District--how can you be the head of the Parks when you covered up corruption and worked with convicted felons, and now indicted people.
Mayor Daley, how can we trust you when you put people like Tim Mitchell in charge of the Parks and how can we trust you or slim Tim for the Olympics.
Flush the shit down the drain.
Write off the bad debt the bloodsuckers are.
Fire them all.
HAVE NO DOUBT, VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT
Ben--that is genius advice. Daley should spend the money on schools, parks, and the CTA. Duh
We can't afford keeping the CTA open
Park services are cut or too expensive
Daley is only for the rich and white
Ben actually is giving good advice
Keep hollering from the cheap seats Ben (and lil Mick). We will keep handling the people's business.
Thank God for ben and lil mick.
BY MICHAEL SNEED Sun-Times
Columnist msneed@suntimes.com
Tutin' Putin update: President Putin is now shootin' down that report from a Moscow newspaper that he ditched his wife and is going to marry an ex-gymnast more than half his age.
• • To wit: Putin, 55, not only denies the report -- which appeared in the Moscow Korrespondent -- and was picked up worldwide . . . but his alleged fiancee, Alina Kabaeva, claimed the story was "madness." (The London Telegraph claims word of the romance had been circulating for months.)
• • The buckshot: The billionaire owner of the paper, Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent, accused his staff of lying, and the Moscow paper retracted the story ... after receiving unscheduled visits by state security services (former KGB) . . . which led the London Times to report: "the tale has taken a new and darker twist."
• • The potshot: Despite the printed retraction, a deputy editor for the paper was quoted as stating: "I am absolutely convinced that the foundation of this story is true, that there was a romance. Our information came from an absolutely reliable source."
• • The upshot: So goes the story of freedom of the press in Russia, where more than a dozen journalists have died in Russian contract-style killings since 2000. The country regularly ranks as one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists
The only thing that makes any of these cretins relevant to the public at large is that the public has failed to deny these criminals reelection.
They only have the ability to commit their crimes because the majority of residents of this city and county have failed to prevent them from having that ability.
VOTE THEIR ASSES OUT OF OFFICE.
Focus on VOTING OUT Incumbents, from whatever offices, be they Executive, Legislative or Judicial branches of city, county and state governments, remove these miscreants from the positions of power they currently misuse and abuse, and begin the process of reclaiming the Democracy we all seem to think we have.
REGISTER TO VOTE
VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION
HAVE NO DOUBT, VOTE INCUMBENTS OUT
Al Sanchez is going to start singing like a canary
You're kidding, right? The paper may be free but Ben's keystrokes sure aren't. The man gets paid for what he writes.
Anybody cutting you checks for posting on this blog?
Alrighty then.
Coconate and McDonough are heroes against corruption