This week we found out the City of Chicago has a 469 million dollar deficit. One might think, with this incredible debt to bear, Daley might be putting less emphasis on Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics, but that is obviously not true. Earlier this year we found out that Mayor Richard M. Daley put, “Chicago on the hook for up to 500 million if the games’ operating budget lost money. Daley previously said no taxpayer money would be used for the Olympics. The city… outlined a five-layer structure of financial guarantees to submit to the United States Olympic Committee. One of the guarantees, estimated by an organizing committee, is a budget surplus of $525 million.” (AP story)
A few weeks ago, I listened to Mayor Daley publically admonish philanthropists for establishing endowments for education. The Mayor insisted that philanthropists focus on today and forget about the distant future. Well, Mayor Daley, I must ask, why are you pushing for a partial city government shutdown and layoffs, especially on the brink of a major holiday season, yet talk of the Olympics is still on the table? Apparently, Mayor Daley is disturbingly focused on the 2016 Olympics (which is years out), and not focused on how hundreds of hard working employees will put food on their tables this holiday season. No employee of the City of Chicago should be laid off, not for one day. Chicago can afford to keep everyone on the payroll.
Mayor Daley claims the year 2008 is not an ordinary year for Chicago, inferring that there is some sort of a recession. Aside from the residents that decided to live a ‘fool’s paradise’ by squandering the equity in their homes, Chicago’s financially responsible residents are okay.
