Daley has big shoes to fill for 2016 Olympics

August 22, 2008 Southwest News-Herald - City & Suburban

Daley Has Big Shoes To Fill for 2016 Olympics

By RAY HANANIA

Mayor Daley was easy to spot in his pink hat at the Beijing Olympics, but I bet he was green with envy at watching the opening ceremonies, wondering to himself how in the heck can he surpass the bar set by China?

Simply put, the opening ceremonies were phenomenal. Even though the impressive image of “giant footprints” formed by fireworks walking across Beijing to the Olympics “Nest” stadium were faked, everything else was unbelievable.

The Chinese Government brought 2008 people to beat drums in an opening count down, with glow-in-the-dark drum sticks, in a ceremony putting all past Super Bowl halftime shows to shame. The programs that followed tapped a Chinese Army of 22,000 additional performers.

The stadium seats 91,000, which was larger than the populations of at least two countries that competed. The “Nest” was wrapped with a huge “TV screen” displaying a stunning array of high definition images.

The center field had a floor that went from graphic animation to three-dimensional formations using blocks replicating ocean waves — not by computer control but through the intricate coordination of individual people who moved each block up and down in precise synchronization.

A Chinese athlete “walked” sideways around the stadium’s screen to light a spectacular and huge Olympic torch.

But all I could think of was what was going through Mayor Daley’s mind as he watched the 90 minute spectacle unfold?

My first thought was that dictatorships like China can tapped forced labor to do what it wants on a whim. It doesn’t need to go hat-in-hand to a legislature to beg for money to cover outrageous opening price tags some placed at $200 million, not including the billion spent on building the Olympic Village.

Chinese dictator “President” Hu Jintao reportedly didn’t like one set of costumes among the 15,000 costumes used, and, three days before the opening ceremony, ordered all new ones with lights that created a synchronized visual masterpiece.

So what might Daley do for the opening of the 2016 Chicago Olympics, if it happens?

Well, for one, the Chicago Machine is not dead, and there are more than 38,000 employees at City Hall who can be tapped at any time to create the worker force Daley needs to make his ideas a reality.

It’s a cinch he’ll have at least 2016 people to start with, just counting ghost-payrollers who never show up for anything at City Hall except their checks.

The performers can wear easy-to-fashion felon stripe uniforms with electronic ankle monitors from the County Jail, with dim amber street lights balanced on their heads that will need to be replaced every 15 minutes.

ComEd can shut electricity throughout Cook County — and blame it on a storm — redirecting it to the Chicago Olympic Stadium, that instead of built to look like a “nest,” can replicate in the finest detail a white envelop stuffed with cash.

What will the 2016 opening drummers use for their opening number? Garbage can lids painted in a glow-in-the-dark street corner blue camera lights tapping to the tune of the themes from “The Godfather” or “Jaws.”

If the stadium crowd doesn’t applaud, Daley can Denver Boot every car in the parking lot. By 2016, you won’t need any parking tickets to get the Boot.

Daley can just order it on a whim.

Oh. I wasn’t talking about Richie Daley being mayor. He’ll retire. The mayor of Chicago in 2016 will probably be his son, Patrick.

All hail Emperor Daley.

end

Chicago Mayor Daley hopes for inspiration from Chinese Olympics trip

Click comic strip to view larger image
Ray Hanania's World Comic Strip
August 2, 2008
Mayor Daley hopes to find inspiration during his visit to Beijing, China for the Olympics next week.
Go to http://professivecomicstrips.blogspot.com/ to view more comics

Chicago's Olympics and Orland Park

Mayor Dan McLaughlin said Monday he pushed through a resolution endorsing the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid because "... what's good for Chicago is good for the suburbs."

That would come as a shock to most people living in the suburbs, including in Orland Park. Many suburbanites moved from Chicago to get away from the city's corrupt political system, seeking freedom in much the way as our immigrant ancestors once fled the persecution, corruption and repression of their countries to settle in America.

No, Chicago's interests are NOT Orland Park's interests, unless of course, you work for a union that has much at stake with Chicago politics.

But jeez, if you criticize Hizzonner "da Mayor" -- I'm not talking about Mayor Daley but Mayor McLaughlin -- he get's his royal monarchy feathers in a ruffle. McLaughlin's idea of "serving the public" is to serve those who are loyal to him. If you are a voter who doesn't agree with his policies, then he ostracizes you.

I've been there with da Mayor. We've had our differences. he didn't mind soliciting my support when he was first running as an officeholder in Orland Park ... but once in office, turned and got sour.

Now, without any public discussion, the Orland Park village board approves a resolution endorsing the Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics.

Great. What do the Southwest Suburbs really get from the 2016 Olympics. As a reporter, I've spent a lot of time pouring through the proposals and the fact is the Southwest SUburbs get nothing. Zilch! Nada! The South Side of Chicago gets a lot. Daley is smart. He is using the Olympics as a plan to rebuild and revitalize the depressed South Side of the city, which has needed help for years. Even the South Suburbs -- which are NOT the same as the Southwest Suburbs -- get programs and benefits. Which is why the South Suburban Mayors Association has endorsed the plan.

Orland Park is NOT a rubber stamp for Chicago. We should be always defending the rights and needs of Orland Park First! We should be transparent about our conflicts of interest and insure that when our elected officials act they are acting in our interests and not the interests of others where they may work.

Some elected officials will get angry at this as they always do. It's their only response to demands that they be accountable.

But leadership means that they must be accountable to the people of Orland Park. And accountability means answering the tough questions and TAKING THE CRITICISM, which does not come often enough in Orland Park, where some of our officials seem to reign like monarchs and royalty.

Ray Hanania
http://www.themediaoasis.com/
http://www.orlandparker.com/