Feb 19, 2009 6:38 pm US/Central
Atlanta Mayor To Chicago: Go For The Gold
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin
CBS
According to the mayor of Atlanta, whose city hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics, Chicago has nothing to lose and everything to gain by going for the gold.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine examines whether Atlanta's investment really paid off.
It's said that those who don't learn from the past are bound to repeat it. That's why Atlanta's input is valuable. Its current mayor, Shirley Franklin, was a major player in the '96 games. She offered several reasons why Chicago should want the 2016 Summer Olympics.
"Number one, it increased employment," Franklin said. "People are moving to Atlanta and investing in Atlanta because they heard about Atlanta and what we were doing. So it increased our visibility, internationally."
"Number two," she added, "People got educations, educational institutions got stronger, and people got jobs and they expanded their businesses. There is no lose."
Franklin had much the same message Thursday for a street-smart crowd in Chicago as she tried to balance hope for the future against the reality of the past.
"There is no downside -- none -- unless we do this the old-fashioned way, and the haves get and the have-nots are left out," Franklin said.
The Atlanta games, she said, saw between 30 percent and 35 percent of jobs and contracts go to women- and minority-owned businesses.
"Ultimately, the legacy we want to see is that when minority participation is no longer a goal, but a given," Cheryle Jackson, executive director of the Chicago Urban League, said.
Chicago 2016 officials are negotiating minimum standards right now, but there's talk of a protest if they don't finish by the time International Olympic Committee officials visit in April.
"I've told community leaders who've come to see me we have common goals," Patrick Ryan, CEO of Chicago 2016, said. "So if people are going to pre-empt the process, I can't do anything about that. I hope they don't."
Nor can Ryan do anything about the scandals of Illinois politics being played out on the national stage.
"We were in a meeting where people kind of joked about Illinois and that was painful, not good to hear," Ryan said.
"I'm disappointed all of this has happened, but I don't think it damages the bid," he added. "I'm sorry for Roland Burris and the controversy that's developing. But the bid is way more than any of these things. The bid is all about the people of Chicago. It's all about this great community, and there are sidebars and sideshows, unfortunately, but we'll win it on the merits."
The merits include President Obama. On Thursday, Mayor Daley said unequivocally -- for the first time -- Obama will personally lead the U.S. delegation in Copenhagen this fall.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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