Olympics 2016

Activists Demand Say In Olympic Plans

South, West Side Residents Fear They'll Be Displaced

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Community activists and labor groups protested Wednesday morning, demanding a say in Chicago's plans to win the 2016 Summer Olympics.

As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, the activists are from the city's South and West sides. They demonstrated in front of the Prudential Towers, 130 E. Randolph Dr., and asked for a meeting with the Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan. They got word that Ryan had agreed to meet with them.

"Cut us in, or cut it out!" they shouted.

The demonstrators are worried about being forced out of their homes to make way for the Olympics.

People have already lost jobs at Michael Reese Hospital, which is to close by the end of the year. The city had intended to borrow $85 million to have the hospital campus at 29th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue razed and replaced with an Olympic Village, but it was revealed earlier Wednesday that the deal to purchase the hospital broke down. Read More

"Now we got word Michael Reese took the bid off the table, so that's a surprise to me," said former Michael Reese employee Joe Smith, "and I'm still without a job."

"We know that whether the Olympic Village takes place at Reese, or McCormick Place or anywhere else, our concerns remain," said Amisha Patel of Communities for an Equitable OIympics. "Communities of color need a real investment of jobs, transportation and real affordable housing."

The city's original plan called for demolition and cleanup costs at the Michael Reese campus to come out of the pocket of Michael Reese parent Medline, at a cost of $20 million that the city characterized as a "charitable contribution." In the proposed deal, Mayor Daley wanted to roll the dice that the depressed real estate market would come roaring back.

The $20 million was supposed to be enough to cover demolition, environmental cleanup and five years of interest payments on the loan at a rate of 5 percent. But costs to raze the 37-acre campus came back 60 percent higher, at $32 million. Chicago 2016 Chairman Pat Ryan tried to salvage the deal by renegotiating the purchase price, but Medline apparently wouldn't budge.

Now it's back to the drawing board -- either by reviving the original plan to build the Olympic Village on air rights over a truck staging area for McCormick Place or building it south of 31st Street on a massive parcel being developed by Draper & Kramer.

Chicago 2016 must submit its final bid by February, and an Olympic Village plan must be part of it.

CBS 2's Joanie Lum and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

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