Top News

CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Mayor Richard M. Daley says a proposed stadium in Washington Park could host other sporting and cultural events after being used for Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

But not everyone approves of the plan, and some say it would violate landmark restrictions on the park.

As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, the mayor announced his plans for the stadium at the South Side park on Wednesday. It was part of a move to make Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid stronger. Mayor Daley focused on what has been the city's weakest part of the proposal – the stadium – since Soldier Field and other local venues are too small.

But the proposed Washington Park stadium would seat 95,000 people – big enough to host opening and closing ceremonies.

The stadium would also house track and field events and open-air festivals. The Olympic Cauldron would be on display at the stadium for the duration of the games and would remain there as an ongoing memorial to the Olympics in Chicago.

Then the city would convert it to a 10,000-seat venue after the games. That amphitheater would host other sporting and cultural events, including local, national, and international track and field meets.

Washington Park is bordered by 51st Street on the north, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on the west, 60th Street on the south and Cottage Grove Avenue on the east.

"The beauty of the park itself – looking back at the panorama of the downtown area – that's the other issue too," Daley said. "It also would help the South Side tremendously."

"We need a state of the art athletics facility to win and we had the land here that will allow for that," Chicago Olympic Committee chairman Patrick Ryan said at the park.

South Side aldermen whose wards include or surround Washington Park support the mayor's idea, but not everyone does.

"A 95,000 seat stadium – let alone one that gets reduced later to 10,000 seats, and surface parking lots and roads – that's not compatible with what was designed as a really pastoral park," said Jim Peters of Landmarks Illinois.

An original designer of Washington Park was Frederick Law Olmsted, who is renowned for creating New York's Central Park, according to the electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, a project of the Chicago History Museum and the Newberry Library.

Some detractors said the stadium would clash with Olmsted's design.

"The idea of a 95,000-seat stadium just doesn't fit within an Olmsted-designed park," Friends of the Parks President Erma Tranter said.

But Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) said, "Not only are they going to be excited about the Olympics coming here, but the job contracts and opportunities."

"The downside would be if the mayor had not considered our community and taken everything downtown," added Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd).

Ryan wouldn't say how much the stadium would cost to build, but he said it would be privately financed.

Chicago , San Francisco and Los Angeles are the three U.S. cities in the running to host the 2016 Olympics.

The final decision will come next year. The U.S. Olympic Committee might end up not submitting any American city for consideration, but feedback has been that now could be the time for a U.S. host. The country last hosted a Summer Games in 1996 in Atlanta.

As for the other cities, if San Francisco wins the bid, city officials said they plan to build a new stadium and housing for athletes by the city's waterfront that would later be used as apartments.

Los Angeles, on the other hand, still has stadiums and water parks left over from the 1932 and 1984 Olympics to meet most of the Olympic Games' needs, officials there said.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)