The felonius fifty actually taking some initiative ?

Chicago aldermen demand Olympics money details after private meetings
Posted by Hal Dardick at 2:23 p.m.

Several aldermen are demanding complete details about the city’s proposed financial guarantee for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games so they can have them evaluated by outside financial analysts before signing off.

Those demands were made during private aldermanic briefings given yesterday and today by the 2016 Committee, a group appointed by Mayor Daley to make the city's bid for the Games, aldermen said. Committee Chairman Patrick Ryan said he would provide those details in late July or early August, aldermen added.

"They say the taxpayers are not going to be on the hook for the guarantee, but we haven’t seen the documents yet," said Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), referring to Daley's surprise commitment last week that he would sign “as is” the standard host-city agreement with the International Olympic Committee.

Aldermen have voted to cover cost overruns of up to $500 million and also set up a Bronzeville neighborhood tax increment finance district to pay for infrastructure, but the Olympics contract does not include limits on cost overruns.

To attempt to remedy that, 2016 Committee officials say they plan to obtain two private insurance contracts that would cover a total of $1 billion in overruns and contend it’s improbable that the city could have to come up with more than aldermen have already committed.

Some aldermen, though, suggest those declarations aren’t sufficient protection for taxpayers and nearly all say they need to know more about the insurance.

“We need to do a thorough independent review,” said Dowell, echoing the comments of many of her colleagues. Many aldermen have noted the backlash against the city’s $1.15 billion, 75-year lease of its parking meters after the council approved the deal just days after receiving details.

“We don’t want to be caught like we were with the parking meter fiasco,” said Ald. Willie Cochran (20th). “We are waiting for the supporting documentation."

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), one of only five aldermen to vote against the parking-meter lease, said Ryan and his team would not even reveal the names of the lawyers and insurers working on the guarantee. “Insurance isn’t going to cover everything,” Waguespack added.

Both he and Ald. Manuel Flores (1st) said they really learned nothing new during the briefing sessions, held in part because aldermen demanded further information in the face of constituent outrage over Daley’s surprise commitment.

“The information we received today is basically the information we received before, and I remain a supporter of the Olympics under the original conditions,” Flores said.

Flores said he remains committed to introducing an ordinance next week that will limit the city’s full liability to a maximum of $500 million and the amount yet to be determined that will be covered by the TIF district.

The state also has a $250 million guarantee on the Games.