All Signs Point to Olympic-Size Bum Deal for Taxpayers
We just ran across this recent story about the massive cost overruns that plague Vancouver — host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics:
Olympic-related construction bills continue to soar over budget for beleaguered Vancouver taxpayers, with some estimates putting the total added costs at close to $45-million. That’s apart from the troubled Millennium Project to house Olympic athletes, which is over its original budget by more than $100-million and has had to have its financing taken over by the city.
Earlier this year, we saw a major government bailout for the 2012 London Olympic Games — which have been plagued by massie cost overruns for years.
How about last year’s Beijing Olympic Games? Well, according to this story, the initial estimates of a cost of 28 to 30 billion yuan was blown away with actual costs exceeding 400 billion yuan.
What’s to make us think Chicago would be able to avoid these Olympic-size cost overruns?
History, for one. Just look at recent examples of major projects here in the Windy City.
Take, for example, Millenium Park. It’s certainly a nice place to visit — but the project was completed 4 years past its deadline and cost about three times as much as originally budgeted. Taxpayers foot the bill for $270 million of those cost overruns.
And what about Mayor Daley’s proposed CTA “Super Station” at the Block 37 site in Chicago’s Loop? Here’s a quick update on the status of that boondoggle:
After spending $213 million, the City of Chicago has decided to suspend indefinitely construction of an underground “super station” for express train service to and from the city’s major airports and downtown.
To build the station as originally planned, total spending would be about $320 million, more than $100 million over budget, according to city officials. Skeptics say the estimate of an additional $100 million may be low, noting the city has repeatedly underestimated costs on major projects ranging from football stadium renovations to park construction.
The experience of other major Olympic host cities, combined with the City of Chicago’s track record of botched budgets and deadlines for other projects, doesn’t bode well for any taxpayers hoping to avoid footing the bill for the 2016 Olympic Games.
All the more troubling given today’s news about the City of Chicago’s budget woes.
Despite Mayor Daley’s and Pat Ryan’s cheerleading for the 2016 Games … all signs point to a bum deal for the Chicago (and Cook County and Illinois) taxpayers.
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