A waiting-to-be-demolished home in Bensenville, Ill. Photo by John Crouch.
Olympic fever is leading suburban communities known for squabbling with
the city to set aside hostilities and declare their support for the
2016 bid. More than half of the 273 municipalities surrounding Chicago,
147 so far, have passed resolutions in support of Chicago's 2016
Olympic bid, according to the Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus.
This includes even communities like Elk Grove Village, which has been fighting with the mayor over O'Hare expansion for years.
Notably absent from the pile-on?
Bensenville, whose Village President John Geils had some choice words for the Tribune:
"Our issues are trying to survive," Geils said. "For us to get out
front and support the Olympics, I don't think it would be in our
interest. We're concentrating on how to provide the same quality of
life to our residents. It's very difficult to think about something as
esoteric as the Olympics when we're worried about garbage collection."
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BradFlora
Brad Flora is founder of WindyCitizen.com, a web service that lets people share their favorite Chicago news and events with their friends and neighbors. More
Comments
In August I chanced to drive through the area of condemned homes ... and I was appalled to see the boarded up homes. It was as you say eerie, spooky, but more than that a bit of a heartbreak. I know they have fought the good fight against Da Mayor, but they have lost their homes! And did they get anything like market value for them? Not that $$ is the only consideration. They have lost their home community. Did we think it could only happen somewhere else?! In Bosnia? In Turkey? In Africa? The Mayor did it to CHA residents, remember??!
Jo
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