Olympic Madness

Getting caught up on my reading, I noticed a sidebar by Silent Sports contributor Bob Richards in the May 2007 issue regarding Chicago's having won the U.S. bid for the 2016 Olympics. Richards wrote, "If there is a negative, it's the temporary 80,000-seat stadium planned for Washington Park on the city's South Side."

With his being a journalist living in the Chicago area, I am surprised Richards did not also mention the flak Mayor Daley and the board of the Lake County Forest Preserve District have received over the proposed Olympic equestrian center just outside Wauconda, where I live. (There was, for example, a front-page article in the Chicago Tribune on May 25: "Habitat Pits Cranes vs. Games"; this story and much other information can be obtained via the website of Voters For Preservation http://www.votersforpreservation.org/, of which I am founding member and officer.)

The details of this terribly flawed plan, which would involve tearing up hundreds of acres of publicly owned forest preserve land, are on the VFP website. Our organization believes the LCFPD board greatly overstepped its authority by offering to give away precious open space and woodlands when taxpayers in past referenda voted to acquire acreage with the understanding it would be preserved -- not developed.

I would urge all Silent Sports readers to go to the VFP website to learn more about this proposed boondoggle -- especially to click on the "Online Petition" link and read some of the comments.