Mike Quigley vs. Mortgage Interest Deduction

I find this troubling, not only as an avid Lake Michigan sailor, but also as a real estate professional.

The same arguments in favor of home mortgage interest deduction apply to the boating industry, if not more- the boating industry represents the livelihood of many interconnected jobs in building, selling, maintaining and enjoying recreational boating.

View Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (CHI) in a larger map

The Illinois 5th Congressional District map appears to include Diversey Harbor, but not Belmont Harbor.

View Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (CHI) in a larger map

Quigley, Walz, Peters Introduce Bill to End Subsidies for Luxury Yachts
Tuesday, 03 May 2011 13:29

WASHINGTON—Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), along with Reps. Tim Walz (MN-1) and Gary Peters (MI-9), introduced legislation to eliminate taxpayer subsidies for yachts. The Ending Taxpayer Subsidies for Yachts Act will amend a tax provision that allows boat owners to write off their mortgage interest payments if they classify their boats as second homes.

“There’s absolutely no reason why taxpayers should subsidize luxury yachts,” said Quigley. “As we work to address our budget challenges, closing this frivolous tax loophole is a no-brainer.”

“We’re going to have to make some hard decisions to tackle our national debt, but this isn’t one of them,” said Walz. “Closing this tax loophole restores the Mortgage Interest Deduction to its original purpose; helping middle class families realize the American Dream through homeownership.”

Currently, taxpayers are allowed to deduct mortgage interest for up to two homes from their tax returns. Yachts equipped with bedding, toilet facilities, and a kitchen qualify even if they aren’t used as a primary residence. The Ending Taxpayer Subsidies for Yachts Act would limit the tax deduction to only those who use their boats as a primary residence.

“We need to get the deficit under control, and that means simplifying the tax code and eliminating special interest tax giveaways like the Yacht Loophole,” added Peters. “Homeownership is part of the American Dream and we should encourage it, but yacht owners don’t need any special handouts, especially in the middle of a budget crisis.”

In 2004, there were approximately 500,000 pleasure boats in the United States large enough to qualify for the tax break, but only around 100,000 people live full time on boats according to the 2000 Census.

The proposal is included in Quigley’s Reinventing Government: The Federal Budget Part II. The report is due out next week and will include detailed cost-saving recommendations to follow up on Part I, which focused on transparency in the budget process.

Source: Mike Quigley press release
http://quigley.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=480%3Aquigley-walz-peters-introduce-bill-to-end-subsidies-for-luxury-yachts&catid=19%3A2011-press-releases&Itemid=24

Note the discrepancy in the fake analysis? 2000 census figures are compared to 2004 boat statistics (without source reference). Never mind that we just completed a 2010 census, or that the current year is 2011…

Here’s how the media fabricates information:

The Hill directly copies information from the press release, publishing the unsourced numerical data as if it were factual news:

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/159065-house-lawmakers-urge-elimination-of-tax-subsidy-for-yachts

But The Hill is honest enough to inquire, and report:

The IRS doesn’t differentiate between mortgage types so there is no data available to calculate an exact amount of money the legislation would save, an aide told The Hill.

Nor is there any analysis of the jobs and positive economic impact of the original mortgage interest deduction as it currently exists with regard to boat ownership.

Perhaps Quigley and his over-taxing colleagues can examine the studies prepared for justifying the funding of additional harbors for Chicago?

Unfortunately, it seems they would rather perpetuate the false narrative that taxing more is the solution to the economic problems created by government over-spending.

Barack Obama the sailor shows us how to not sail fast.

Looks kinda slow, eh?

Goose Island brewery announced its acquisition by Anheuser-Busch this week.

A stalwart sponsor of local sailing regattas, and the favored choice of local beer drinking afficionados, Goose island was once a proud symbol of business success and skillful brew mastery, throughout the “Windy City” and the entire region.

The news was heralded by the company as a necessary step toward expanding production capacity to meet the ever-growing demand, which surpassed the output of the local brewery facilities.

In answer to beer enthusiasts’ concerns about quality, a spokesperson explained, “a highly scientific analysis of the local beer will allow Anheuser-Busch to manufacture mass quantities of Goose Island beer, much like it currently produces Budweiser today. By carefully studying the flavors of local Goose Island beer, and learning how to duplicate it exactly in large-scale factory production facilities, Goose Island beer made by Anheuser-Busch will actually taste more identical and authentic than beer made by Goose Island ourselves!”

Other concerns, however, were left unanswered. Why couldn’t Goose Island expand its business and its facilities locally? The loss of another successful business in Illinois to acquisition by an offshore foreign interest reflects the unintended consequences of government which over-taxes, over-spends, over-regulates, and over-burdens individuals and businesses of all sizes.

The problem at the national level is demonstrated by the previous loss of Budweiser to an overseas company.

Similarly, the local obstacles to Goose Island’s accelerated growth are largely due to a system of corrupt government and its intrusion into private business enterprise in Chicago, Cook and Illinois over the last 80 years or more.

However, on an upbeat note, Goose Island announced that it will respond to the business changes with a new direction in marketing.

The 312 beer, named after the Chicago telephone area code, was created to identify Goose Island as a Chicago landmark, and differentiated itself by appealing to an initial audience of trendy city dwellers, who were early to discover and enjoy Goose Island beer, even if only by chance, being more conveniently available in the local environs of the city.

“Goose Island beer is no longer a Chicago beer,” remarked the spokesperson. “In fact, we are no longer an American beer. So it no longer makes sense to name our product based on silly rivalries between faux urban hipsters and suburban poser wannabe’s.”

“Chicago itself is a provincial backwater of political crime and corruption, which we no longer can afford to be closely associated with. Look at Illinois- it’s considered a joke by the rest of our own country. Clearly, that is not in our best interest to promote.”

“We must disavow our past local connections. We are now part of the global economy, forced out of both our hometown and our home country by bad policies which thwart true business growth and economic freedom.”

“We have chosen a new product identity, which preserves the original concept. Our new product identity also strengthens and acknowledges our ownership by an offshore foreign company.”

“Today we can announce that 312 Beer will be renamed after the international telephone dialing prefix, and be known as ‘011′.”

When asked if Goose Island had plans to craft a special forty ounce malt to be distributed by the Jesse Jackson family relatives’ Budweiser distributorship in Chicago, the spokesperson said, “no comment.”

Thursday unveiling for Northerly Island plan

November 28, 2010 11:04 AM
What’s left of the former Meigs Field would be turned into a nature sanctuary and park, under plans to be unveiled this week by the Chicago Park District and its design team.

Plans for what is now called Northerly Island include stripping the old terminal building of its walls, transforming the internal structure into an open-air pavilion. The area would also include an underwater paradise for fish, plants and birds and an eco-friendly concert venue near Adler Planetarium.

“It’s an amazing project,” said Bob O’Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservancy and Advisory Council.

The public meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave.

The design team is led by Chicago architect Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, which designed the award-winning Aqua tower, and JJR, a landscape architecture and urban design firm.

Aviation advocates who want to restore Meigs Field as an airport will not likely participate. Steve Whitney, president of Friends of Meigs Field, said the group feels shut out of the design process and therefore will not attend.

“They just want input from the people who support what they want,” he said.

Indeed, park officials are adamant about developing the 91-acre peninsula into a serene and natural playground. The peninsula is on the migratory route for birds flying from Canada to South America.

“The framework plan incorporates designs for a multiseason use, and has green-friendly elements in the design,” Park District spokeswoman Zvezdana Kubat said in an e-mail.

Initial designs for the peninsula — refined from concepts introduced at a public meeting a year ago — include turning the old terminal building into an open-air pavilion free of walls and glass, common and often fatal obstacles for birds migrating through Chicago.

A harbor for aquatic wildlife would be on the peninsula’s east side — opposite the boat harbor on the west side. Rock formations would be built underwater to attract plants, fish and birds.

And architects will unveil a permanent design plan for the temporary 7,500-seat Charter One Pavilion venue, including a “green” roof. Funds from future concerts would help pay for the peninsula’s upkeep, O’Neill said.

“There’s no city in the world that has this opportunity right now,” he said. “You have this enormous area in the front of the city, with the skyline and everything, and to turn that area into a world-class nature area is unprecedented.”

– Erika Slife

via Chicago Breaking News

Facing the worst financial crisis of his 20-year tenure, Mayor Richard Daley plans to slash city funding for Venetian Night, a festival that his father began as mayor more than 50 years ago.

And that places the future of Chicago’s longest-running public party very much in doubt.

City officials said today they can no longer afford the $100,000 for fireworks or the $200,000 to police crowds estimated at more than 500,000.

“Operational costs exceeded the sponsorship revenue,” said Cindy Gatziolis, spokeswoman for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events.

Leaders of the Chicago Yachting Association, which organizes Venetian Night, said city officials had not informed them of the event’s demise.

Mayor’s Office of Special Events (Venetian Night webpage, already deleted…):

Venetian Night is the longest running event that the City of Chicago produces, and was once a multiple day event that featured a beauty pageant and parade on State Street in addition to the lighted boat parade and fireworks show on the waterfront.

June 10, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Navy Pier has more than tripled its surveillance network — with cameras so sophisticated, they can pick out a face in a crowd six blocks away — thanks to a $4.2 million Homeland Security grant designed to prevent a lakefront terrorist attack.

The Navy Pier network marks the first installment in a four-year-old plan known as Operation Virtual Shield. It calls for linking 1,000 miles of fiber optic cable into a uniformed homeland security grid, with surveillance cameras capable of spotting suspicious activity from one end of Lake Shore Drive to the other.

Until now, Navy Pier’s nine million annual visitors and surrounding lakefront waters have been watched by 60 black-and-white cameras in fixed positions. They were linked to an even more primitive control center on the pier.

The new network includes 200 rotating surveillance cameras so sophisticated, they can pick up a face in a crowd six blocks away. To speed response times, they’re linked to the 911 center, the nearby Marine Unit and to the Chicago Police Department’s Near North District.

Forty of the cameras are located indoors, including the Winter Garden and Navy Pier garage. The 160 outdoor cameras monitor the main entrance, the east end, and exterior perimeter.

Vince Gavin, director of special projects for Navy Pier, said there’s even a special camera trained on the inlet between Navy Pier and the Jardine Water Filtration Plant, one of Chicago’s most vulnerable terrorism targets because Lake Michigan water is purified for drinking there.

“When a boat penetrates the east end of that inlet, that camera focuses on the boat, a horn will go off and an audible message will go out: “Leave this area immediately. You’re subject to a $5,000 fine by the U.S. Coast Guard,’ “ Gavin said.

“Then, we monitor the boat. If the boat continues, the Marine Unit’s got it. A Marine Unit boat is over here in two minutes.”

Installed in February, the new cameras have already been used to catch at least one pick-pocket and nab someone who was damaging a store that had closed for the night. They can also pinpoint boating accidents and drowning victims or monitor emergency response to Lake Michigan plane crashes.

Parents who take their young children to Illinois’ most popular tourist attraction can also breathe a little easier.

“If we had a lost child, [investigators would ask], ‘Where did you lose him? We can focus in on that area. What was he dressed like? Okay, we’ve got a boy fitting that description.’ You don’t have to run around and up and down. It provides so much of a quick response. … And the facial recognition — it’s as close as I’m looking at you,” Gavin said.

The next round of lakefront surveillance cameras will be installed around McCormick Place, Soldier Field and the Museum Campus, thanks to a $6.8 million Homeland Security grant awarded in 2007.

Seventeen cameras — 11 of them infra-red — will cover the area from Oak Street Beach all the way to 3900 South. That’s because on flat land, there’s a visibility of one mile at night and two miles during the day, Gavin said.

And what about Navy Pier and lakefront patrons who are not comfortable being watched?

“Walt Disney [World] has probably been doing this for years,” said Ray Orozco, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Chicago Sun-Times: Navy Pier triples number of surveillance cameras

UPDATE:

According to this IBM press release, Navy Pier is “the top-visited tourist and leisure destination in the Midwest, welcoming more than eight million visitors annually”, having “an economic impact of more than one billion dollars annually”.

IBM Press Release: IBM Launches Intelligent Security System at Chicago’s Navy Pier

CBS “48 Hours”: ‘Operation Virtual Shield’ discusses the homeland security impact of Chicago’s camera surveillance system, also highlighting its striking inability to protect against terrorist attacks that remain undetectable or which take place outside of the limited camera surveillance areas.

Today is Chicago Tea Party Day.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123975867505519363.html

Just say “NO!” to Big Government.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-04-14-biggovernment_N.htm

Update:

Representative Jan Schakowsky, D-IL, released a statement in response to “tea parties” being held on Tax Day.

Chicago Tribune: reports:

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Chicago Democrat, said in a statement that the protests were “an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan” and called them “a shameful political stunt.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-taxdayprotests-il,0,2920655.story

Here’s the entire press release by Jan Schakowsky:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/il09_schakowsky/pr_teaparties_04_15_09.shtml

Needless to say, we do not support the views of Jan Schakowsky.

Batavia Man on Ship Attacked by Somali Pirates
Local sailor: We practiced evading pirates
“We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets”
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04/batavia-man-on-ship-attacked-by-somali-pirates.html

“I’m not a pirate, I’m the saviour of the sea”
Who are the pirate bands menacing commercial and tourist shipping off Somalia? Our writer meets one of the leaders
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6100783.ece

Pirates on Lake Michigan have attacked boats and towns during the 1800’s, wreaking havoc and mayhem in their search for booty in regions such as Beaver Island, the Manitous and Grand Haven.

WBBM Newsradio 780 reports:

CHICAGO (WBBM) – While the world watches the Somali pirate drama, there’s a story to be told of pirates right here on Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan was home to a few pirates from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The headline: Wholesale robbery by pirates on Lake Michigan. The date: October 10, 1855, in the New York Times.

The Times reported on people in the area around Saugutuck, Michigan, “thrown into the most intense excitement by the operations of a gang of marauders, who are reported to be Mormons from Beaver Island.”

But it wasn’t other ships that were attacked, it was land-based stores.

Half a century later – and almost 101 years ago – “Roaring” Dan Seavey took control of a Great Lakes cargo ship and sailed it to Chicago.

He reportedly got control of the 40-foot schooner Nellie Johnson in Grand Haven, Michigan, by out-drinking its captain and crew – then stealing it.

The Sun-Times reports that Seavey “found no fortune in his pirating: He was unable to sell the load of cedar posts in Chicago and was captured back near his home in Frankfort, Michigan.”

We attended a preview last week of the Chicago 2016 Olympics Bid Committee presentation for the Olympics selection committee.

The venue for sailing was identified vaguely as offshore the Burnham Harbor entrance and McCormick Place. The venue for rowing was located at Monroe Harbor between the Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier. Details were sparse and these locations may be subject to change.

Dislocation of boats from the harbors during Olympics and construction was not mentioned. There are many other aspects of the Olympics bid that have greater priority in the bid presentation, let alone if Chicago is chosen as host city.

The Chicago bid is a responsible effort to address the concerns and requirements brought on by hosting the Olympics, local politics and financial controversies notwithstanding. The bid focuses on solving the many logistical and pragmatic concerns that are involved in the overall project, including attention to winding down after the Olympics. In this regard, the Chicago bid is considered very strong among the other possible host cities, due to its solution-oriented approach and the local geography, Olympic village and infrastructure providing a good host location.

However, it was noted that unforeseeable and unknown factors impact the host city decision. For example, one country recently sent a delegation of schoolchildren to vote whimsically for their city of choice.

The planned new 31st Street harbor is included as a component of the Olympics bid.

The upcoming timeline of the selection process includes Olympics selection committee visit to Chicago in April, and ultimately the final decision made on October 2, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The decision will be made by a series of votes in a process of elimination, removing one city each round until the winning host city is chosen.

Regardless of the outcome of the Olympics bid, the city of Chicago will purchase the approximately 37-acre Michael Reese Hospital property before the end of June 2009. The Michael Reese property will have a TIF tax benefit for its developers.

Current Illinois governor Pat Quinn has pledged to increase the state’s Olympic guarantee to $250 million, adding to the city’s previously-announced guarantees. The Illinois budget is long overdue and still undecided, having been delayed by Blagojevich and the fiasco surrounding his arrest and the Burris senatorial appointment. Currently, the Illinois budget has a deficit more than $11.5 billion, according to Quinn.

Today on WLS 890 AM radio, Quinn described the state’s Olympic guarantee as third in line after Chicago’s $500 million guarantee and the bid committee’s $500 million guarantee funded by “private insurance”. Interestingly enough, the recent controversies in the news involve similar transactions, as AIG is a major insurer of government, and the city has been plagued with scandal involving city ties to insurance agency schemes locally.

Pat Quinn also highlighted the problem of road potholes throughout the state, and stated his goal to fix the roads, even aspiring to be the “pothole governor” if that were to be his legacy.

Potholes were in the news earlier this week, as the city generated more controversy by rebuilding roads in the vicinity of the Olympics site, while ignoring necessary road repairs throughout the city, particularly in nearby neighborhoods that have been neglected for years.

If you are interested in supporting the Chicago 2016 Olympics bid, the bid committee is seeking financial support and commitments by institutions or investors to demonstrate to the Olympic selection committee that there is sufficient financial backing to meet the guarantee requirements and establish the feasible likelihood that the overall project and infrastructure can be developed and completed successfully to host the Olympics.

In particular, if you represent a banking institution, investment company or other organization that can provide written documentation of your level of commitment to investment, underwriting or lending on behalf of the project, please contact the bid committee, or contact us for specific contact information.

Chicago’s Mayor Daley has stated on numerous occasions that US President Obama would be a key factor in influencing the 2016 Olympics bid selection favorably, by dint of his high official rank and connection to Chicago serving to impress and wow the selection committee.

Apart from the audacity of offensiveness in Obama’s gaffe, one must now wonder if Obama reflects favorably or not on Chicago in the eyes of the Olympics selection committee.

Too bad politics does not have the same rules as the Olympics, because our country certainly voted for amateurs to occupy the White House this term.

Unfortunately, although his chaotic and ill-considered policies are driving up the price of gold and emptying the pockets of taxpayers for years to come, Obama is not winning any gold medals for his presidential abilities.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7129997

Summary budget documents for 2009 are available online.

The capital expense budget remains a work in progress, with plans for two new harbors pending bond financing now on temporary hold.

http://www.cpdit01.com/resources/budgetbook/

A team at Michigan State University has discovered how to create sort of a “Love Potion No. 9″ to attract an invasive species of fish out of the Great Lakes.

Originally from the Atlantic, the lamprey is usually considered a parasite. But in the Great Lakes it has achieved the status of predator. Researcher Nicholas Johnson says the fish is killing off other large predator species and has “completely changed the ecosystem.”

Lampreys use their suction-cup-like mouths to attach to other fish and feed off their blood. Their prey is often left for dead, giving the lamprey the moniker “the vampire fish.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spends $20 million annually to control the jawless fish. Now they may have a new weapon to combat the invasion — lamprey perfume.

The substance is created from the pheromones the male lamprey releases to attract females during mating season. Johnson and his team are using it to redirect the females into traps.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101892336

Daley’s inability to provide anything more than a limited financial guarantee could make it difficult, if not impossible, for the city to win the 2016 Summer Games, many Olympics experts say.

Chicago Olympics boosters are scrambling to increase taxpayer support for the 2016 Games to shore up a fundamental weakness in their bid just weeks before international officials arrive to evaluate the strength of the city’s pitch.

At the heart of the push is a statistic that Chicago officials have not mentioned: No city in the past quarter-century has won the Games without a blanket guarantee to cover all financial risks.

Chicago will not make such a guarantee, but Mayor Richard Daley and other leaders of Chicago’s plan won a pledge this week from Gov. Pat Quinn to raise the state’s share of the guarantee by $100 million, to $250 million. State lawmakers moved to fast track the guarantee Thursday, and Quinn said time was of the essence with Olympic officials scheduled to visit in early April.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-olympics-boost-taxpayers13mar13,0,7167962.story

Jim Scherr resigns as head of United States Olympic Committee
Resignation of USOC chief executive hurts key image of continuity

“I was disappointed. I don’t think it helps in any way, but I don’t think it damages us,” Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan said Thursday. “[But] I was shocked. I’m surprised. Not happy.”

In the four years before Scherr took over, first as acting CEO and then permanent boss, the USOC had four presidents, four CEOs and four marketing directors.

The stability since his arrival allowed the USOC and Chicago to establish what both sides called an unprecedented partnership to promote a U.S. bid. Ctvrtlik, the USOC vice president of international relations, has a key role in that partnership.

Now Chicago must waste time and energy before the Oct. 2 vote for the 2016 host in trying to explain why the USOC once again has an new CEO. Stephanie Streeter of Neenah, Wis., was given the job on an interim basis.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-06-usoc-jim-scherr-resignatimar06,0,614314.story

CNN Sports Illustrated takes a look:

Scherr’s abrupt resignation leaves questions throughout USOC

sportsillustrated.cnn.com – Brian Cazenue – Inside Olympic Sports

Jim Scherr’s abrupt resignation as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee leaves several questions: Why is he out, what does it mean for the USOC and could his resignation affect Chicago’s chances to land the 2016 Olympics when the IOC awards those Games in October? Is an organization that had righted its ship after years of dysfunction now setting itself up for another era of wayward management or merely adjusting its priorities in a tough economy?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/brian_cazeneuve/03/06/brian.cazenue/

Proposed Illinois Luxury Tax on Boats Withdrawn From Consideration
Boating organizations, including NMMA, were prepared to testify

Chicago, IL

February 26, 2009 – Today, the Illinois State Legislature’s Revenue and Finance Committee decided not to move forward with HB 451, a bill to impose a five percent luxury tax on vessels sold in Illinois over a purchase price of $200,000. Mark Adams, vice president of sportshows for the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), along with opponents from six different marine-related organizations and businesses, attended the hearing to testify in opposition to the tax. However, before testimonies could be heard, the committee echoed industry concerns about the tax and withheld a motion to take up the legislation.

The proposed tax would have had a devastating effect on Illinois’ marine businesses, causing buyers to hold off on buying boats or cross state lines to make purchases. In the early 1990s, a similar national luxury tax on boats was enacted, only to be repealed two years later because the tax cost more to collect than the revenue it earned. The tax also led to 19,000 lay offs, cut boat sales by 40 percent, pushed tax revenue from boat sales to below pre-luxury tax levels and forced several brands of boats into bankruptcy.

“While we understand Illinois must address its looming budget deficit, we are pleased the committee realizes a counter-productive tax like this one is not the answer,” said David Dickerson, National Marine Manufacturers Association director of state government relations. “Despite assurances from the bill sponsor that similar measures will not be pursued, we will continue to monitor any new legislation moving forward,” Dickerson said.

National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) is the leading association representing the recreational boating industry. NMMA member companies produce more than 80 percent of the boats, engines, trailers, accessories and gear used by boaters in the United States. The association is dedicated to industry growth through programs in public policy, market research and data, product quality assurance and marketing communications.

TMZ reports on lavish parties, gifts and entertainment by Northern Trust, after receiving $1.6 billion US government bailout funds and laying off 450 employees.

http://www.tmz.com/2009/02/24/northern-trust-bank-bailout/

Sounds like an ideal sponsor!

In all seriousness, we disagree with the tone of the TMZ article.

Note that in a capitalist society with economic freedom, private enterprise shall be rewarded for its success. Rather than condemn Northern Trust for its business decisions, responsible news media should be well-advised to identify Northern Trust as a leader in its industry, avoiding the many banking pitfalls that beleaguer our economy today.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090222/bs_nm/us_northerntrust_1

It is a failure of the government to disburse $1.6 billion in US taxpayer funds to a banking institution which does not require it.

We support all efforts by individuals and private enterprise to generate their own financial success and wealth, and remain highly skeptical of government interference with market economics.

Kudos to TMZ for questioning the role of Congress and our federal government in failing their responsibilities to taxpayers.

Update- some additional thoughts:

1. Sailboat racing requires a certain level of economic prosperity. Thus, it benefits racing to support policies which promote prosperity, rather than denigrate capitalism and successful private enterprise.

2. Interestingly, the Northern Trust statement responding to the TMZ article highlights the charitable contributions made to the community.

Apart from exercising social responsibility, it brings to mind the notion that event promotion supporting charitable efforts often yields greater rewards, both tangible and intangible, than sponsorship based on purely commercial interests.

Locally in Chicago, it would serve well to find an affluent sponsor to promote sailing to replace the loss of ABN AMRO’s highly visible participation in major local events.

The growing continued success of Windy City Match Race and the Leukemia Cup regatta demonstrate the value of charitable efforts combined with sailboat racing events.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/29283701

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853

Thank you to all traders taking a stand.

Chicago2016.org – Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Committee website.

Citizen Media Law Project – Chicago 2016 v. Frayne – vexatious litigation by US Olympic Committee and Chicago 2016 Olympic bid organization against Chicago2016.com website domain.

Don’t Give Up The Ship – Chicago Yachting Association and Columbia Yacht Club boating advocacy support for Chicago 2016 Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2016 Olympics host city on October 2, 2009.

Boat owners warned: Don’t make waves over Olympics rowing plan

Yacht club group tells members it fears retaliation from city if they protest proposal for Monroe Harbor

By Laurie Cohen, Kathy Bergen and David Heinzmann

Tribune reporters

February 12, 2009

Lots of boaters are unhappy with plans to use Monroe Harbor as the rowing venue for the 2016 Olympics should Chicago win the Games, but you won’t hear many complaints.

The Chicago Yachting Association, an umbrella group for 15 yacht clubs in the Chicago area, has asked members to keep a lid on it, noting in a memo obtained by the Tribune that yacht clubs “are vulnerable to retribution.”

Mayor Richard Daley’s office and the Chicago Park District have made it clear “that they do not wish to talk about issues that may be confrontational until after October 2009,” according to the memo by an association committee charged with formulating an approach to the city’s Olympic plans.

City officials say they aren’t trying to stifle dissent before Oct. 2, when the International Olympic Committee, which values popular support, selects a host city. But critics of the bid, from parks activists to concerned taxpayers, believe boosters have worked to suppress public criticism and withhold potentially controversial information.

The three-year Chicago campaign to win the Summer Games has been a study in how to carefully control the flow of information, with details parceled out only to the extent required to satisfy Olympic officials. The team has cited the intense competition among the finalists, which include Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, as a reason for keeping portions of its playbook private.

But critics want more information. The bid campaign “is not a very transparent process, and that makes it frustrating for us,” said Peggy Brennan, vice commodore of the historic Columbia Yacht Club, who wants more details on how use of Monroe Harbor as the rowing venue would affect boaters.

“When taxpayer dollars are involved, you’d like to be a little more transparent on these things,” said Allen Sanderson, who teaches economics at the University of Chicago.

Now, in formal bid documents due Thursday, Chicago and its rivals had to answer an extensive battery of tough questions from the IOC. The bid team has been saying for months that its book, to be released publicly in Chicago on Friday, will answer many remaining questions.

But other significant questions that aren’t required to be addressed will continue to go unanswered, including an accounting of donations to fund Chicago’s nearly $60 million effort to win the Games, information that would show who pitched in the most for one of the mayor’s favorite causes.

Chicago-area residents, while largely supporting the bid, doubt some of the city’s claims. A Tribune poll this month found that many Olympics supporters, as well as a vast majority of those opposed to bringing the Games here, don’t buy Daley’s pledge that private funds would cover nearly all the costs.

So far, the city hasn’t been quick to own up to the financial risks taxpayers would have to bear. Over time, it became known the city would make a variety of commitments, from a $500 million guarantee against the potential of operating losses to picking up the cost of city services and purchasing the site for an Olympic Village, for ultimate resale to a private developer.

Visit www.chicagotribune.com to continue reading this article.

Article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-thu-olympics-transparency-20feb12,0,7405895.story

Venue costs to host the 2016 Olympics in Chicago are estimated at $900 million, plus an “Athlete’s Village” costing another $1 billion.

It is believed most host cities report net losses due to hosting the Olympics- does anyone believe Chicago will prove to be an exception?

Chicago says Olympic venues would cost estimated $900 million
By Deanna Bellandi, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO — Athletes and spectators won’t have to go far to enjoy the Summer Games and experience life in America’s third-largest city if the 2016 Olympics come to Chicago.

Athletes will row, cycle and play volleyball at downtown venues within walking distance of some of the city’s best museums. In as quick as a six-minute drive, athletes can get from their village to the Olympic stadium in a South Side park. And office workers and high-rise dwellers will likely catch free glimpses of some of the competition from their perches high above the lakefront.

It’s all part of a tightly centered games clustered around downtown that Chicago organizers are trying to sell to the International Olympic Committee as the ultimate in urban, pedestrian-friendly Olympics.

“It’s one thing to be compact, but it’s another thing to be walking distance,” Olympic gold medalist Mike Conley said Tuesday as Chicago 2016 organizers unveiled the plan they submitted to the International Olympic Committee.

Organizers of past Olympics have tried to group the majority of venues together. The Olympic Park in Homebush Bay was the centerpiece of the Sydney Games, for example, while most of the activity in Athens was at OAKA.

But those areas were outside of the city center. Homebush Bay was more than 10 miles west of downtown Sydney, while the Parthenon was a good bus ride from OAKA.

Chicago’s plan clusters the majority of venues in four sites near downtown and along the shores of Lake Michigan, the world’s fifth-largest lake.

Ninety-one percent of athletes would be within 15 minutes of their venues. The trip from the athletes’ village to the stadium – that Ryan says during the games would be a six-minute drive because of dedicated Olympic lanes – is at most 14 minutes in normal traffic, according to the bid document.

“The plan envisions the games woven into the landscape of Chicago’s century-old lakefront and in walking distance” of many cultural and entertainment attractions and sports facilities, said Patrick Ryan, chief organizer of Chicago 2016.

“We believe Chicago promises a spectacular Olympic experience in the center of our city, in the heartland of this great country,” Ryan said.

Details of the plan – which includes 16 new permanent and temporary venues and money to make existing venues Olympic caliber at an estimated cost of $900 million – were included in a questionnaire submitted to the IOC and released by Chicago bid organizers.

It does not include a $1 billion athlete’s village, a public-private venture officials said will be built regardless of whether Chicago gets the games.

Chicago would hold the games July 22-Aug. 7, 2016. The paralympics would follow Aug. 18-28.

Chicago 2016 organizers estimated the games would generate $2.5 billion in revenue just from domestic marketing, including sponsorships, licensed merchandise and ticket sales. Organizers would give 500,000 free tickets to Chicago schoolchildren.

“The people of Chicago will experience these games like no people of any Olympic city before them,” said Doug Arnot, operations chief for Chicago 2016.

As Chicago released its bid documents, details also emerged Tuesday about the other six bid cities’ plans.

Tokyo said 95 percent of its competition venues would be within five miles of downtown. Organizers in Madrid, Spain, said the eastern edge of its city would be the focus for the Olympics. There would be 15 competition venues there, and all but five of the 30 venues would be about seven miles from the city center.

Chicago organizers said their plan for clustering the Games downtown and near Lake Michigan is unique.

“Compact is one thing, it’s where it’s compact,” Arnot said. “We’ve taken the very heart of the city and put so much of the games right there. That is unparalleled in any games.”

Besides Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid, the other bid cities are Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; and Prague, Czech Republic.

The IOC will whittle the seven applicant cities to an unspecified number of candidate cities in June. The IOC will select the host city in October 2009.

Chicago’s price tag is likely to grow if history is any guide. Costs for the 2012 London Olympics are now more than more triple original estimates, topping $19 billion.

The Chicago bid documents don’t give a total price tag for the games, but Ryan said comparisons to London’s ballooning costs aren’t fair. London is undertaking a major urban redevelopment as part of its games, including decontaminating land from years of industrial use. Chicago is not.

“Have you been to the East End of London recently? That’s been a desolate area for centuries. This is a rebuilding of something that is critical to London,” Ryan said.

Of Chicago’s 27 venues, 22 already are built or would be temporary structures. The Olympic stadium will carry the biggest price tag, costing nearly $386 million in 2007 dollars. But an unidentified developer was part of the design process, and already has committed to building it for that amount.

The questionnaire submitted to the IOC by Chicago and other bid cities covers everything from competition venues and financing to security and transportation. It’s part of the process for the IOC to pick a host city next year.

Chicago 2016 estimates it will spend $49.3 million in its bid process, and that assumes it will be one of the finalists chosen in June. Ryan pledged all of that money will come from private sources. More than $32 million already has been raised.

Chicago, Madrid and Rio are considered the early favorites, and Madrid organizers wasted no time in pointing out flaws in Chicago’s bid. Mercedes Coghen, Madrid’s leader, called Chicago’s bid “a little general.”

“I think it’s the little things that (the IOC) really wants spelled out,” she said.

While Ryan declined comment on other bid cities, he said he didn’t understand where Coghen’s criticism was coming from.

“I don’t really know what she would mean by that,” Ryan said. “She hadn’t seen our document yet.”

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AP National Writer Nancy Armour contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Chicago’s bid file can by found on the Chicago 2016 Web site: http://www.chicago2016.org

The Associated Press

Source: Associated Press / USA Today

Chicago tries to change city’s perception for 2016 Olympic bid

By Don Babwin, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO — They came from the Netherlands and Mexico, from Scotland and Italy. On a cold January day, tourists descended on Chicago’s Millennium Park just as they do when it’s warm and the crowded ice skating rink turns into a crowded restaurant.
As the city prepares to make public a detailed explanation of its bid for the 2016 Olympic Games on Tuesday, organizers say such scenes help illustrate that Chicago is a global city with the cachet to host the most global sporting event of all.

But those same tourists reveal something else: the stubborn perception that, long since the stockyards, steel mills and gangsters like Al Capone disappeared, Chicago remains a gritty city of belching smokestacks and dangerous streets.

“I thought it would be more industrial than it is,” said Carol Morrison, of Edinburgh, Scotland.

“They think it’s a very criminal city,” Teresa Speller, said of her countrymen in the Netherlands.

Those supporting Chicago’s Olympic bid know that changing the city’s image among outsiders – particularly among foreigners – is crucial if they are to convince the International Olympic Committee to pick Chicago.

“The great assets of Chicago have to be made known to the world,” said Patrick Ryan, leader of the city’s 2016 organizing committee.

He said most international travelers do not venture past the east or west coasts, so they’re far more familiar with cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Foreign visitors to Chicago say their friends back home simply don’t think of the Lake Michigan city as a vacation destination.

What they know about Chicago often comes from movies and television shows. Some, like “The Untouchables,” are outdated and others, like “The Fugitive” and “ER,” often paint the city as a somewhat ominous if not downright violent place.

And more recent events that made international headlines – including the trial of aging mobsters and the videotaped beating of a bartender by an off-duty police officer – have only fueled the stereotypical image of Chicago.

“Al Capone, crime, grit,” Nancy Caldwell, a teacher in Great Britain, said on a visit to Millennium Park this month. “Generally most Brits see it like that.”

Lost in all this, say Ryan and others, is the natural beauty of a city on the shores of one of the nation’s largest lakes, the gleaming skyscrapers, beautiful parks, museums and other cultural attractions.

“The gap between the reputation and the reality of Chicago today is the greatest for any major city in the world,” said Marshall Bouton, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Ryan said the challenge facing Olympic bid committee is to make Chicago a lot more familiar to those in far-off countries – especially members of the IOC.

The IOC will select a host city in October 2009. Besides Chicago, Madrid, Spain; Tokyo; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Prague, Czech Republic; Doha, Qatar, and Baku are bidding to host the 2016 Summer Games.

“We have a significant number of global companies,” Ryan said. “These are people who travel the world and they’re going to be speaking out on behalf of Chicago.”

The city already had begun marketing itself internationally. In recent years, for example, the Illinois Bureau of Tourism brought in food writers from overseas in an effort to promote the city’s top restaurants. And chefs such as Charlie Trotter and Rick Bayless have been profiled in publications around the world.

“Three, four years ago it was all Chicago deep dish pizza,” said Jan Kostner, the bureau’s deputy director. “But fine dining has really caught on and today there is a huge awareness of that.”

In 2005, Time magazine named Mayor Richard Daley one of the nation’s top five big-city mayors. That year, a Boston Globe correspondent called Millennium Park “the best urban public park I’ve ever seen, anywhere, and that includes some famed ones in places like Rotterdam and Paris.”

The next year, The Economist published a flattering story about Chicago’s “revival.” After years of industrial decline, fleeing companies and racial tensions, Chicago was, the magazine wrote “a city buzzing with life, humming with prosperity, sparking with new buildings, new sculptures, new parks and generally exuding vitality.”

Still, there is concern that it’s not enough, that the city should be doing much more – and spending a lot more.

Together, the budgets of the city’s convention bureau and the city’s tourism office are less than $19 million, with another $1 million spent by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism to market the city and state overseas.

By comparison, the budget for New York’s marketing and tourism organization, NYC & Company, is $40 million. The budget for the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc. in Florida is $64 million and the budget for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is a whopping $211 million.

A study organized by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released in October said Chicago is being dramatically outspent overseas by other cities, including New York, which spends $15 million “on international tourism promotion alone.”

NYC & Company wouldn’t comment on how much it spends overseas, but said it opened nine new offices around the world last year, bringing the total to 16 – or 13 more than Illinois.

Even so, Kostner said the number of international visitors to Illinois climbed more than 8 percent last year.

And when they come?

“It is much more visually stunning than I was expecting,” Morrison said. “I wasn’t really prepared for the reality.”

The Associated Press

Source: Associated Press / USA Today

Olympics 2016
Jan 15, 2008 10:12 pm

Chicago 2016 Could Be Profitable Despite Price Tag

Madrid may be European favorite, but its venues are away from the center of the Spanish capital, unlike Chicago’s plan

Reporting: Jay Levine

CHICAGO (CBS) ? The Olympic-sized price tag to host the 2016 Summer Games is estimated to cost $900 million, according to organizers – and that’s just for the venues. As CBS 2’s chief correspondent reports, the city should still make a profit, and that may give us a leg up on the other bidding cities.

In addition to that, Chicago Olympic organizers estimate the Athlete’s Village will cost another $1 billion. CBS 2’s chief correspondent Jay Levine reports on why they’re predicting the games will still be in the black and how Chicago’s vision for the 2016 games compares to the ideas of the other bidding cities.

Grant Park would be in the middle of what Chicago Olympic officials call the Central Cluster, for 19 Olympic sports, the international press center and the Athlete’s village.

Most of the venues already exist and the village will be built with private money, and as a result, Chicago believes those construction costs of $900 million will be more than offset by more than $3 billion in revenue in from sponsorships, broadcast rights fees and ticket sales.

“Chicago 2016 is without question, the most thoroughly prepared bid the USOC has ever taken forward,” said Darryl Seibel of the United States Olympic Committee.

A new Olympic stadium in Washington Park, accounts for the lion’s share of construction costs–$385 million. It’s one of only five of 27 sports venues which need to be built.

“We will build permanent structures only when there’s a viable legacy of after use for the venue — no white elephants,” said Chicago 2016 CEO Pat Ryan.

Chicago’s compact Olympic plan with four clusters of sports venues, less than 15 minutes from the Olympic village, is similar to other applicant cities – but as Mike Conley Sr. of World Sport Chicago said, “there’s one thing to be compact and another thing to be walking distance.”

“It is in fact, you can walk from venue to venue. It is in fact, you can walk from your hotel to the venue, and it is in fact, that you can enjoy the vibrant city of Chicago while you’re enjoying the games,” Chicago 2016 vice president Doug Arnot said. “It’s the fact that we’ve taken the very heart of the city and put so much of the games right there — that is unparalleled in any games.”

Chicago’s $3 billion+ revenue projection is far more than any of the other applicants. It includes $1.28 billion from sponsorships, $705 million from ticket sales, $170 million from merchandise. The rest will come from the IOC, the Paralympic Games and other revenue sources.

Chicago’s price tag is likely to grow if history is any guide. Costs for the 2012 London Olympics are now more than more triple original estimates, topping $19 billion.

Chicago 2016 estimates it will spend $49.3 million in its bid process, and that assumes it will be one of the finalists chosen in June. Ryan pledged all of that money will come from private sources. More than $32 million already has been raised.

But it’ll take more than optimistic financial projections to convince the IOC that Chicago’s the best choice. Ryan says the spirit of Chicago has already had an impact as evidenced by Chicago’s reaction to winning the U.S. bid last April, and its enthusiasm for international boxers last fall weren’t lost on IOC officials.

“They saw the spirit of the people of Chicago,” Ryan said. “They’re talking about that, that buzz is out there in the IOC world.”

That’s Chicago’s hope anyway.

The IOC will narrow the current list of seven applicant cities to four or five approved candidates this June. The IOC will select the host city in October 2009.

Chicago would hold the games July 22-Aug. 7, 2016. The paralympics would follow Aug. 18-28. Organizers would give 500,000 free tickets to Chicago schoolchildren.

As Chicago released its bid documents, details also emerged Tuesday about the other six bid cities’ plans.

Tokyo said 95 percent of its competition venues would be within five miles of downtown. Organizers in Madrid, Spain, said the eastern edge of its city would be the focus for the Olympics. There would be 15 competition venues there, and all but five of the 30 venues would be about seven miles from the city center.

Rio de Janiero, thought to be Chicago’s toughest challenger seems to have benefited from hosting last year’s Pan Am games, refining its plan for 2016. But while Chicago projects revenues of $2.5 billion dollars plus money from the IOC, Rio says it’ll take in just $700 million.

“Very weak it seems for a country that will be having the Olympics for the first time,” said Olympic expert Ed Hula of aroundtherings.com. “The most populous country in South America, a continent with 400 million people, you’d think they could do better than that.”

Hula helped CBS 2 analyze the applications from Rio and the others — including Tokyo, which proposes an ambitious ocean-front site on reclaimed land.

“The price tag for this is very expensive and you have some venues, for example the rowing venue, they want to locate out there — the price tag is $300 million,” Hula said.

Madrid may be the European favorite. But its application appears much less polished and its venues away from the center of the vibrant Spanish capital.

“Seems a bit scattered, seems a bit spread out from what Chicago’s offering,” Hula said.

And then there’s Doha, the first Arab nation to bid for the games. Its oil-rich leaders are offering over $10 billion to build venues and improve infrastructure.

“How can you ask a country to host the Olympic Games when it can’t field a competitive team in many of the sports that are on the Olympic program?” Hula said.

We don’t know much about Prague because it’s not making its application public reportedly due to political problems with the bid in the Czech Republic. That’s not a good sign. And there’s no word from Baku in Azerbaijian, either.

On paper, Chicago seems to have the right stuff. And if the revenue numbers are correct, there’s no need to worry about taxpayers having to foot any bills. Just like the last three Olympics held in the U.S, Chicago is likely to make a big profit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: CBS 2 Chicago