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Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
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sabrebelle
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I completely understand your legitimate concerns about the logistics of hosting (and paying for) an Olympic Games, and I don't think that any of us needs another pastel hoodie with rings on it. However, as a U.S. athlete who is training for London 2012 and a friend of many others who will stick around for 2016, I have to say that it would be an unbelievable honor to compete at an Olympics with the home crowd cheering us on.

Most of us have spent 10+ years fine-tuning our bodies and minds with every spare moment, every spare dollar. We all have different reasons for choosing this path, but I do it because it empowers me as a woman to hear "you're not strong enough," and to respond with more weight, more repetition, and more sweat, knowing that it's an observation not a final judgment, and I can become stronger. It empowers me to view my body in terms of how it feels and what it can do, instead of my BMI or the circumference of my legs. We live in a country where professional male sports are king, marginalizing by default any athlete who is not a 6-foot tall man who enjoys hitting things. It may be easier to reject the opportunity to host the Olympics than it is to discuss the best way to host them, but by doing so we throw away our brief, quadrennial glimpse at other sports, other bodies, and other possibilities.

So, discuss whether Chicago is capable of hosting, question the increasing chintz-ification of the Olympic movement, and never stop calling out the mistreatment of vulnerable populations, but please remember that the effects of hosting the Olympics go far beyond the bottom line...or even the length your commute.
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
09/29/09

@sabrebelle: Very very best of luck in London. I was proud to be a bg performer in Atlanta, WhatIzzit and all, and I was proud to watch our athletes perform.

(Kiss Roger for me, please, if I don't get to go.)
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liz.lemonade
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I'm going to be so disappointed if Rio doesn't win (even though I doubt they will.) Spain, Japan, and the U.S. have all hosted Olympics in the past twenty years. The IOC is already far too beholden to the U.S. broadcasters, and to the Northern Hemisphere in general. I'd love to see a South American Games. (And I say the above as an American who would otherwise be happy to have the Olympics here, if not for how it's someone else's turn.)
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Saltine
09/29/09

@liz.lemonade: With the favelas do you really think there's a chance the IOC will place it there? Im not disagreeing with you and I really in fact hope that my hometown (Chicago) loses the bid, but I think its unlikely because of the huge (even in comparison to Chicago's projects) poverty and crime issues.
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mmj200
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I totally hope this happens. Improves the legacy mucho.
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DJDeeJay
09/29/09

@mmj200: Do you live in Chicago? What/who's "legacy" are you referring to? I'm a Chicagoan and, as much as I like the Obamas, I hope they're not persuasive.
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Hiroine Protagonist
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
People - fear the Olympics in your town. Check out Project Outbound during the 1996 Atlanta games when 9000 vagrancy tickets with "Black" Male" and "Loitering" were already filled in. Check out the $750 000 spent on one way bus tickets for the indigent. The Olympics is a giant corporate clusterfuck that makes a ton of promises about its legacy, screws around with infrastructure priorities and then leaves town. And it also supports the disgusting lifestyles of IOC members like the Prince of Kuwait.
Any city that "wins" the Olympics doesn't have a half-decent activist community.
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Hiroine Protagonist
09/29/09

@Hiroine Protagonist: Writing from Vancouver here.
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@Hiroine Protagonist: Long history of that occurring at every Olympics (see China most recently). LA bought the homeless population tickets to Hawaii before they hosted. One way tickets.

Rio is building a giant fucking wall around its favelas [online.wsj.com]

All of these cities are going to do bad stuff to the homeless if they get the games.
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Rzep
09/29/09

@Hiroine Protagonist: I was going to comment on this as well - Vancouver's run at this whole olympic thing has been a bit of a fiasco so far.
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Saltine
09/29/09

@Trulymadlyme: Ahh that wsj article would explain how theyre trying to get around the favelas issue. I like the idea that theyre just going to wall it off, like "la lala nothing to see here, move along".
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Mike Irvine
09/29/09

@Hiroine Protagonist: I think that that is an insult to every activist community that has hosted the Olympics. You don't believe Athens has a half-decent activist community?

Heck even Vancouver activists fought and continue to fight tooth and nail against the Olympic juggernaut.
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Hiroine Protagonist
09/29/09

@Mike Irvine: That's actually a quote from Anita Beatty, I think, who led the charge against the '96 games in Atlanta. I perhaps should have said a well-organized, motivated and sizeable activist community, specifically around the issue of mega events, which Vancouver did not have in place in time to prevent the bid's acceptance by voters. Toronto has successfully fended it off twice by mounting a campaign demonstrating the cost to the taxpayer and the insane profits by private companies. We have some excellent and amazing activists - but the secrecy under which the bid was put together allowed it to be announced and spun exactly for the pro-side's timing. There was no PR machine in place to get out the anti-Olympics message in time. "Five Ring Circus" is an excellent documentary by an acquaintance of mine - COnrad Schmidt. It recounts the shenanigans behind the bid process in Vancouver.
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pursedangler
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
My worst fear is Chicago getting the Olympics. The city is already having enough problems paying for things, and Daley's obsession with hosting the Olympics is taking a toll on the well-being of the city. Not to mention that my property taxes are going to skyrocket in the aftermath of this thing because there's not adequate money to cover everything they'll need. Team Chicagoans for Rio!
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morninggloria
09/29/09

@pursedangler: Have you seen the Chicagoans for Rio website?

I am sort of in love with it.
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pursedangler
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Yes! Me too.
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ytuhermanotambien
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Hey! I don't want them to ruin Rio OR Chicago. Can't they just hold the Olympics in the middle of nowhere?
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lalaland13
09/29/09

@morninggloria: That whole site is weird. This site thinks it could be from Rio or Chicago. [www.gamesbids.com]

I would love to attend a Chicago Olympics, but since I'm not from Chicago, I understand the misgivings residents of the Windy City would have. And there is a clusterfuck of corruption that comes to town with each Olympics.

Damn, I love me some flipping and twirling and swimming and figure-eighting, but the race to get the games to town makes me a bit queasy.
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Edited by lalaland13 at 09/29/09 12:39 PM lalaland13 was starred lalaland13 was unstarred

EKane
09/29/09

@pursedangler: I fear it too. Mayor Daley is hellbent on the Olympics and nothing else... its actually scary yet not surprising. I just wish the REST of the US could see how crazy and maniacal daMayor is. I'm not going to mention the amount of corruption behind the olympics and how messed up the south side will be if we get it.

#saynotochicago2016
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quietlygoingmad
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
Maybe the Obamas should be this belief-bound when it comes to things a little more important than the freakin' Olympics...you know like healthcare and terrorism and the economy.
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JesiDangerously
09/29/09

@quietlygoingmad: The Olympics would bring in a lot of money, foreign money, and that is good for the economy.
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quietlygoingmad
09/29/09

@JesiDangerously: At what cost to the city I live in? Which, by the way, is already so in the hole financially it will be a miracle if they can ever get themselves out. Chicago doesn't need and can't afford a temporary fix...and that's what the Olympics is--in and out and leaving the shell of what they inhabited to be cleaned up by others.
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hortense
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
How beneficial is an Olympics to a city in the long-run?
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rd2uk
09/29/09

@hortense: as a londoner, ill say its a big ol clusterfuck. theyre fucking around with the public transit to facilitate transport for the whole damn thing - which is costing the tax payers a f-load of money and doesnt much seem like its being set up to facilitate US gettin around once everyone else is gone.
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gherkinfiend
09/29/09

@rd2uk: The London Olympics are the biggest waste of money possible. Had they just taken £9bn and burnt it at least somebody would have been warm for a while..

@hortense: From what I've read it's taken Montreal over 30 years to clear their Olympic debt and most of the buildings are useless. It was the clusterfuck everyone quoted when London was bidding...
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@gherkinfiend: LA actually made money on its.
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Saltine
09/29/09

@hortense: it would be really bad for Chicago. It will cost a ton, which lot of citizens are ignoring because Daley keeps telling the city private businesses will pay for it and telling the IOC the city will pay for it, it will kill low income housing, make the city a horrible place to be in while its there and anything that needs to be built will be purely by chance be built where low income housing is now (and will thus have to be torn down). The Olympics are almost always terrible for a city, especially a metropolis which has very little to gain
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Plate2.18
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I'm actually hoping Rio will get it. The US has hosted enough already, and I'd like some place more interesting than Chicago.
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morninggloria
09/29/09

@Plate2.18: Duh, Chicago's totally interesting.

It's a matter of many Chicagoans not being interested in having every street turn into the Mag Mile on a Saturday afternoon.
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dreamweave
09/29/09

@morninggloria: but on the upside, you'd have hundreds of chisled athletes clogging the streets.....
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morninggloria
09/29/09

@dreamweave: Ok. BUT ONLY IF THEY'RE CHISELED.
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quietlygoingmad
09/29/09

@dreamweave: they must also be half-nekkid. Chiseled and half-nekkid is my requirement.
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FatLynn
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
Really? The most important thing for the Obamas to be doing right now is this?
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morninggloria
09/29/09

@FatLynn: Initially, Barack said that he couldn't make it, but then he got badgered. A lot.

There's speculation that an insider may have told him that if he shows up, the bid is a lock.
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FatLynn
09/29/09

@morninggloria: I know that, but he should have stood his ground. What lesson have we learned, here? If you badger the president, he changes his mind! Great!
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PinkSoxHat
09/29/09

@FatLynn: Well since he's incapable of multi-tasking and this meeting will take up weeks of the president's time, I see your point. It's not like every single other thing presidents have to do is a matter of prime national interest. He could be focusing on greeting the NBA champs or doing a photo op in the Rose Garden with the top Girl Scout cookie seller instead!
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rd2uk
09/29/09

@PinkSoxHat: no, he should be focusing on getting gtimo sorted by the deadline that *HE* presented.
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schweppes
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I'm sorry, Chicago's my home town and all but THIS IS A HUGE MISTAKE. Chicago cannot handle it, space-wise, infrastructure-wise, Mayor Daley not fucking it up-wise. Give it to Rio.
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curiousgeorgiana
09/29/09

@schweppes: My dad (Native Chicagoan) was shouting the same thing at a family dinner last week. His take was "It would be the stupidest thing Chicago's done since we signed Cutler to the Bears!!"
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the dodo, the cuckoo, and the nene promoted this comment curiousgeorgiana was starred curiousgeorgiana was unstarred

the dodo, the cuckoo, and the nene
09/29/09

@curiousgeorgiana: Really? Signing Cutler was a stupid thing? I don't know if I can agree with that. But anyway...
Regarding the Chicago olympics: I don't think that I want them here. I think it would be a logistical nightmare. I don't think that the city has the infrastructure, I don't really want to think about what it would cost (I don't live in the city, but I do live in Cook county), and I am hating the idea of road/other random construction for the next 8 years. But the Olympics would do a lot for the city. If they can pull it off. Which I am doubting right now.
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curiousgeorgiana
09/29/09

@the dodo, the cuckoo, and the nene: He's got a grudge against Cutler all the way from Vandy. It's a personal thing. I actually think he's a good fit for their offense (though he is a bit of a jerk). And I agree with your worries on whether the city's government can pull it off. I have my doubts.
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@schweppes: Uh, Rio is a mess infrastructure wise and has even failedl to do the improvements promised for the pan Am games. I doubt it'll get its act together for the Olympics.
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Edited by Trulymadlyme at 09/29/09 10:33 AM Trulymadlyme was starred Trulymadlyme was unstarred

schweppes
09/29/09

@Trulymadlyme: I know, Rio's not a perfect choice. But I honestly think Chicago is less ideal - they couldn't even provide enough water cups for a marathon where people died because of heat exhaustion/dehydration.
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sampagita
09/29/09

@Trulymadlyme: Yeah, but then that mess would be there, not here. :P
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@schweppes: I actually ran that race and it was a serious aberration. The Chicago marathon is one of the best organized and executed races in the country.

Part of the problem was that it was abnormally hot, the race started late, and elite and fast runners (sub 3:30 crowd) were not only drinking the water/gatorade, they were dousing themselves repeatedly at every stop because of the heat, which led to there being no water for the slower folks who ended up running well into late morning when temps almost hit 90. There were plenty of cups. It was a cluster fuck but seriously not the norm.
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Edited by Trulymadlyme at 09/29/09 10:42 AM Trulymadlyme was starred Trulymadlyme was unstarred

jigglyball
09/29/09

@curiousgeorgiana: HE HAS A GRUDGE AGAINST CUTLER FROM VANDY?!?!?! Sorry, I get a bit emotional about this. I'm a Vandy alum who graduated along with Cutler, so he was my QB then, now, forever. And he's teamed up with fellow former Commodore Earl Bennett!
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Edited by jigglyball at 09/29/09 12:29 PM jigglyball was starred jigglyball was unstarred

jigglyball
09/29/09

@jigglyball: ETA: So I stay on topic, I'll add that I lived in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics, and I was completely oblivious to the social inequities going on in the name of the Olympics/ civic pride. That's awful.

I do remember, however, that the Georgia DOT planted trees and shrubs all over the place, and they scattered wildflower seeds in the medians of all the Georgia highways. When I moved in 2000, the medians were still full of wildflowers.

** I was oblivious because I was about 9 when they began preparation.
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Edited by jigglyball at 09/29/09 12:42 PM jigglyball was starred jigglyball was unstarred

morninggloria
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I love Chicago, but I hope that we don't get the Olympics due to the fact that everything that anyone tries to do in this town becomes a money-grabbing clusterfuck that results in much higher taxes. I realize that I sound like a cranky old man here, but I don't trust the city government as far as I can throw them.
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mbprice
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Well with your bad knee, morninggloria, you shouldn't be throwing anybody! It's true.
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seejanerun
09/29/09

@morninggloria: I was up with the gf all night ranting about this. I can't stand the CTA during a Cubs game, I don't even want to know how bad it would be during the Olympics.
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morninggloria
09/29/09

@seejanerun: Well, on the plus side, the CTA riders at the Olympics will probably be less drunk. Plus, they'd mostly be overburdening the trains on the South and near South sides, since the village is supposed to be down by McCormick Place and the stadium will be in Washington Park.

(Have fun at the 51st street green line stop, Olympic tourists.)
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FontWhore (the Great Nubling Hope)
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Yes, please no Olympics here. I can see vast, expensive improvements being made that will benefit a select few. Kind of like how they fixed the crappy streets for the Olympics committee - but only the ones they were actually driving on, downtown.
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Hiroine Protagonist promoted this comment

Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@morninggloria: And I see the Olympics as sadly one of the only ways the South Side is going to get the infrastructure (both CTA and roads) improvements it desperately needs.

Also? It's just a few weeks.
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Edited by Trulymadlyme at 09/29/09 10:28 AM Trulymadlyme was starred Trulymadlyme was unstarred

Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Have fun at the 51st street green line stop, Olympic tourists.

The U of C has been quietly gobbling up land parcels all around that CTA stop. Considering that it is pretty aggressive expansion is underway in Woodlawn, I can actually see the U of C hospital (which is hella cramped) slowly moving westward.
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lalie (apologetic mess)
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Not trusting the city government just means you are from here.

@Trulymadlyme: Sadly enough, that was one of the first things I thought. Though can you imagine the bitching if they were to start building something? Hilarity.
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Trulymadlyme promoted this comment

Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@lalie (apologetic mess): Seriously. Though U of C is a major employer in that area and it also provides a ton of resources to that area. It'll be interesting to see the bitching.
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@lalie (apologetic mess): Seriously. Though U of C is a major employer in that area and it also provides a ton of resources to that area. It'll be interesting to see the bitching.
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morninggloria
09/29/09

@Trulymadlyme: I'm worried that perhaps the Olympics will force certain people out of those neighborhoods. There are a lot of problems around Washington Park that I'm sure Daley would rather sweep aside and call it fixed rather than actually address.

UChicago's community relations have always been a shade festival. When I worked there, I heard an oft repeated rumor that nearly property manager south of 37th and east of Cottage Grove is actually owned by the University.
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@morninggloria: You're right to be concerned in the sense that forcing people to move by pricing the neighborhood insanely high is a bad thing and if this was South Shore, I'd agree with you. But this entire area is pretty sparsely populated and there is a ton of room for in-fill. I had this conversation with someone about the south loop/near south side. You can't protest someone moving to an area that's basically empty warehouses and the like on the grounds that they're displacing people. Because they're not.

Washington Square has a substantial amount of lots that are essentially empty. And empty lots are bad for everyone (see Ickes). And while Hyde Park is more expensive, what I found interesting about the area is that the private rental market is indeed quite affordable if you're looking for a three bedroom flat (the kind a family would use) in certain parts of Hyde Park, Northern Kenwood or in Woodlawn along 60-65th Street.

It is well documented that in terms of infrastructure the South Side is seriously not given the same amount of resources as the Northside of the city. It would be nice to actually see in-fill on the Green line (cermak?), improved roads, increased police presence (which has indeed improved since they moved the HQ down to 31st street).
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Edited by Trulymadlyme at 09/29/09 11:11 AM Trulymadlyme was starred Trulymadlyme was unstarred

morninggloria
09/29/09

@Trulymadlyme: The south loop is underpopulated because of all of those friggin' condos that sprung up like so many genital warts during the housing boom. They're outrageously expensive and people can't afford them.

I agree with you to a degree about Washington Park, and I agree with you that the green line needs to be improved (and a Cermak stop would be awesome for South Loopers, because how is there not a stop there? But honestly? This city's resources are stretched as it is. It might help the area out, or it might be another opportunity for Daley to jack property taxes up again.

Ideally, the Olympics would contribute to the Hyde Park/Kenwood/Oakland/Bronzeville/Woodlawn/South Shore area, but nothing that this city has done since I've been here has led me to believe that it will conduct itself in any way other than one that benefits influential people, not needy neighborhoods.
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Trulymadlyme
09/29/09

@morninggloria: Yeah, I was mostly talking pre-condo craze south loop (in the 1980's-1990's) when that area was basically empty, but yeah. The condo infill wasn't that great of an idea. It is nice to see the building effort slow down and focus on integrating commercial, business, and residential space in a more coherent manner.
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Edited by Trulymadlyme at 09/29/09 11:25 AM Trulymadlyme was starred Trulymadlyme was unstarred

morninggloria
09/29/09

@Trulymadlyme: I lived there for a brief spell, and it was creepy. It was as though they built an entirely new, shiny neighborhood and nobody came. I wasn't within comfortable walking distance of a grocery store or even a 7-11. No one was walking on the sidewalks. All of the restaurants were empty.

Come to think of it, they should just use existing vacant condos as the Olympic village.
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mbprice
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
I hope she'll keep on track and field all the reporters' questions. She'll be wrestling with a lot of adversity. If Barack gets too busy, though, do you think he'll just completely hand off the baton to Michelle? Discus.
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dreamweave
09/29/09

@mbprice: i think this meeting is a sprint, not a marathon. It will take some mental gymnastics.
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Ailatan
09/29/09

@mbprice: I think she'll be for the high jump when the news outlets publish how expensive hosting is.
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dreamweave
09/29/09

In reply to Obamas Go For Gold (With Limits)
They are probably going to bribe the committee with their favorite food - PIE.
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