For immediate release: March 31, 2009
Contact: Professor Steve Balkin, sbalkin (at) roosevelt.edu; ph: 312-341-3696

Will Chicago Olympics be another Vancouver?

The preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics is plagued by cost overruns, environmental degradation, and displacement to the
city’s poorest. Will this pattern repeat itself in Chicago if Chicago gets the 2016 Summer Olympics? To answer this question,
Conrad Schmidt’s 90 minute documentary video about the preparation for the Vancouver Olympics, “Five Ring Circus” will be shown, with a panel discussion afterwards.

This event is free and will occur on Tuesday evening, April 7 at 6:15PM in the 2nd Floor Congress Lounge at Roosevelt University’s main
campus, 430 S. Michigan Avenue. It is hosted by Roosevelt University’s Department of Economics and Social Justice Program. The public is welcome.

Steve Balkin, Professor of Economics, says, “The Chicago Olympics 2016 bid seems to have strong forces both for and against. The International Olympics Committee is in town and there will be two big public protests on Thursday, April 4. So, I thought a balanced and public examination of this seems warranted. My students are studying cost theory and this is a very good case. The issues surrounding the Olympics involve not only fiscal responsibility but also sustainable economics, democracy, compatibility with an appropriate vision for the future of Chicago, and social justice.”

The panel afterwards will consist of four people: (1) Professor of Political Science Larry Bennett from DePaul University < 773-325-1973,
lbennett (at) depaul.edu >; (2) Stephen Alexander, Senior Researcher at the DePaul University Egan Urban Center < 312-362-6536 >; (3) Edward Stuart, Professor of Economics at Northeastern Illinois University < 773-442 5695, E-Stuart1 (at) neiu.edu >;
and (4) Pat Hill, Executive Director of the African-American Police League and Co-Convener of the Olympics Human Rights Project of Chicago
< 773-330-6960, pataapl1968 (at) sbcglobal.net >. The panel will be moderated by Steve Balkin, Professor of Economics at Roosevelt University < 312-341-3696; sbalkin (at) roosevelt.edu >. All are
available for interviews.

For background information, the Five Ring Circus video can be previewed on Youtube in eight parts:
www.youtube.com/watch

Larry Bennett and Stephen Alexander wrote an excellent November 2008 report: Chicago and the 2016 Olympics. See:
las.depaul.edu/euc/docs/eucDocs/CHICAGO_2016-_OLYMPIC_REPORT.pdf

Pat Hill has a blog at: olympichumanrightsprojectchicago.blogspot.com/

Other helpful websites include: www.chicago2016.org/ ;
www.chicago2016.com/2016/ ; and nogameschicago.com/ .

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