32 Comments - wordslinger - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 9:55 am: –The poll also found that 61 percent of Chicago-area residents thought that the protesters “should be protesting” NATO.– That’s interesting. Maybe it’s 10 years of war. Did you know that most of the former Warsaw Pact nations are now either NATO members or NATO “partners.” Did you know that Russia is a NATO partner? Why exactly are we footing the bill for dozens of bases and more than 50,000 service members in Germany? - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 9:57 am: Again, not a slam dunk issue for Rahm, but probably a minor accomplishment. That could change if: – Police get out of hand in response to protests; – Numbers show a net economic loss for the city, at least in the short term; – Dignitaries heap glowing praise on the City (or Bill Clinton…can anyone find him?) – Major crime sprees break out in Chicago neighborhoods will the bulk of the force is in the Loop That said, like the Olympic bid, the big policy question is always about cost-benefit analysis. What if the city had spent all of this time, energy and money fixing our school system, for example? - mark walker - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:11 am: This is a very big opportunity for Chicago to be seen as a “World City” by foreign companies and investors. This is one key differentiator for us in the global marketplace versus the rest of the middle of the country. It’s high risk if a minority of protestors succeed at creating chaos and symbolic destruction for the cameras, and the cops overreact. If we get a scene like ‘68, it will hurt our economic recovery for the long term. When listening to inteviews of a lot of arriving demonstrators, few even mention NATO as an issue. It’s much more about inequality, abuse of economic and political power, and unfair treatment of various kinds. Its THE summer happening for all sorts of groups. - Cheryl44 - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:11 am: This will never be a world class city until we do something about the schools and stop treating libraries like they’re unnecessary. - wordslinger - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:17 am: I’ve never understood “the world-class city” inferiority complex among some. As far as business goes, Chicago’s the fifth-largest metro economy in the world. We’re not New York, but no other place is. London, Paris and Rome are ancient cities. We are what we are — not even 200 years old — and that’s better than most. - OneMan - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:21 am: Ask me Monday after I take the train home after a day of work…. - Skeeter - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:21 am: Those numbers are really shocking. I wonder if the size of the area polled mattered. Maybe if you live in Joliet and never come into the City you think it is a good thing. I know of a grand total of one person who lives in my area (Streeterville/River North/ The Loop) who has anything remotely positive to say about it (the best she could do was to say that we know about this so we should be able to deal with it. That’s as positive as it gets). Most of us who spend a lot of time down here (live or work) think that at the best it will be a huge and unnecessary pain in the rear and at worst might end up keeping us out of our businesses and potentially into our homes. As I’m typing this, I just received a message from my kids’ school saying the school will be closed Monday. Yet another headache. - Small Town Liberal - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:30 am: Maybe I’m just young and naive, but I really see the whole thing as a positive. Yeah, the train will probably be crowded, might be difficult to get around, big deal. I didn’t move to Chicago for the unencumbered walking spaces. Then again, no kids for me, no real responsibilities other than work, so that probably helps. - Davey Boy Smithe - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:32 am: I’m looking forward to out of towners asking me about Al Capone all weekend. He’s the only famous guy to ever come from Chicago. - Thoughts... - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:41 am: I’m pro but I’m getting a headache thinking about my drive to Springfield from the north side on Monday. - Ron Burgundy - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:43 am: I’ll withhold judgment but so far so good. Lots of time for things to get out of hand between now and Tuesday, though. - RetiredStateEmployee - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:48 am: Interesting incident in Dixmoor on Tues. due to NATO, police harassing law abiding citizens. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/IlliniRail/message/76537 Enjoy, I will enjoy being downstate during this time. - wordslinger - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:48 am: –I’m looking forward to out of towners asking me about Al Capone all weekend. He’s the only famous guy to ever come from Chicago.– Where did you get that one? From Milton Berle on a Dean Martin roast? Where’s the president from? - shore - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:48 am: http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/main.asp you can track the claim that this conference will bring “chicago lots of global media stories that promote tourism” there. You don’t have to click on the sites of the papers just scroll over for the covers. I didn’t see anything on the summit or chicago on any of the major papers in the countries with the big tourism crowds-uk, canada,ect. Even the US paper in afghanistan doesn’t have anything on it and you’d think a us taxpayer funded paper in Afghanistan might be slightly interested. - Carl Nyberg - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 10:51 am: Asking people if they think something is an inconvenience is a little weird. Something that inconveniences 3-25% of the people in the Chicago area is still inconveniencing a large number of people. Asking the opinion of whether people believing something is inconveniencing others is probably mostly measuring the media coverage of the event. After watching PBS’ the New Hour out of the corner of my eye, I’m certain the American people are getting goofy propaganda about NATO. If you just watched PBS’ the New Hour, you’d think far more violence was perpetrated by anarchists than by the U.S. military or by police abuses. The corporate media (including NPR and PBS) are more transparently misinforming people than in the past. - Hank - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 11:03 am: Where’s the president from? …Hawaii - Rich Miller - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 11:05 am: Hank, Capone was from New York. - Plutocrat03 - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 11:14 am: Perhaps those questioned are products of the Chicago educational system….. Paraphrasing Winston Churchill ‘Never in the field of human events have so many been inconvenienced by so few for so little benefit’ BTW, perhaps all demonstrators should be routed through Bridgeport first…. - Wumpus - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 11:57 am: I am enjoying watching the idiot protestors come into town wearign masks. (The ones with masks are idiots, not necessarily the rest). - Huh? - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 12:09 pm: Chicago is a nice place to visit on the very rare occasion. Will most likely stay as far west of IL 47 as possible this weekend. - The KQ - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 1:10 pm: Hank is right, when I travelled overseas and told people I was from Chicago, they just about always answered “Chicago – Oh, Al Capone – bang bang”. No kidding. - Benny - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 1:13 pm: Where’s the president from? Depends on who you ask. - aaron singer - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 1:22 pm: “Will it boost the economy? * Yes: 60% * No: 33%” I really have no explanation for that other than apparently Rahm’s pro-NATO propaganda campaign is working. The line that they’re putting out there saying that the city will make money from this boondoggle is a joke. I can’t wait to hear about security cost overruns, no-bid contracts whose details aren’t released to the public, the city having to pay LAZ and other similar private contractors lost revenue based upon idiotic deals that Daley and Emanuel signed, millions of dollars in lost revenue by small businesses throughout central Chicago, and more. This whole thing is a joke. But as long as Chicagoans’ inferiority complex is satisfied by a one-day military meeting, and as long as Rahm’s ego is sufficiently stoked, I guess that’s all that really matters. - Anonymous - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 3:51 pm: “…improve Chicago’s international standing….” Does anyone even know what that means before they respond to it? It could be just like “do you want to improve quality?” Most will say “of course” even if there’s no product mentioned, because we’ve been conditioned to believe that “more quality” is always better, right? Even when it’s not required and will cost much more without adding any value. - Anonymous - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 4:03 pm: =That said, like the Olympic bid, the big policy question is always about cost-benefit analysis. What if the city had spent all of this time, energy and money fixing our school system, for example?= The most obvious soft benefit: the “insiders” who stand to realize both soft and hard benefits from the “NATO networking”, would not benefit from the NATO networking. (I like it when someone else starts talking about things like C/BAs!) - Anonymous - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 4:10 pm: =I’ve never understood “the world-class city” inferiority complex among some. As far as business goes, Chicago’s the fifth-largest metro economy in the world.= lol ALL of the people I’ve heard (in person) use that term are from another “world class city” and it’s generally used to *impress* upon others how their mere existence is going to improve Chicago. Ya. I’ll be happy when Chicago becomes another Kaliningrad…or even Moscow for that matter. So proud! - Because I say so... - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 5:14 pm: I’m looking forward to the clowns, literal clowns that said they are going to be in the Loop for a little levity. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/nato-summit-chicago-clowns_n_1524359.html?ref=chicago - Anonymous - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 5:23 pm: =Ya. I’ll be happy when Chicago becomes another Kaliningrad…or even Moscow for that matter.= There’s GOT to be an Al Capone “mobster” punchline to that one having to do with “world class” values. - wordslinger - Thursday, May 17, 12 @ 6:12 pm: Seriously, Al Capone gags? Did the windmill break down? Did the antenna fall off the farmhouse? - wishbone - Friday, May 18, 12 @ 12:30 am: The only one that I see out there who thinks it’s a good idea is that humorless, Stepford wife and host team chief Lori Healy. What a robot. - Anonymous - Friday, May 18, 12 @ 2:25 am: IR posted an interesting video from Wednesday. Looks like some folks might want to consider whipping out their Blackberries to text their people for “international advice” on how to bring about “world peace” in a world class city through culture, music, and entertainment. It looks like the clowns alone might not be able to handle it. - Anonymous - Friday, May 18, 12 @ 2:27 am: Just to be clear…my reference to clowns was in follow-up to Because I say so’s 5:14 post. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.