Chicago values: City still paying for failed Olympics bid

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The site of the now-closed Michael Reese Hospital on the South Side was supposed to be where the athletes village for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago.

But despite Barack Obama flying out to Copenhagen to personally plea for the games to be held in his hometown, the International Olympic Committee members chose Rio de Janiero.

Meanwhile Chicago taxpayers are in a familiar situation--paying for the expensive mistakes of the people they put in power.

From CBS 2 Chicago:

Chicago agreed to pay $91 million for the South Side site in 2009. It would have served as the Olympic Village, had Chicago prevailed with the IOC.

Since then, taxpayers have shelled out more than $50 million, but the city still owes over $72 million because most of the payments went toward interest on the loan.

"It's a significant cost that they should work to get out from underneath,” says Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a Chicago-based tax policy and government research organization.

He adds, "It's the most significant financial hangover" of the failed Olympic bid.