Linking West Indians in Midwest America
Chicago's 2016 Olympic Bid &The West Indian Community
6/16/08
I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 Olympic Committee meeting for Community organizations today. Well, it will be interesting to see how the West Indian community begin to prepare to get a piece of the Olympic pie if the City of Chicago wins the bid.
They are expecting 1 million visitors to decend on the City of Chicago each day for the 14 days of the Olympics...that is 14 million people. How will WE, as a Caribbean community, be positioned to tap into some of the revenue that will be generated by the influx of visitors to the city?
Here is the timeline to the decison:
08/08/08 - Beijing Games open
02/12/09 - A 500 page Candidate file must be submitted to the ICC adressing all the
issues in detail (transportation, housing, medical etc) for all the athletes
and visitors
05/06/09 - ICC Evaluation Committee visits Chicago
10/02/09 - ICC chooses host city
If Chicago is chosen:
1. Visitors are expected to start arriving up to one year before the event begins
2. There are only 101,000 hotel rooms within a 35 mile radius of downtown
HOUSING WILL BE AN ISSUE - any West Indians out there wanting a piece of the lodging dollars now is the time to start thinking about this. They are expecting the overflow to reach out to other Midwestern states - Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, anywhere where there is access to Amtrak or other means to get to Chicago.
3. Speaking of Amtrak - Transportation issues are being addressed with improvements to be made to Pace, Metra, CTA, RTA and other modes of public transportation - any West Indians out there with shuttle buses, or a fleet of cars...I see dollars signs ($$$) for the transportation of visitors
4. 200 nations will be participating in the Olympics and Para Olympic sports
Visiting West Indians will need to feel we are a home away from home - how many out there are willing to act as hosts for our West Indian brothers and sisters?
5. Food & Beverage: well people love to eat and with a city as ethnically diverse as Chicago - is the West Indian community as it stands now ready to take advantage of some of the revenue dollars this part of the hospitality industry is about to generate?
I would love to have some feedback on this!!!
I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 Olympic Committee meeting for Community organizations today. Well, it will be interesting to see how the West Indian community begin to prepare to get a piece of the Olympic pie if the City of Chicago wins the bid.
They are expecting 1 million visitors to decend on the City of Chicago each day for the 14 days of the Olympics...that is 14 million people. How will WE, as a Caribbean community, be positioned to tap into some of the revenue that will be generated by the influx of visitors to the city?
Here is the timeline to the decison:
08/08/08 - Beijing Games open
02/12/09 - A 500 page Candidate file must be submitted to the ICC adressing all the
issues in detail (transportation, housing, medical etc) for all the athletes
and visitors
05/06/09 - ICC Evaluation Committee visits Chicago
10/02/09 - ICC chooses host city
If Chicago is chosen:
1. Visitors are expected to start arriving up to one year before the event begins
2. There are only 101,000 hotel rooms within a 35 mile radius of downtown
HOUSING WILL BE AN ISSUE - any West Indians out there wanting a piece of the lodging dollars now is the time to start thinking about this. They are expecting the overflow to reach out to other Midwestern states - Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, anywhere where there is access to Amtrak or other means to get to Chicago.
3. Speaking of Amtrak - Transportation issues are being addressed with improvements to be made to Pace, Metra, CTA, RTA and other modes of public transportation - any West Indians out there with shuttle buses, or a fleet of cars...I see dollars signs ($$$) for the transportation of visitors
4. 200 nations will be participating in the Olympics and Para Olympic sports
Visiting West Indians will need to feel we are a home away from home - how many out there are willing to act as hosts for our West Indian brothers and sisters?
5. Food & Beverage: well people love to eat and with a city as ethnically diverse as Chicago - is the West Indian community as it stands now ready to take advantage of some of the revenue dollars this part of the hospitality industry is about to generate?
I would love to have some feedback on this!!!
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