Chicago Olympics loss means more than bruised ego, forces city to rethink jobs, economy, plans

Olympics loss forces Chicago to rethink city plans

CHICAGO — Chicago’s dream of an Olympics stimulus is over with the 2016 Summer Games going to Rio de Janeiro. And the loss amounts to more than a bruised ego for the nation’s third-largest city.

Officials can no longer trumpet an estimated $13.7 billion economic impact. They’ll also have no excuse for distraction in a city grappling with a mounting deficit and violence that’s led to dozens of city teens’ deaths each year.

The loss marks a stunning defeat for Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Daley spent three years selling Chicago residents on the games, often highlighting job creation and a financial influx.

But people around town doubt the loss will scar Daley as he considers seeking a seventh term in 2011. By then he’d have 22 years in office and be Chicago’s longest-serving mayor.