It’s been more than a month since Chicago hosted the international NATO Summit and its accompanying protesters, but details continue to trickle out about the cost of hosting the two-day event. Meanwhile, businesses downtown and near McCormick Place — the site of the event — have mixed feelings about how the city handled it.
The 2012 North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Chicago, which brought together high-level heads of state to discuss government alliances, technically occurred May 20-21. But some costs, such as security, were incurred in the days leading up to the event. Chicago officials estimate the cost of hosting the event at $55 million, although they say that will be covered by a combination of federal money and private donations.
However, that doesn't include the cost to local businessmen. For instance, Eric Swanson, owner of Swanson Bows — a shop that specializes in repairing bows for musical instruments in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue — said his business was closed for four days because the whole building was closed – closed and boarded-up, actually – for NATO.
“(Chicago Mayor) Rahm Emanuel played it up as a big gain for Chicago businesses, like hotels and restaurants, but this city is really made up of small businessmen, and it really wasn’t a good idea for people like me,” said Swanson.
You can read the full report on this story at: http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/8914/chicagos-nato-costs-still-being-tabulated/
2 comments:
It was all for the politicians, and nuts to the actual citizens and business people of Chicago. So what is new?
What if the world leaders were meeting in Algonquin, LITH, Huntley, or wherever you live? I think it would be pretty exciting so even though it was for the politicians in Chicago, many citizens had to like it
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