Olympic Reaction article

Many Chicagoans were shocked Friday morning when the city was eliminated during the first round of the International Olympic Committee’s vote to choose the host city of 2016 games.
Hopes had been high before the vote and many could not believe that Chicago had lost, much less that they had only received 18 votes, which kept them from moving on to the second round of the vote.
“It would have been so good for this city,” said Ellen Stewart, a 37-year-old mother of two, shaking her head in disappointment. “I just can’t believe it’s over that quick after all the buildup.”
Not everyone shared Stewart’s reaction, however, and were even glad that Chicago was not chosen. Some felt that Chicago faces more pressing problems, including the current swell of violence threatening its public schools.
Tamekia Johnson, 27, of Garfield Park, shares this sentiment. “We just had a boy get beat to death on the south side outside a school, kids are getting beat up and robbed every day, gangbangers are shooting up the streets and the city don’t care,” Johnson said.
Johnson, like many others who opposed the bid, sees it as a lack of priority management on the part of the city’s leadership.
“They spent $40 million just on the bid but they say they ain’t got no money to hire no more police. If you ask me, those people were right not to pick us; we can’t even take pay to keep people safe. How can we afford to host the Olympics?” she said.

*This was an in-class assignment based on quotes from man-on-the street interviews done on the day of vote

Interviewing, CMUN 332, Loyola University Chicago