International Olympic Committee officials touched down in Chicago on April 2 to take a closer look at the city’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. While most of the city rolled out the red carpet for the visitors, some Chicagoans protested instead.

At 5 p.m. on April 2, several hundred protesters turned out to voice their opposition to the Olympic bid at Federal Plaza, 50 W. Adams St., drawing attention from the swarm of rush hour commuters passing by. Earlier that day, 2,000-3,000 Chicago police officers also protested outside of City Hall, because they are unhappy with contract negotiations.

No Games Chicago, a group that formed last fall to bring together opponents of the Olympics, organized the 5 p.m. rally, where about a dozen speakers from various community organizations who are also opposed to the bid spoke to the crowd and led chants.

The group opposes the Olympic bid for many reasons, but mainly because the history of the modern Olympic Games has been one of debt, corruption and gentrification of minority and low-income communities, said Bob Quellos, the group’s co-founder.

Deborah Taylor, of Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), picketed at the rally along with members of her group.

“We don’t want the Olympics because it will cause mass gentrification and displacement of low-income housing,” Taylor said.

The issue of public dollars being spent on the Olympic bid is a major concern for No Games, as well as other groups like STOP who are upset that mental health clinics are being closed on the South Side but the city is spending money on the Olympic bid.

“Especially in this time of economic crisis … why not put that money into things people need right now instead of banking it on a three-week sporting event seven years from now,” Quellos said.

At the corner of Dearborn and Adams streets, Mike Sullivan, a 45-year-old city construction worker, passed out anti-Olympics fliers to passersby asking to send a letter voicing their opposition to the Olympics to the IOC.

“Everything Daley touches turns to corruption,” Sullivan said. “He can’t patch up the streets, he’s cutting funding for special education and we don’t have safe neighborhoods-but he wants to bring the Olympics here?”

Sullivan said he doesn’t think the city will win their bid to host the games anyway, because it can’t afford it.

“We can’t afford our public schools, we can’t afford to keep the CTA running-how are we supposed to afford the Olympics?” Sullivan said.

Another group adding their voice to the chorus of protest was the Caucus of Rank-and-file Educators, or CORE.

Jennifer Johnson, a history teacher at Lincoln Park High School, 2001 N. Orchard St., was representing CORE at the rally.

“CORE is against the Olympic bid because it’s part of the mayor’s plan to destabilize neighborhoods,” Johnson said.  “This temporary Olympic hoopla is not going to be beneficial to the majority of the population of Chicago … and with Renaissance 2010 and the Olympic bid,  [Daley] is clearly trying to gentrify the city at a rapid pace.”

The use of Tax Increment Financing  (TIF) dollars on the Olympics is also a major concern for CORE, Johnson said.

In January, City Council voted to use TIF revenue to fund infrastructure improvements, such as new sewers and streets, in the area where the Olympic Village will be built on the South Side.  The city also paid $86 million, of taxpayer dollars, to buy the land for the future Olympic Village.

“CORE actually has a committee right  now  working on analyzing budget information from the city, trying to understand the lies and trying to understand how Chicago Public Schools can say they have a major deficit right now, but there is reserve funding,” Johnson said.

“Then why are we losing teacher positions, why are we closing schools and selling them out to charter organizations, when really we have resources?”

Food Not Bombs, a group of activists who serve free, vegetarian meals to the homeless and also to protesters at rallies, was on hand.

Julie Ricile of Food Not Bombs said there are many more important things the city should be worrying about other than the Olympics, such as homelessness, education and poverty.

But not everyone around the protest was against the Olympics.

On her way back from a pro-Olympics rally with Chicago 2016, the private group heading Chicago’s bid, Diana Mulka, a retired air traffic controller, walked by the protesters still  holding a pro-Olympic Chicago 2016 flag in her hands.

Mulka, a self-confessed “Olympics junkie,” who has been to several Olympic Games, said she has greatly enjoyed her experiences with the Games and that having the Olympics in Chicago would be great for the city economically.

But, Mulka said, she also supported the protestors’ right to express their concerns.

“I think it’s good to have another voice … and people questioning things,” Mulka said. “As long as we can all respect each other, I think it’s good.”

Some groups, like Communities for an Equitable Olympics (CEO 2016), aren’t completely opposed to the Olympics, but rather just want some guarantees on issues like affordable housing through a Community Benefit Agreement. Quellos said No Games is strictly against the Olympic bid, regardless of what promises are made.

“We’re against a Community Benefit Agreement because we don’t believe the city will hold itself accountable,” Quellos said. “There have been plenty of broken promises from City Hall.”

CEO 2016 has led the movement to get a legally-binding Community Benefit Agreement from the city.  The agreement was proposed to City Council in January, but did not come up for a full vote before the council at its last meeting on March 18-something the group is not happy about.

“We are not in support of the games without a Community Benefit Agreement-that’s our position,” said Jay Travis, director of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization who is also involved with CEO 2016.

The Community Benefit Agreement proposed to City Council would ensure 30 percent of the housing at the site of the proposed Olympic Village would be affordable, 50 percent of the total value of all contracts would go to women-and minority-owned contractors and that the percentage of construction hours for apprenticeship positions would increase from five to 10 percent.

Both Quellos and Travis said they have looked at research showing what has happened in past Olympic host cities and didn’t like what they found.

“Displacement, a lack of living-wage employment opportunities-that type of stuff is prevalent in most cities that have held the games,” Travis said. “We want to make sure that doesn’t happen here.”

“In many of our neighborhoods, there was such a great loss of affordable housing for low-income people as a result of the Chicago Housing Authority’s plan for transformation,” Travis said. “So any other large-scale plans that could cause further displacement are of concern to us.”

No Games Chicago did request to meet with officials from the IOC while they are in Chicago, Quellos said, but as of press time, they had not heard back from them to find out if a meeting would be arranged.

“The IOC is open to meet with community groups because they actually want to know if people are opposed to the Olympics coming to their city or not,” Quellos said. “They don’t want to go into a city where the people don’t want the Games.”

Chicago is competing against three other cities to host the 2016 Summer Games-Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. The IOC will make its final selection in October.