In classic Chicago style, Mayor Daley is forging ahead with his 2016 Olympic bid while more or less ignoring the input of community members whose tax dollars will help bankroll the Olympic Village. Thanks to some pushback by local organizations who want a seat at the planning table, the city has decided to some chairs to the so-called “outreach advisory council," as Crain’s reported earlier this week:

Chicago’s Olympic bid committee, which has been under fire for lack of neighborhood input in its plans for the 2016 Summer Games, dramatically expanded its community outreach committee to 60 members from 22 [...]

Tuesday’s announcement is part of stepped-up efforts to build support for the games as the city prepares for a visit from the International Olympic Committee.

First, the good news: the grassroots coalition Communities for an Equitable Olympics (CEO 2016) has two members on the 60-seat council: Jawanza Malone of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and Jaquie Algee of SEIU Healthcare IL/IN (whose Illinois state council sponsors this website). Also of note is the inclusion of Jorge Ramirez of the Chicago Federation of Labor. That said, it’s pretty clear that groups looking out for local residents’ housing and jobs aren’t going to find much of a voice here.

Of the remaining 57 seats, however, 13 members are current city employees and 10 come from organizations that count on the city of money (according the procurement department website). To boot, two strong Daley allies—co-chairs Michael Scott and Terry Peterson—are running the show.

We reached out to Amisha Patel, who’s been organizing the CEO 2016 campaign, for her take on the committee. Despite having two members of the coalition at the table, she doesn’t seem convinced (or even hopeful) that the group would do much to secure the sort of legally-binding agreement for jobs, infrastructure, and housing improvements that she and other community and labor groups are working to bring with the games. “We want to see where it will go,” Patel tells us. “But frankly, most of the work for us will happen out of the committee.”

That work is a community benefits agreement, which will come up for a vote before the City Council next month. When Ald. Toni Preckwinkle announced the ordinance a month ago, she told reporters that she had the 26 votes necessary to pass the measure.

In other Olympics news, the city released its so-called "bid book" today.  We'll have more on that later.