Thursday, December 16, 1999
Cincinnati's ball rolling faster toward Olympic bid
BY EARNEST WINSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Beginning next spring, local residents can offer opinions on a draft plan by Cincinnati 2012 Inc. to bring the Olympic Games to Cincinnati, the bid committee announced Wednesday.
“We think that then it will become more real for people in this community,” Cincinnati 2012 President Nick Vehr said after a news conference at the Fourth and Walnut Center, downtown.
J. Joseph Hale Jr., chairman of Cincinnati 2012 Inc., said the level of enthusiasm and involvement in the development of the bid has been tremendous.
“More than 500 volunteers have contributed more than 10,000 hours to do much of the initial work in developing our bid,” Mr. Hale said.
It was also announced that the bid committee has raised from private sources more than $3.2 million of the interim goal of $4.5 million needed to complete the feasibility and bid development phases. In addition to the $4.5 million, about $2.5 million will be needed to finance the bid committee's efforts between late 2000 and late 2002.
Charles H. Gerhardt III, bid development director and manager of community affairs for Cinergy Corp., said that over the last seven months 11 different bid development committees have gathered data to respond to questions from the United States Olympic Committee.
“From weather conditions, transportation issues, security concerns and health care requirements to competition and noncompetition venues and environmental impact, area experts have been volunteering time and talent in pursuit of Cincinnati's Olympic dream,” Mr. Gerhardt said.
Cincinnati 2012 Inc. also an nounced it has created:
• Countdown, a monthly newsletter giving updates on the work of the bid committee. It will debut in January. Information will be provided about the bid development and fund-raising progress.
• A Web site, www.cincinnati2012.com, launched Wednesday.
Wednesday was one year from the deadline of when Cincinnati 2012 Inc. must submit its bid to the USOC to be considered as the U.S. candidate city. The USOC will select the candidate city in fall 2002 and the host city will be selected in fall 2005.
Cincinnati is one of eight places vying for the U.S bid. The others are Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington/Baltimore.
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