Chicago’s Loss: Is Passport Control to Blame?: Via In Transit Blog - NYTimes.com .

Did Chicago lose the chance to host the 2016 Olympics because of airport security issues?

Among the toughest questions posed to the Chicago bid team this week in Copenhagen was one that raised the issue of what kind of welcome foreigners would get from airport officials when they arrived in this country to attend the Games. Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicago’s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be “a rather harrowing experience.”

President Obama, who was there as part of the 10-person team, assured Mr. Ali that all visitors would be made to feel welcome. “One of the legacies I want to see is a reminder that America at its best is open to the world,” he said.”

But Mr. Obama’s assurances may have not been enough to assuage critics like Mr. Ali. A few hours later the Games went to Rio de Janeiro.

The exchange underscores what tourism officials here have been saying for years about the sometimes rigorous entry process for foreigners, which they see as a deterrent to tourism. [ Read more ... ]

Chicago Crime Cams Nab Beer Drinker As Reminder of Big Brother System:

Chicago police are constantly monitoring their multi-million dollar surveillance cameras to bust black people drinking beer in brown paper bags on the street, as part of a tactic to remind the city's ethnic neighborhoods that they live in a panopticon, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

In contrast, San Francisco's budding network of 248 surveillance cameras is not monitored until after a crime has been reported. [ Read more ... ]

Cameras survey Chicago's toughest blocks, but do they reduce crime?: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has cited Chicago's experience in arguing for an expansion of his city's camera surveillance program, and even test-drove one of Chicago's cameras during a 2005 visit.

But San Francisco differs from Chicago in one significant respect: In San Francisco, no one watches the action as the cameras record it. Police track down the footage later if they find out that a camera may have recorded a serious crime such as a homicide. No one shifts San Francisco's 70 cameras into better position in an emergency. [ Read more ... ]

Laptop thefts expose 40,000 Chicago teachers: "

Identity crisis

A thief walked into the headquarters of Chicage Public Schools (CPS) on Friday, April 6 and grabbed two laptops containing the names and social security numbers of 40,000 teachers. The CPS has released an image of the suspect captured by CCTV and is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the thief or recovery of the data.…

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