By Tom Nelson, KC Star Reader Advisory Panel

Like most Americans, I am sure, I was extremely disappointed that the Olympics won’t be held in Chicago in 2016. But, hey, no Olympics have ever been held on the South American continent. It really is their turn.

But Rio de Janeiro? In more than a bit of irony, The New Yorker this week, published (before the Olympic decision was announced) an article titled “Gangland” on the completely lawless conditions, the crushing poverty, and the horrific crime in the thousand or so “favellas”, shanty town slums, that ring and spill into Rio de Janeiro.

Is it unreasonable to wonder if those officials in Rio, who worked so hard (and dramatically), could devote some of their time and money to something even more urgent than the 2016 Olympics?