OT - Vancouver Olympics
Willow
To those who live in cities which want to host the Olympics, be
warned. This urge to demonstrate the ego of a city can be a disaster.
We are no longer living in Vancouver, thank the gods, but that is the
source of our news and more. The city and province have spent
fortunes on massive structures of limited use. How many speed skaters
do you know. We could have given each one a million dollars and come
out ahead. The mere $600 million for the "sea-to-sky highway",
necesary to move the VIPs and security teams to Whistler, will be a
legacy that will continue to cost taxpayers money year after year. It
ends in a dead end. Prices of everything have gone up due to gouging,
rooms are now over $500 we are told, and the cost of security going
way over budget. All this for two weeks of winter fun. Concurrently,
the Province tells us the cupboard is bare for health care, hospitals
and ambulance drivers, infrastructure and more. School boards are
told to cut 20%.
Every time the go-go news comes on locally, it leads with tales of the
"fun" this is all giving to us. Over 700 miles away, the only fun we
get is a torch relay and welfare types shipped north on one way bus
tickets to get them out of the way as the VIPs enjoy Vancouver.
Bah! Humbug!
Willow
BarbNJ
"Willow" <pang...@telus.net> wrote in message
news:c9fc39fa-f242-47b9...@s21g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
LOL. I had kind of assumed that it would have to be nightmare of some sort.
The money that is spent could probably feed the homeless (or build them
homes!) for years to come. What a shame.
Barb
Willow
> LOL. I had kind of assumed that it would have to be nightmare of some sort.
> The money that is spent could probably feed the homeless (or build them
> homes!) for years to come. What a shame.
And teh political types are so happy, having been given tickets and
encourage to hobnob with the visiting VIPS and others.
Up here in the north, we get a bonus! Welfare types from East
Vancouver have been given bus tickets for other locations, one way, of
course. One location is our town. So the local shelters are
overcrowded and streets are not walkable, if they were before. Not
unusual - when one big conference hit Bangkok, the street vendors were
summarily told to stay away or be subject to arrest.
Willow
Pogonip
>
> LOL. I had kind of assumed that it would have to be nightmare of some
> sort. The money that is spent could probably feed the homeless (or build
> them homes!) for years to come. What a shame.
> Barb
Salt Lake City went through that. They built, they improved, they
borrowed and spent money to get ready and to host the games. They went
deep into hock figuring to make it back but they were wrong. The games
bring in money, yes, but not enough to pay off the expenses of preparing
for them. The citizens will be paying off the debt for years to come.
They do have better highways now, though.
--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.com
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/
Joan in GB-W
"Pogonip" <nob...@nowhere.org> wrote in message
news:4afb...@news.bnb-lp.com...
Humm, am I the only one who loves the Olympics?
Joan
Pogonip
Possibly.
Willow
> Humm, am I the only one who loves the Olympics?
The Games themselves are not really the issue (although any similarity
to amateur is long gone, IMO). Rather, the state ego that demands
bigger and bigger facilities for massive amounts of money. $600
million for a road to Whistler is only the start - a massive speed
skating building, all sorts of very specialized facilities, and now,
the cost of security that threatens to dwarf all else. That may be
just ducky when our economies are going gangbusters, but not when
schools and hospitals are told to cut back, cut back and cut back.
Vancouver used the most expensive plot of land in the whole city for
an athletes' village. After the Olympics, the units will be sold.
Massive overruns in . Hotels have jacked up rates by three or more
fold to max out on profits while the city is stopped dead with road
closures and worse.
Simply put, if the Olympics are good - which by and large they are, I
suppose - there has to be a better and more economical way of having
them. Spending massive amounts of money on new facilities for a very
few individuals to use (how many speed skaters do you know?) is
crazy.
Willow
BarbNJ
"Pogonip" <nob...@nowhere.org> wrote in message
news:4afb...@news.bnb-lp.com...
> Joan in GB-W wrote:
>>
>> "Pogonip" <nob...@nowhere.org> wrote in message
>> news:4afb...@news.bnb-lp.com...
>>> BarbNJ wrote:
>>>>
>>>> LOL. I had kind of assumed that it would have to be nightmare of some
>>>> sort. The money that is spent could probably feed the homeless (or
>>>> build them homes!) for years to come. What a shame.
>>>> Barb
>>>
>>> Salt Lake City went through that. They built, they improved, they
>>> borrowed and spent money to get ready and to host the games. They went
>>> deep into hock figuring to make it back but they were wrong. The games
>>> bring in money, yes, but not enough to pay off the expenses of preparing
>>> for them. The citizens will be paying off the debt for years to come.
>>> They do have better highways now, though.
>>> --
>>> Joanne
>>> stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.com
>>> http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/
>>
>> Humm, am I the only one who loves the Olympics?
>>
>> Joan
the citizens of the host cities endure. It's got to be tough.
Barb H
Janet
summer Olympics, it's an easy choice: Greece.
The winter Olympics are more of a problem.
Willow
> The winter Olympics are more of a problem.
I tend to agree. And winter sports are just the same - perhaps one
ski jump three or four places with the events alternating. The costs
could be shared over time and the facilities reused. If any country
wants to have its own ski jump - fine.
The speed skating oval in Richmond, south of Vancouver, is a good
example. Very expensive as it had to be built to "Olympic standards":
"Richmond seeking to spend $16m more on skating oval
New money would be spent before the 2010 Winter Games to convert
interior spaces into areas for 'sports and wellness services'
Kent Spencer, The Province
Published: Friday, December 07, 2007
Richmond's finance committee wants $16 million to be spent on the
Olympic Oval next year, where costs have already risen to $178
million.
"This is not a cost overrun," city spokesman Ted Townsend said
yesterday. "It is a change in the scope of the project."
Townsend said the new money would be spent before the 2010 Winter
Games to convert interior spaces into areas for "sports and wellness
services."
He said the new plan calls for a "greatly enhanced community use,"
which would provide a "broader program" than was previously
contemplated.
If council approves the recommendation, the funds would come from $141-
million worth of city property that has been sold near the oval.
Staff have recommended a 3.96-per-cent property tax increase in 2008,
but Townsend said that hike is not oval-related. He said property
taxes will not be raised to pay for the oval.
The speed-skating venue was originally budgeted at $155 million, with
$63 million from senior governments.
The cost was raised to $178 million to accommodate a $23-million
parking garage needed to deal with shifting river sands.
Critics said the latest $16 million would bring total cost overruns to
$39 million.
With the rounded wooden roof taking shape on the complex in the 6000-
block River Road, it will be the largest building erected for the
Games.
Maureen Bader of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said Richmond's
announcement was evidence of spiralling costs.
"The city has too much money. Richmond politicians are looking for new
ways to spend money, rather than how to lower property taxes. Why not
give all that money from the land sale back to the taxpayers? It
belongs to them," she said.
NDP MLA Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton) said Richmond's budget has been
"full of surprises."
"I wonder how many more surprises are out there," he said. "Enough is
enough. Taxpayers deserve better."
Some of the conversion would occur before the Games because Olympic
space requirements have been smaller than anticipated.
"We have the funds available to support this now," said Townsend. "It
is more efficient to do improvements during the construction phase. We
would save money doing them in 2008 dollars."
The building's cavernous interior would be rearranged into three NHL-
sized rectangular sections.
The spaces would be designated for ice, court and turf. There would be
a rink, hardwood floors, fitness centre and indoor track among the
34,000 square metres. The 400-m speed-skating oval would remain.
The latest spending plan was contained in the finance committee's $163-
million capital budget, which was four times as big as normal.
A total of $1.7 million has also been set aside for oval art in the
surrounding precinct.
Coun. Harold Steves said he knew the bill would be "well over $10
million."
"It's a useless building if we don't do it," he said. "This has been
planned right from the beginning. Taxpayers will get a good deal
because there will be enough recreational use for the next 20 years."
Council is expected to make a decision in January.
Francis A. Miniter
I agree. A permanent home (or homes) is the only logical
solution.
--
Francis A. Miniter
Oscuramente
libros, laminas, llaves
siguen mi suerte.
Jorge Luis Borges, La Cifra Haiku, 6
erilar
"Janet" <box...@maine.rr.com> wrote:
Somewhere in the Alps??
--
Erilar, biblioholic
bib-li-o-hol-ism [<Gr biblion] n. [BIBLIO + HOLISM] books, of books:
habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire, and consume books in excess.
Bud
> Joan in GB-W wrote:
>>
>> Humm, am I the only one who loves the Olympics?
>>
>> Joan
>
> Possibly.
As long as NBC broadcasts them, ferget it!
--
Bud
Wes Struebing
<dra...@chibardun.net.invalid> wrote:
>In article <7m3mijF...@mid.individual.net>,
> "Janet" <box...@maine.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> I think that a permanent home is the only solution that makes sense. For the
>> summer Olympics, it's an easy choice: Greece.
>>
>> The winter Olympics are more of a problem.
>
>Somewhere in the Alps??
Somewhere in Scandinavia.
(Now, you see the problem in picking a "permanent site"? Obviously,
this goes for the Summer Olympics, too)
That said, it DOES make sense for either one.
--
Wes Struebing
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,
and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples,
promising liberty and justice for all.
Homepage: www.carpedementem.org
linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wesstruebing
Janet
> I don't think that the Olympic movement will ever accept permanent
> sites. The gravy trains generated by the existing system, and well
> documented by Andrew Jennings in his several books on the subject,
> "The Lords of the Rings", 1992, "The New Lords of the Rings", 1996 and
> "The Great Olympic Swindle", 2000, is too rich and sumptuous. The
> Salt Lake City swill-fest ought to have been enough to convince anyone
> without a cast-iron stomach that the whole movement is beyond
> redemption. That's even without the blatant cheating that so many of
> the competitors have indulged in over the years. Marion Jones was the
> last straw for me but, to be fair, she's just the tip of a huge and no
> doubt rapidly growing iceberg.
>
> Mique
> (once, but no longer a fan)
I enjoy watching Olympic sports, but the cheating and the professionals
participating increasingly ruin it for me. I have no interest whatever in
watching NBA players, NHL players, and professional tennis players. I can't
believe they dropped softball, a sport of real amateurs, and are considering
adding golf, with professional players who already compete all over the
world. Who needs it? It was better back when the Soviet bloc professionals
and East German swimmer steroid users were pretty much the only ones, unfair
as that was.
Joan in GB-W
"Janet" <box...@maine.rr.com> wrote in message
news:7md9suF...@mid.individual.net...
I agree. The professionals have no business being in the Olympics, once
competition for amateurs only. The pros have their tournaments going on now
practically not stop. Let the amateurs have their day.
Joan
erilar
"Janet" <box...@maine.rr.com> wrote:
> I enjoy watching Olympic sports, but the cheating and the professionals
> participating increasingly ruin it for me. I have no interest whatever in
> watching NBA players, NHL players, and professional tennis players. I can't
> believe they dropped softball, a sport of real amateurs, and are considering
> adding golf, with professional players who already compete all over the
> world. Who needs it? It was better back when the Soviet bloc professionals
> and East German swimmer steroid users were pretty much the only ones, unfair
> as that was.
You said it for me 8-)
Another problem caused by all those pros: the main network station
broadcasting Olympic coverage spends hours and hours showing their
antics and totally skips or moves to channels not everyone(including me)
can access. I did finally get to watch some sailing, archery, and field
hockey, among other things, but had to do it on my computer.
--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist
Andrew Barss
: I agree. The professionals have no business being in the Olympics, once
: practically not stop. Let the amateurs have their day.
Agreed on the professionals - -that's just cynical marketing.
I think, given the great advances in training, nutrition, etc., there
should be two levels of competition: one for real amateurs who have not
had the benefit of ANY professional training (i.e. no fulltime coaches,
nutritionists, etc), and one no-tech-barred competition for anyone who
wants to enhance their bodies any way they like.
This is an interesting post:
http://gizmodo.com/5403322/racing-on-carbon-fiber-legs-how-abled-should-we-be
It's part of a series by a guesr editor who sprints on carbon-fiber
Cheetah legs.
-- Andy Barss
Joan in GB-W
"Andrew Barss" <ba...@mint.u.arizona.edu> wrote in message
news:hdsgvr$j5e$1...@onion.ccit.arizona.edu...
What an interesting article.
For those of you who will not read it, let me include one line here, the
line that really caught my attention:
"The Amazons, after all, amputated their left breast so it wouldn't impede
their skill in archery."
Joan