While I'm not fully up to speed because I left Vancouver & BC in 2005, and only moved back last year, I'd like to add a few what I hope are fair & unbiased points.
1. Montreal debt repayment. Yes Montreal just finished paying off their Olympic debt from like 40 years ago. What is likely not known here though is why: the big ass stadium they had to build. To host the Olympics, they had to build one of those huge stadiums to hold the ceremonies and track & field events, same as the one China built. This was the single biggest expense for them and had little use afterwards. Vancouver on the other hand, for the Winter Olympics did not need to build one of these. BC Place (Football stadium - opening ceremonies), GM Place (NHL rink -> Mens Ice Hockey), Pacific Coliseum (old NHL rink -> figure skating, UBC Thunderbird Arena (College hockey -> women's & other misc hockey), all the big venues already exist. Except of course for a speed skating oval which was built in Richmond, but that is one of the things that has been handled nicely as it will be converted to a community center. I'm not sure how we'll compare to Montreal but the biggest projects that were done were two big local infrastructure projects - A rapid transit line extending from Vancouver south into Richmond and the Airport, and upgrading the Sea to Sky highway to 4 lanes (connecting Vancouver to world class ski resort Whistler, used to be a single lane windy mountain road death trap).
2. Yes we're hosting the Olympics right in the middle of a recession, which doesn't seem too smart. We however were not in a recession when the bid to host the Olympics was made. We were also not in a recession when the city held a local plebiscite on whether or not to host the Olympics which won by a good majority. (Note though this was held only city boundaries of Vancouver, not the surrounding cities that make up the Metropolis area or the rest of the Province. Also estimates of costs at the time were badly under estimated.)
3. $X billion that could've been spent else where? Let's be realistic here, had Vancouver not hosted the Olympics, this $8 billion or whatever it is wouldn't have magically appeared to spend on the homeless & health care & education or whatever. Whether or not we can recuperate what was spent, and the tax burden it's going to place on the province is a very real question. However by hosting the Olympics we do create a stream of revenue, as well as give local politicians an excuse to spend on badly needed infrastructure that they would otherwise balk at due to the price tag.
Had we not hosted the Olympics, we'd still be in a recession, in need of some infrastructure upgrades, cutting budgets on schools, high rent, high tuitiion, low minimum wage, and have a huge homeless problem & drug problem in the DTES. For that matter, we already spend a **** load of money on the DTES, it's just a black hole that sucks in crack heads & the like from around the country. There are some 10,000 homeless crack addicts living there largely because it's readily available and accessible supply of drugs. It's not like we just ignore it, I've heard (but can't verify) the DTES costs Vancouver & BC something like $1,000,000 a day.
4. Benefit of sports. This being a gaming community, sports aren't going to be well received. Especially with a lot of American geeks & gamers with their whole 'jock' culture they have, though they may not realize it's an American trait. I'm biased on the other hand as that while an intelligent geek I've also been blessed with a great deal of athleticism (but can't say the same for social skills) and love sports.
The thing is, sports & recreation are healthy for the community, children & youth. A child that gets into organized sports is less likely to participate in criminal or gang activity, drugs, or other destructive area's. I believe this could be seen in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the USSR sports funding stopped and the athletics program dropped, youth crime & violence went up. It's one of the reasons why they're so big on making the KHL successful and don't mind dumping millions of dollars into it.
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I think that's about it. Basically while many of us BC'ers are concerned how we're going to pay it off, the people you see out there actually protesting likely aren't the ones that are going to be paying taxes to pay it. Rather they're the ones that fought the Olympics tooth & nail from the start and still have their panties in a bunch that they lost & the games are here. At the very least they're keeping it peaceful, the small masked group that went violent are those anarchist from around Canada and US that flock to any major protest just to smash things up and provoke the police. Also, many of the concerns people site about the Province and related to the games would be there regardless. Like low minimum wage and high tuition, those were set by our centrist pro-business provincial government before the games came.
1. Montreal debt repayment. Yes Montreal just finished paying off their Olympic debt from like 40 years ago. What is likely not known here though is why: the big ass stadium they had to build. To host the Olympics, they had to build one of those huge stadiums to hold the ceremonies and track & field events, same as the one China built. This was the single biggest expense for them and had little use afterwards. Vancouver on the other hand, for the Winter Olympics did not need to build one of these. BC Place (Football stadium - opening ceremonies), GM Place (NHL rink -> Mens Ice Hockey), Pacific Coliseum (old NHL rink -> figure skating, UBC Thunderbird Arena (College hockey -> women's & other misc hockey), all the big venues already exist. Except of course for a speed skating oval which was built in Richmond, but that is one of the things that has been handled nicely as it will be converted to a community center. I'm not sure how we'll compare to Montreal but the biggest projects that were done were two big local infrastructure projects - A rapid transit line extending from Vancouver south into Richmond and the Airport, and upgrading the Sea to Sky highway to 4 lanes (connecting Vancouver to world class ski resort Whistler, used to be a single lane windy mountain road death trap).
2. Yes we're hosting the Olympics right in the middle of a recession, which doesn't seem too smart. We however were not in a recession when the bid to host the Olympics was made. We were also not in a recession when the city held a local plebiscite on whether or not to host the Olympics which won by a good majority. (Note though this was held only city boundaries of Vancouver, not the surrounding cities that make up the Metropolis area or the rest of the Province. Also estimates of costs at the time were badly under estimated.)
3. $X billion that could've been spent else where? Let's be realistic here, had Vancouver not hosted the Olympics, this $8 billion or whatever it is wouldn't have magically appeared to spend on the homeless & health care & education or whatever. Whether or not we can recuperate what was spent, and the tax burden it's going to place on the province is a very real question. However by hosting the Olympics we do create a stream of revenue, as well as give local politicians an excuse to spend on badly needed infrastructure that they would otherwise balk at due to the price tag.
Had we not hosted the Olympics, we'd still be in a recession, in need of some infrastructure upgrades, cutting budgets on schools, high rent, high tuitiion, low minimum wage, and have a huge homeless problem & drug problem in the DTES. For that matter, we already spend a **** load of money on the DTES, it's just a black hole that sucks in crack heads & the like from around the country. There are some 10,000 homeless crack addicts living there largely because it's readily available and accessible supply of drugs. It's not like we just ignore it, I've heard (but can't verify) the DTES costs Vancouver & BC something like $1,000,000 a day.
4. Benefit of sports. This being a gaming community, sports aren't going to be well received. Especially with a lot of American geeks & gamers with their whole 'jock' culture they have, though they may not realize it's an American trait. I'm biased on the other hand as that while an intelligent geek I've also been blessed with a great deal of athleticism (but can't say the same for social skills) and love sports.
The thing is, sports & recreation are healthy for the community, children & youth. A child that gets into organized sports is less likely to participate in criminal or gang activity, drugs, or other destructive area's. I believe this could be seen in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the USSR sports funding stopped and the athletics program dropped, youth crime & violence went up. It's one of the reasons why they're so big on making the KHL successful and don't mind dumping millions of dollars into it.
----------------
I think that's about it. Basically while many of us BC'ers are concerned how we're going to pay it off, the people you see out there actually protesting likely aren't the ones that are going to be paying taxes to pay it. Rather they're the ones that fought the Olympics tooth & nail from the start and still have their panties in a bunch that they lost & the games are here. At the very least they're keeping it peaceful, the small masked group that went violent are those anarchist from around Canada and US that flock to any major protest just to smash things up and provoke the police. Also, many of the concerns people site about the Province and related to the games would be there regardless. Like low minimum wage and high tuition, those were set by our centrist pro-business provincial government before the games came.
