You will pay more for the Olympics
Vancouver city council has released a report detailing plans to use the ‘Olympic Legacy Reserve Fund‘ to cover extra costs related to hosting the winter games. Words like ‘legacy’ are often used to indicate something long-term and ‘reserve’ sure sounds like it would be something extra set aside for a rainy day.
But opponents say that far from providing long-term legacies, as its name implies, the fund amounts to an Olympic operations budget.
Among the items it covers are a $1.4-million communications campaign, $1 million for the city’s host pavilion, $2 million for hosting dignitaries and $2 million for the “look” of the city during the Olympics.
The $20 million is a significant amount in a city budget where $5 million represents a one-per-cent tax increase.
But there we are, all the extra costs from hosting the games are accounted for.. If you happen to believe that, I have a wonderful second-hand bridge that I can sell to you for a tremendous bargain.
On a related note I found this article on Forbes about the ‘winners curse‘ that many host cities experience - the one exception being the 1984 LA summer games which actually turned a tidy profit since they had most of their infrastructure already in place and didn’t require a lot of extra construction:
RSS 2.0 comments feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.“When multiple cities bid, each has a different view of what the revenues will be, and the one with the brightest economic forecast usually wins,” says Evan Osborne, an economist at Wright State University. But often, tourism revenue, job creation and ticket sales don’t pan out as expected, leaving local taxpayers with what Osborne calls “The Winner’s Curse.”
Former Salt Lake City Deputy Mayor Brian Hatch, a key player in securing that city’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games, recalled showing some Beijing officials around that year to help them prep for their city’s hosting role in 2008. They found hotel rooms at nonevent ski resorts easy to come by.
“People tend to avoid Olympic cities the year of the event, thinking it will be too crowded,” Hatch says.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
and we’re still a long way away
I can only imagine how much this will all really cost.
December 6th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Far from passing the world our calling card, VANOC, et al, are sucking the life out of this city - like a leech, tick, or other such parasite.
December 6th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
December 6th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Agreed, but as I said before, this gang of usual suspects, should be publicly flogged, at the Olympic opening ceremony, for crimes against the economy.
December 6th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Can’t lose in RE. No, really.
December 6th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
The bailout will only prolong the pain. As is the way with government policies, there is a pretty good chance it will produce effects opposite to the intentions.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
December 6th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I think the tone you use ultimately discredits you because people no longer take you seriously. We all know you are mad keen on gold - just tone down the rhetoric a bit and i might actually read your posts.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I’m not saying gold is not a good investments,it’s just the sites you always quote that make you seem like a candidate for Britains infamous “Monster Raving Looney Party.”
December 6th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Efforts to slow down RE downturns just result in a lower bottom, because the longer prices remain high, the more excess supply gets built. And that goes for “creative financing” too.
There is way, way more housing in the US than households who can buy it at current prices - actually there’s more housing than there are households, period, and no amount of juggling can prevent the eventual fall.
I’m not saying gold is not a good investments
Gold is not an investment, period. It’s a commodity, or if you want to think of it that way, money. But it’s not an investment, any more than a $100 or 100 Euro bill, because it has no yield. It’s not capital.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
December 7th, 2007 at 12:09 am
But it’s sooo shiny. I like shiny. It doesn’t taste very good tho.
December 7th, 2007 at 7:21 am
And the raving maniac award goes to……….
December 7th, 2007 at 7:40 am
I think it was the Georgia Straight that had a pretty good article on a lot the machinations behind the whole thing.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:55 am
ThumbsSuck? You feeling OK? I can actually understand your post…
December 7th, 2007 at 9:11 am
And they have the 2010 Games to blame.
A pre-budget staff report heading for city council next week says preparations for the Olympics, including planning, engineering and emergency workers, will take more staff — $2.5 million worth.”
December 7th, 2007 at 9:17 am
one of the headlines I passed this morning said homes in the Fraser Valley are at the lowest prices in 8 months.
Whoever called the bubble as bursting in the burbs first, KUDOS.
Strap in, Thumbsup… it’s gonna be a bumpy ride
December 7th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Thumbsup it’s time to BUY BUY BUY! Make sure you’re leveraged to the hilt buddy!
December 7th, 2007 at 10:02 am
“-”
What does that mean?
December 7th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
It means you need to get yourself a nice big bucket o’popcorn and some lovely Junior Mints. The show is aboutto begin because
The!Party!Is!Over!
December 7th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
love your rant, just never read them.
there’s a font style called “psycho”
you should check it out, looks like crayon, then your rant will really shine!
December 7th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
keep it handy….