The CBC reports that the opening and closing ceremonies in Turino will cost $47 million. That is money that is a complete waste - doesn't help one athlete, doesn't say anything about the country - just a two hour variety show, yet John Furlong says that Vancouver will put on an even bigger show. I didn't see much of the Turino opening, but what I saw looked like a Fellini dream sequence. An excuse to let choreographers and costumers run wild. Does anyone remember the opening or closing ceremonies of any past Olympics? It's just a TV show and then it's forgotten. The open and closing events are the perfect example of how bloated and excessive the whole Olympic experience has become. Vancouver will continue that tradition trotting out every native they can find, throwing in a few other ethnics to show our multiculturalism, some hi tech crap and a few slides of mountains and killer whales - and it will cost us a bundle. I won't even get into the security costs. Prepare to pay for the two weeks for a few decades.
Olympic Waste
- Thread starter Cock Throppled
- Start date
it is a waste ... i'd like to see BC cancel the olympics and put the money towards actual useful infrastructure ...
we're already something like $6 billion in debt here in BC and the Olympics with probably double it by 2010 ... it won't be for direct costs, but all the indirect things that are built and things that aren't built and debt that isn't paid.
we're already something like $6 billion in debt here in BC and the Olympics with probably double it by 2010 ... it won't be for direct costs, but all the indirect things that are built and things that aren't built and debt that isn't paid.
Olympics
You guys are probably the same people that wanked about Expo 86 as well. With the snow and sun we are getting this week, wouldn't it have been awesome to have the world watching this week?
As far as costs go - the ceremonies are dumb but the games are fantastic. The whole yaletown area has been redeveloped because of Expo - not to mention the tourism and world exposure we got. The Olympics will do the same. Salt Lake made money on it and so will we.
......and really, do we need another fucking heroin injection center?
You guys are probably the same people that wanked about Expo 86 as well. With the snow and sun we are getting this week, wouldn't it have been awesome to have the world watching this week?
As far as costs go - the ceremonies are dumb but the games are fantastic. The whole yaletown area has been redeveloped because of Expo - not to mention the tourism and world exposure we got. The Olympics will do the same. Salt Lake made money on it and so will we.
......and really, do we need another fucking heroin injection center?
ugh ... well, Expo did have some positives, but many negatives as well ... and selling off a billion dollar waterfront property to an off-shore investor for pennies was really the height of fiscal stupidity, wasn't it?Ilovethemall said:
and look at real estate/rental prices now ... vancouver is already a city that most people cannot afford and its only going to get worse.
and Salt Lake LOST money ... tons of it.
there is no need to 'advertise' Vancouver to the world for billions ... the world knows we are here and its already having a massive impact and most of it negative.
The promoters of these kind of events are always going on about the "world exposure". Yeah right. When was the last time you visited Sarajevo or Lillejammer? Worlds Fairs have NO exposure beyond a few hundred kms. Can anybody tell me where the last four world's fairs have been without googling them? Has anyone ever travelled to Europe or Asia to visit a World's Fair? Yaletown was downtown real estate and undeveloped. Do you really think it would stay that way and only got developed because of Expo 86? NO Olympics has made money if all the costs are factored and not just the ones the promoters want to admit to.
Ugh as well
Expo - as far as the yaletown area goes, that used to be one nasty section of town.
Vanc. real estate prices would be high anyway, we are geographically isolated and can only build "up". Since our city is very liveable downtown and people want to move there, something was going to spark that development, it just happened to be Expo.
As far as offshore goes, at least by selling to one investor, there is a definite "look" to the area and the construction industry and associated industries have made millions off the development - which is money into the local economy.
Vancouver is one of the best cities in the world - it is going to be expensive. Period. Would I go to other world's fair/Olympic cities - maybe, it depends what they look like - I will say this, before they had those events, I had ZERO interest in them - at least now, I have some.
I deal with two people in Salt Lake for business regularly and they both tell me that the city and the people living there are very glad they had the games - I'm not there to refute or substantiate this - but they both lean left politically and are way more socially conscious than me, so I tend to believe them.
It will cost money but it will be worth it in the long run.
And as one last point - isn't it kind of nice to be sucking on Ottawa tax dollars and draining tax money from those fuckers in Ontario?
Expo - as far as the yaletown area goes, that used to be one nasty section of town.
Vanc. real estate prices would be high anyway, we are geographically isolated and can only build "up". Since our city is very liveable downtown and people want to move there, something was going to spark that development, it just happened to be Expo.
As far as offshore goes, at least by selling to one investor, there is a definite "look" to the area and the construction industry and associated industries have made millions off the development - which is money into the local economy.
Vancouver is one of the best cities in the world - it is going to be expensive. Period. Would I go to other world's fair/Olympic cities - maybe, it depends what they look like - I will say this, before they had those events, I had ZERO interest in them - at least now, I have some.
I deal with two people in Salt Lake for business regularly and they both tell me that the city and the people living there are very glad they had the games - I'm not there to refute or substantiate this - but they both lean left politically and are way more socially conscious than me, so I tend to believe them.
It will cost money but it will be worth it in the long run.
And as one last point - isn't it kind of nice to be sucking on Ottawa tax dollars and draining tax money from those fuckers in Ontario?
we are getting a dribble to their perpetual flood ...Ilovethemall said:
and the source doesn't matter when it comes to taxes because the dollar is still coming out of my pocket!
and i am not saying we dump more money into social programs ... i've been clear that those are a waste of money too ... but if we cut those we should cut corporate welfare as well.
if the olympics are such a "good deal" then why aren't businesses "investing" billions to make them happen?
because they KNOW its a waste of money but they are happy to SUCK more money from the government if the opportunity presents itself.
the olympics is just such an opportunity.
Waste?
I f BC's economy is in good shape then the Olympics won't seem like a waste but if the lumber industry, fishing mining, and tourism is in the toilet then yes in will have been a waste or more than we can afford.
I f BC's economy is in good shape then the Olympics won't seem like a waste but if the lumber industry, fishing mining, and tourism is in the toilet then yes in will have been a waste or more than we can afford.
